Top Design Contest--Commercial/Promotional Printing

Platinum Award: Commercial/ Promotional Printing.

Moving On Up.

In the Chicagoland area, newspapers and magazines aren't the only things that are black and white and read all over. Locals also read confidential legal briefs—or at least that's what Nicole Wede, a sales representative for Printex Designs, Wood Dale, Ill., tried to get them to do.

When Mauge & Associates, a Chicago-based ad agency, came to Wede looking for a unique way to market some recently refurbished commercial lofts, Wede had an idea: Why not produce a marketing brochure disguised as a confidential legal brief? It would certainly pique readers' interest—but would it help move units?

"It went over so well they completely filled the facility before construction was over," reported Wede. "The main goal was to sell these spaces, but it was also to generate other sales from it—and it did that."

Designed by Mauge & Associates, the brochure features a 10x11.75-inch red pressboard jacket wrapped in a paper band stamped "Confidential" to arouse readers' curiosity. Inside, handsome computer-generated illustrations of the facility's interior and facade entreated readers to continue exploring the brochure. A floor plan and a long list of the facility's attributes were also included to answer any preliminary questions.

Although the project only took two and a half months to complete—largely because the customer liked Wede's idea right off the bat—Wede says there was some minor difficulty, including finding just the right folder for the job.

Because the whole pitch depended on the customers believing they had mistakenly received a confidential legal brief, it was essential that the file look official, yet have the proper prongs inside for displaying inserts.

Of course, they found the folder, but Wede says she also found a little satisfaction in the process.

"I don't think this has been done be-fore," said Wede. "Usually you see the regular saddle-stitched or the spiral-bound books, and they don't have the commercial or industrial feel that we wanted. This is just different; this is cool."