Overview
It’s the consumer side of the business that you’ve seen on Ugly Betty – high profile, big readership titles, and often a fair sprinkling of glitz and glamour. Plus it’s great to tell your mates that you work for a magazine they all read!
Alongside the fashion and celebrity magazines are a huge number of specialist publications serving every interest and hobby. Whether you’re crazy about cars, think fishing’s fantastic or go silly over satire (ok, that’s enough…) there’s a magazine out there for your specific interests.
There are over 3,400 consumer magazines ranging from the Radio Times with a circulation of 1.2 million, to hobby magazines selling a few thousand copies.
Why magazines are special
People are overloaded. Media, information and advertising messages hit us without warning or invitation all the time. We are adept at fine tuning what information we receive: the vast majority is getting tuned OUT.
We make coffee or channel hop during TV ads, we use our browsers to block pop-ups on websites but magazine advertising, done well, can be enjoyed as an integral part of the reading experience - truly engaging with the consumer.
Magazines are a very personal experience, looked forward to as a treat, even described as a friend. They are also completely in our control - whether you devour them in one session from cover to cover or dip in and out enjoying little snippets - there are as many ways to read a magazine as to eat a bar of chocolate... with a similar pleasure hit!
This intimate 'trust' relationship means that the magazine's advertising can be perceived as coming with an implied 'recommendation' - hugely powerful and unique to this medium.
We buy magazines that reflect who we think we are (or want to be) meaning that the brands and products advertised within them are viewed as 'right' for us - also on an assumption that these 'fit' with the magazine content and have been through a similar editorial process.
Brand Extensions
Consumer magazine brands extend into many other formats such as live events or online, and magazines can also emerge out of a successful TV series for example on gardening, cooking or property development.
This has opened up new audiences and extended reach for many publishers, increasing advertising revenues; but in a number of cases, what were once magazines are now becoming formidable brands: platform-independent and globally recognised.
A great example is Elle - once-upon-a-time a single magazine, now a global brand with a suite of spin-off magazines: Elle Girl, Elle Deco, all the international editions... and then there's the websites with even more content, in-depth runway coverage, TV and video.
Elle events (such as the Style Awards) are more than just marketing puff to spread brand awareness and appeal to advertisers - they are highly regarded and unmissable in their own right.
Plus, probably better than anyone else, they've truly understood and capitalised on the value of their brand, going beyond media applications and into licensing with the brand name appearing around the world on clothing, accessories and more.
Read on...
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