In one way or another most of us are hankering after extra space in our lives, a bigger desk, a more spacious kitchen, a car that seats the kids far, far away from each other (that one might just be me…). Advertising is no exception; one of our biggest creative conundrums as an agency is fitting everything we want to say into our adverts. Our clients have such great products to shout about and fantastic stories to tell we often have to reluctantly leave out some really strong selling points from ads because we simply don’t have the space.
This is where inserts can really shine, being able to say as much as you want without space or time constraints is one of the major plus points of inserts. We choose the format to fit the message not the other way around meaning we can say everything we need and really do products and brands justice.
We all know that extra space means extra costs but, in the same way adding a well thought out extension to your home will increase its value, a good insert plan will do more than pay for itself. Aquability have eight different products and twenty eight years of trading under their belt, it’s always been a tough call choosing what to focus on in their ads. As the business grew it became clear we could say so much more than an advertising page would allow. We started off with a simple A5, 2 page insert that allowed Aquability to promote two products instead of one and we expanded from there.
Aquability now run millions of inserts from two to eight pages in size every quarter. One of the top performing insert formats is a hardworking, sub – A4, eight page piece that does a brilliant job of covering a lot of ground, showcasing various products as well as providing in depth information about Aquability and their service. The eight page “Guide to Bathing” is so effective at generating sales that it takes all top three slots when looking at individual ads/inserts by sales value in 2021. It doesn’t just bring in large numbers of responses and sales, it’s cost effective with both the CPL and marketing % coming in well below average.
The next time you are agonising over what points you have to leave out or choosing between two equally fantastic products just imagine what you could do with an extra page…or two…or eight….
Written by Helen Gower, Inserts Specialist Please contact Helen if you’d like more info or to discuss your own projects: helen@aja.co.uk