When a landmark publication serving Austin’s senior community decided it was time for a makeover, Bells Advertising faced a serious challenge: How do you provide a fresh look and feel without losing the institution’s most valuable asset—it’s tradition?

The answer was re-designing the Senior Advocate’s pages, not its character.

“It would have been easy to take it to the bare bones and make it look like a completely new publication,” said Gayle Sheehan, Bells International Vice-president/Creative Services. “But we didn’t want to lose that history. In the end, we were able to incorporate the more iconic elements of their company into a very fresh, very modern design. The client was happy and we were glad that we could bring a bit of their history into the 21st century.”

While the Senior Advocate is a longtime cornerstone-publication serving people over 50, their audience is diversifying. The boomers are coming—and they’re changing the face of a gradually aging America. They’re also changing market plans, becoming a prime target group for publications like the Senior Advocate and their advertisers. This is a demographic with a more technology-driven culture, a group exposed to the very latest trends in marketing and design.

With such a large and varied group coming of age, the real question was “what do they want?” A community focus group conducted by Bells reinforced the need for some significant changes. If the publication was going to appeal to an entirely new generation, not only would it have to look different, it would have to be different.

“Fortunately, the client was pro-active about broadening their appeal,” Sheehan said. “They added new content and columns to the newsletter to provide more information on topics like technology, personal beauty, active living and health and fitness. The client was able to adapt, and we were able to convey that in our design.”

The new design was crafted with a greater emphasis on visual appeal. Bells used more color, graphics and photos along with incorporating bold information boxes to make navigation faster and easier. They used pull-out quotes to add a new dimension to the page and highlight important elements of the article. In the end, the goal was to show the public the same source they’d trusted for years for news and information, but with a more attractive, more contemporary, more user-friendly format.

The next step in the process was equally important—making readers and advertisers aware of the new design and expanded content. Bells created a new rate new card with bright colors and a contemporary style to make an immediate impression on advertisers. They also developed a similarly styled direct mail piece.

“Senior Advocate readers don’t live in a bubble, they read other publications both in print and online. They want a community focus in a publication with relevant information in a great, easy-to-use package,” Sheehan said. “It was tailor-made for the services we offer, and I’m glad we were able to help.”

10/01/06