I received the second issue of ‘Deliver’ in the mail. The magazine with the sub title ‘a magazine for marketers’ is quite nicely designed, and interesting at most times, but…it is published by no one else then the United States Postal Service with the sole purpose of getting us ‘marketers’ to not completely forget about the good old direct marketing vehicle, the snail mail. The article ‘value in volume’ about an Atlanta marketing firm that created $600 a piece books to mail out to NYC’s fashion world in order to, may I add successfully, enter a very harsh and incestuous market, caught my attention. Not only because we experienced how hard it is to enter not only New York’s Design & Marketing market, but especially the fashion world (We now successfully formed a relationship with New York City Designer John Varvatos – we designed johnvarvatos.com), but also because of the crazy idea of spending that much on a single direct mail piece.

It’s crazy.

Crazy good, if done right.

Not only do people mainly receive junk and bills in the mail, but in an increasingly online world, receiving an amazing marketing piece, one that you know you will at least lovingly hold on to and braggingly hand around the office, is something special. Special enough to at least allow for a conversation with the sender.

When I designed an Open House Invitation to spend a glamorous evening at MGM’s CEO’s private residence in the year 2003, I went so overboard (on design and budget) that the client ended up hand delivering each of the ~250 invites of fear of damaging them during transportation. My idea was to replicate a film strip that showcases classic party scenes from the MGM archives, while creating an amazing first impression. When catering to Hollywood celebrity clientele, it is hard to stand out, and a smart idea like this one surely did the trick. As many jobs I hand off to our printers, this one was an all around challenge. And it was pricey. But in the end it worked wonders, just like the example ‘Deliver’ writes about.

The End Of Print?

Not in the world of Geyrhalter Design. Here, print does still ‘deliver’.

P.S.: You can subscribe to ‘Deliver’ free of charge here, just FYI.

I have been a big admirer of the fashion company ‘nau’. From concept and philosophy to the design and distribution model, it was an inspirational and groundbreaking company all the way. Hence it was a sad moment when I read 2 months ago that nau went kaput. I just learned that they are back after having been acquired by Santa Barbara based Horny Toad. Hopefully now is the time to appreciate their amazing model. If you have not done so yet, go explore the world of nau.

I should start every blog entry with the words ‘Is it just me…?’, but this one must be obvious to any fashion conscious consumer, so why was it not obvious to the Banana Republic Brand Designers?

Below we can see Rock & Republic’s logotype.

And while walking to my favorite design and architecture book store off of Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, I had to look twice before I stopped in awe as I saw Banana Republic’s huge display of its new sub-line’s ‘BR Monogram’ logo (below as seen on their site):

‘Is it just me’ or is this either a very uneducated or a very strategic, but either way, a very unoriginal choice?