TWENTY-SEVEN STEPS TO ON-TIME / ON-BUDGET CATALOG PRODUCTION
Catalog design and production today are faster than ever, but the process can still be daunting. The steps outlined here begin with branding considerations and end with catalog printing. Some firms add interim proofing steps that may or may not improve the catalog, but certainly do add to the expense. For that reason, consider the twenty-seven steps outlined here to be the optimum number needed to efficiently organize the production process to create a catalog on time and on budget.
A. BRAND STRATEGY
This is the process where top management creates a brand identity that separates you from the competition i.e. defines who you are and exactly why the customer should buy from you rather than the competition -- YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE. To succeed, every company needs a competitive edge; every employee needs to know what it is; and every customer needs to believe it is meaningful. The entire creative process – look, tone, feel – flows from this definition.
1. Your Unique Selling Proposition is that part of the brand strategy that distinguishes you from the competition -- lowest price, best quality, largest selection, unique or hard-to-find merchandise, killer service etc. (It is often expressed as a corporate tagline.) When your brand strategy is clear to all employees, your merchandise selection, catalog and website will reflect it and communicate your strength to the customer. On the other hand, if you can’t differentiate yourself from the competition, your chances of success are greatly diminished.
2. Your Editorial Position and the entire tone of your catalog copy will be defined by your brand strategy. If it’s low price, you’ll be screaming sale or value at every opportunity; but if it’s quality you’ll focus on product benefits and your tone will be more authoritative and/or educational.
3. The Look of your Catalog will also reflect your branding, all the way from the paper to the product density per page to the style of photography and the type font. Upscale merchandise requires an open, elegant look and often demands more copy while inexpensive or sale merchandise can often be displayed in a denser format with emphasis on price instead of long descriptive copy.
B. CATALOG PRE-PLAN
The “Pre-Plan” phase is where marketing, merchandising and creative come together to strategize and conceptualize the catalog. Prior sales are analyzed for each product, preliminary product decisions are completed and the merchandise department transfers specific product information (especially product benefits) to the design team and copywriter. Although it does take precious time to complete the pre-plan phase, the time spent will facilitate the production phase and result in a catalog that appeals to your customer and sells efficiently.
4. Square Inch Analysis (Sqinch) is an analytical tool that measures the customer demand and profitability for each product in the catalog compared to its cost. A careful analysis of individual product, page and category totals provides insight for your merchants to bring to market and creates the analytical foundation for the pagination and space allocation decisions in the next catalog. (More information about Square Inch Analysis is available at www.lchdirect.com.)
5. Using Sqinch as a guide, the merchants should conduct a review of all products in the current catalog and determine which to drop from the catalog. Typically this process results in a list of definite continuations, a handful of “maybes” and an overall average of approximately 33% drops. While we all love winners, the drops (or rather the replacements and additions) are what keep the book fresh.
6. While the “pick-up” products are being ranked, all the possible new products should be vetted and the survivors selected for inclusion in the catalog. Each new product consideration should be evaluated for its consistency with the brand strategy. At the end of this process, there may well be a few products that satisfy the strategy requirements but for one reason or another land on the bubble and will be included if, and only if, room can be located on an appropriate page.
7. Product Information Sheets should be prepared for each of the new products. These sheets will be the bible used by copy and design to properly position each product to sell. Since benefit copy sells, be sure to describe the benefits of each product, not just its features.
8. A Copy and Presentation Review of any continuing products should also be conducted at this time to determine whether changes might enhance customer response. Sometimes a product fits the brand strategy perfectly and the merchandise team has confidence in it, but it simply didn’t sell its first time out. Here is an instance where you have to let your merchandise instincts overrule the data and continue with the product for at least another season. Rather than simply reprinting the same presentation, however, search for new ways to describe or display the product to enhance its benefits and increase its sales potential.
C. PLANNING MEETING
The actual planning meeting constitutes the beginning of the formal catalog production cycle. It should include management, merchandising, design, copy and traffic personnel, for here is where the catalog blueprint is developed. Each product will be assigned to a particular page and an approximation of the space it will occupy will be determined. The design team will use this blueprint to execute the detailed page layouts.
