DM is an abbreviation for "direct mail" advertising items. Generally speaking, DMs are relatively small and easy to carry around. As a result, DM design should strive for creative novelty and DMs that are beautiful, readily kept, and able to induce people to not throw them away. We therefore pay attention to the following points when designing DMs: (1) A DM should feature a vibrant brand and striking topic; it should grab consumers' gaze, attract consumers' curiosity, and make consumers involuntarily want to read on. Ideally, a DM should make consumers want to pick one up. (2) For the convenience of consumers or your customers, DMs should have a size that allows them to fit comfortably in a suit or a shirt pocket or briefcase. (3) The size of your DMs should possess continuity and unity. For instance, if you choose to print DMs on size A paper, you can change the standard size of your corporate DMs from A1 to A2 to A3, and then to three-fold A4 paper. You can also make parallel changes if you choose to use size B paper. In other words, you must always continue to use the kind of paper that you originally chose; never, never switch back and forth between large and small sizes, and finally end up unable to decide which you want to use.

You shall therefore choose an initial paper size based on the content that you wish to express. You can make designs for size A three-fold, four-fold, five-fold, or six-fold paper. But no matter how many folds you use, the final size should be three-fold A4 paper. The following examples illustrate some SPR COFFEE DM scenarios:  

You can design an instruction booklet if your advertising has more extensive content and you wish to present it in a systematic manner. You should pay attention to the following points when you arrange the text and illustrations of your instruction booklet: (1) Because instruction booklets are costly to produce, you should clearly define who you plan to give them to, and should gear the text and illustrations towards particularly interested customers. (2) In order to achieve good results with less effort, the content of instruction booklets should be aimed squarely at customer needs and focus on key points. (3) You should select and employ illustrations that are appealing and consistent with the brand ambiance. Selection of appropriate illustrations will reflect your media taste and may provide an important inducement for customers to read further. (4) Key words should be added to headings and content, and content should be arranged in an orderly manner, encouraging readers to patiently, enthusiastically read the entire content. (5) The size should be unified with that of other publicity materials, which will help consumers arrange and keep the company's literature. For instance, our strict requirement is that size A paper be used in the design of instruction booklets.

Posters provide a strong, direct visual impact. Posters can continuously, repeatedly present brand features in front of consumers' eyes. Posters constitute a forceful, direct marketing method. Deepening the impressions that consumers receive from posters can achieve outstanding publicity effects. Posters have tremendous ability to stimulate purchases and strengthen competitiveness, and they are especially effectiveness in the case of customers who have entered a coffee shop but cannot immediately confirm the content of the menu. The effect of posters in the company's brand image process therefore cannot be neglected.

Addressing customers' purchasing urges is an extremely important part of posters design. From the angle of visual effect, everyone dislikes monotonous pictures and tedious text; and would much rather see beautiful, spectacular scenes. The thinking in poster design should be that you are producing a work of art, and must do your utmost to create a work that is harmonious, creative, and distinctive.
While a professional designer might not consider producing a poster to be a huge challenge, making a good poster may be very difficult for most people, or for coffee store owners. We therefore provide an introduction to different types of posters:
The first type is what we call a "completed poster provided by headquarters." This kind of poster is already a completed work; all the user needs to do is to affix it to the wall as instructed. These posters are very commonly used. The second type is what we call an "uncompleted poster provided by headquarters." We complete most of the main composition in these posters, but leave an A4 or A3 size blank space. The franchise store owner can use this blank space to draw or attach his or her own design or expressive content, text, or pictures. This kind of combined effect enables the poster to maintain its integrity, while preserving the unity of the company's brand style. The third type is what we call a "franchise store completed poster." This kind of poster is designed by headquarters in order to meet the different needs of franchise stores in various locations. Subtypes classified according to the types of activities involved include product sales promotion posters, holiday & festival posters, and other activity posters.

When a customer is sitting alone in a coffee shop, and hasn't brought any reading material, that consumer will naturally consider picking up and reading a newspaper or magazine. This is a universal phenomenon. This should make us ponder why we don't produce our own literature that customers can read. Why have we passed up this opportunity to find out more about our brand? In light of this situation, we have introduced our own A4 size black-and-white newspaper (with Chinese and English versions) and an A3 size color quarterly. We also produce special publications or place newspaper advertisements on special, festive occasions.

POP is an abbreviation for "point of purchase," and refers to point of purchase advertisements. POP displays are mainly used to stimulate and guide consumers' immediate purchases, and they also serve to enliven the store atmosphere. POP displays may be hand-painted or made by color printing. The different types of POP displays include outdoors signs, display panels, glass window announcements, in-store signs, flags, and even 3D cartoon figures, etc. POP displays are usually used in short-term sales promotions. They often have an exaggerated or humorous style, along with bright colors, since they are intended to attract consumers' gaze and stimulate desire to purchase. POP displays are currently used as a low-price, high-effectiveness advertising method, and are widely used within stores.

