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The Four Questions with Andy Hall of Alaska Magazine
(and about that “America’s Hottest Governor” Coverline.)
 Alaska Magazine, part of Morris Communications’ National Magazine Division, publishes monthly except January and June. Launched with a small circulation in December 1935 as Alaska Sportsman, the magazine rebranded in 1969, says Andy Hall, Editor-in-Chief. Hall, who joined Alaska in 1996, became Anchorage-based Editor-in-Chief in 2000 and added the responsibilities of General Manager to his role more than two years ago.
In August, he was named the magazine’s Publisher. Alaska’s circulation now is 140,000, Hall notes.
Describing the title’s target audience, he says it’s “people who love Alaska, whether they live here or not. Our outside Alaska readers are very likely to come to Alaska within the next three years and our inside Alaska readers want to know about our state and share its uniqueness with their friends and family.”
Q. Alaska Magazine interviewed Gov. Sarah Palin and put her on the cover last February. Was that her first time – and might she make the cover again, now that she’s become Sen. John McCain’s running mate and a surprise hit at the Republican National Convention early this month?
A. That was the first time she’s been on the cover, which was a bit of a departure for us. We’ve only had a couple of politicians on the cover before that. One was Alaska’s revered ex-governor Jay Hammond. Another was Sen. Ted Stevens. Those issues sold OK. When Palin was elected, she came out of left field and beat a veteran politician [Jay Knowles]. We felt she was capturing the imagination of the community in the state. We did get a little bit of grief because we’ve historically been an outdoors magazine. We thought that cover story was the right thing to do, but a local newspaper tweaked us about our “America’s Hottest Governor” cover line (http://www.alaskamagazine.com/ ). I guess they didn’t get the double entendre. (laughs). But that became our biggest selling magazine ever, well above normal. We have maybe 70 print copies left -- and ABC, CBS’ “60 Minutes” and others want hard copies. [As for making the cover again,] I don’t think so. Maybe if she becomes President!
Q. Gov. Palin’s apparently quite the outdoors woman – hunting moose and caribou, fishing, etc. Is she among your subscribers, perhaps even a subscriber to another Morris title, Grey’s Sporting Journal?
A. She said she’s a subscriber to Alaska Magazine. And she said some things during that interview that lead me to believe she actually reads the magazine.
Q. Morris’ Alaska Journal of Commerce website has also covered Gov. Palin extensively since her VP selection. How about before that?
A. The Journal – which is right across the hall – is a business magazine with a conservative take on the news. The magazine has been critical of her.
Q. Your July/August issue featured “Celebrating 50 Years of Alaska Statehood” and your website features some related videos. Was that a special issue? Has that anniversary been a big draw for advertisers?
A. Due to the way Alaska joined the United States, our big celebration was when Congress approved it, which was in June 1958. Ike signed the act in January 1959. So we have a series of stories covering statehood from different angles in each of seven issues leading up to December/January. Some advertisers came in because of that [series of articles]. It’s very popular with our readers, who have sent in recollections about what they were doing when Alaska became a state. In advertising, we’re facing the same problems a lot of magazines are facing – the Internet and a tough economy.
Q. So far this year, what have been some Alaska Magazine articles that have sparked the strongest reader response?
A. The Palin cover story for one, obviously. I’d like to think we were forward-thinking on that. Last March, we ran a feature on avalanches, their causes, how to avoid them and which communities are under threat. One community is our capital, Juneau, where an avalanche soon afterward actually took out power, so we got a lot of appreciative response from there. Juneau had to rely on diesel generators for about three months. Another was an article on religion – “Islam in Alaska.” That ran in “Alaska Inside,” our quarterly insert that’s circulated in-state. We got a lot of emails to cancel subscriptions and negative letters. Even though it was circulated within Alaska, there were a lot of letters from “the lower 48,” who shouldn’t be getting that insert in the first place.
Q. With all the debating about arctic oil reserves, shrinking glaciers and the like, does your magazine cover things like the “green” revolution and global warming?
A. Yeah, we have on a regular basis. The effects are more pronounced up here. Although we still do hunting, fishing and travel features, we have to mix in serious, relevant stories. We’re seeing a huge loss in permafrost, because of which buildings in Fairbanks are starting to sag, for instance. And I recall a polar bear cover in 2004 that asked “Bound for Extinction?” The first story on global warming that I was involved in was 10 years ago. Our columnists have written about these subjects too.
Q. With so many magazines today doing spinoff programming, merchandising and the like, does Alaska Magazine have any interest in, say, seeking a TV or cable partner for your hunting and travel-oriented content?
