Before starting Mediabids, I published a group of reader-written newspapers in Connecticut. It is a great way to generate interesting content. The trick is being able to put aside the biases that many "professional" journalists have towards the writing of readers. I have been surprised that so few publications have successfully pulled it off, although based on this story from AdAge- it looks like Ladies Home Journal has the right attitude. 

Ladies' Home Journal Lets Readers Write the Magazine

Venerable Publication's Bid to Attract Younger Audience May Cause Ripple Effect Among Mass Titles

Crowdsourcing has been common in advertising for some time, but in a highly unusual move, it's now vaulting the wall at the venerable Ladies' Home Journal, which is planning to turn over many of the pages in its 128-year-old publication to work written by readers.

The new look with the March issue

The current look for Ladies' Home Journal

Starting with the March issue, LHJ editors will cull much of the magazine's material from posts on DivineCaroline.com, a sibling at Meredith Corp. that lets consumers upload their own stories, as well as from the magazine's website, its Facebook page and other digital channels.

The magazine will still use fact-checkers and include experts in fields such as medicine and beauty, but it will start with consumers where it can. "We really flipped this model," said Editor-in-Chief Sally Lee. "Usually content creation begins with an editor. We have content creation that begins with a reader."

While other publishers have dabbled in the practice, its adoption by Ladies' Home Journal, a title that guarantees advertisers an average paid circulation of 3.2 million, is significant since it is the largest traditional media brand to commit to so much user-generated content on an ongoing basis. If it's successful, other mass-circulation titles may follow. "I've been asked a lot about whether we foresee this becoming a model that other magazines will start to implement," said Diane Malloy, publisher of Ladies' Home Journal. "My answer is, 'Gosh, yes, I think everyone is going to sit up and take notice.'"

The magazine says the changes were driven by research revealing that readers wanted a greater role in filling its pages. But the move could also help LHJ, which competes in the very mature category of women's service, improve its traction with advertisers.

An accompanying revamp by design firm Pentagram will signal the shift and include a new Ladies' Home Journal logo that shrinks "Home" to small type and overwhelmingly emphasizes "Journal."

Unlike the Huffington Post, where many bloggers post without pay, Ladies' Home Journal won't tell its amateur writers to settle for the exposure. "We are going to pay them our professional rates," Ms. Lee said.

The magazine wants to build a community of readers engaging with one another and with editors, but the idea predates the current notions of user-generated content and constant conversations with consumers.

The editor of McCall's, for example, told The New York Times in 1990 that the magazine's coming redesign would address a tendency to talk down to readers.

"Among the changes in the magazine, she said, McCall's traditional 'The Mother's Page' will no longer be written by professionals but by readers talking about mutual problems," the Times reported then.

The median age of Ladies' Home Journal readers has declined slightly, to 55.8 from 56.1, according to the most recent round of research by GfK MRI. But its readers remain much older than the U.S. population as a whole (GfK MRI puts the median age at 45.8), and somewhat older than readers of magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Woman's Day. So LHJ is trying to make itself "relevant to the next generation without annoying some of the core readers," said George Janson, managing partner and director of print at Group M, the media-buying and -planning conglomerate.

Ad pages fell 13.6% at Ladies' Home Journal last year but slipped just 2.6% in monthlies as a whole, according to data compiled by the Media Industry Newsletter. A major downturn in food advertising that undermined the mass-market women's service books was partly to blame.

Editor-in-Chief Sally Lee

"I commend them for trying to add new life into a very mature magazine that has been around for a very long time," Mr. Janson said. "The redesign seems to be very clean, much bolder and much more energetic in terms of the visuals. The photography is pretty stunning. And I think it's a novel concept."

How the effort plays out over time remains to be seen. User-generated content is certainly no magic bullet: San Francisco startup 8020 Publishing introduced two magazines several years ago filled with consumer content that was first posted to the web and voted up or down by the public. The magazines -- a photography title called JPG and a travel magazine called Everywhere -- both left print during the worst of the recession, although JPG now prints individual copies to order for $14 to $19 through HP's MagCloud service.

And there are plenty of questions to answer. Mitch Fox, the magazine veteran who ran 8020 Publishing for a time, argues that readers will remain outsiders, not a community, unless they also have a say in choosing which submissions get to be in print. "You're still screening the content without any kind of community involvement," said Mr. Fox, now president at WGA Global Marketing. "It's a half-step."

