Kranz On Copy: Insights and answers on copywriting and writing copy

Yesterday, I co-led a concept presentation to a client team developing an overview brochure for a graduate school program. We showed three strong concepts, two with variations, for a total of five options for the four client representatives to consider.

Naturally, there was a lot to think about. We talked about the ultimate goal of the piece, of course, and the standards by which the brochure could be viewed as successful. One of the clients said she certainly didn't want another failure. A colleague, who was a relative newcomer to the team, wanted clarification. "How do you know when a brochure fails?" she asked. "What's failure look like?"

The first woman's answer was a classic I can't improve upon: "Failure," she said, "is hitting the road with 500 brochures and returning with 490 of them. Failure is printing 15,000 and having 14,500 still in the boxes at the end of the year."

Ouch.

What's the alternative to printing waste paper? Consider these eight options -- or these six.