Never Drive and Read New-Car Brochures

Do you need a sport-utility vehicle with 10 tie-down hooks and clips for stashing duffel bags, oars and wetsuits?

Or are you more interested in a minivan "known in parenting circles as 'the peacekeeper' "?

Would "3.5 liters of rocket science" in "the world's first all-road high-performance sports vehicle" rev up your pulse?

Or perhaps you lust after a luxury car that "quietly observes, takes notes and makes adjustments. The way we all would, in an ideal world."

Automotive brochures are an intoxicating mix of enticing descriptions--as evidenced by the come-ons cited above for the Nissan Xterra, Nissan Quest, Isuzu VehiCROSS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class--and luscious photos.

Leafing through the glossy pages, you can give free rein to fantasy. Cars pose in dramatic relief against sunset backdrops or whiz through empty, rain-slick city streets illuminated by futuristic flashes of colored light. Trucks plow sturdily through forbiddingly rugged terrain. The only thing missing in these perfect pictures is you, proudly steering into the unknown.

But the seductions of today's brochures are such that you may wonder whether they help you make wise choices. If all you had to go on were sober rows of facts and figures, maybe you'd never be tempted into buying a hunk of steel that strokes your ego while emptying your purse. Can the marketing professionals who slice and dice us into demographics based on age, income level and preferred activities actually have a positive influence on our buying behavior?

Not surprisingly, the marketing wizards at Designory Inc.--a 30-year-old Long Beach design firm whose clients include Nissan, Isuzu and Mercedes-Benz--strongly believe that the brochures they turn out are genuinely useful to consumers.

"Advertising is about getting your attention," said Lynne Lee Grigg, senior creative director. "But once we have your attention, [the brochure] is really going to help determine what you ultimately purchase, and [that you] feel good about it once you've purchased it.

"I think consumers go by gut, and if there's something we can do to contribute to making them feel this is a really quality vehicle, or superior in some way, it adds to the emotional attachment. . . . You want to have some rational backup, and the more we can provide, along with this emotional enticement, the better."

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