Of course, if you suspend POP displays in high places, or place them outdoors or in particularly conspicuous locations, it wouldn't hurt to cut out the POP display picture and divide it into several small pictures that can flutter in the breeze and create a POP melody. This is just one very creative design idea. You can also place different pictures on the two sides of a single POP display.

To summarize, our coffee training and lecture slide series include a brand introduction series, coffee culture series, coffee communications series, coffee roasting series, coffee appreciation series, food and beverage handling series, service procedure series, service English series, administration and management series, customer satisfaction series, store design series, equipment maintenance and care series, store logistics series, store finances series, coffee shop fixed-price series, coffee shop cleanliness series, coffee shop opening preparation series, elementary sales promotion series, store sales promotion series, human resource management series, computer application and network management series, store lighting series, sanitation, health, and fire safety series, and time management series, etc.

Don't forget that the lecturer is the focus of attention in the classroom, and the slides are merely an auxiliary tool. Slides are really only useful for reminding lectures to cover all key points. In view of this thinking, CIS design of slides should bear in mind the following points: (1) Use a plain and unadorned background whenever possible; the background shouldn't draw attention from the main topic. (2) Remember to include the corporate logo in slides. (3) Use a font that is easy to read and not too ornate. (4) Each slide should emphasize only one key point. (5) All sides should share a consistent, uniform style. (6) The slides as a whole should be concise and not too wordy or disorganized.

We can also design slides with local stylistic features meshing with the lecture site at the beginning and end. This is a bit like having the lecturer speaking a few phrases of local jargon, and is an equally effective way of connecting with listeners. For instance, SPR COFFEE headquarters faces the ocean and a beautiful beach. We therefore use this scene on the first and last slide of a series to express our welcome and gratitude.

We have designed several video series teaching materials allowing our customers, trainees, franchise store owners, and their employees to absorb our newest knowledge in a direct and immersive manner. The series include a corporate introduction video, coffee culture video, training class video, in-store activity video, new product introduction video, and other relevant videos. In particular, we specially produce VCDs to send to personnel at franchise stores throughout the country who cannot personally participate in training at our headquarters. We also allow franchise owners and trainees to directly download learning videos from our web site. This use of video media ensures that brand messages can be transmitted everywhere in the same amount of time.

In the process of enhancing corporate brand image and planning the company's future development process, the company brand can, apart from functioning in the commercial media, also provide a basis for interchange with academic units. This can allow the most up-to-date management knowledge to be acquired and put to use in the company. We have sent a candidate to National Tsinghua University to study in that school's EMBA (Executive Master of Business Administration) program. This candidate wrote the "The SPR Coffee Chain Store System—Report on the Planning and Rapid Development of the Chinese Coffee Market." We have published this research report as a bound volume, and we place it in coffee shops throughout the country for our customers. We hope that this kind of action will intangibly give the company a new image and establish us as a highly professional coffee brand.

We have entered the placement marketing age, which means the entertaining nature of content carriers can be used to introduce the essence of one's brand into the minds of consumers, achieving the goal of brand communication. So-called content carriers include TV and movie dramas, athletic events, opera, music, TV programs, publications, online games, online videos, cell phones, and virtual communities. Brand placement marketing is gradually evolving into an all-new marketing communication philosophy. We therefore use a number of methods to conduct placement marketing of SPR COFFEE, and have published the following book series: The first book is entitled SPR Coffee Chain Management, and introduces the company's background, its philosophy, and its operating model. The second book is entitled The Pleasure of Reading Coffee, and explains the relationship between coffee and health; this book gives consumers correct understand of the nature of coffee. The third book is entitled the Text of SPR Coffee, and reveals the practical methods and secrets of coffee shop operation. The fourth book is entitled On SPR Coffee Design; this book features parallel Chinese/English text and provides a full-scale, detailed introduction to the décor of our coffee shop and franchise stores from the outside in. The fifth book is entitled Listening to the Richness of Coffee, and introduces coffee from six different angles. This book offers unique interpretations of the notes and awakenings of life, our immersion in and perception of work, and our spinning and expectations of ourselves. The sixth book is entitled SPR Coffee Brand Handbook, and is the present book.

Apart from the foregoing media materials, we should also try to effectively control, utilize, design, and operate all spaces or carriers that can transmit information via any medium. For instance, we can learn from examples how to design indoor and outdoor advertisements. Of course, if your coffee shop has enough area, we recommend that you make the most effective use of your valuable space, such as by letting fashion-conscious young people hold their weddings here. This is a very distinctive business model.