Ad Sales Blog

Social media snakes and ladders

This is a fun graphic but also shows a serious side by ranking the social media players playing in the social media space. 

Stay hungry, stay foolish

Whatever you are doing in the next 22 minutes, will not be as useful as watching this video of Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech given at Sanford University. 

Jobs describes how three experiences showed him what is important: his early life as an adopted child, being fired from Apple in 1985, and his first round with pancreatic cancer. 

As Jobs departs for yet another leave from Apple, citing unspecified health issues, the message of this short address seems more urgent.

It is good media business to stand for something, and why so few do

I just read an amazingly insightful post by Mark Ramsey (left) of Mark Ramsey Media in which he nails the process of making media more profitable by making the content the media delivers more meaningful.

This is a big one folks. Solve this issue and a lot of media sales people on your staff will have a much easier time.   

Ultimately it is the content that your media delivers that sets the bar. Ramsey's post is about radio programming, but the issues and strategies he raises are universal to all media. If you want to know the secret sauce to making the content your media shares, read on:

"One of the media genres I work in regularly is Christian radio.

There is something different about a project with Christian format broadcasters from one with more conventional, let alone commercial, broadcasters. And what’s different isn’t simply the source of funding or the familiarity of the songs on the air.

What’s different – what’s palpable – is that everyone on staff knows the brand stands for something bigger.  And this feeling is generally lacking for most broadcasters in most formats.  But why?

Think about it, what does YOUR station stand for that’s bigger than the format itself?

Maybe you stand for maximizing revenue.  Maybe you stand for increasing ratings.  Okay those are outcomes, not objectives.  But outcomes of what?

Of playing the best music mix?  Sure, but that is increasingly easy to mimic nowadays on any number of platforms.  Of being ubiquitous and easy?  Sure, but that’s hardly defensible in a time of techno-revolution.

What about working to make your community a better place?  What about working to tangibly enrich the lives of the tens or hundred of thousands of ears and eyes who care enough about you to come back, again and again, day after day?  Show me the fan who affiliates with your brand for “higher ratings” or “more revenue” and I’ll show you the fan with a big title and the corner office at the station.

We talk a lot about social media in radio nowadays, yet how much of our social media efforts are directed towards anything with a social consequence?

Listeners – like you and me – are human beings.  And human beings always favor the call to something bigger.  If we in radio are guilty of anything, it’s not selling ourselves short, it’s selling short our audiences and their dreams and aspirations.  Once upon a time, Steve Jobs lured a Pepsi executive to run Apple with the admonition: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”  Guess what he did?  Who would do anything different?

Of course, our stations must be viable businesses – and growing ones, too. But are they successful because we relentlessly seek to increase ratings or are they successful because the audience places them near and dear to their hearts? I would argue that if it’s not the latter, then we risk losing the former.

Fans rave about the extraordinary, not the mundane.  The best way for any brand to be irreplaceable is for that brand to aspire to irreplaceability. And minimizing interruptions and tune-outs does not make you irreplaceable. The best way is to stand for something bigger and to prove it on an ongoing basis. That’s the way to motivate employees, audiences, consumers, investors, and management alike.

Standing for something bigger means solving bigger problems."

Great post Mark, Keep 'em coming! 

 Read Mark Ramsey's post: "Can Radio Save the World"

 

A publisher's guide to retweets

When selling the branded content of your media retweets are great currency. If you can create content, even if it’s under 140 characters long, and have it be retransmit through hundreds or thousands of individual Twitter accounts, it magnifies the importance of your brand in the markets you serve.  

The top 10 retweets of 2010 give insight as to what magic the top performers contain. Many are from celebrities, but that alone is not the secret sauce considering the thousands of tweets from celebs that did not make the cut. 

First, let’s look at the basic nature of the content contained in the top ten tweets:  

 

• Average number of characters per tweet: 69, less than half of the 140 character limit
• Average number of words per tweet: 13, short and sweet
• Used humor: 5 of the 10
• Personally connected: 5 of 10, here the tweet only made sense if you know the person (or celebrity) involved.
• Offered wisdom: 3 of 10

So personal connection, humor, and wisdom, ruled the top tweets. Tweets about a personal mood, personal experience, real time experience, or news item, did not make the cut. 