9. Pagination and Space Allocation are critical not only for the look of the book, but also for the sales potential. Always paginate with your customer in mind. How does she shop and what type of page and category organization will make sense to her. In other words, the flow of the product presentation should be reasoned and sensible to your reader.
Typically, the more space allocated to a product, the greater the sales it will produce. The trick is to ensure that the extra space generates enough additional sales to pay for the additional cost of the added space. Best sellers get more space and marginal ones get less. New products should be prominent, but not necessarily occupy the largest amount of space or the hot locations.
10. The process of pagination will result with all products allocated to a particular page and an approximate amount of space allocated to each product. During this process all merchandise decisions should be finalized. Those on the bubble are either assigned space at this time or held for future catalogs. It is critical that there be a cut-off date when no further products can be considered for the catalog. I recommend that this pagination meeting represent that cut-off date for each catalog.
11. Whenever possible, it is a good idea for the design group to present page concepts at this meeting. Even if you aren’t considering a complete make over, the catalog should continue to evolve and this is a perfect opportunity for both management and merchandising to comment on the early concepts.
D. DESIGN & PRODUCTION
This is the heart
of the creative process, but I caution against skipping or short changing
any of the previous steps. To do so will jeopardize the selling power
of your catalog
12. Using the pagination and space allocation “Blueprint”
and the approved concepts developed during the planning meeting, the design
team will develop the first draft of detailed page layouts.
This will show how the allotted space for each product will be utilized.
Space for image, copy, illustration etc. will be designated in the initial
layouts.
13. The Order Form will also be designed to make ordering easier. Although fewer and fewer order forms are actually mailed with orders, many customers still use the form to prepare their order prior to phoning or ordering online. For this reason, we continue to recommend including an order form with each catalog, although the expense of a bind-in order form is hard to justify today.
14. The Second Draft of Layouts will incorporate management and merchandise feedback and should be close to the final look. These pages are sent to copy and photography. I do recommend that all departments involved in the review process take the early rounds seriously and that one set of comments be compiled and returned to the design team prior to the preparation of subsequent drafts. Production time and costs will escalate if key personnel withhold comments until later in the process.
15. Manuscript Copy should be written to fit the layouts. Any issues where particularly long copy or sidebars etc. will be needed should be discussed at the planning meeting and built into the initial layouts.
16. The Photography Shoot Planning Meeting should include the photographer, art director, prop person, merchandiser and models. All prop options should be on hand for this review and decisions about the models and other elements of specific shots should be made. Proper planning is the key to a successful shoot.
17. The Photo Shoot will go as well as the planning. If each shot has been carefully planned for merchandise, props, models etc. prior to the shoot date only minor problems are likely to occur on set, but if you try to wing the shoot, the final results will be far less than desirable.
18. Manuscript Copy Revisions are based upon feedback from the first draft. This is the final revision before the copy is placed on the catalog page. Be sure to have it completely proofread because changes in composed pages cost time and money.
19. Pricing, Sizing, Item Numbers etc. should be finalized at the same time as the revised manuscript copy because the first draft of composed pages are about to begin and costs and mistakes escalate when pages are initially composed with a lot of missing information.
20. Final Photo Picks are the last element needed to begin the page composition process.
21. Now that all the pieces have been assembled and proofed, the production team begins to Compose Pages for the 1st Draft. These pages should closely resemble the final layout draft, so there are few, if any, surprises.
22. Whether you are using a hard proofing method or soft, the initial proofs of all the images should be examined early, while the composed pages are still being constructed. This will alert you to any problems while there is still time to fix them at an efficient cost.
23. A 2nd Draft of Composed Pages will incorporate any last minute changes to page design and edits picked up from the initial page proofs.
24. Final Composed Pages are prepared for output to the printer or pre-press house.
25. If there is any Versioning of the catalog for tracking purposes, testing or segmentation, it should be completed after the initial version. If you make the versions prior to sign-off on the initial version, there is greater opportunity for mistakes.
26. The next to last step in the process is to Examine the Composed Match Proof that will be used on press. This is used to catch any final color or type issues before the pages are printed, but be aware that it is very expensive to make changes at this stage.
27. Finally, a representative should be on press to Compare the Printed Sheet to the Match Proof. There is always some judgment involved as the printing process cannot match every page exactly, but some correction is possible on-press.
