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Nearly 400 magazine advertising sales and marketing professionals turned out for MPA's Magazine Coalition Rally, held November 12 at the Time & Life Building in New York City, where industry leaders shared insights, new research and advertising case studies to help publishers grow business in the face of today's challenges.
In this special edition of the MPA E-Newsletter, you'll find highlights from the presentations. For more information and downloadable materials, visit www.magazine.org/advertising.
MICHAEL CLINTON, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Hearst Magazines
ED KELLY, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Express Publishing Corporation
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| (l-r) Ed Kelly and Michael Clinton share the stage |
Michael Clinton and Ed Kelly kicked off the Magazine Coalition Rally on Wednesday morning with a little bit of perspective on the current rough times.
Clinton noted that life in 1991 and 1974 and plenty of times before that weren't the best times for magazine publishers, but then pointed out that 1974 also marked the launch of one of the magazine industry's strongest franchises: People magazine. "Great things can come from these moments," he said. "We all have to embrace the new, embrace innovations, embrace new opportunities."
Kelly said in his half of the pep talk to the industry that the current bad times will pass, but when they do the magazine industry needs to have put itself into a position to capitalize on its strong relationship with readers.
Clinton recommended using the information on the MPA website to help sell the industry overall. "This is rich, fertile data that you should really mine," he said.
Kelly chronicled the latest series of ads produced by the Magazine Marketing Coalition that humorously showcase to advertisers and media buyers that magazines are the medium of action. Those ads ran in trade magazines as well as a number of consumer titles and websites, and Kelly revealed that the numbers going to MAGFACTS.org as a result of those ads are impressive.
The pair finished up by encouraging publishers to let marketers and media buyers know that magazines aren't anywhere near dead, but they are at their strongest, that they are trusted, and their content is in high demand across all media channels. "Shame on us if we don't spend five minutes telling the story our industry has," Clinton said. "We need to talk about the impact we're having on consumers. We have an excellent story to tell."
JOHN GRIFFIN, President, Magazine Group, National Geographic Society
MPA Chairman John Griffin listed the many ways that the economic downturn is affecting publishers: loss of advertising dollars, downturn in consumer spending, uptick in distribution and printing costs, layoffs, etc. However, according to Griffin, these challenges provide a real opportunity for magazine publishers if they choose to band together and help one another out.
"We have that coziness factor with our readers," he said, "that give us a level of trust. Our credible and authoritative editorial is wanted on all fronts." Because of that kind of trust, the magazine industry could stand to gain stature in the minds of advertisers during the downturn, he said, allowing the industry to be poised on a launching pad for when the nation's economy turns around.
Going forward, the five major areas of focus for Griffin, MPA and the magazine industry involve:
1. Protecting magazines in Washington and in state capitals. The government will be "hungry for money" and eager to regulate in 2009, Griffin said, so MPA members need to be sure that regulation isn't taken money out of magazine publishers' pockets, whether it's new taxes on different types of advertising or changes in privacy laws that will make it more difficult for journalists to do their jobs.
2. Selling more magazines at retail through new and improved marketing plans to reach consumers.
3. Working with paper manufacturers, printers, and the like to be more environmentally friendly. Griffin strongly encouraged publishers to tell readers to recycle their magazines and for publishers to use EPAT, a tool that can help them match paper purchase decisions to their environmental goals.
4. Continuing to promote and develop timely audience-measurement tools in order to sell the magazine industry to marketers in a better and more effective manner.
5. Promoting the effectiveness of magazine ads.Griffin urged publishers to inform advertisers and media buyers about not only the strength of their titles but the magazine industry as a whole. "You are dealing with our most important constituency: advertisers," he said. "And they need to know how strong our industry is. We have the research that proves our power. Use it."
IRENE GRIECO, Senior Lead Print Manager, Unilever U.S.
Irene Grieco is a fan of magazines, but is fearful that magazine publishers may miss out an opportunity to gain momentum with marketers during the downturn if they don't band together, she told the Rally audience.
Grieco shared a story of attending a meeting with the American Association of Advertising Agencies, in which new numbers were discussed that showed how effectively magazines build brand awareness and purchase intent, as well as drive web traffic and search. However, her colleagues in the AAAA all agreed that this message hadn't been coming clearly from the magazine industry. "Magazines are an underappreciated part of the media mix," she said.
Grieco noted that publishers do a good job of positioning their own titles but need to position the medium as well. "You need to think about the whole pie," she said, "because if the client doesn't buy into magazines, you all lose."
Grieco knows that the time a magazine sales force has with an advertiser or marketer is gold. "The way you invest that gold is crucial," she said. "Invest an ounce of that gold by supporting the medium and supporting the basis of why magazines are so strong"
She also pointed out that digital will continue to grow as a place for marketers to put advertising dollars, and that money will likely come out of magazines unless publishers can sell the story of the magazine medium, not just individual brands.