Here are the top ten tweets of 2010:
1. Stephen Colbert: in honor of oil-soaked birds, 'Tweets' are now 'gurgles.
2. Drizzy Drake: We always ignore the ones who adore us, and adore the ones who ignore us
3. Lil Wayne WEEZY F: aaaaaaahhhhhhmmmmm baaaaakkkkkkkkkk
4. Justin Bieber: te quiero mucho mi amor
5. Al-Qaeda: Just noticed Twitter keeps prompting me to "Add a location to your tweets". Not falling for that one.
6. joe jonas: I cry because I love Justin Bieber!!!
7. Lady Gaga: I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby. I was Born This Way.
8. Kanye West: I'm sorry Taylor.
9. Rihanna: Justin Bieber just flashed me his abs in the middle of a restaurant! Wow! He actually had a lil 6 pack! Sexy,lol!
10. shitmydadsays: Don't focus on the one guy who hates you. You don't go to the park and set your picnic down next to the only pile of dog shit.

But there was more ingredient.

Each of the top tweets, in their own unique way, captured a universal feeling, moment, idea, or bit of wisdom for many. 

Stephen Colbert used humor, but his “tweets are now gurgles” quip defined the frustration we all felt about the BP oil spill. Lady Gaga’s tweet defined her whole unique performance attitude that has mesmerize millions, while the fake Al-Qaeda tweet poked fun at Osama Bin Laden, something we all like to do.

Share humor or wisdom. Both universally appreciated.

Find a way to make a universal personal connection. You do not have to be a celebrity if you tap into a universally known person or personal experience. Few know the Tweeter behind "Shit my dad says," but everyone has a dad. Few know the identity of the fake Osama from Al-Qaeda, but everyone knows who he or she is pretending to be.

As a publisher, your users/readers are focused in a target audience. Think about what would be universal humor, ideas, or emotions for your niche. On the personal side, are there heroes or villains that are universally known? To get the biggest bang for your retweet, tweet about them. 

There is nothing like a good universal tweet to bring readers together.
Happy Holidays!

Official list of top ten retweets from Twitter

To monetize podcasts think sponsorships not ads

A study released earlier this year advocates sponsorships over advertising as the best way to monetize podcasts. The Association for Downloadable Media along with Edison Research report that podcast listeners HATE radio style ads but relate much better to "this content is brought to you by" sponsorships. The study says that it helps if the podcast host makes the sponsorship announcement. For content publishers here are the two key charts: 

First: when podcast listeners were asked about traditional radio style ads their response was negative with 62% saying they "generally dislike" them.   
But when the same audience was asked about sponsorship plugs instead 67% responded they "Don't mind them and occasionally find them useful." 
Sponsorships seems the way to gain exposure for advertisers without without turning off listeners.

There were other findings as well. According to Edison Research Vice President Tom Webster, “A podcast advertising buy is not a redundant media buy for advertisers and marketers. These are attractive, affluent consumers that mass media is losing.” He also notes, “Ninety percent of these respondents indicated that they had taken some kind of action as a result of podcast advertising or sponsorship, and over 40% reported purchasing behaviors, which indicates that they are receptive to the right message, in the right context.”

More findings include:  

1. Active Podcast consumers are mobile media consumers - and content creators and advertisers alike should continue to take advantage of that fact

2. Active podcast consumers are not receptive to interrupt advertising, but they are receptive to targeted messages in podcasts

3. There is a "halo" effect ascribed to brands, products and services that sponsor podcasts

Download a PDF of all the ADM Edison Study findings 

Watch an hour long Vimeo video where Edison Research presents the findings:

 

Teens and Young Adults shift media usage away from magazines and radio

According to an Edison Research report, “Radio’s Future II: The 2010 American Youth Study,” media usage among teens and young adults are shifting.

In 2000, 74% of young adults, ages 12-24, listened to terrestrial radio. That percentage has sharply dwindled - as of 2010, only 41% of young adults listen to the radio. As many young people have given up their music and newspaper habits, the internet has replaced much of that activity.

 Online usage among teens and young adults increased from 16% to 42%. But looks at what is down: talking on the telephone drops from one hour and 44 minutes, per 24 hour day,  down to one our and four; reading magazines from 24 minutes to 11, and newspapers from 17 minutes to 8.

According to the report: “The same trend is observable in total time spent with various media. In 2000, teens and young adults were spending close to 2 hours and 45 minutes listening to the radio each day. By 2010 it had fallen to an hour and a half." In addition reading magazines drops by more than half while time spent online goes from an hour a day to almost 3.

But online radio is a bright spot, “Pandora is the clear front runner among online radio services, according to online listeners surveyed by Vision Critical in March. Pandora was cited as the favorite by 27%, and 42% had listened in the past year. No other service garnered more than a single-digit response.”



 Read the original report: Teens and Young Adults Favor Online Radio.

