This Clever Catalog Copy Rolls...

I love Crate&Barrel catalogs. I think they are among the best written consumer product catalogs, anywhere.

Here is an example:

"Kik-Step Stools - Kick it and it rolls. Step on it and it locks. Clever spring-mounted retractable casters take this handy steel stool wherever you need it..."

ACTION verbs in the IMPERATIVE mode -- kick it, step on it... it tells you exactly what you should be doing. Nothing is left to chance here.

It addresses YOU - "wherever you need it..."

You hear the music? "Kick it and it rolls. Step on it and it locks."

Just when you're wondering if this thing that OBEYS your commands is actually ALIVE, the writer anticipates your subliminal question -- "CLEVER spring-mounted retractable casters..."

Ladies and gentlemen: this thing is not a dumb stool. It's a CLEVER stool. It will obey you and make you HAPPY. It's an obedient puppy in the shape of a stool.

See how deep good copy penetrates? If the writer who wrote this copy is giving a workshop, take it.

GNC Catalog -- Weak Cover

GNC is a great company. I buy my vitamins from GNC and own a discount card as well.

However, I was disappointed by their latest direct mail catalog.

Issue? Very weak lead with no urgency, no specificity, no unique message.

OUR MOST POPULAR SPECIALTY SUPPLEMENTS... (that's it?)

Why waste the precious front cover by just repeating the obvious?

(And look how static and rectangular all the graphic elements are. There is no movement here to match the "energy" we are supposed to get from these wonderful products...)

Where are the benefits?

Why should I get excited about and buy Triflex? CoQ-10? or Fish Body Oil?

This is a perfect example of a catalog cover gone to waste.

But it doesn't mean that the rest of the catalog is equally disappointing. Far from it.

Here is what I really loved on page 2 -- MEET THE GNC MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD.

This is a great idea. It immediately projects autohority and confidence in GNC products.