Amazon’s Marketing Campaign too Clever by Half
For three days, the Amazon 2020 toy catalog sat on my dining room table unopened.
Finally, at dinner, I ask the kids, “Don’t you want to look at the toy catalog?”
“What toy catalog? Where? Where? Where is it?!” they return.
Your marketing campaign has failed when children don’t realize you’ve sent them a catalog full of toys. It’s a beautifully-designed cover that completely conceals what’s inside.
In Marketing, Design for Your Audience
Compare the sophisticated, illustrative design of Amazon’s catalog with an example of the exuberant JC Penney catalog of my youth that induced heart palpitations in all children.
Totally toys, indeed.
No matter what design, color scheme or copy you prefer, make sure your audience will connect with it. Amazon probably won’t suffer from this marketing mistake. Even three years ago, Amazon sold $4.5B in toys and accounted for 16.7% of the entire US toy market.
But small business marketing is different. A small business can’t afford for a large marketing campaign to fail and must be more strategic about the communications it shares with customers.