One in three TV viewers becomes an "On Demander" bypassing traditional viewing

How much traditional TV are people watching? Media Research firm Say Media reports that one out of three people in the US has given up watching live TV for Internet TV and time-shifted video.

Consumers are spending less time with live television and more time with online content as well as time-and-device-shifted premium video content. This group is young, educated and affluent – and are increasingly difficult for marketers to reach through traditional broadcast media.

The researchers identify two groups among those giving up on live TV:

"On Demanders"

• -Watch less live TV than a year ago and more     streamed video content
  -Are young, educated, affluent
  Own 5.4 devices for streaming video
  -Consume 30 hours of video content weekly
  -Are least receptive to TV, online and mobile ads

"Opt Outs"

-Do not watch live TV
Are younger (30% are 18-24), live in urban areas
-Get their video content time and device shifted
-Own 3.9 devices for streaming video
-Are most receptive to mobile and online ads

Most people I know are viewing more online and mobile video, which really did not exist just a few years ago, but the results of this study seem a little extreme. I'm a little suspect of the results...

Say Media, previously Videoegg, is a rich media advertising network that delivering over 100 million uniques in 400 leading video, gaming and social network sites and applications. Clearly they have lot invested in our believing that video TV viewing has moved on to new media platforms.

According to the methodology, findings are based "a passive behavioral analysis via comScore's opt-in panel, of 1,159 Internet users" as well as eight interviews with "Off-the-Grid households" in Chicago and San Francisco." 

While a comScore panel is highly credible source, I believe that someone opting onto one of thier research panels is going to be more advanced in their media consumption that the average user. 

For that reason I'm suspect of the claim that a third of all TV viewers are "off the grid" of traditionl  TV viewing. 

But another findings might be more important that the overall numbers for media sales issues: the qualitative aespects the viewers. Even if comScores panels have more new media enthusiasts than an average sample of Americans, the groups with the panel will likey still maintain their characteristics. 

For me this finding is the most important:

 

Media buyers and sellers take note. Some of the most important TV demograpics are slipping away from traditional TV viewership.  

 

Read more findings from the study at Marketing Profs 

 

The Newspaper extinction timeline

Whether you agree or not with the premise of this timeline, the very fact that someone has assembled one should give all in the print media world alarm. The charts creators do not seem like bomb throwing heretics. They calmly explain,

"This schedule for newspaper extinction shows best estimates given current trends. The timeline is intended to highlight the diversity of global media markets and stimulate useful strategic conversations.

Newspapers in their current form becoming insignificant is not the same as the death of news-on-paper, which will continue in a variety of forms. Ways that newspaper publishers of today will succeed in the transition beyond newspapers in their current form” include transitioning to other channels, providing personalized news-on-paper, and tapping niche markets."

Sounds sane enough. Best advice to newspaper people? Change with the times or move to Argentina, where print newspapers are forecast to exist until until 2039.  

Download the whole chart and study

 

Custom publishing digital magazines?

I will be hosting a FREE webinar sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau on October 19 at 5 PM EST.

This webinar is not for publishers but for website managers who are considering launching a digital magazine. As a publisher I would see this as a custom publishing opportunity. I hope you can join us.

Webianr topic:

Should my website publish a digital magazine or digital magazine app?

 

Up until recently digital magazines were mostly used by print publishers looking to extend their content onto the web. But the release of the iPad changed that. Magazine style content delivered either as a digital magazine or though a magazine style app can be used to engage your website users differently and extend the reach and value of your content. During this session we will explore the reasons why this kind of engagement is different and why a growing number of website publishers are creating digital magazine content for their readers.

• How interactive digital magazine content can complement website content
• Examples of web publishers who are publishing digital magazine formats
• How this approach can appeal to advertisers

Speaker:Josh Gordon, President, Smarter Media Sales

October 19th

Click HERE to register.

The IAB and its partners produce educational webinars aimed specifically at the needs of small, growing publishers. These webinars are produced from input received by the Long Tail Alliance  are part of IAB's ongoing efforts to support the long tail community.

Are digital magazines the ultimate custom publishing opportunity?

A very cool white paper from Proximity WORLDWIDE lays out the case for iPad style digital publications. Proximity presents itself as the most awarded, digital agency network in the world. With more than 2,000 employees in 59 countries, they carry some weight.

Their white paper makes the case that there is a coming renaissance of brand generated content that will be distributed on iPad like devices. Publishers take notice, this could be a terrific new service you offer your advertisers...or something they do on their own, without you. Your choice.

