B-to-B Insights: Catalog Curb Appeal
Cover tests show that light, bright covers tend to outperform dark ones. You can have drama in your camera angles, but be careful of having dark, moody images on your covers. You certainly want to show the form and texture of your products, but as a general rule you’ll want to avoid extremes in lighting and depth of field for cover photography.
You’ll want cover images to fit into your overall brand look and feel. Cover shots don’t have to exactly match how your internal products are photographed, however, you don’t want a dramatic difference between your cover shot and inside product shots.
Shoot: Set aside a block of time to focus attention on capturing cover shots. For most B-to-B catalogs, product images are shot on seamless white backgrounds and the quantity of images is emphasized over their quality. Cover shots are different. You may shoot dozens of tabletop product shots a day but only get through three cover shots.
Refer to your sketches as you’re setting up your images. Take the time to experiment with reflective surfaces for potential backgrounds. You have the opportunity to really work the lighting to create a bright, dramatic effect.
When you follow this approach to planning and creating your covers, you’ll find that they’re no longer an afterthought but a driving force for your creative and selling effort. You elevate your covers to targeted selling messages that catch your customers’ eyes, giving your covers curb appeal.
George Hague is principal of multichannel consulting firm HAGUEdirect. George can be reached at georgehague@haguedirect.com.
A columnist for Retail Online Integration, George founded HAGUEdirect, a marketing agency. Previously he was a member of the Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based consulting and creative agency J. Schmid & Assoc. He has more than 10 years of experience in circulation, advertising, consulting and financial strategy in the catalog/retail industry. George's expertise includes circulation strategy, mailing execution, response analysis and financial planning. Before joining J. Schmid, George worked as catalog marketing director at Dynamic Resource Group, where he was responsible for marketing and merchandising for the Annie's Attic Needlecraft catalog, the Clotilde Sewing Notions catalog, the House of White Birches Quilter's catalog and three book clubs. George also worked on corporate acquisitions.
