2nd AnnualMPA-IMAGIndependent Publishers Conference
June 27-28, 2005 | Emory Conference Center Hotel | Atlanta, GA
Day 1 | Day 2 | Presentations
Day 1 Coverage
Dozens of Magazine Executives Meet for Second Conference of Independent Publishers
More than 50 independent magazine executives from across the country gathered at the second annual Leadership Conference for Independent Publishers, which is being held June 27 and 28 at the Emory Conference Center Hotel in Atlanta, GA. The event, which is hosted by Magazine Publishers of Americas Independent Magazine Group (MPA-IMAG), has been designed as an open forum for discussing growth strategies and challenges facing independent magazine businesses.
The first morning of the conference was devoted heavily to brand positioning. Keynote speaker Larry Bloomenkranz, Global Brand Marketing and Advertising, UPS, explained UPSs massive repositioning that took place beginning in the late 1990s. He termed it the biggest identity change in U.S. corporate history.
We no longer refer to ourselves as United Parcel Service, said Bloomenkranz. We dont refer to ourselves as a package company. The company wanted to show that it was more than a package-delivery business. Thus, UPS developed a new brand promise: synchronized commerce.
Later in the morning, there was a panel discussion on brand positioning featuring John Lively, The Taunton Press; David Foster, Morris National Magazine Group; and David Sloan, Sloan Associates. Foster discussed the repositioning of Alaska in 2001, which led to publishing more stories about fishing and hunting. We brought hunting and fishing back big time and we had fewer articles about looking at bears, said Foster. It brought us up in advertising.
John Lively, The Taunton Press
Lively pointed to his companys successful repositioning of Fine Homebuilding. It was determined that the magazine should be more accessible to the less knowledgeable reader, but it would still need to be authoritative to the professional builder. The magazine succeeded and managed to increase circulation from 300,000 to 340,000.
Claire Tondreau, from marketing strategy company HotSpring, said that advertisers are increasingly biased toward the idea of brands. Magazines need to create a dialogue that forms and establishes a relationship with the consumer, she stated. Its got to go beyond the book. Furthermore, Tondreau said that a repositioning has to go beyond editorial change and provide a basis for transforming the magazine brand into a fully rounded multi-dimensional brand that drives revenue growth.
The theme of brand development was also explored earlier in the morning by Michela OConnor Abrams of Dwell. You are developing a brand whose core platform is a magazine, said Abrams, who cited several brand extensions of her magazine including Dwell TV, Dwell Conferences, Dwell conferences, and the Dwell shoe, which was perhaps the most unique brand extension mentioned during the day. Abrams explained that her company was approached by a small footwear manufacturer to create a limited edition shoe. Only 2800 pairs were manufactured and they were sold at Saks, Barneys and Bloomingdales. There was risk to this, she revealed. We were all of a sudden in the shoe business. This was not in the grand plan. But it was fun. And we made a nice bit of money.
Abrams revealed her companys next merchandising deal: the Dwell dog bed, due this fall.
Following her presentation, Abrams led the panel Listen to Your Readers and What to Do with It Once You Have It. Gretchen Teichgraeber of Scientific American, Inc., said that her readers love stories relating to neuroscience. So they published a single topic issue The Hidden Mind, and it was a big seller for her company.
Our readers are not interested in neuroscience, added Freeskiers Bradford Fayfield. Were creating experiential editorial and marketing. Were partnering with resorts and throwing parties. We party with our readers. We drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer with themthe beer of 25-year-olds, our core reader.
Fayfield also revealed that his company has seven people under the age of 22. Interns are the most valuable people in our company, he said. They tell us what our readers are thinking.
Alvaro Saralegui, Latina Media Ventures
Alvaro Saralegui of Latina Media Ventures said that in the fall Sears will be coming out with a Latina Life line of clothes. Our readers have a different fashion sense than non-Latinos, he stated. They have curves and they want to show them. We started putting this in our editorial pages and we caught the eye of Sears.
Following lunch, Michael Pashby, MPA, provided the audience with a detailed overview of the circulation landscape for consumer magazines since 1950. He said the 70s were noted for the growth of single-copy sales, driven in part by the launch of People. Special interest titles developed in the 80s, and circulation departments were aided immensely by the surge in cheap computing power.
Declining supermarket visitsdown 15% since 1998, according to Pashbywill not support magazine growth at newsstand. However, Pashby pointed to new retail models like Barnes & Noble (the third largest retailer of magazines) as hopeful signs. He also hoped publishers would view the digital world as a retail channel.
A panel featuring several consumer marketing experts followed. Harold Buckley of Consumer Marketing Solutions expressed enthusiasm for partnership sales. As an example, he cited a glove companys partnership with a golf magazine. If consumers bought the glove, they got a free subscription for the magazine. Ten percent of the magazines circulation now comes from the consumers who bought the glove.
But you have to get ABC approval for these partnerships, he cautioned. You cant assume youve got it right. You need written approval.
Lori Dorr from The New Republic voiced her approval for the Internet as a way to generate subscriptions. Its credit card-based so theres little bad debt, she said. Plus consumers can enjoy protected content immediately.
MPAs legislative and regulatory policy expert Rita Cohen updated attendees on the latest developments from Washington including the efforts surrounding the postal rate case and postal reform. She said MPA is arguing hard to get the postal increase held at 5.4%. This is the best deal for us. But it wont lead to stability, she warned, alluding to another possible rate increase in spring 2007.
Cohen outlined the reasons why the magazine industry needs to care about postal reform: it provides the industry with rate stability; it provides CSRS relief; and it provides measurable and enforceable service standards.
Ellen Oppenheim, EVP/Chief Marketing Officer, MPA, concluded the days presentations with an update on the magazine industrys $40 million, three-year marketing campaign. She stressed the strengths of the magazine medium and said that they were being actively communicated to the advertising community. Oppenheim showed slides of the core campaign ads as well as selections of the futuristic covers from such magazines as Family Circle, Sports Illustrated and Esquire. She also provided a 60-second video clip that focused on the magazine industrys guerilla marketing activities during the network TV upfronts in New York City.
The first Leadership Conference for Independent Publishers was held June 21-23, 2004, at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
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