Sponsored Content WEBINAR: ELECTION 2008: E-mail Tips from a Political Insider   WEBINAR: Becoming the Illusionist: The Magic of Using "Brand" to Drive Response without Results Disappearing in the Process   WEBINAR: Score and Win Through Cooperation   TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Holiday's are prime-time for email marketing - maximize your ROI by getting to the inbox   ON DEMAND WEBINAR--MASTER CLASS: High Performance Online and Off-line Strategies for Large Scale Customer Acquisition   FREE WHITE PAPER - Direct Mail and the Internet Find any supplier you need - agencies, CRM, fulfillment, lists, e-commerce, paper, printers, telemarketing, and more. Featured Categories Lists and Data Telemarketing Database Marketing E-commerce Web Marketing Agency & Creative Services Print, Production & Paper Lists and Data Processing :: view all categories Get free access to more than 50,000 list data cards - one of the most comprehensive databases in the industry. >> Search Now DIRECT Buzz Blog Webinars Buyer's Guide Calculators JobZone ListFinder Promo Calendar Research Store E-Newsletters Print Magazine This Month in Direct Magazine Deal With It Direct had a full house for this year's list roundtable. Considering all the additional responsibilities on brokers' plates, that's impressive... See Full July Issue

I think Tom Collins' January makeover is an improvement, but could be less “junky looking” — or simply less cluttery — by moving the “How We Helped Google…” bit to the middle and of course making it more horizontal than vertical, and then combining the “At a recent symposium, Michael Dell…” and “How we can help your business…” into one, lower (and horizontal) section.

And yet I am in awe of Tom's abilities.
Chip Hetzel

I have seen three of Thomas Collins' makeovers, and speaking as an art director with a graduate degree in graphic design from the Savannah College of Art and Design and just over seven years' professional experience, Mr. Collins has absolutely no idea what he is doing. Seeing this column gives me such a bias against the rest of Direct magazine that I would never pick it up if it weren't for my vice president of marketing telling me to subscribe. Collins is a quack.

Prime example: In the January issue, Collins claims to simplify the already simplified Dell ad…by adding 300% more copy, ugly text in ugly boxes and a picture of the CEO vs. [showing] the product. What?!

Nothing about his redesigns are ever anywhere in the same realm as good graphic or advertising design. Direct should do itself a favor and find someone who actually understands graphic design.
Karen Clark

Tom Collins replies: Unfortunately, art and design schools don't teach effective use of typographic and graphic design as a means of maximizing successful communication and persuasion, but merely design for the sake of design. My own belief is that in good print advertising, as in good architecture, form follows function.

I welcome criticism of any of my makeovers from any reader who can point out where and how I have failed to observe that. Is my text type too small at the expense of maximum readership or too large at the expense of other elements? Should I shorten my copy by omitting certain persuasive sales points, and if so which ones? Would that make the ad stronger or weaker? Should I treat my text copy as a design element, a neat block flush left and flush right, in small, pale sans-serif letters and in type lines far too wide for comfortable reading?

Again and again I see magazine and newspaper ads in which good copy and good copy strategy are muffled and defeated by overdesign. Literally billions of dollars are wasted each year on such ads.

My makeovers may not win any awards for design from art schools, but I do believe they would win far higher readership and sales from prospective customers than the original ads.

As for my Dell ad makeover in particular, I agree it's kind of ugly and would not be good for the company's image. But I think the prospective customers for whom the ad is intended — small business owners and managers — would nonetheless be keenly interested in what the ad is saying to them and be far more likely to respond.

P.S. Just my luck…right after this one appeared, Dell started running some very good ads. Because Michael is back? Because they have a new agency? Maybe in this ad they were just feeling their way into a new style and hadn't quite gotten it yet.

We'd like to hear what you have to say about us or about news, trends and issues in direct marketing. To contact the editor:

Mail: Direct, 249 W. 17th St.,
Third Floor, New York, NY 10011-5300

Fax: 913-514-7179

E-mail: ray.schultz@penton.com

Phone: 212-204-4228