I’m thinking Condé Nast should have backed RJ Cutler’s fashion-doco, The September Issue– could have been more profitable judging by their official projections (via MediaMemo) for its crucial September ad sales. Their total losses swell to more than 40-50. Holy cow!
The Best Performer was Teen Vogue at -17, and the Worse Performer was W Magazine at a whopping -47. And heavy-hitters Vogue and Vanity Fair clocked in at -30 and -24 respectively. This is bad news.
Locally, we’ve seen a decline in magazine circulation–they’re getting thinner, cutting printing costs by reducing size/ format/ number of pages, or completely dropping off the radar altogether, some even ditching the printed format opting instead to go online. All the while, competing for what little print-advertising money there is around (I feel New Zealand and Australia has one of the highest number of print magazines per head of population) plus there is strong competition as more, and more people turn to the internet (essentially to blog websites such as Contributing Editor, The Cool Hunter, Hypebeast, Jak&Jil, SlamXHype, Style.com and newcomers MykroMag to name a few). For the relatively inexpensive cost of an ISP, (oh and everyone has a computer) all these magazines are at your fingertips.
But there something to be said about the tangible quality of the printed medium–the interaction of being able to flick through while you’re at a café, mid-air on the plane, or on the subway, that a laptop (with it’s adaptor, wires, internet connection etc.) can not possibly replace. Plus if you leave it on the train, that’s one f**king expensive magazine to replace.
Likewise as an advertiser, I’d like the magazines to be more creative when they’re approaching Cassius Eyewear for advertising money–often it’s a cold-call that comes across as that’s ALL they’re after. Intuitively, you can tell whether they’re excited about the product and want to support it and help it grow, or whether they just need to meet their advertising quota. Try forming a relationship with the advertiser that isn’t necessarily based around dollars, do a few small (or big) features to show them that you want the product in their pages, and invest in the brand/ advertising relationship–you only serve to gain as the brand and the brand’s advertising budget grows with it.
Think about it…
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