Yesterday I was looking for a friendly spot for the girls, somewhere with some support, with some style, and a sense a humor.

Not those girls … you know: those “girls.”

I ((bounced))* my way to Title Nine’s brilliant digital catalog, which offers lots of smart and sassy copy, as well as some beautiful and seriously supportive solutions for the girls.

I clicked my way through the snappy descriptions of real bras for real bodies and the alphabetical list of familiar nicknames … bouncing bettys • cowabungas • dolly partons • dynamic duo • honeydews • oompaloompas … you get the gist, and I had to keep flipping the pages while I giggled. The "brabell" rating system with support-indicating yellow barbells and the photos of lemons, lollipops and old-fashioned milk cans are genius.

Yes, “gravity be damned!” Title Nine is a gal – a team of girls, I would guess – after my own heart. I was torn between the “7-Wonders Bra," the “Mae West” (wanted for built-in support) and the Booby Trap (“When nothing short of a lock down will do for our runaway girls, … there’s no escape from this maximum security bra”).

I am looking for “nice lollies” -- a friendly keeper for my twin peaks. And I absolutely LOVED and appreciated a little humor in the process of finding just the right bra.

The Title Nine creative team knows that a digital catalog isn’t just created with good technology. They know that even though they are working in the digital world, catalogers still have to excel in the kind of creative art direction that makes a print catalog -- any catalog -- a “good catalog.” Snappy copy, inviting graphics and compelling layouts connect with catalog readers and convert them into customers.

I agree with Title Nine, “Whoever said ‘less is more’ probably didn’t have big boobs” (that’s from page 36.)

I’m waiting for my package. My large package. I ordered like crazy because I was having fun. Whoever said “less is more,” certainly wasn’t shopping Title Nine’s Wunder-wear.

*Title Nine reminds us: Bounce (bouns) v. to move along in a lively manner, repeatedly striking the surface below and rebounding.

Ouch.

Posted by Leslie Linevsky at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We were looking for a dELiA*s catalog in the office yesterday because we had just launched Catalogs.com's new haul video showcasing dELiA*s on YouTube.

I love it when what you need just appears: in the mail was dELiA*s fall catalog.

This catalog is a little different from their other catalogs, though. In the middle spread are two full-page advertisements. Not dELiA*s product photos, but an ad for the new tv series “Hollywood with Money,” and another ad for the Touchstone Pictures movie “You Again.” Interesting. Then, an insert for Proactiv fell out of the catalog. In the back of the catalog, there are full page ads for another tv series and for Skintimate. The Skintimate ad is promoting a contest to win a $100 dELiA*s gift certificate by visiting Skintimate’s web site.

Print catalogs are an expensive marketing tool for retailers. The costs of printing, list management and mailing are becoming prohibitive for many brands. The decision to stop producing a print catalog and offer products through an online store presents many retailers with a dilemma, though.

Many consumers like to hold a catalog. They like to look at the pictures on paper, not just on their computer screen. They like to flip the pages, turn over the corners and – especially dELiA*s shoppers – tear out pages and tack them on a bulletin board.

dELiA*s catalog ads are components in both marketing partnerships and the cross promotion of the corporation’s other brands. But the ads are much more. They generate revenue to underwrite the print catalog.

At some point, a catalog with ads becomes a sort of hybrid catalog-magazine. Will catalog shoppers mind? Is this the direction more catalogers will go?

What do you think?

Watch our dELiA*s haul video here:

Posted by Leslie Linevsky at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)