Do you really need brochures in the internet age…hmmmm??

The veritable brochure has been a staple in the advertising industry, for forever. Well, times change and I wonder out loud why anyone would need a brochure in this great internet age. After all, a brochure is one dimensional. You can’t very well add streaming video or audio or make visuals do tricks and dazzle like zooming in and out, changing color or shape of type and photos. Guess today’s motion crazed, bells and whistles demanding brains can’t justify reading a boring brochure, right?

Not so fast kemosahbee. Believe it or not, brochures are still being produced and coveted. Albeit not nearly at the pace of even 2 years ago according to research at various printing sources. Go to any car dealership, local bank branch or your doctor’s office and you’ll still find brochures in the rack. Visit an apartment community or new housing development and you’re likely to find a brochure with floorplans, site plan, and the like, characterized by pocket folder and inserts. My agency has done tons of these brochures over the past 26+ years. Maybe corporate capabilities brochures may have seen their heyday, but companies like those in the plethora of consumer and business-to-business fields still feel a need to print at least a moderate quantity to be mailed or presented as a leave behind after a meeting. It lends credibility and stability to the decision process and creates a degree of separation from the competition. I also know, first hand, that the steady stream of printed catalogs from promotional product suppliers still fills my vertical file drawers.

Maybe I’m a Cro-Magnon, but I think (and hope) there’s still a good reason to produce and print brochures. I’ve always thought of brochures as telling acaptivating story in a very creative process which involves the close collaboration of talented and experienced copywriters, graphic designers/production specialists and printing purveyors. You start with the premise of cooperation between words, graphics and stock. Writing copy (narrative) that’s compelling. Brainstorming a crisp, well-crafted layout design for the cover and inside pages that flows via use of typestyle/pattern, color and graphics to establish the desired look and feel. The image is further enhanced with the kmnowledgeable use of stock (paper) and other smart accoutrements such as die-cutting, embossing, debossing and foil stamping. Personally, I love going through the numerous stock swatch books with clients and choosing sleek coated or uncoated paper appointed with a linen, laid or other textured look to convey the perfect image.  Tell me how you get that from a computer monitor. Of course, many are happy to save the costs of producing and printing the brochures, opting to add PDF’s to their website which can be easily downloaded and printed to the desktop Epson or HP color printer. Great idea, but it can really lose something in translation…don’t you think?  I say, what the heck, invest in the brochure, too, and have the best of both worlds….hmmm.