Photo Credit: 416style (Flickr)
Catalogs use somewhere around 2 ½ to 3 million tons of paper annually. Catalogs have historically been one of the reasons why the U.S., with about 5% of the world’s population uses about 30% of the world’s paper production. OK…dumb, obvious comment #1 – producing paper kills trees. And killing trees causes all sorts of problems for us. Not to mention that the total use-chain of catalog paper produces about 9 million tons of CO2 equivalents and requires about 100 trillion BTUs of energy usage. Many catalogers are due their props for working on increasing their PCW (Post Consumer Waste) content. But few consumers realize the problems and decisions catalogers face – should I consider the $1/cwt up charge for a #3 sheet in PCW for my cover? This increase comes out of somebody’s pocket.
Let’s assume that 40% of a catalog’s content is devoted to copy and written content. Let’s also assume that much of this copy, although honed by years of experience and copywriting expertise, still leaves unanswered questions for the consumer – things like warranty information or other details often included in web copy are left out of catalogs due to space constraints.
Here’s a radical idea…..save production expense and kick your Green Strategy into high gear by reducing the size of your catalog by 40% while maintaining item count and image quality. Don’t include copy in the printed/mailed version of your catalog. Use Augmented Reality combined with a mobile device option. By now you’ve seen the videos where an image viewed though a mobile phone video device is “augmented” by facts or details transmitted onto the image in real time.
Take this same scenario down to a catalog page. By employing an A/R app, the image on the catalog page not only comes to 3-D life when viewed through a mobile device, but the image is also “augmented” with tons-o-relevant copy including points that wouldn’t normally fit into a print catalog copy block. What you’ve done is: 1) shown the consumer the same rich, printed images on 40% fewer pages; 2) Enhanced the images and the overall experience by bringing these images to “augmented” life; 3) provided far more valuable copy information than the printed media could have delivered; 4) enabled the experience on a device that also allows for one click ordering (BINGO!), and; saved about 2.5 million tons of trees annually.
The capability is here. All it takes is for one brave marketer to go out on a Boreal limb.
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Greg Chapman is a seasoned veteran with over 30 years of experience in direct response marketing and merchandising. As a former Divisional Vice President at Sears and VP of Merchandising at both Skymall and Value Vision (now Shop NBC), Greg is the ultimate frontman. He knows what clients want because he’s been in their shoes; he understands the fears they face in transitioning from traditional advertising to digital. His neo-corporate methodology focuses on building a strong, performance-based internal team to create a better performing external product.
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