Aesthetics is a fancy word that means a
science, language, or philosophy of
expression. Applied to marketing, it
implies systematic thinking behind
how art is employed in commerce—
what we can think of as the Aesthetics of Value.
The second part of this phrase, Value, seems like
a simple concept with a plain meaning ... but maybe
not. Let’s look at various meanings of the word:
Value (noun) = price, cost, charge, worth
Value (verb) = 1) estimate, evaluate, appraise, assess;
2) appreciate, respect, esteem, treasure
Your promotion has to offer something compelling
to gain viewers’ consideration. It has to get
attention. Of course, you need to understand your
target audience and what it values. But realistically,
the viewers of your promotional design are going to
use automatic, mindless response—or shortcuts—to
determine Value. Some specific feature, even a tiny
aspect of the totality, can trigger a response.
Expensive = Good
One shortcut people use in determining worth is
association with “class.” The palette used by Martha
Stewart Living when it first began publication had
an association with New England class, helping to
confer that status on customers of her product line.
High price is often associated with worth. Sometimes
raising the price and prominently displaying it
can move people to buy, as retailers can attest.
The principle of contrast in human perception
says that when you present two things together that
are fairly different, the second thing is seen as more
different from the first than it actually is. When
presenting expensive and inexpensive items together,
showing the expensive item first causes the less
expensive item to seem a better value. Presenting the
less expensive item first can have the opposite effect.
In other words, basic principles of psychology
play a powerful role in the Aesthetics of Value.
It’s a deal!
A standard device that triggers an automatic Value
response is the discount coupon. As an illustration
of just how automatic the response can be, there’s
the standard marketing story of the company that
sent out coupons in error that offered no savings but
produced as much response as the correct ones that
offered a great deal.
The Aesthetics of Value also include a portfolio
of techniques that signal “good deal” to the
consumer, from the standard burst to a technique
like substituting a plain listing of items with prices
crossed out and deal prices written in.
Branding and selling
Branding and selling can sometimes conflict. For
example, in direct response marketing you need to
worry about one thing: getting a response. If the
brand image is strong, recognized, and respected,
you may be able to leverage it. But forcing brand
imagery into direct marketing design or enforcing
branding guidelines can be counterproductive to
creating the feeling of person-to-person communication
that’s often at the heart of successful direct
response. Large logos and slick corporate graphics
can even depress response to direct mail.
In direct marketing, graphical approaches that
may appear naive or even crude are often the effect of
deliberate tactics—and the resulting marketing metrics
often bear out the wisdom of these choices.
“Packed but organized” creates confidence
Home pages packed with information dominate the
scene on the web today. Why? This design approach
has proven to inspire confidence in users that they
will find or discover Value on the site quickly. In
online direct marketing design, a circus approach—
a “hot” depiction of Value—often works. The circus
approach, however, is highly organized. Everywhere
the eye is directed, Value is projected.
Give and get
No matter the marketing media, your job is to make
people feel they will get Value. And, if you are asking
the audience to respond, here’s a simple formula
to keep in front of you while you’re creating. It tends
to keep you focused!
Value = What they get ÷ What they give.
SIDEBAR: Seeking Value online
The recent Poynter
Eyetrack III study of
new websites had
some provocative
findings that can be
applied in an evolving
Aesthetic of Value for
the web. For example,
the study reports
that “Photographs,
contrary to what you
might expect ... aren’t
typically the entry
point to a home page.
Text wins on the PC
screen—both in order
viewed and in overall
time spent looking at
it.” And
the study also found
that “simple text ads
had the highest viewing
of all ads on all
of the home pages it
tested,” even though
large image-laden ads
were seen first.
