AdJourney – design with direction… 

Brian of AdJourney managed a wide scope of projects for Longworth Industries – including the design, layout, photography and print management of their catalogs. One of those brands we helped with was XGO.

XGO was a division started by then Sales Manager – Trey Harris, as a platform for selling base layers to the military and law enforcement. When XGO was first presented for review by AdJourney, it was a sales sheet (1-page document) that had a series of pictures with simple descriptions of the products. Longworth makes excellent clothing (which the pricepoint reflected), but the sales material being given to the military “buyers” was utilitarian and … boring.

We explained that even though there was a very rigorous sales booklet on specs and price points for military purchases, the buyers were still – people. We needed to speak to the people responsibile for buying. We needed to address the soldiers on the field and explain how our garments were not jsut an underwear option – but a part of their gear.

A Performance Base Layer

So, we had a product we were calling a performance base layer (such gear was already known and loved by the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan). But we needed to differentiate.

Brian of AdJourney felt that if we were going to put these garments in circulation and introduce a term to the military buying vernacular, we needed to define it. We needed to set the stage for what set our product apart from all the other (much more established brands already in the market – UnderArmor, Nike, etc).

What makes a Performance Base Layer? Brian decided it had 4 key qualities – Protection + Comfort + Performance + Durability

Each of these 4 key qualities had defining elements (benefits) within them as well. If a product were protecting, how was that being accomplished? How was it measured? AdJourney felt this was a crucial part of the brand story. More valuable than a lengthy document detailing all of those features and benefits – it needed to be communicated in seconds. Best way to accomplish that? Icons.

Protect =scent prevent + Ag47 (Silver Microbial Protection)

Performance = wicks + quick drying + breathes

Comfort = stretches + extra length + clean seams + mesh construction

Durability = shrink resist + pill resist + pick resist

In addition, we decided that we would use a weighting strategy to differentiate the base layers. We called the weight categories – PHASE 1 • 2 3 • 4 and differentiated them by color. PHASE 1 was the lightest base layer. Feather weight. Thin. Comfy. Where PHASE 4 was the heaviest base layer – often fleeced and thick. 

For the products on the page, we wanted to relay as much information as possible in a a concies, simplified manner. The product tile (shown) was how we accomplished this.

Details included are:

• Phase
• MSRP
• Colors of availability
• Sizes
• Item number
• Description
• Gender
• Product Photo