To Slick or Not Too Slick?
2009
A client recently paid for an advertorial (“special advertising section”) in a national publication.
Included with the placement price was design & layout of the 4 page piece.
The idea was — as it usually is with these segments — for the in-house art department to use our photos and logos to create a layout that was in-line rest of the magazine, so that readers would not simply skip over the section on their way to the next article.
However, when the proof came back, my clients hated it. And I had to agree.
It looked… mostly… blah.
Whether or not it looked like an article in the rest of the magazine (and I don’t believe it did — I’m not convinced it wasn’t thrown together by a first-year college intern), it was lacking in design.
It did not intrigue, fascinate or sell!
Although the final art deadline was within 24 hours, I volunteered to redesign the piece.
Clients = happy.
In other words: advertising should be slick.
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