An opportunity of a lifetime

In collaboration with the Product Marketing Manager, Content Marketing Manager, and Production Manager, I directed this piece from inception to pre-press. PAR, a provider of psychological assessment tools for mental health professionals, relied heavily on multiple editions of their product catalog each year, but engagement was rapidly decreasing and RTO was in the negative. To solve for this challenge, this thought leadership piece was created—providing the customer with selfless relevant content and acting as an impactful touch point to nurture their relationship with the brand.

Inspiration

Why not eliminate an expensive print piece altogether? Initially, my own bias for print was the catalyst, but during my research, our Production Manager handed me a sample from Sappi; a tome called, The Neuroscience of Touch. The paper stock was beautiful and the content priceless. Dr. Engleman’s research on the impact our sense of touch has on our brains and explanation of the Endowment Effect justified my passion for print in scientific terms—touching something deepens our level of engagement because it triggers a sense of ownership, and our brains place a higher value on our possessions. Dr. Engleman explains further that interacting with content on paper rather than digitally facilitates better mental mapping, drains fewer cognitive resources, and makes retention easier. Taking this concept one step further, he conducted a study on paper quality and found that people not only understood and remembered printed content significantly better—it also stimulated positive emotional reactions.

Execution

From determining the title, customer journey, dimensions, grid, layout, to the paper it was printed on, I was able to make every design decision. The typography and branded elements were sourced from the brand’s refresh I directed and managed. The dimensions were chosen specifically to mimic academic journals, so that the reader would subconsciously feel a wave of nostalgia while they flipped through the pages. The soft touch cover and heavy coated paper stock were selected to amplify the endowment effect and strengthen the customers’ relationship with the brand.

Highlights

The results were astonishing. In addition to increasing customer engagement by 80% and decreasing costs by +$50k per cycle (a total savings up to +$200k per year) compared to the company’s previous print catalog, the COO described this piece to the Leadership Team as, “the kind of marketing PAR should be doing.”