A. We did a TV show for a few years, “Alaska Magazine TV”, which still runs in various places -- RFD-TV, for instance. I was the magazine’s Editor but I wasn’t involved in the TV show. [The late] David Foster was involved. I don’t know if that brought in subscribers. For some reason, the program was very popular in prisons. (laughs) We need to go back and take a hard look at those kinds of things. A significant number of our subscribers are from gift subscriptions. People buy the magazine and send an Alaska Magazine calendar to, say, their uncle in Florida saying they’ve bought a gift subscription for them. We’re also looking at digital product. Our circulation manager is promoting screensavers [featuring photos from the magazine]. Our quarterly “Alaska Inside” inserts will be available online and we’re looking into hunting and fishing guides online as well, since that’s less costly than in print. Also, we’ll be putting more video on our website.
Q. Back in the ‘60s, there was a popular John Wayne movie, North to Alaska, and a top 10 hit song by the same name from Johnny Horton – about the gold rush near Nome circa 1900. Has the Alaska gold rush been featured in your magazine?
A. Yes. There’s always been a little bit of that, though not recently; it might be worth looking into again. Wyatt Earp was here in that era, one of the most colorful periods in Alaskan history. Our [2004] book, The Last Frontier, included Alaska Magazine articles dealing with that era. At one time, people used to say, “You shoulda seen Alaska before all the yahoos came for the gold rush.” Later, they said, “You shoulda seen Alaska before all the yahoos came after World War II.” More recently, they’d say, “You shoulda seen Alaska before all the yahoos came for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.”
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AMC’s Speaker Roster Continues to Expand with Nancy Pelosi and More
 Still more top-tier executives will be winging their way to the October 5-7 American Magazine Conference in San Francisco.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of GOOD Worldwide, publisher of GOOD magazine, for example, will be the featured luncheon speaker for MPA-IMAG Independent’s Day, on Sunday, October 5. IMAG’s sessions will precede the AMC, which will begin that evening.
In the first of two kick-off keynotes on October 5, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will address the AMC audience, starting just after 5 p.m. She will be followed by Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation SKG, at 5:20 p.m. Katzenberg will in turn be followed by Matthew Blank, Showtime Networks’ Chairman/CEO. The latter, along with actor Michael C. Hall, star of Showtime’s Dexter, a series about a serial killer/crimefighter, will be interviewed by The New Yorker’s VP, Publishing Director Drew Schutte.
They will discuss Showtime’s killer advertising idea, a unique campaign featuring faux Dexter covers, such as DQ (for Dexter Quarterly, a take-off on Gentlemen’s Quarterly/GQ), and one that should appeal to Schutte: New Dexter, a la The New Yorker.
In addition, Ed Kelly, American Express Publishing’s President/CEO, has been added to the panel on “Reshaping the Model for Magazines,” slated for Monday, October 6. Also on that date, David Willey, SVP-Editor-in-Chief of Runner’s World, will host the third annual ASME Best Cover Competition.
On the final day, Tuesday, October 7, Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolution, will speak about “Why Magazines Are a Must-Have Medium for Advertisers.”
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Finalists for the American Society of Magazine Editors’ 2008 Best Cover Contest Announced.
Winners to be revealed at AMC San Francisco on October 6, 1 p.m. ET.
 The finalists for the third annual Best Cover Contest, organized by the American Society of Magazine Editors were announced September 22. The nominees include covers from TIME, Latina, The New Yorker, Wired, Texas Monthly, New York, Vanity Fair, and Interview. Winners of the awards, as determined by a panel of editors, design directors, art director and photo editors, will be revealed by ASME President David Willey at the American Magazine Conference on Monday, October 6 at approximately 1 p.m. ET.
This year, ASME received 236 entries from 94 magazines for consideration in the following categories: Cover of the Year, Best Celebrity Cover, Best Concept Cover, Best Fashion Cover, Best Leisure Interest Cover, Best News Cover, and Best Service Cover. The honor of Best Coverline is selected from all covers submitted for the competition.
To view all of the finalists, click here.
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Humorous ‘Under the Influence’ Campaign Spotlights How Magazine Advertising Drives Results
The consumer magazine industry launched a new ad campaign to highlight the strong
role that magazines play in driving purchase intent and online behavior. Unveiling three
tongue-in-cheek print ads and seven online ads, the campaign bowed on September 8 as
the first work to come out of the MPA’s new agency, Toy New York.
The ads show consumers surrounded by an abundance of products that they have
purchased as a result of seeing magazine ads. The tagline "Under the Influence of Magazines" reinforces magazines' strengths in a humorous manner. In one of the initial ads, a man is sitting on his lawn, surrounded by several MINI Cooper cars; in another, a young man sits in his room, surrounded by boxes of Adidas sneakers; and in a third, a woman is seen at her kitchen table amid stacks of Häagen-Dazs ice cream containers.
Independent research facts from companies including BIGResearch, Dynamic Logic, Roper Reports and Marketing Evolution are used to demonstrate the connection between magazine ads and consumer action.
