Carey, Townsend, Griffin, Balis: Redefining the Magazine as Marketing Platform

You are receiving this email as a corporate subscriber to Jack Myers Media Business Report Redistribution in any form except among approved individuals within your company is prohibited As a subscriber you have full access to all archives and reports at wwwjackmyerscom If you require your ID and password contact maryannjackmyerscom PART 6 Myers 20102012 Media Trends ReportThe magazine publishing industry is undergoing the most radical change in its history as it reels from the loss of more than onethird of advertising revenues since 2007 First veteran Condamp233 Nast executive David Carey departed to lead Hearst Publishing Then Condamp233 Nast CEO Chuck Townsend announced a major refocusing of his business that literally redefined the role of the magazine for publishers editors consumers and advertisers And this week it will be officially announced that Meredith Publishing president Jack Griffin will assume the presidency of Time Inc Magazines after resigning two weeks ago from MeredithIn each case the management shift has reflected a move away from traditional magazine publishing amp8211 away from magazines as media The new management reflects a redefinition of the magazine as multidimensional marketing platform The organizations involved are making a clear commitment to deemphasizing their dependence on advertising revenues and increasing their abilities to target quotbelowthelinequot budgets including direct marketing consumer sales promotion trade promotion event social media conversational marketing cause related and even search marketing budgetsEven with the 2010 ad recovery it39s become clear that magazine publishers39 dependence on traditional print advertising budgets is unlikely to deliver the growth their parent corporations require even for the most successful publications While comparing 2010 growth to the aberrational 2009 recession year looks good the long term industry prognosis is weak Consumer magazines39 peaked in 2000 at 110 share of the total advertising market declining to an 82 share in 2009 Jack Myers Media Business Report forecasts a slight rebound of magazines39 business to 86 market share in 2012 but 2012 advertising revenues will increase to only 164 billion down from the high of 215 billion in 2007If magazines are to significantly increase revenues they must position themselves to tap into the 114 billion that marketers are projected to invest this year in Media Directed PromotionEventSponsorship Investments These budgets exclusively analyzed and forecast by Jack Myers Media Business Report are expected to grow 22 in 2011 and 30 in 2012 increasing to more than 18 billion dollars in 2012 budgets expected to be available to media companies for nonadvertising applications Today the most visible of these investments are targeted to sports sponsorships and rights fees instore media mediarelated events and experiential marketing activities and entertainmentbased marketing programs movies and musicIn the future thanks to digital opportunities traditional media companies will be positioned to target and capture a growing share of these nonadvertising investments and Myers39 aggressive growth forecast for this new category is based on our expectation that media companies will commit the necessary resources to target these budgets The magazine industry should be applauded and hopefully rewarded by marketers for its strategic redirectionTargeting of these nonadvertising budgets is consistent with the DNA of the magazine business However over the past two decades publishers have been pushed hard by marketers and media buying agencies to compete based on audience reach and scale and have effectively disowned their heritage of pricing based on the value of loyal audiences and engaging content and effectiveness in generating response Although the Magazine Publishers of America have invested more than any other trade associations in research to prove the value of their audiences based on engagement and emotional metrics it has mostly fallen on deaf amp8211 or at least hardofhearing ears Ad spending is determined for the most part by audience size demographic targeting and priceLast year new sales and marketing management at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia headed by Janet Balis announced a series of marketing initiatives that required marketers to embrace and financially reward the publisher39s magazines for their ability to engage their audiences and generate response to marketing offers and outreach The results have been positive and sustained Several years ago Meredith39s Griffin refocused that publisher39s business to emphasize direct marketing capitalizing on the value of Meredith39s databases and acquiring direct marketing firms to advance their value The positive results were significant Meredith39s business grew 4 last year in a market that experienced declines averaging 15 to 20At Time Magazines one of the bright spots has been the integration of magazine assets into marketing programs developed and implemented by the corporate parent39s Global Media and Marketing Solutions Group now headed by former YampampR creative executive Mark D39Arcy Again these initiatives are dependent on crossmedia initiatives and the embrace of media as a marketing platform rather than exclusively as a delivery vehicle for advertising messages The success of this group and of Meredith39s positive results was most likely a significant influence on the choice of Griffin as successor to Anne Moore at Time IncJP Partilla who had partnered with D39Arcy at Time Warner until last year left to establish a similar expanded effort at Clear Channel signaling that company39s effort to reposition its radio and outofhome business as marketing partner in addition to media assetAnd on the media agency side of the business similar moves reflect the marketing and multiplatform opportunities being advanced by traditional media companies While most media agencies are exploring ways to enhance their ability to understand and incorporate marketing capabilities into their service offerings IPG39s Universal McCann a part of the Mediabrands division has made it a core aspect of their business model Under president Matt Seiler and EVP Jacki Kelley the agency has focused on building enhanced partnerships on behalf of their clients with media companies emphasizing the expanding availability of belowtheline budgets

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE MYERS REPORT RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Carey, Townsend, Griffin, Balis: Redefining the Magazine as Marketing Platform

Author

Publish date

Channel

Jack Myers

The Ad Council, Huntsman Mental Health Foundation and Amazon Announce “The Mind Set” to Support Mental Health - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE MYERS REPORT RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Carey, Townsend, Griffin, Balis: Redefining the Magazine as Marketing Platform

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Jack Myers

The Ad Council, Huntsman Mental Health Foundation and Amazon Announce “The Mind Set” to Support Mental Health - Ad Council InSites

The payment was successful

Cookies