MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 MPA
Officers Elected “MPA
Chairman’s Review”
In a speech that marked the end of his two-year run as Chairman of MPA’s Board, Tom Ryder voiced optimism about the future of magazines. He predicted that magazine advertising will post strong gains in the next decade, particularly at the expense of television. “Two years ago I said from this podium that I thought television was vulnerable,” he said. “Now I think they are in deep trouble. Their audiences continue to decline. The cost of television advertising continues to rise at a too rapid rate.” Ryder went on to state that the Internet will benefit the most from the weakness of TV advertising. But he stressed that magazines will also capitalize on the decline. Ryder said that magazines have been and will continue to be the most efficient and best place advertisers can go to build brands. He scoffed at suggestions
that the digital era would spell doom for print media. “I
see it as the dawning of a golden age for magazines,” he
noted, citing opportunities to personalize content, among other
benefits. “As long as we remain interesting, as long as
we remain innovative, as long as we remain alert to the needs
and wishes of our customers, we will be viable. And we will be
successful.” “MPA
President’s Outlook”
Nina Link, President & CEO, MPA
Nina Link reviewed several
areas of accomplishment from the past year. Beginning with government
affairs, she predicted that the newest postal increases of 5.4%
should be approved by the end of October.
“We worked hard with the Postal Service to keep the magazine increase no higher than other mail categories,” she said. “By the time rates go up in 2006, we will have saved the industry $4 billion.” Link added that MPA has tackled other government affairs issues including direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising and consumer protection. In consumer marketing, Link addressed some of the circulation issues that presented the industry with challenges throughout the year, including sponsored sales. “There’s no question we’re in a period of transition,” she said. “Some of the old rules no longer apply and new rules are still being written. Nonetheless, our position has b]een the same. We remain committed to the highest standards of circulation reporting.” Link stressed that MPA is continuing efforts to reach new readers and she reported that Costco has already announced that the company will sell magazines in all their warehouses. Link also announced MPA’s grant and mentoring programs as part of its diversity initiatives. She revealed that over the summer, MPA piloted a grant program and awarded close to $20,000 in housing and education grants to nearly 50 students of color. Another accomplishment from
the past year was MPA’s activities on the digital front.
Link mentioned the magazine industry’s first-ever digital
conference “Magazines 24/7” on December 8 in New York
City. She announced two keynote speakers, John Battelle, formerly
of Wired and The Industry Standard, and Wenda
Millard, Yahoo’s! chief sales officer and a former magazine
executive. Link also said that the Boston Consulting Group will
present research on the latest digital trends, and how magazines
can capitalize on them. “MPA
Incoming Chairman’s Review”
Incoming MPA Chairman, Jack
Kliger, targeted five key issues that he wants the industry to
focus on during his two-year term.
Kliger came out as a strong proponent of editorial integrity, and he opposed product placement in magazine content. “Nothing could be more damaging to our position as the medium consumers trust most, both in editorial and advertising, than blurring the readers’ ability to know the difference between an editorial and commercial message,” he said. “We are committed to promoting magazines as the engagement medium, and we should recognize the danger that product placement represents to our basic premise.” Kliger also called for an end to the rate base system. “Paid circulation rate-base guarantees are a legacy of an era that predates modern audience measurement metrics,” he said. “Circulation-based metrics are irrelevant in calculating advertising ROI….Too many of our resources are focused on efficiently achieving an average paid circulation rate-base guarantee rather than focusing on distribution profitability and readership development.” He went on to question why advertisers should care whether a magazine copy is paid or unpaid as long as it delivers engaged readers who are the appropriate target for their products. Kliger also mentioned postal reform, marketing magazines to advertisers and harnessing technology as other areas of his focus as MPA chairman. “We have a great deal
of talent in our industry, and by united action, we will move
through this new landscape with great success,” he predicted.
