Does advertising actually still work? According to studies, people today are exposed to an average of 10,000 to 13,000 advertising messages confronted - and the trend is rising. The result is what researchers call advertising blindness: Consumers see advertising messages, but no longer really perceive them.

How did it come about? While advertising used to be limited to TV, radio and print, today it also reaches recipients via their email inbox, while researching on Google or shopping on Amazon. In recent years, and especially with the rise of the internet and social networks like Facebook and Co.  more and more advertising channels added.

Advertising blindness and the battle for the limited attention of recipients is one of the biggest challenges for advertisers and marketers today. So how do you counter this problem and ensure that your message really reaches the target group?

Back to the Roots

Most advertising today reaches people in digital form. So to really stand out, it's back to the roots!

In particular, print advertising materials enhanced by finishing and high-quality paper have the potential to stand out from the daily flood of advertising messages. Various studies have shown that refined print products not only attract the attention of recipients, but also trigger positive emotions and even increase the willingness to buy!

Study shows: refined print products increase willingness to buy

An example of this is the 2017 study "EFF[FACT]IVE PRINT. Neuroscientific study on the effectiveness of print finishing and fine paper". As part of the study, the research institute compared „The Neuromarketing Labs“ on behalf of the Association pressure + Media Bavaria (VDMB) and the company Seismographics the different impact of high-quality print products and low-cost products.

The study was carried out using the example of a mailing from a cosmetics company, which was produced in different versions. On the one hand, there was a difference in the Quality of the paper grades used, on the other hand also the Value of the finishing techniques used. The impressive results at a glance:

1. prints with finishes increase the attention of consumers significantly.
2. refinements increase the duration of the viewing of a print product significantly. High-quality paper grades further enhance this effect.
3 Highly refined print products on high-quality paper are considered essential by the recipients perceived more attractive than unfinished products.
4. print-finished print advertising material increase the motivation to buy of the consumers.

Making brands tangible with haptic marketing

In order to understand why consumers find refined print products so appealing, we have to go on a little excursion. People can perceive stimuli in their environment via the sense of sight (optics), hearing (acoustics), smell (olfaction), taste (gustatory) and touch (haptics).

Traditional advertising (television, radio, print) mainly appeals to the senses of sight and hearing. However, the more advertising has shifted to the internet in recent years, the more sensory poorer it became: Today, we encounter most advertising messages in purely visual form.

But the more monotonous and digital the advertising, the more our need increases, experiencing things in a real and tangible way. This is precisely the need that refined prints can fulfil, as they are perceived visually, haptically and even acoustically. The feeling of high-quality paper in the hand, the fascinating play of light and shadow or the captivating play of colour that occurs when moving precious print products create appreciation, arouse emotions and capture our attention.

It's the feel that counts: Finishing techniques at a glance

With extraordinary and haptically appealing print advertising media, companies can stand out from the competition and inspire consumers. Today there are many different ways to refine flyers , posters or mailings and turn them into real experiences.

· Relief varnish

· Lasercut

· Hot foil stamping

· UV varnish

· Flocking

· Lenticular printing

· Blind embossing