by Ed Strapagiel, Senior Vice President, Kubas Consultants

July 2002

 

Read some background.

View the Contents.

Get the Executive Summary in Adobe PDF format.

Download the full 122-page There Must Be 50 Ways To Improve Your Retail Preprints report in Adobe PDF format.

Note that you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3 or later to view the report. It's free and available directly from Adobe.

---

---

Some background, from page 9:

Best Practices?

So here we have an up-to-$20 billion-dollar would-be industry, one of the major advertising media, delivering something like 150 billion pieces of communication to over 100 million consumer households in North America every year, involving a few thousand businesses and several huge industries, that retailers pour money into by the millions…and there's almost no information on how it's done.

If your ad agency ran your TV advertising this way, or even if your store managers scheduled their shipments with as much consideration, you'd fire them.

For this report, we've had to beg, borrow and steal ideas from other areas, closely observe and try to learn lessons from what retailers are actually doing, and lean on our experience with retail, advertising and newspapers. We've had to sort out what works, what's witchcraft, and what witchcraft works.

And are there 50 ways to improve your preprints? This report goes through more than just 50 suggestions. You may be doing many of these already. But there are many variables and combinations when it comes to preprints, and there are more ways to go wrong than to get it right.

Figure out what 1% of your annual preprint budget is to decide if you should keep reading.

---

CONTENTS

Chapter		Page
Executive Summary		1
The Setup
What This Is About		6
Do Preprints Work?		7
What It’s Worth		8
State Of The Un-Industry		8
Best Practices?		9
The Big Picture
1	Understand The Objectives	10
2	Know Your Costs	11
3	Work Out The Economics	12
4	Look Out For Creeps	14
5	Think Investment-Making	15
6	Guess What, You’re In The Publishing Business	16
Program Size
7	"How Much Should I Be Spending?"	17
8	Tune In To Purchase Cycle	19
9	Budget For Critical Mass And Quantum Leaps	20
10	Go As Frequently As Possible	21
Format, Size, Pages
11	Size To Show Store Selection	22
12	Keep Footprint To 10½” By 12”	23
13	Work Width First	24
14	Minimize White Wastage	25
15	But Format For Readability	26
16	Optimize Items Per Page	27
17	Optimize Number Of Pages	29
18	Plan Space With Layout Control	30
19	Stick With The Program	32
20	Later, You Can Cheat A Little	33
Get It On Paper
21	Use The Right Paper For The Job	34
22	Full Color Almost Always	36
23	Know Your Printer’s Capabilities	37
24	Print It To Proof It	38
25	Avoid Origami	39
In The Ink
26	Most Ink Is Good Ink	40
27	Don't Bleed	41
28	Get Or Forget Your Favorite Color	42
29	Watch The Blends And Fades	43
Strategic Content
30	Have The Right Content	44
31	Plan Ahead, But Be Flexible	45
32	Use Content Versioning	46
33	Use Price Zoning	47
34	Administrative Content Is Not The Most Essential	48
35	Consider Spot Editorial	49
36	Brand It	50
37	Theme It	51
Pricing
38	Show The Savings	52
39	It Doesn’t Have To Be On Sale	53
40	Lose The Loss Leaders	54
41	Be Careful With Coupons	55
Key Layout Issues
42	Make The Front Page Work For You	57
43	Make The Back Page Work For You	58
44	Make Page 3 Work For You	59
45	Make The Centerfold Work For You	60
46	You Know Where You Can Put The Store Hours	61
47	Cluster And Flow Sections	62
48	Size Speaks, So Say The Right Thing	63
Design And Graphics
49	Use Photography For Everything	64
50	Show The Product, Not The Package	65
51	Control The Background	66
52	Patrol Your Borders	67
53	Keep It In Proportion	68
54	Pitch High And Outside	69
55	Flag It To Flog It	70
56	Develop Multiple Masters	71
Text And Type
57	Be Ready To Be Flexible	72
58	Follow Copywriting Basics	73
59	Avoid Reverse Type	74
60	Avoid Vertical Type	75
61	Practice Safe Sans Serif	76
62	Treat Headlines As Graphics	77
63	Watch The Shadows	78
64	Keep The Font Count Down	79
Prepress
65	Get Good Or Get Out	80
66	Pull It All Together	81
67	Bank On It	82
Distribution
68	Define Your Trade Areas, Really	83
69	Pick Your Spots	84
70	Decide On Full, Partial, TMC, EMC, ABC, Etc.	85
71	Distribute On Weekends, Or Maybe Not	86
72	Deal With Distributors	87
73	Question Spoilage Copies	88
74	Check Up On Distributors	89
75	Be Consistent With Distribution	90
At The Store
76	Whatever You Do, Be In Stock!	91
77	Distribute In The Store	92
78	Sign Advertised Items	93
79	Consider Preview Bag-Stuffers	94
Use With Other Media
80	Preaching To The Unconverted	95
81	Advertise Your Advertising	96
82	Creatively Integrate	97
83	Get It Up On The Web	98
Management
84	Use Vendor Co-op Wisely	99
85	Decide What’s In, What’s Out	100
86	Lock Up Outside Services	101
87	Track Successes And Failures	102
88	Get Feedback From The Store	103
89	Track Your Competitors	104
90	Test, Research, Be Patient	105
Size Small
91	Be More Promotional	106
92	Stick To Best Bets	107
93	Fold Once	108
94	Use A Spot Color	109
95	Concentrate	110
Size Large
96	Consider Other Media	111
97	Go For Both Volume And Margin	112
98	Break It Up	113
99	Consider Two Per Week	114
The Final Kicker
100	You're Advertising You Too	115
Feedback		116

---

Back to top