“Town
Hall with Senator John McCain”
Evan Thomas of Newsweek interviewed Senator John McCain in this Monday morning AMC session. When asked by Thomas whether or not he was planning on running for president, McCain responded, “I want to be President…but I’d also like to be emperor.” McCain expressed his interest in becoming President, but he will not make his decision until after the 2006 elections. Regarding the U.S. role in the war in Iraq, McCain acknowledged that while the U.S. government has made some mistakes, the administration is united by a single, common goal: victory. Unfortunately, he found that during the course of his travels to various countries throughout the world, foreigners have a rather poor image of America. When asked what kinds of sacrifices Americans should be more willing to make, McCain responded that after 9/11, for example, “We should have asked Americans to help us triple the size of the Peace Corps, but instead, we told Americans to go shopping and take a trip.” He has an optimistic view of what he feels Americans are capable of doing during times of hardship and referred to the great service they did to help their fellow citizens affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Government funding, in other cases, however, can be wasted on research like a $3 million study of the DNA of bears in Minnesota. “We’ve got to stop funding bridges to nowhere,” said McCain. “I’m not saying I would never raise taxes, but I wouldn’t ask [Americans] to spend tax dollars on things that are completely unnecessary.” McCain concluded by saying
he believes the media today prides itself in objectivity and fairness.
“It is possible for the government to achieve a level of
friendliness and professionalism with the media,” said McCain.
Should he become President, he would spend a lot of time doing
town hall meetings, holding biweekly press conferences, and spending
more time speaking with the foreign media, to achieve a more favorable
image of America from outside press. “Branded Entertainment” Moderator Panelists
Scott Donaton of Advertising Age moderated a panel that included Jack Hanrahan, of OMD, Steve LeGrice of Inside TV, Kerri Martin of Volkswagen, and Mark Whitaker of Newsweek. The focus of the discussion was the respective roles of advertiser and editorial content within magazines. “Editors are conscious of their magazines and know the pulse of their readers—they should have control over what goes into their magazine,” said Hanrahan. Whitaker, who is also President of ASME, described the newly-revamped ASME Guidelines for Publishers and Editors. The more streamlined version highlights the difference between editorial content and advertising. “Magazines have existed for decades and will continue to exist for decades to come,” noted Whitaker. He claimed this is essentially what makes the magazine industry valuable as an advertising medium. Martin said she views magazines as a “distribution vehicle for [advertising] content and ideas.” “At Volkswagen, ideas come first, and the media plan comes later,” she stated. She also stressed the importance of a good marketing division within a publication in order to ensure that a “landscape marriage” exists between the advertiser and the editorial content. Before closing the panel, Donaton addressed the recent New Yorker issue featuring Target as the sole sponsor. The issue further illustrated the importance of drawing a definite line between editorial content and advertisements. Whitaker remarked that although The New Yorker did violate guidelines because they didn’t provide an editor’s or publisher’s note, it was determined (by ASME and The New Yorker) that the situation would not arise again. Whitaker expressed enthusiasm
regarding the updated version of the Guidelines, which was unveiled
later that morning during the "ASME President’s Review."
Moderator: Panelists:
Christie Hefner, who moderated this discussion on the growing importance of digital and online media, related how Playboy’s business operations and financial structure were reorganized in 1994 to establish Playboy as the first national magazine on the World Wide Web. Similarly, Sarah Chubb spoke about launching CondeNet in 1995. Today, Conde Nast’s online network boasts four destination sites, with six to seven million visitors a month, and 11 companion sites. The online presence has proved to be fertile ground for new subscriptions, said Chubb. Jim Spanfeller said he believes that readers go to websites and magazines for entirely different reasons. As a result, Forbes.com produces web-exclusive stories and offers 12 different video segments on a daily basis. This strategy generates 14 million visitors a month to the site. In order to maintain success on both ends, Forbes has a sales team for print, and another for online—“a difficult job that requires a great deal of attention,” he said. Bill Ostroff spoke about the power of direct marketing in the online world. Rodale decided the best way to put its online strategy into context would be to focus on a healthy lifestyle universe. He cited a study showing that 56 million Americans, two-thirds of whom are women, use a variety of media formats to guide their healthy lifestyles. “There is a good size marketplace for premium content online,” said Ostroff. “As we acquire customers in the form of subscribers, we’re able to find that we can use integration among the brands.” Pontin described Technology Review’s new business strategy that will be launched in November. The magazine will shift more of its resources to redesigned technologyreview.com. “The economics of the business was bad when I started,” said Pontin. But after creating technologyreview.com, he experienced a 20% advertising increase for the year and 4.8 million unique site visits. The website, said Pontin, can offer advertisers a real return on investment, while maintaining the print entity as a premium brand. The key to a successful website
companion to a print publication, said Spanfeller, is to not simply
take the print content and imitate it online. Chubb agreed: “Either
commit to owning a brand or be more modest and focus on your print
instead.” Pontin pointed to the importance of creating unique
content online—through personalization, video, flash, and
the embrace of mobiles, RSS and new feeds.
