FOR THIS ISSUE’S MAKEOVER WE ONCE AGAIN HAVE AN AD WITH a fairly decent message obscured by art direction that goes too far and copy that doesn’t go quite far enough.
I went about assessing its effectiveness in two ways:
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By paraphrasing what I take in at a glance in order to determine if it conveys a strong, clear promise.
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By hauling out and applying my trusty Makeover Maven Measuring Stick (see The Makeover Maven, Oct. 15, 2005).
The reason the first is important is that, with some exceptions, busy readers don’t have or won’t spare the time, upon glimpsing an ad with a curiosity headline, to stop and find out whether or not the ad has something useful for them.
So in this case, what do we see at first glance? A lighted office building at night. Superimposed over each of three windows is the Adobe Acrobat symbol and a single word:
Network
