How bout that? Several of us ol' graphics/advertising guys here. I had an ad agency and a print production business for almost 20 years, and had a staff of 13. When I first started I thought it was my duty to encourage all my clients to have the best, slickest, glitziest graphics they could afford.
With time, I learned all advertising should be designed to the market it is trying to attract. Example: K Mart ads appeal to an entirely different clientele than Macy's...and it is reflected in the kind of cheesey look of their print adverting.
This does not mean any less thought goes into a cheaper looking ad or brochure. It's an image thing. Look at the grocery and appliance retailer inserts and ads...many of the ads look like a flea market with a dizzying array of offers, a variety of fonts in different sizes scattered everywhere, crooked pictures, cheap stock, and screaming headlines like SALE, SAVE, etc. Those kind of ads can be a bear to put together and take loads of time. And they are not cheap to create and produce.
Then compare that with a Rolex ad. One big, high quality picture and one to five words in the entire ad. Much of the time, price of the product is absent from such ads.
The entertainment directors of Caribbean cruise lines here in Florida want an entire, well produced package, including video. Some of the local venues will hire entertainers from a phone number scribbled on a cocktail napkin. But, in the end, we are ultimately judged on the basis of our performance in front of an audience.
Different market. Different approach.
Image. Image. Image.
If your clientele includes, say, County Fairs as well as fancy Country Clubs and hotels, it's only common sense to use unique approaches to each. Consider the price ranges paid by different clientele, the styles of music you offer, the clientele those styles and venues attract.
All in all, I like being able to produce custom fliers with MS Publisher...but I would not hesitate using a graphic designer, professional photographer, typesetting house, a 4-color printer, embosser, die-cutter and the like if the return on investment justified it.
Eddie
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