"Marketers want to know that their advertising efforts will pay off, and that desire is
being exacerbated by the challenges of today's soft economy," said Nina Link, MPA
President/CEO. She described the new effort as one that “combines a fun approach and
hard-hitting third party research to demonstrate that magazine brands play a critical part
in helping advertisers achieve their goals."
The new campaign features products from Kelly Award winners Adidas, Häagen-Dazs
and MINI Cooper, all of which have generated positive results from their magazine ad
campaigns.
The advertising will run across print and online properties of the advertising trade press
as well as in complimentary copies of more than 30 MPA member titles. To bring a consumer magazine sensibility to the trade campaign, Toy enlisted photographer Daniel Stier to create the documentary-style ads.
"The facts behind this campaign are incredibly compelling," said Ari Merkin, Founding
Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Toy New York. "The challenge was to wrap those
facts in a message that snaps people's heads back. 'Under the Influence of Magazines' is a
confident, fun way to get across a message that every marketer should know. In truth,
since working on this campaign, we've found ourselves recommending magazines to
most of our clients."
The campaign continues the work begun three years ago by the Magazine Marketing
Coalition – the efforts of which resulted in nearly a two-point share gain for the magazine industry at the end of 2007
For more information on the campaign--including facts from the ads, press, sales collateral and resources--check out www.magfacts.org.
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MPA-IMAG’s November ‘TGIF’ Webinar Zeroes in on Production
 MPA-IMAG has fleshed out the details for its November 21 “TGIF” webinar, entitled “Making the Deadline: Practical Production.”
Oklahoma Today’s Publisher Joan Henderson and Production Manager Colleen McIntyre will talk about that magazine’s almost foolproof internal production systems that help streamline the tight production process. The webinar will run from noon till 1:00 p.m.
As previously announced, the other three “TGIF” web seminars remaining for 2008 will be: “Recruiting Digital Talent,” on September 26; “Consumer Marketing,” on October 31; and the “End of 2008 Wrapup with Nina Link” (MPA’s President/CEO).
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Variety Is the Spice of Magazines’ Latest Digital Initiatives
Digital initiatives were announced by approximately 25 magazines during August and early September.
 Among the latest ventures are these announced in early September: Taste of Home’s new video channel featuring user-generated content on “how to” and recipes; Women’s Health and Prevention ’s new content-sharing partnerships with Glam’s new Health channel; Paste‘s “Paste Nation,” an online advertising network comprised of 14 sites on music, movies, art and culture; Glamour’s new web-video platform aimed at expanding Glamour content into bite-sized video clips, Glamour.TV; and a new “Shop Now” shopping channel and website from Conde Nast’s Shopping.com.
In addition, a bevy of digital ventures were announced during August. These include:
- Playboy’s online men’s style guide
- Entertainment Weekly’s partnership with TiVo
- Seventeen’s partnership with Exercise TV to produce 50 co-branded online workout
- videos
- TV Guide’s content partnership with ABC, sponsoring a free DVD of prime time
- series premieres
- Newsweek’s recent partnership with the Republican and Democratic
- national conventions to produce seven hours of live daily coverage
- BusinessWeek’s “Working Lunch,” a food-focused daily blog on restaurants.
Read More about these and other magazine digital initiatives
Moreover, Billboard, Elle, Out, People en Español and Spin are among the latest magazines on Magazines on MySpace webpage.
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New Automotive Resource Sells Magazines' Power to Drive Results
 A popular MPA presentation, “Managing Mix in a Soft Economy,” has been re-outfitted to address why magazines are especially vital to the automotive industry during a down economy.
In addition, MPA has created a new automotive webpage to offer auto-specific resources.
To see this webpage, click here.
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Learn About ‘Smart Use of Research for Online, Integrated Ad Sales’
 A three-hour October 15 seminar will explore “The Smart Use of Research for Online and Integrated Ad Sales.” This half-day session will provide an overview of the various online syndicated research studies and resources available, as well as a way to use them to present an online property in the best light for advertising sales.
DJG Marketing EVP Steve Douglas will set the stage for representatives of research firms to present their offerings. The session will then feature a panel of research firms, moderated by Bruce Rogers, VP, Marketing and Communications for Forbes.com. The panelists will include: Jack Flanagan, EVP, ComScore/Media Metrix; Jon Gibs, VP, Media Analytics for Nielsen Net Ratings; Adam Gerber, Chief Marketing Officer, Quantcast; and Stephen DiMarco, VP, Chief Marketing Officer for Compete.
Running from 9 a.m. to noon, this event will take place at the 24th floor MPA Conference Center at 810 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. The fee is $225 per person for MPA member companies and $425 per person for non-member companies; continental breakfast is included.
Click here to register.
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