ELLEN OPPENHEIM, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, MPA
DOM ROSSI, Senior Advisor, Marketing & Advertising, MPA
 Dom Rossi and Ellen Oppenheim teamed up to provide a step-by-step guide on how to sell magazines as the medium of action to advertisers and marketers.
Rossi revealed that in the new media landscape, there is a new scorecard for marketers and publishers to deal with. The mindset of consumers is not to continue getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks every day or shopping for the top brand names. Consumers are settling on coffee from home or the deli and happy enough to buy the off-brands when purchasing at all.
"This behavior drives marketers crazy," Rossi said, "so what they normally do is cut back." The advertising pie gets smaller and the competition for those dollars gets more intense. So publishers need to find the way to market themselves to advertisers better.
The good news is that the industry has strong data to help support its position that advertisers should be making magazines a stronger part of its media mix. But the conventional wisdom right now is that print is dying so publishers need to go full throttle toward shifting that mindset with marketers with the strong data that exists. That data, if used effectively, should move magazines from the "Nice to Have" category to the "Have to Have" for marketers, Rossi said.
The MPA website features a lot of information that can be used in that effort. In their presentation, Rossi and Oppenheim focused on the following key concepts:
Does it grow sales?
Does it maximize efficiency?
Does it drive Web traffic and search?
Does it build buzz?
On all of these topics, magazines do extremely well. There is data to show that magazine ads are the most effective and efficient in boosting purchase intent; that magazines excel at influencing consumers to start a search online; and that magazines' cost per impression is twice as effective as TV for brand awareness and nearly the same as TV for brand familiarity.
Sales reps need be ready to face down the myths about magazines put forth by marketers. There is plenty of data to support the strength of the magazine industry.
 Oppenheim noted that when she talks to marketers, they often suggest that the web is where people start for a lot of information, but third-party research suggests that people often don't get online and make those purchases or perform those searches until they read about the product or service in a magazine. "When people say they're going to put their advertising dollars into digital," Oppenheim said, "I tell them, 'If you want them to search for your product online and buy your product online, you need magazines in the mix."
Oppenheim acknowledged there will be plenty of skepticism from marketers but again suggested that publishers be ready on all fronts with the considerable amount of independent research to prove the strength of magazine advertising.
JEFF HAMILL, Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales & Marketing, Hearst Magazines
Jeff Hamill showcased a program Hearst has been running for two years with Infiniti luxury cars. The partners took a space at a extremely upscale annual auto show, the annual Pebble Beach Concors d'Elegance Lifestyle and Design show in August 2007. There, Hearst built a museum-style gallery featuring the automaker that was a huge hit with attendees and the press.
This year, Hearst built a house within the show's exhibition space and called it the Infiniti House of Inspirations. It showcased the cars while also showing the type of lifestyle one imagines for an Infiniti owner. Again, much press was generated, attendees were excited, and the house was used for a number of events within the show, such as its opening ceremonies.
Meanwhile, Infiniti had four-page special advertising sections in Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, SmartMoney, Town&Country and O, the Oprah Magazine, as well at is own microsite that generated heavy traffic.
"At the end of the day, our relationship with Infiniti has never been stronger," Hamill said. "Think large, and do these sorts of things because they pay off."
WAYNE POWERS, President, Time Inc. Media Group
Wayne Powers shared details of a program Time Inc. had designed to help launch the Dodge Journey.
Dodge wanted to reach a wide variety of consumers and age ranges as well as "hand raisers," (those who would actually have an actionable interest), so Time Inc.'s idea for the program started with its four iconic brands: Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly.
In some of the signature issues of those magazine, such as the annual Time 100, an eye-catching ad ran for the Dodge Journey with such acronyms as RHM (rotating head per mile) or ABRS (anti-boring ride system) in large type. Within the ad was an invite to experience the journey of a lifetime, which directed consumers to the web. There consumers could enter a contest where four consumers would win a Dodge Journey as well as a special tailored trip that was unique to each publication's demographics.
Time Inc. and Dodge were able to capture the "hand raisers" they were looking for. The contest got three times the number of expected entries in just one month, Power said, and 50 percent of those opted for information on the Dodge Journey.
"We want to give our advertisers the ability to communicate with our readers in any way they want," Powers said. "We're not selling ad pages anymore; we're selling influence."
MARYANN BEKKEDAHL, Executive Vice President, Group Publisher, Rodale Inc.
JACKI KELLEY, Executive Vice President of Media Sales, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
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(l-r) MaryAnn Bekkedahl and Jacki Kelley sum up the morning |
MarryAnn Bekkedahl and Jacki Kelley pointed to the different tools, which include a wealth of independent research, that magazines sales forces can utilize to self advertising more effectively. These are all available for download from the MPA website at www.magazine.org/advertising. | 