Lithocraft, Offset Alpine and Printgraphics are the three major winners of the Australian Catalogue Awards 2007, with KW Doggett supplying the paper for two of the winners.
Hosted by the Australian Catalogue Association the 16th Awards the Australian Catalogue Awards are the premier industry event of the year. They are the recognition of the credentials of printed catalogues as the most effective direct marketing medium available to retailers. Some 700 entries in eight categories were received and judged on preset criteria of key performance indicators. The judges selected 34 major award winners within the categories.
From those winners a trio of major awards are given. The three major awards are Catalogue of the Year for 'Up to 1.5 million Catalogues', 'More than 1.5 million Catalogues' and People's Choice.'
The winner of the Catalogue of the Year for 'Up to 1.5 million Catalogues' was the Mazda CX-7 catalogue, produced by CHE Melbourne, printed by Lithocraft, with prepress in house by CHE, and stock a KW Doggett supplied HannoArt Silk.
The winner of the Catalogue of the Year for 'Over 1.5 million Catalogues' was the Snooze - Welcome Brand Book, produced by The Foundry, printed by Offset Alpine, with prepress by Offset Alpine, and stock was Dalton's web centerfold matt.
'The People's Choice Award is chosen from all retail category winners and was overwhelmingly selected by popular opinion by 100 household shoppers. This year the winner of the Catalogue of the Year 'People's Choice' was the China catalogue produced In-house by InterAsia, print and prepress by Printgraphics, stock was KW Doggett's Envirocare
Each of the Catalogue of the Year winners receives a return Business Class flight, accommodation in London and an invitation to attend the European Catalogue (ECMOD 2008) Awards presentation and dinner.
The other major Awards of the evening are for the Catalogue Agency of the Year, won by Cumming Agency & Studios in Sydney, the Best Young Talent, winner was Nicole Clancy of Lightning Advertising, Melbourne, and to the catalogue voted the most effective which was Jetty Surf's 'Summer 06-07 Catalogue' produced by Furst Media.
Although previously the domain of traditional retailers, it is believed that this year saw a significant jump in the number of advertising agencies entering the Awards. More and more traditional mainstream agencies are setting up catalogue-focused departments to take advantage of this growing and lucrative business opportunity. There has also been a noticeable jump in the number of catalogues and season programs within the Arts category for Dance, Music, Opera, Art Centres, Universities and Colleges.
Following the format initiated in previous years, categories are segment-orientated to more broadly attract industry segments and more fairly compare catalogues with similar production inputs.
Catalogue usage continues to grow in the retail arena as the significant media of choice for all retailers. Australia has a unique tradition of letterbox borne distribution, which far outstrips all other media options in terms of cost effectiveness and sheer popularity with retailers and consumers alike.
Should catalogue advertising be measured fairly against mainstream consumer media and not as 'direct marketing', it would be acknowledged as the number three area of expenditure in Australia after Press and TV, and more than twice the size of Radio.
Catalogue volume from July 2006 - March 2007 increased nice per cent delivered to households highlighting its resilience to economic pressures.
However, considering it represents the number one choice of Australia's largest advertisers - retailers, the impact of catalogue advertising is significantly underestimated by the advertising industry.
In 2006 retailers invested approx 62 per cent of their media dollars in Catalogues. Increasingly, agencies and their clients are now viewing Catalogues as an intrinsic element of their marketing mix backed solidly by in-house research. This very visual medium wins hands-down in the effectiveness stakes and is breeding a new type of catalogue-focused Agency featuring incredibly strong client relationships and highly motivated creative teams.
Andrew Tribute
