Iconix Inc – InsideOut

All They Need

02/14/2013

At a recent trade show, we were curious to see what types of product literature and information materials would be distributed to the precisely targeted, mid- to high-level attendees. Since all the exhibitors were multi-billion dollar companies, and their products not exactly inexpensive, our expectations were pretty high.

As a whole, we were puzzled by the lack of sophistication and overall effort given to the packaging, print and electronic media used by these companies to communicate key information about their current and future product offerings. There certainly was a handful of exceptions, but as a group…underwhelming.

For the vast majority of the pieces, print and packaging was almost nonexistent, and the electronic content, delivered mostly via flash drives, was nothing but file folders, with word docs laid out in as many varieties of “plain and nondescript” as one could possibly achieve. The technical illustrations, charts and graphs that were included followed suit, and were also only accessible via file folders. No navigation, no branding — except for the occasional little company logo in the upper corner of a screen. It was almost as if the creators of the materials got to a certain point, and then decided “that’s all they need.”

Wow. Given the current technology available today to disseminate information, why wouldn’t one choose to actually help their audience receive key messages in ways that were user friendly, navigate intuitively and display their brand in an image-enhancing fashion?  Maybe cost was a factor, we speculated. But how much could the most basic HTML navigation with simple, clean branding cost? If you can’t afford that – or better yet, if you can’t see the negative image that’s being portrayed – maybe you’re playing the wrong game. (Or…maybe the target audiences have been gradually programmed to accept mediocrity.)

This got us thinking. Would someone purposely give a gift to someone they cared about – say a watch, or piece of jewelry – and just put it in a cardboard box or a brown paper grocery bag? Conversely, would you give an everyday, cheap item to someone in an elaborately wrapped, Gucci-level package? Would anyone really think that was good enough? Really?! (Yeah, we’ve all done the “great big box for the little bitty gift” surprise thing at one time or another…that’s not what I’m talking about.)

If your kid (or brother, sister, niece, nephew, etc.) asked you to help them with a school project – maybe a science project on the solar system – would you suggest they take the simplest, least time-consuming strategy? “Hey, Billy, trust me, those crappy hand-drawn circles are good enough for that teacher. That’s all she needs. So hurry up, American Idol’s on.”

No, you wouldn’t.

If we truly adopted the philosophy of only giving people what they need, imagine some of the things they’d have to do without. Do people really need smartphones or tablets; cable TV with access to movies; designer teas or $6 coffees? This list could go on and on, and the honest answer is obvious in each case (although some would probably argue long and hard over an item or two).

Thankfully there have always been people who refused to accept the “all they need” mindset and thought up and developed all kinds of stuff that people actually wanted — things that made their lives more convenient and enjoyable. Because if they stopped at all they need, we’d still be riding horses, heating our houses with wood burning stoves and reading by candlelight.

1 Comment

  1. Perrykartsonas 02/15/2013

    Probably was an accurate assessment of that situation How many times do we hear big box stores, business or entertainment advertise or tell us this is best product available and since we blindly accept the status quo, mediocrity reigns as long as it is profitable.

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