The likelihood that you have been to a Nugget Market is highly probable if you're an UC Davis student. I'm just going to assume like me, you all were in love once you step foot into the store. Everything about this grocery store is amazing; that is, everything but the prices. Would you believe me if I said you could buy the same exact over-priced produce at another grocery store?
I got the mail this week and like usual I received advertisements, coupons, and catalogs. I started to look at the local grocery store advertisements for some deals, only to stumble upon a huge coincidence. Nugget Market and Food 4 Less had the same exact advertisement. The only major change was to their company names. Of course this made me curious so I looked it up online to find out that they are part of the same chain. While there is nothing wrong with two drastically different grocery stores being from the same chain, couldn’t they at least change their advertisements?
This lack of creativity is uncalled for. By not changing the look of the ads, customers will see the obvious similarities. Why shop at Nugget Market when I can just buy the same products discounted at Food 4 Less? Nugget Market has been perceived as selling over-priced products. Claiming that the perception is untrue, Nugget Market has been trying to steer customers away from this thought. Nugget has a Price Challenge Survey available for customers. Customers choose 25 items from Nugget to survey for prices then compare those prices to their competitors’ prices. For a company that is trying to get away from this bad reputation, you’d think that they would consider the effect of publishing the same advertisement as their discounted grocery store. I for one would not be convinced to shop at the Nugget knowing that I can get the same items for much less.
While the price comparison is a few cents according to those ads, repetitively looking at the same advertisement only emphasizes how a mere cents can really add up to a lot more. Although these advertisements could cause a drop in customers at the Nugget, it can also drop customers at Food 4 Less. Questions could arise to why some produce at Food 4 Less are cheaper than Nugget’s produce. Who decides which produce goes to which store? Does that mean that produce from Food 4 Less is rotten, not yet ripe, or unable to eat? Why is the produce cheaper?
Are designers becoming lazy? I understand that the stores are from the same chain; therefore their sales are going to be the same for their produce in season. However, the photographs for each produce item are the same exact in both advertisements. The placements of the photographs are also the same. Either the designer is exercising Michael Bierut’s “Lazy Designer’s Guide to Success” word from word, or the client just doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m going to bet on the second option. However, when you look at these advertisements…they do in fact follow Bierut’s guide.
Keep it simple. Check.
The advertisements are relatively simple. Nothing fancy or abstract.
Don’t reinvent the wheel [Part 1]. Check.
Instead of starting a project with a clean slate, take the MacGyver approach. “I come on the scene and think, there’s got to be something around here I can use,” says Bierut. Each advertisement reflects one another, the artist used the same slate.
Don’t reinvent the wheel [Part 2]: Rotate the tires instead. Check.
Keep what the client has, just tweak it. The advertisements are very similar but there are adjustments for the different companies.
Do as you’re told. Check.
Simply following the client's instructions will yield wonders. I’m assuming the designer of the advertisements just followed the wants of Nugget/Food 4 Less.
Steal. No check.
Once you come up with something, never let it go. Check.
If the idea isn’t working, don’t come up with a new one. Obviously the same idea was used for both advertisements.
Make other people do the work. No check.
That’s 5 out of 7 of Bierut’s steps. Although I think these steps are great when your mind is blocked, I wouldn’t exactly use this as a formula for great design. Lazy designers lack the passion and objective that a designer needs to create a great piece. If designers today continue to follow Bierut’s steps instead of just using them as a guideline in times of trouble, then design is going to the dumps. So do I think the designer of these advertisements is lazy? Yes. Although he may be following his client’s wishes, there had to be a way to have set these advertisements up so that they didn’t look like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Can you tell them apart?
No comments:
Post a Comment