No Cap

October 11, 2024      Kevin Schulman, Founder, DonorVoice and DVCanvass

In October 2017, rappers Future and Young Thug released a collaborative mixtape titled “Super Slimey”, which included the song “No Cap.”  My children tell me this has nothing to do  grammatical conventions but nevertheless, these rappers were mostly right.

Alas, the marketing, fundraising and advertising world didn’t the memo.  All cap headlines are very common.  For instance, one examination found all caps was used for headline, body text or both in more than 80% of ads in magazines as diverse as National Geographic, Cosmopolitan, and Runner’s World.

That’s a lot of uppercase.  They must have ‘tested into it’ and therefore, the all cap version of this ad must do a better job of conveying the message and fostering recall, RIGHT?  Cap (google it).

ALL CAPS DECREASES READABILITY ESPECIALLY WITH LENGTHY COPY.   And decreased readability means lower recall of the brand and the attributes promoted.  But, selective use on the key part – e.g. ORGANIC INGREDIENTS – did help.  Goldilocks wins again.

Kevin

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