New York, NY (February 23, 2005)The consumer magazine industry will unveil an advertising campaign February 28, touting magazines key strength: the enduring power to engage readers, it was announced today by Nina Link, President and CEO, Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). The $40-million, three-year multimedia campaign, which features both print and online components, was produced by Fallon New York and supported by executives from magazine publishers and allied industries that work closely with magazines. The campaigns goal is to catapult magazines to a place where they are universally recognized for their value and contribution to advertising plans.
"Advertisers want their messages to reach consumers when they are fully receptive to advertising. Magazine readers see the ads as an important part of the magazine experience and they are responsivebringing the advertiser increased ROI on their media purchase," said Jack Kliger, President & CEO, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., who has been one of the key leaders of the industry's rally to promote the strengths of the medium. At a time when advertisers are reevaluating their media mix, the magazine industry is behind a strong push to deliver this positive message."
The campaign, which targets advertisers and media decision-makers, features ads that depict readers in an unexpected placethe future. It offers a two-pronged creative approach. The core campaign portrays shots of consumers reading magazines in imagined everyday futuristic scenes. The other approach features magazine covers several decades into the future. The tagline Read On reinforces the message that no matter how things change, people will always look for the personal connection magazines present.
The campaign plays on the idea that in an increasingly complicated world, with even more media disruptions and an impersonal, high-tech, digital landscape, consumers continue to choose magazines, said Ms. Link. It demonstrates the enduring power of magazines to captivate readers.
The core campaign will run in advertising and trade media press, (Advertising Age, Adweek Magazines, Media Magazine, and Creativity), trade media websites and newsletters, national newspapers (The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal), and MPA-member magazines. Additional media will be evaluated later in the year.
The first set of futuristic covers will be wrapped around complimentary copies of weekly magazines beginning the week of February 28. Monthly cover wraps will start appearing on May issues.
Fallon will be working with magazine editors to develop their own futuristic covers that will run throughout the year. More than 25 magazines have agreed to participate in the first two months. New covers will debut every month, with other elements introduced as the campaign evolves.
A dedicated website (www.magazine.org/readon) will launch February 28, showcasing a gallery of the core campaign and faux magazine covers. The site will also serve as a portal for advertisers to access information that demonstrate magazines ability to deliver both engagement and accountability.
Were aiming to reach one of the most cynical, hard-to-reach audiences on the planet: ourselvesthe marketing and advertising community," remarked Anne Bologna, President, Fallon New York. We want to capture the ad industrys imagination in a way that moves them to act. We also want to catch them in their consumer mindset, engaging them with our ads the same way that consumers are engaged by magazines.
The campaigns communications strategy grew out of an assessment of the advertising industrys views of the mediums strengths and weakness in the changing consumer landscape that was conducted last spring by the marketing strategy company HotSpring. The strategy is supported by insights developed from the MPA-commissioned Northwestern University Reader Experience Study that defines consumers experiences when they read a magazine, and quantifies how those experiences drive readership and advertising impact.
