Proof that print advertising can be effective

At Visible Logic, we specialize in clearly and effectively communicating the benefits of complicated brands. And recently, we were reminded just how valuable that specialty is to our clients.

We helped our client, STARC Systems, create an ad for a recent issue of Medical Construction and Design magazine. By participating in the publication’s Ad Measurement program, STARC learned that our ad was the most effective in the entire issue. This SIGNET AdEffect™ Study was able to provide feedback on the effectiveness of all the ads in that issue and give STARC measurement scores and narrative feedback from readers from the publication’s circulation list.

Scoring and feedback

You can see the ad to the right. It introduces STARC’s temporary containment walls that are used to hide the dust, noise and contaminates during hospital renovation projects.

Here are some highlights of the feedback on our ad:

• It was the highest rated ad with an AdEffect score of 84 out of 100 (compared to an issue average of 69).
• The ad provided awareness of STARC’s products to 85% of the readers and caused 15% to take action.
• STARC’s products are challenging to show and explain, yet the comments from readers overwhelming showed that the ad “Rapidly conveys the purpose and benefit of the product.”

Measuring the effectiveness of non-digital ads

At Visible Logic, our experience and approach enables us to create work that communicates effectively and is visually engaging. In recent years, we’ve been able to back this up with the rich amount of data provided by digital ad platforms. But getting this verification from print advertising is more difficult and harder to quantify.

You may have heard the saying “Half of our advertising works, we just don’t know which half.”

For this reason, many businesses are tempted to bypass traditional print ads. But this can be a huge mistake. Like many B2B companies, STARC was able to identify a magazine that had a readership that closely aligned with their target buyers. And now we have the feedback and data to show how effective advertising in that publication can be.

Fast-growing companies need effective ads

STARC recently was recently named #460 on Inc Magazine’s fastest growing companies. Having this type of growth requires effort across all areas of a business, and we’re proud to be part of STARC’s marketing efforts as we’ve helped them streamline their branding and develop highly effective ads over the past 18 months.