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Agree completely, though I don't believe that JCP is alone in the area of inane advertising layouts. As you have worked in the direct marketing field, you probably also noticed the unique size of the catalogs/mailing pieces; those were not cheap to produce.

As far as the color blocks, if memory serves those were intended to represent months of the year; the plan was to have light boxes throughout the stores to illuminate the store with the “color of the month”. Who knows what they were thinking there... apparently they believed that their customers were so stupid they could better keep track of months by color rather then by name. Given that Obama was reelected that may have been the only aspect of their marketing strategy they had right.

The hallmarks of a newbie refugee from general advertising or brand marketing to DM. I've also been involved heavily on the production and mailing end. No doubt the thought was to be “unique,” to “stand out” by using a weird press cutoff or page dimension. Truthfully, people are annoyed by odd formats, they don't stack neatly on the coffetable or in the magazine rack. The uniqueness that matters is contained within the pages. The pages themselves are background and secondary at best.

There is a reason certain formats have become standardized, and the USPS plays a role. They could be paying a very dear price for this futile effort to stand out, for an area in which standing out may not be received as a positive. I'd imagine they're blowing off a postal discount or two in so doing. I'd also imagine the incidence of mangled printed matter in the mailstream is higher, too. All for a very illusory benefit or none at all.

Back to the color block thing, there is a basic thought behind identifying selling periods that is time-tested, and that would be traditional seasonality. Tying your promotions to an event or holiday, studying your historic trends and sales metrics, and creating a compelling story with product that is timely and proven as far as desirability. It answers the question that goes through everybody’s head when opening the mailbox and seeing a catalog. Why are you sending me this, and why should I care? What's in it for me? This is true for e-mail blasts and splash pages also.

But no, traditional anything has been chucked out the window in favor of ... what?