May 2009

Two sets of numbers recently came across my screen that illustrates the wrenching changes in media and marketing.  MIN Online has released 2009 first half numbers for monthly magazines and it is ugly.  Yes, we are in a tough recession, but these steep drops are more about the decline and fall of print advertising supported media.  Here is a snippet of the carnage as reported by MediaPost News:

The losses were widespread, with only eight out of the 118 titles tracked by MIN showing an increase in ad pages.  Among women’s lifestyle titles, Allure, Lucky, Vogue and W are all down over 30%. Auto and enthusiast titles (mostly targeting men) are sharply down, with drops of over 30% at Power & Motoryacht, Boating, Automobile, Motor Trend and Road & Track, Details, Maxim and GQ are also down over 30%, as are music monthlies Spin and Vibe and food titles Gourmet and Bon Appetit.

The brands mentioned above were formally profit generating powerhouses in lucrative categories.  The bulk of these pages are not coming back after the recession nor are closed newspapers going to spring back to life.  The ad market is undergoing a structural change.  Print is caught is a vise – readers have moved on to online media (more about that soon) and marketers are looking for measurable results that drive sales.  It is hard to make that case with a $50,000 branding ad in a monthly glossy magazine.

At the same time social media is on fire.  Facebook is now getting 300 million unique visitors per month, a 160% increase from a year ago.  This April, Twitter received 32 million world wide uniques, up 70% in a month!  MySpace has been flat at 123 million uniques per month while Facebook and Twitter grow unabated.  MySpace is going to end up the Netscape Navigator of its time. 

Since there are still only 24 hours in a day, something must be suffering with people spending all that time with social media.  Spring 2009 MRI readership shows a significant decline in magazine readership in the past year.

This has huge implications for marketers as they decide on their strategies for coming out of this economic downturn.  Reaching customers and prospects the old fashion way, is well, old fashion.  More than ever, it is imperative for marketers to turn to content market, storytelling and private media channels for measurable results.  And, now is the time to harness the power of social media.   Tweet now or forever hold your peace.

This is an interesting situation worth watching to see if a classic “old media” brand can make a successful transition to the new media landscape.  As reported on cnbc.com, Newsweek will debut their transformation on Monday in print and online today.  In a nutshell, they are moving from a newsweekly to thought leadership/opinion magazine.  In addition, they will take the rate base way down and focus on quality of readers who will in theory pay more for subscriptions. 

Here is a description of the new sections in the magazine:

“The magazine will be reorganized into four sections with a new focus on opinion. A new section called “The Take” will gather all the magazine’s columnists into one place. Newsweek is adding a new survey called “Internationalist” about world happenings. “The Culture” section will feature a lead essay with big ideas about art etc. The content will aim to speak to a well educated reader. And the design of the magazine and website will be sparser, with a lot more white space”

While everyone agrees a newsweekly no longer has a purpose, it may be too late to make this move.  In truth, they abandoned objective news reporting years ago and are now coming clean as somewhat liberal leaning publication (Obama appeared on 25% of their weekly covers in 2008 dwarfing his competitors).  If they are aiming to become a high end opinion magazine, they are cruising into crowded territory.  As Julia Boorstin mentions in her report, there is already some excellent journalism in that niche such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist and the New Yorker.  I am a pretty frequent reader of Newsweek and the New Yorker and there is no comparison in the level of writing.  Newsweek will have to up their game considerably to compete in that space.  Newsweek has been written for a broad general audience and will have to switch gears.

A prediction – Newsweek is gone as a print magazine in less than three years.  One thing I am fairly certain of is that you can’t completely change the DNA of a media brand and expect to go merrily along.  Newsweek has subscribers, newsstand buyers, advertisers and writers who are rooted in the newsweekly world and have a firm impression and mindset of what the brand means to them.  This can’t be changed on the fly at a time when print advertising is falling out of vogue faster than Second Life.

Media brands are living things whether they are TV shows, magazines, movie franchises or rock stars.  They have definable life cycles and eventually run their course.  Even one time mega hits such as Seinfeld eventually run out of steam and die a natural death.  I saw it first hand with PC Magazine, 10 years ago one of the largest magazines in the world, today an online only brand.  Its reason for being, a monthly print magazine with comparative reviews of PCs, is no longer relevant to readers or advertisers.  While we all bemoan the loss, the hard truth is the print magazine no longer served a purpose.

