Can you judge wellness books by their covers?
Laminating process increases worker demand
A patented laminating process has helped pump new life into wellness publications, increasing the appeal and generating far greater employee usage of those all-important educational materials. And in an age where nearly everything seems to have an "e" in front of it, that’s no small task.
"Health promotion programs and publications have been around for 20 years," notes Don R. Powell, PhD, president of the American Institute for Preventive Medicine in Farmington Hills, MI. "It’s no longer the novelty it used to be. It’s important for people who deliver wellness programming to try to stand out, to make things look and be different than were even three to five years ago. If employees keep running into the same-old, same old’ — posters, brochures, and classes, you will see a gradual decline in participation."
Looking for a better way
Printed materials are no exception, notes Powell. Employees who keep looking at the same brochure racks and the same paycheck stuffers will eventually become disinterested.
An additional concern that had plagued Powell for quite some time was durability. "We have always looked for the best possible ways to package information," he notes. "We started with books and booklets, then kits containing booklets and cassette tapes. Brochures have been around forever. We felt that if we could combine a new look along with a new way of packaging them, we’d hit the employees right between the eyes — get them to look at the information, hold onto it, and share it with their family members. In short, the brochures would make more of an impact."
After considerable research, Powell came upon Laminating Services in Tampa, FL, a company that was using a laminating process to produce maps.
"We realized the same process could be applied to health promotion and wellness materials," recalls Powell. "The process is unique. It has a nice feel, it’s durable, and it can fold in different directions so the panel most important to you at the time can be facing you, while the brochure actually remains flat. Also, it can be mailed in a No. 10 envelope, so it’s ideal for a mass mailing."
This patented process for lamination is called Infofold, the name referring to the thickness of the laminate and the dye cut on the printed material that allows it to fold up and remain flat.
These laminated brochures have a variety of potential uses, notes Powell. "The can be used at health fairs, in direct mail campaigns, on brochure racks, during open enrollments, in newcomers’ packages, and they can even be used as premiums," he says. "And they’re great for employees who travel."
Making an impact
Powell says this new process gives brochures greater impact. "It’s something an employee will hold on to," he explains. "It has an inherent sense of value, so it’s much more likely to be kept and read."
Powell says the new brochures have been popular with clients such as Ford Motor Co. and Daimler-Chrysler. "And we’re in discussions with the U.S. Army to use them in a military self-care program," he notes.
At Ford, Powell says, employees had begun to ignore more traditional brochures, but "they’re grabbing the new brochures like you wouldn’t believe." And at the recent American Occupational Health show, nurses "swarmed around our booth" to pick them up. "It’s definitely the packaging," says Powell.
Kenneth L. Young, coordinator of benefits at UAW/Daimler Chrysler in Detroit, agrees. "We’ve been using them for about four years," he says. "We thought it would offer a way of getting through to our members. If you give them too much information, they won’t read it; but if you give the laminated Infofold, they do tend to read them, take them home, and share them with family members. It’s something you can carry around in your purse, which is handy if you have a problem like, for example, peptic ulcers."
Eight and growing
Young says his members have received the new brochures quite well. "We’ve had eight different ones done, and we’re working on a new one now," he reports. "The brochures have covered topics such as general health, you and your health care provider,’ retiree health, womens’ health, and children’s immunizations.
"They last longer, and they give the member a sense of something they should keep as opposed to a regular brochure," says Young, who has had a total of 75,000 produced. "It’s absolutely worth the investment."
As popular as this new technique has proven, Powell is looking to make his brochures even better. Technology has made it easier to produce the four-color look today’s audience demands, and to respond to the trend away from cartoons and characters to real people. "There’s now a wealth of stock photography available inexpensively via the [World Wide] Web," he says. "It’s sort of like photo clip art."
Powell is also addressing what he sees as the one weakness of the Infofold process: cost. "The publications cost between $1.50 and $2 each based on volume," he notes.
Since some of his clients have expressed a desire for less expensive publications, Powell is getting ready to launch another product, using a new process that employs synthetic paper. This process, called paperperm, combines the printability of paper with the durability of plastic.
"This is a new technology," Powell explains. "It can be safely taken into the shower, yet it will cost about the same as a brochure printed on glossy card stock."
Key points
- After 20 years of the "same-old, same-old," it’s vitally important for brochures
to increase eye appeal. - Laminated, foldable publications convey a message of importance and long-term value.
- New technology will create synthetic paper, reducing production costs while retaining attractiveness.
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