Ms. Malloy, who was named publisher in October after her predecessor moved to Univision, said the magazine's big audience gave it an advantage over startups, like 8020, that try similar strategies.

"We feel very, very confident that the consumer is going to receive the new product well," Ms. Malloy said.

From Advertising Age - Full story here

Google Stocks Up on Print and Outdoor Ads for Privacy-Focused Campaign

'Good to Know' Will Run in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and The Economist

New York—The readers of Dow Jones & co.'s The Wall Street Journal have the highest median annual household income ($135,740) among print publications, according to Mediamark Research & Intelligence's MRI Fall 2009 report, which was released this week.

Twelve other print publications had readership with median household income above $100,000, which indicates a business-oriented audience. The other 12 are: Barron's ($126,710); The Economist ($124,701); United Hemispheres ($120,809); Washington Post Sunday ($120,400); The New York Times Sunday ($118,471); The New York Times daily ($115,816); American Way ($108,522); Condé Nast Traveler ($106,407); The Atlantic ($104,786); Southwest Spirit ($102,505); Architectural Digest ($101,159); and Yachting ($100,740).

Full story here

From today's New York Times comes this story of how newspaper web sites are having trouble attracting larger brand advertisers consistently.The reason boils down to two problems we have spoken about on this blog many times - newspaper sites are too expensive and the ability to target is poor.

Full story here.

Part of the story:

It was a good day for newspaper Web sites when Mercedes-Benz USA introduced its updated E-Class cars this summer. Mercedes bought out the ad space on the home pages of The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and had those sites create special 3-D ads for them, at an estimated cost of $100,000 a site.

The days after were not as good. While Mercedes was happy with the newspaper sites’ performance, it shifted money to cheaper, more tightly aimed ads bought through networks, which bundle ad space from many Web sites.

When Mercedes advertises its more basic models next year, it will largely avoid newspaper Web sites and rely on networks. That lets Mercedes “be very targeted and efficient with our dollars,” said Beth Lange, digital media specialist for Mercedes-Benz USA.

But that also explains why newspaper sites are not holding on to ad dollars, even while overall Internet advertising is creeping back. Newspaper sites are the patent-leather stilettos of the online world: they get used for special occasions, but other shoes get much more daily wear. The beneficiaries of this behavior are networks and exchanges like Advertising.com from AOL and DoubleClick Ad Exchange from Google, which dominate the buying and selling of extra space.

This story in the Wall Street Journal on the pressure being placed on large ad agencies by their clients to reduce fees is really worth reading, if for nothing else, because it gives some insight into the attitude many large agencies have concerning their self-importance and the value of their services. This quote in the story, sort of sums up their general attitude: "The reality is that clients want more for less," says Maurice Levy, chief executive of Paris-based Publicis. "It's something that is unfortunately becoming quite common."

What is surprising is that it took Maurice (who allegedly is an advertising professional with a pulse on what consumers in general want) this long to figure this out. Isn't more for less one of the driving forces of our economy? Wal Mart, Target and Sam's Club have done pretty well operating under this premise. Why does Maurice think that his customers want more for less when it comes to the toilet paper they buy or the clothes they wear but not when it comes to the services of Publicis? It appears that he really thinks companies should pay Publicis more just because they are Publicis. At no point in this article does anyone from any agency say that clients should pay the same or more because they are doing a better job, or driving more sales for their clients. They just believe they should make outrageous commissions because that is the way it has always been. Good luck fighting against the tide, Maurice. Maybe Maurice's dreams will come true and once the economy recovers advertisers will come to their senses and get back to the good old days where they were willing to pay more to the people with the coolest clothes, regardless of the services they provide, but I wouldn't bet my Target jeans on it.

Here is part of the Wall Street Journal story:

While ad companies have historically lagged behind in economic recoveries, this time their rebound may come even later, and be less convincing. Not only have marketers slashed what they spend on ad time and space, but many companies have also significantly reduced what they pay their agencies for ad services, such as creating TV commercials.

Ad executives say marketers have slashed the fees they pay by 5% to 30%. Some companies have even asked that fees be reduced retroactive to Jan. 1, meaning firms are paid less for work they have already completed, say two ad executives.

The New York Times says it will decide this summer whether to offer online content through a subscription model, metered model or a pay as you go micro-payment model. Full story here.

One thing is clear, it is going to start costing money to read the New York Times online. Hopefully, more publications will follow and begin charging for the content that is so expensive to produce. As we have said before, the model, so pervasive among newspapers and magazines that traffic generates revenue, isn't working.