Interesting story from the New York Times last week on how Esquire Magazine reinvented itself in the face of increasing competition and eroding revenue. Story here

From AdAge: Full story here

Ad Pages Up for Fashion Magazines' Important March Issues

Vogue's March Issue Includes 443 Ad Pages

Most fashion magazines increased ad pages in their important March issues again this year, showing some strength in an uncertain economy.

Vogue's March issue includes 443 ad pages, nearly 4% above the year-ago level, the magazine said today. That's on top of a gain of 50 pages, or 13%, last March, according to Susan Plagemann, Vogue's VP-publisher since January 2010. "That's significant for us," Ms. Plagemann said. "We also beat our five-year average by 4.5%."

The ad-page count of the Conde Nast title will most likely beat any of its competitors, as Vogue has been selling the issue since last fall. "It's like every March for us," Ms. Plagemann said. "It's intense. We go at it early."

Vogue sibling W sold 204 ad pages into the issue -- 25% more than for last March -- including 20 from Saks Fifth Avenue to start its program around W's 40th anniversary later this year. The magazine is continuing to benefit from a 2010 redesign under Editor-in-Chief Stefano Tonchi, according to Nina Lawrence, VP-publisher at W. "Stefano Tonchi's W is a very big success," she said. "Our growth rate is accelerating."

Because marketers use them to introduce new looks, fashion magazines' March and September issues have long commanded extra attention from advertisers and readers. Media observers sometimes weigh September issues to get across just how many pages they carry. March is the next-most important issue.

"Fashion has become a much quicker industry, and most designers create at least four collections a year," Ms. Lawrence said. "But their major introductions tied to the runway shows are spring and fall, tied to March and September issues. If fashion depended on people waiting to buy the next round because their clothes wore out, it wouldn't be an industry. Spring is the introduction of the new season that ignites the engine for consumers to spend."

Advertisers sometimes respond to a soft economy by moving planned ad pages into March from surrounding issues, but that's not the case at W, according to Ms. Lawrence. "March is up, but February was up and April will be up, so it's not like we sucked the pages out of other issues," she said. "Our March is not the exception. It's what we're doing right now."

Glamour, another Conde title, said its March issue will have 181 ad pages, over 5% more than last year. Expanding on the Social SnapTag program Glamour offered marketers in last September's issue, the magazine got 27 advertisers to include SnapTags with e-commerce capabilities.

Allure will have 143 ad pages in March, up 5% from its 20th anniversary issue a year earlier.

Elle magazine -- publishing its first March issue as a Hearst Magazines title -- is running 319 ad pages, 2% more than last March. Elsewhere at Hearst, Marie Claire said its March issue will carry 181 ad pages, up 31%. Cosmopolitan's 121 ad pages mark a 20% gain from a year ago, the magazine said.

Harper's Bazaar, whose redesign will be introduced in March, said ad pages in the issue are up 15.5% from last year, to 271.

Continued economic weakness has made business tougher for marketers and magazines stuck between economy and luxury, according to Carol Smith, VP-publisher and chief revenue officer at Harper's Bazaar since May.

"We needed to choose a direction, and the only one for a magazine and brand like Bazaar is to become a more luxurious experience," Ms. Smith said. "That isn't to say precious and unattainable but is to say that Vogue, Elle and InStyle can do battle in the mass arena. We will never win [there]. I love mass brands, so it's not that Bazaar isn't a wonderful home for Maybelline, but it's a wonderful home for Mercedes, too."

Time Inc.'s InStyle said it has sold 347 ad pages into its March issue, 13% more than last March, when it posted a 20% jump. "In this economic climate, advertisers remain confident in InStyle's ability to deliver," said Publisher Connie Anne Phillips.

People StyleWatch, another Time Inc. title, saw ad pages decline 7%, to 135, ending a 31-issue streak of year-over-year ad-page increases.

Full story from AdAge here.

This effort makes sense. It is just hard to have a lot of confidence in newspapers when they team up for new ventures- their track record is horrible. However, let's hope this works- clearly there is a need. By the way - does this mean that newspapers are for SOPA? Just a few days ago editorial organizations all came out against it.

New York Times, Washington Post Expand Policing of Article Pilfering Online

Newspapers Form NewsRight, a For-Profit Company Tracking Sites That Scrape Content

The New York Times Co., The Washington Post Co., The Associated Press and 26 other news companies began a joint venture today to police websites that use their articles without consent and demand fees for legitimate use.

The NewsRight venture is a for-profit entity spun out of an Associated Press program started two years ago to explore ways to stem content pilfering on the web -- a practice known as "scraping" -- and to capitalize on a news-reading audience that is migrating online. Large news organizations have been suffering financial losses as a result of scraping, according to David Westin, 59, the former head of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC News who became NewsRight's chief executive officer in April.

From minonline - Full story here

Fitness Mag Comes to Cheerios Boxes
Friday, January 20, 2012
Steve Smith

Back in the day, one of the crowning achievements in a sports career was seeing that star’s face on a Wheaties cereal box. It is a different era now, when people’s own physical state is of greater concern than athlete hero worship. But cereal boxes remain one of the major platforms from which to grab consumer attention. And so Fitness magazine partners with Cheerios for the next six months on a project that brings the magazine brand to millions of breakfast tables. Multigrain Cheerios boxes, 7.5 million of them, will feature the magazine as part of a joint free weight-loss plan offered to consumers.

The Fitness logo on the boxes includes an access code that lets the user enter a special site at MultigrainCheerios.com/Fitness. The weight-loss plan includes two four-week workouts created by Fitness magazine’s advisory board member and fitness author Joe Dowdell. There are online videos for each routine. Recipes and snack ideas have been generated by Fitness contributor Natalie Hancock. In addition to the logo exposure, the diet plan itself links to the FitnessMagazine.com site. As part of a multi-faceted marketing package with the cereal brand, Meredith Studios is also crafting online videos that track the progress of three girlfriends. The series will air on Meredith’s The Better Show. 

 

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

Marketers More Bullish Than Agencies on Traditional Media Spend

A greater proportion of marketers than agencies believe that spending on traditional media such as direct mail (25% vs. 17%), print (22% vs. 8%), and radio (18% vs. 3%) will increase this year as compared to 2011, with the proportions expecting spend to increase on TV relatively on par, according to a survey released in January 2012 by RSW/US. And although the survey shows that increases in digital media spending will outpace that of traditional media, marketers’ planned increases do not appear to match agency expectations: a higher proportion of agencies than marketers expect spending to increase in social media (89% vs. 63%), mobile (72% vs. 46%), SEO (66% vs. 48%), and banner advertising (55% vs. 30%).

According to December 2011 figures from Kantar Media, outdoor (3.2%), TV (3.2%), and radio (1.1%) led all media in Q3 2011 year-over-year ad spend gains, while internet and newspaper ad spending declined 2.9% and 3.7%, respectively.

From www.marketingcharts.org