In the age of Twitter and smart phones, a weekly news magazine is no longer relevant.   And, moving a print advertising supported magazine into a saturated market segment does not make a lot of business sense.  At first blush their redesigned web site looks like a hodge podge of various types of content thrown up against the wall/home page to see what will be sticky.  The web site may grow and prosper over time, but don’t count on seeing the President on a dozen Newsweek covers in 2012.  He’ll be running, but the magazine will be a memory.

In my post a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about entering the Jim Beam Remake contest, where users submitted their original parodies and remakes of the new Jim Beam commercials.  

A few days ago, as I arrived home in the evening, I noticed a large envelope poking out of my mailbox. It didn’t have a return address. My boyfriend and I were so curious as to its contents, we ripped it open before we even got inside.

Inside were a Jim Beam t-shirt and a letter from the director of whiskeys, thanking the participants for sending in their videos. I was sincerely impressed by how classy and sincere the letter was. It seemed this person and her team had truly enjoyed watching the hundreds of video entries. She even stated she would do it all again, and hopes we would too.

In my post a year ago about Anton’s Cleaners , I talked about how customer retention works when companies let their customers know they care. It doesn’t need to be big, it doesn’t need to be expensive, but it needs to be personal.

To be honest, I’ve never had an ounce of whiskey or bourbon. But after having such intense brand interaction with Jim Beam, there is no way the Jim Beam brand won’t be at the forefront of my mind the next time I go into a liquor store to stock up for a party or to buy a bottle of liquor for a friend. And the next-best thing to going to bed with a bottle of liquor cradled in your arms is going to bed with a nightgown-sized 2XL t-shirt from Jim Beam. 

You may have seen Time Inc’s latest foray into custom media.  They sold Lexus into a sole sponsorship for a magazine called Mine (tag line – My Magazine - My Way) which is compiled from several of their titles to consumers who request it.  Give Lexus credit for wanting to own a private media channel to potential customers, but is this really custom media?  Anyone could sign up for it, and I did.  They didn’t develop the audience to be car buyers or people in the right demographic for Lexus.  It appears that anyone with internet access could sign up.  The content consists of articles selected by Time from several of their existing magazines.  The gimmick is that subscribers can pick which magazine reprint they can receive all in one place.  I don’t remember exactly what I signed up for, but I know for sure I didn’t sign up for Sports Illustrated because I already subscribe, and I certainly didn’t ask for Golf Magazine.  I want to read about golf about as often as I want to watch a Harry Potter movie or listen to jazz and that is never.  Here is the editorial line up in my “customized” magazine that came My Way:

Travel and Leisure – An article on how to look out an airplane window, and a feature on fancy tents.  I already know how to look out a window and will likely live the rest of my life without ever being in a tent, no matter how swanky.

Real Simple – A side by side nutritional comparison of juices, and a “how to” on road trips.  Let’s just say the editorial mission of being “simple” is coming through loud and clear.

InStyle – How to find the perfect pair of jeans, interview with Marc Jacobs, and fitness page staring Aisha Tyler talking about how to build biceps.  Not bad edit if I were a woman, but alas I am not.

Sports Illustrated – An amusing article from a soccer hater giving the game a try.  Good article and I liked it the first time I read in Sports Illustrated. 

Golf Magazine – Interview with golfer Natalie Gulbis, (of Celebrity Apprentice fame) and a “watch and learn” breaking down Tiger Wood’s swing.  This would be helpful if I didn’t hate golf.

As you can see this is really My Magazine, My Way.  A few weeks ago I received an email from Time that said a “computer error” may have caused me not to get exactly what I ordered in terms of content. 

Custom media and content marketing works best when you create original content that is designed for a specific audience and their information needs.  Mine misses the mark on all counts, the audience was not qualified nor selected as customers or prospects of Lexus; and the content is anything but original or aimed at a specific audience.  This is a classic big media company maneuver.  Take some edit that is already in the can, patch it together and send it to a random list.  And finally, get someone to sole sponsor five issues.  Only an auto company would go for something this off target and old fashion. 

“I wouldn’t call this an ad, this goes much beyond this,” said David Nordstrom, Lexus’ vice president of marketing. “Our message of ‘driver-inspired’ and ‘customization’ will come through a lot stronger.”

Here is what came across to me – the back page is an ad that screams in 28 pt type: THE ALL NEW 2010 RX. NOW WITH MORE GORDON PLUTSKY

It is so much more than an ad; it is off putting and annoying.

All that being said, it will probably be a decent money maker for Time Inc, but please don’t call it custom media when it is a glorified reprint.