“How’d
You Do That?”
Adam Moss spoke about magazine service journalism, which is at the core of New York's mission. Since Moss joined the magazine, the amount of space devoted to service has doubled. The first rule of service journalism, said Moss, is to know what you are talking about, and the second, is to specialize. For example, the magazine devotes a whole micro-section to restaurants every week. Consequently, “Foodies appreciate that we are trustworthy and extremely fast, which is one of the advantages of a weekly,” noted Moss. In addition, the magazine, which used to publish a home design issue only bi-annually, now showcases “Great Rooms” regularly, making a consistent case for New York as an authority on home design. The third area of service provided by the magazine is shopping, and “Ask a Shopclerk” allows the magazine to present testimonies from real people. Same goes for “Look Book,” which reflects the dramatically wide variety of New York’s readership. Moss also turned his attention
to the web, which he feels is better equipped for service journalism
than print. In time, he said, the web will assume most of the
service functions of magazines. Currently, the New York
website is experiencing a phenomenal growth surge, according to
Moss.
Mel Karmazin is a firm believer that advertising dollars will quickly migrate over to satellite radio. Satellite radio offers 160 different radio channels, 65 of which feature commercial free music. By the end of this year, there will be nine million satellite radio subscribers. Two trends surfaced during Thomas Stewart’s interview with Karmazin: the fact that consumers are now paying for media they used to obtain for free, and the dramatic flow of advertising dollars away from traditional media towards new media. Karmazin stressed that today, content holders are looking for more and more ways to monetize. “Technology is a gold mine for people involved with content,” he said, “especially in a world of convergence, if you are dependent on wanting to have great content.” SIRIUS Satellite Radio had recently completed a deal with Martha Stewart to create Martha Stewart Living Radio and will start a channel with Cosmopolitan early next year. The talk shows on ''Cosmopolitan Radio'' will feature topics such as relationships, health, entertainment and fashion. “Publishers are talking about their circulation and looking for an additional stream of revenue,” said Karmazin. According to Karmazin, with new media, there is an increased pressure on the pricing, and it is important to advertisers who want to know what kind of return on investment they are getting. “Advertisers don’t want to hear their advertising dollars are wasted,” said Karmazin. In addition, he said, “Branding is more important than ever before, and will become even more important in the future.”
Mark Whitaker, ASME President, announced the long-awaited new edition of the ASME Guidelines for Publishers and Editors. After polling more than 850 editors from 417 magazines, it was determined that the Guidelines were more needed more than ever, according to Whitaker. Many members had complained the Guidelines were overly long and difficult to understand. As a result, the decision was made to revamp the Guidelines, making them more streamlined and to-the-point. “We believe that the two qualities that MPA has identified as the competitive selling proposition for magazine advertising—that consumers engage with it, and don’t find it obtrusive—are best served when readers can tell exactly what’s going on,” said Whitaker. Whitaker remarked that readers can love both editorial content and advertising, but they want to be able to distinguish one from the other. In addition, he stated that editors should have the final say in determining what’s best for their readers and brands. The updated Guidelines has been posted on the ASME website. Following the President’s Review, Whitaker announced the top ten winning covers of ASME’s Magazines 40/40 contest. “The eternal secrets of great magazine covers are powerful photojournalism, humorous illustration and photo illustration, and celebrity nudity,” said Whitaker. View the 41 winning covers online.
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