Enough is enough. Things have to change. Yes, we’re brilliant. Time after time we figure out ways to overcome postage hikes, increased paper costs, higher delivery expenses and so much more. But these days we have other concerns:

• Softening demographics. Just how much more will baby boomers really need as they experience slower economic times and slimmer paychecks heading into their mature years?

• More competition. Remind me: What’s the difference between The Gap, Eddie Bauer, Lands’ End and about 4 million others that carry the same basic stuff, including soon-to-own-the-world Wal-Mart?

• A generally frightened public that, for now, spends to forget — but when everyone takes a step back and comes to realize how our country has seen surpluses become deficits, they might well become more cautious in their spending.

• Not to mention that stock market thing that isn’t working as well as we’d become accustomed to.

Usually, when times seem as if they might be going bad, folks pull in like crazy, turning into total conservatives overnight. But maybe this time, with all these changes happening at once, it’s gone beyond that. Perhaps now is the time for catalog companies to redefine what a catalog is. Maybe catalogs should become what most focus group attendees already call them… magazines.

Years ago one of our clients was forced by its parent company to take advertising for the parent in the catalog. The gist of the barrage of complaints from the catalog staff went something like this: “It will ruin the catalog’s integrity.” “It will look plain awful.” And worse: “It will have a negative effect on sales.”

But run the ads we did. And they had absolutely no negative effect on sales. Focus groups felt the ads created little confusion or disruption to the catalog’s flow. Some even found the ads contained useful information.

Certain catalog companies already sell space in their book. You may not have noticed because the pages are designed to look like they’re part of the catalog. Others treat sold space like a magazine ad. Not long ago Alloy, a catalog for teens, devoted 14 pages to ads selling everything from Cover Girl makeup to credit cards. The Company Store’s May edition had a full-page advertisement for Snuggles laundry detergent. And Catalog Age recently quoted Company Store president John DiFrancesco as saying the “profit from the ad is up to five times greater than the profit a page of merchandise offers would reap.”

This is a good beginning gauge to determine what you might be able to charge, should you take an ad. Further, check the rate cards of similar publications, both for target audience and circulation. The higher the circ, the more targeted the market, usually the higher the rate. Be aware that, due to a dearth of advertising in most publications over the last few years, there’s some slippage in the rates you may actually see published.

So why would advertisers want to participate in an untried vehicle like a catalog when they’re reluctant to take ads in traditional magazines? Well, in an odd way, you’re about to get help in establishing the idea that non-traditional avenues might be the place for advertisers to spend their dollars.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is about to begin a campaign to tout the benefits of advertising on the Web. Even though The New York Times noted recently that this might be a tough sell, it also said “there are signs that marketers are beginning to see the Internet as a valuable adjunct to traditional media campaigns.” Advertising in catalogs, too, could become a useful supplement for traditional marketers — if, of course, brave souls go after advertisers that are a natural fit with their catalog’s positioning.

And what about the other two main aspects of evolving your catalog into a magazine/magalog — the editorial and the subscription fee?

Magalogs have been tried repeatedly. One reported result was that the editorial didn’t make any positive difference in sales, but it did extend the life of the catalog and so, inadvertently, negatively affected the cash flow.

If you look again, you’ll see there was a silver lining in that negative statement — a chance to have your catalog retained. When this case history was reported, the mails were not as crowded as they have become and customers had not gotten used to discarding catalogs because they knew another one was on the way.

But, you say, editorial doesn’t pay for itself. Well, in one tiny test I participated in, it actually did. At least enough to pay for the extra cost of the paper and printing the editorial required. Now let’s say you have those advertising dollars coming in from another relevant company. That monetary buffer would let you test the merit of pertinent, interesting editorial that’s really useful to the reader. You could even try a continuing story approach and build in anticipation for the arrival of your catalog. Done right, you could get extra retention and a lift in sales, plus the reassurance that your risk is minimal due to the advertising income.

Being a new kind of catalog is worth some substantial PR, which we all know means new names in the fold. Is there anybody out there who couldn’t use some new customers?

Actually charging for a subscription to this new breed of magalog, though, seems to be pushing your luck. Most catalogers no longer charge for catalogs advertised in magazines or blow-ins. One reason is that most consumers are well aware that their mailboxes are filled with catalogs without actually paying for them. Even with the increased value editorial and handsome adverting add, leave those charges for paid subscriptions to the magazines…for now.

KATIE MULDOON is president of DM/catalog consulting firm Muldoon & Baer Inc., Tequesta, FL.

Enough is enough. Things have to change. Yes, we’re brilliant. Time after time we figure out ways to overcome postage hikes, increased paper costs, higher delivery expenses and so much more. But these days we have other concerns:

• Softening demographics. Just how much more will baby boomers really need as they experience slower economic times and slimmer paychecks heading into their mature years?

• More competition. Remind me: What’s the difference between The Gap, Eddie Bauer, Lands’ End and about 4 million others that carry the same basic stuff, including soon-to-own-the-world Wal-Mart?

• A generally frightened public that, for now, spends to forget

A friend of DIRECT shared an embarrassing story with us.

Amy (whose last name will remain secret for reasons that will be obvious in a moment) ordered a bra from Spiegel. She was very happy with the item when it arrived, but the mailing label gave her pause.

After her name and address was a string of customer numbers — which were in turn followed by her bra size. Amy showed the label around her office, wondering if she was the only one who noticed “34DD.”

“No one in my office had any trouble figuring out what those numbers were,” she reports, wondering how many eyes glanced upon the label before the package reached her doorstep.

Chuckling, but wishing to remove this data from future mailings, Amy sent an e-mail to Spiegel customer service, generally informing the cataloger that “a little discretion wouldn’t hurt.”

The answer was a form e-mail letter, which neither acknowledged her particular problem nor promised redress.

To Amy, it’s a question of privacy. “There are some things you should be able to do without everyone in the world knowing what you’re doing,” she points out. “Nowadays, it’s bad enough that someone somewhere knows what Web site I’ve been on and every time I use my credit card. I should be able to buy a bra in peace.”

When contacted by DIRECT, Spiegel spokeswoman Chris Crockett says putting an identifier on the label — such as the size — is standard operating procedure for single-item orders. It increases efficiency.

This was the first complaint, she adds. “Most people probably don’t notice that it’s there. We regret any embarrassment this may have caused her.”