Makro Cash & Carry

The end customer, direct offerings and competitive products all require modern solutions, making the segment require cutting-edge technology to reach the right customer in the right way. As it turns out, in the era of online marketing, social media, targeted campaigns and apps, one of the traditional channels for reaching the customer still makes sense and fulfills its role as a reliable medium – namely, printed advertising leaflets and magazines.

Project summary:
Client: Metro Group, Digiprint
Year: 2007-2015
Scope: Print & publication
Designers: Łukasz Mazurek, Krystian Świtaj

Seemingly trivial and oftentimes treated as a relic of the past, the tool has its own specific role and must meet many requirements to ultimately work as intended. In addition to interesting and inviting graphics and high-quality product photos, presented in such a way enticing the customers to purchase, one of the key necessities is a clear presentation of the current offer. Product descriptions, technical details or packaging weights and the most important information, i.e. the price should all be presented and juxtaposed in a way that provides an easy-to-read message with the primary goal of provoking a purchase impulse.

While the layout might appear trivial or random, not a single element truly is such. The size of the font used (helping people with poor eyesight can read easily), contrasting yet unobtrusive color combinations carefully kept from overwhelming the subtlety of product photos, the number of products shown on a single page – all of this is had been carefully thought out and planned in advance.

Each scope requires a different concept and graphic means to present the offer invitingly.

One of them is sensory marketing, that is advertising activities utilizing color psychology. The goal is to skillfully adjust the message to fully affect the recipient and cause a specific reaction. That’s why promotional offers are usually in colors such as red, yellow and orange, as they stimulate appetite and action. Blue colors are used by manufacturers of cleaning supplies and companies in technology industries, as they evoke feelings of safety and peace. It is also equated with wisdom and prudence, but should be avoided for food items, with thich it can evoke negative associations.

Promotional leaflets are primarily intended for print, but may be also made available  electronically in pdf files for viewing in a web browser. Their ubiquity and form of distribution can make them treated as an annoyance and a waste of paper – this is their disadvantage. However, we try to look at it from a different perspective – when properly designed, they make it easier for digitally excluded people to stay up to date with the current offer of their favorite store and find the right product.