Publishers ‘Selling Beyond the Page’ to Combat Downturn

www.foliomag.com

Magazine publishers across the industry are struggling to build—even
maintain—print advertising pages. According to Publishers Information Bureau’s third
quarter report, ad pages fell 12.9 percent for the quarter, and were down 9.5
percent year-to-date over the same period in 2007.

However, some publishers managed to grow print pages and revenue—many by double
digits. The biggest was Meredith’s Spanish-language Ser Padres, which saw ad
pages soar 54.8 percent over the same period last year.

One key to growing print advertising at Hallmark magazine (not tracked by PIB)
is by bundling those products with multimedia, or “selling beyond the page.” Ad
pages through November were up 32 percent.

Hallmark’s sales strategy, said publisher Carol Boggs, revolves around offering
advertisers access to the brand’s multimedia assets—including the Hallmark
television channel, a 27 million-name database and online. “Hallmark is structured
the polar opposite of a traditional publishing company in that we started with
multimedia assets first, then the developed the magazine as a natural brand
extension,” said Boggs. “We quickly developed turnkey templates accessing each
of our assets—often as added value based on a print buy or passing along
minimal hard costs.”

Invest in Editorial

For Timothy M. Andrews, president and CEO of the Advertising Specialty
Institute—which publishes magazines, catalogues and produces Web sites for the
advertising specialty and promotional products industry—increasing investments
in editorial is an important element of selling print advertising in a
downturn.

“We’ve been working hard in editorial and sales to attract new advertisers with
new editorial features that readers respond very well to, as well as special
issues and advertorials that are often tied to multimedia buys,” Andrews said.
Ad pages at ASI’s magazines were up more than 50 percent, including
ride-alongs, through June.

Tying Print to Events

At OK!— which saw ad pages jump 34.4 percent through the third quarter and
estimated revenue increase 47.1 percent to $47.7 million—tying print ad sales
to live events has been effective. The magazine recently produced its first
annual Fashion Week event called Britannia Rules, during which they honored
several British designers and hosted a number of actors, models and fashion
insiders.

“It’s very important for advertisers to know that they can participate in
integrated ad packages if they want to,” publisher Tom Morrissy
said. “Everything we do has to at least have the potential to be multimedia and
work across print, online and television. This kind of marketing is all very
fresh and new and fun for our growing list of advertisers.”

Ad Pages, Jan.-Sept. 2008

TITLE/PUBLISHER	2008	2007	%CHNG
Ser Padres/Meredith Corp.	181.59	117.29	54.8
Scholastic Parent & Child/Scholastic	362.62	246.12	47.3
Renovation Style/Meredith Corp.	130.46	90.99	43.4
Portfolio/Condé Nast	444.6	320.95	38.5
OK!/Northern & Shell	586.21	436.15	34.4
Fast Company/Mansueto Ventures	386.98	295.21	31.1
Nexos/American Airlines	155.31	128.76	20.6
Cooking with Paula Deen/Hoffman Media	110.97	93.33	18.9
Women's Health/Rodale	536.95	454.78	18.1
Technology Review/MIT	124.38	107.77	15.4