Here is the white paper’s summary:

“Traditional media has historically been a gatekeeper between brands and their consumers. But thanks largely to the internet and ever-evolving digital technologies, such as the iPad, the wall supporting the gate has eroded, leaving it dangling on one hinge, wide open.  Marketers who seize the moment and think and act like media companies, will stand to gain both market share and profit. It’s time to storm the gate. And we’re happy to help you.”

Here is how the paper supports this proposition: 

“The consumer love affair with magazines (more than 12 billion are printed every year in the U.S. alone) means brands should rejoice at the industry’s iPad-inspired resurrection and re-invention. At the very least, this development opens up new and interesting ways to advertise to consumers. But there’s so much more to iPad-delivered magazine-like experiences to set marketers hearts to racing and minds to concepting."

Concepting? Great word! Now for some perspective: 

When it comes to the promise of digital magazines, what holds true for the editorial content holds true for the advertising content: It can take a giant step forward. (Remember a few decades back, when pop-up ads in the middle of print magazines were considered breakthrough? We have come a long, long way indeed.) More robust advertising means more compelling and engaging advertising—and there’s data to support that claim as it relates specifically to digital magazines.

I love it, they now quote our survey! 

For instance, consider a study conducted by Smarter Media Sales of more than 5,000 people already engaging with digital magazines. Called “The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines,” this piece of research revealed that 70% percent of the respondents were more likely to ignore web-based ads than those in digital magazines. And 82% said they found digital magazine content more engaging than the same content found on websites. (Recall the difference between “leaning in” and “leaning back.”)

I recommend you download the whole white paper and read it before your advertisers do.

Download the proximity white paper for FREE

 

PS: I'm be running a free webinar on the topic of marketers (not publishers) starting digital magazines for the IAB coming in up on October 19. Info and registration HERE   

FREE "Print is Alive!" download

Having a tough time with print media sales? Here is some help. I've been blogging about the viability of print advertising for years now. I've compiled a compendium of 27 posts into a 36 page PDF for free download. Here is the table of contents. Click on the link below to download:

1. Print magazines have never stopped selling pg.32. The future of print magazines: fewer, but just fine pg. 5
3. How print ads help generate web leads pg.7
4. Age of magazine readers rise, but slightly pg.8
5. Print sales tip from a Nielsen analyst: let's get physical pg.9
6. Beating "print is dead" with Ron Wall's iPod story pg. 10
7. Magazines: most credible source of "information about a company" pg.11
8. Young Americans: business magazines #1,Wikipedia #2 pg. 12
9. Push vs. Pull pg. 13
10. Docs prefer print! pg. 15
11. Recommend a URL in the next ad pg.16
12. Magazines are top source of readership trust pg.17
13. Magazines are a topWeb driver pg.18
14. Pushing paper advertising in Sweden pg.19
15. B-to-B digital revenue to top print by 2009 pg. 20
16. The magazine Engagement story pg.21
17. Study: magazines lift brand favorability and purchase intent best pg.23
18. Magazines drive buying intent... more than TV! pg.24
19. Just because you're "hot" doesn't mean people trust you pg.25
20. Repositioning print pg.26
21. Magazine and search synergy pg.28
22. Who still reads magazines? Everybody pg.31
23. Are newspapers old or new media? Yes. pg.32
24. Repositioning the magazine medium pg.33
25. Need a new ad business model? Think like Rupert pg.34
26. Selling print in a digital world: talk about "intent" pg.35
27. Selling print in a digital world: use "perspective" pg.36

Download Print is Alive! for FREE

What the movie "Inception" tells us about selling with ideas

As a persuasive element in marketing, ideas are powerful, tangible, misunderstood, and underused. I loved the first few lines from Christopher Nolan's hit movie "Inception" because they dramatize just how influential ideas can be:  

What is the most resilient parasite?

 An idea.

 A single idea from the human mind can build cities.

 An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.

See the trailer:

 How do ideas actually sell? Here are the first few lines from the chapter on selling with ideas from my book "Presentations That Change Minds":

  On March 19, 1999, Steve Forbes entered the crowded field as a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. There were nine candidates running and Forbes’ entry would made it a field of ten. The son of publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes, Steve was little known in national politics and most observers bet his only chance of winning on massive spending from his personal fortune.

But the unique advantage of personally bankrolling a campaign vanished when rival candidate Morry Taylor, a millionaire wheel magnate from Quincy, IL, spent about $1.5 million of his personal fortune on TV ads in the early days of the campaign.

Despite the odds, Forbes shot past eight of his rivals in the first few primaries to become the solid second place contender behind Bob Dole, the long-standing US Senator from Kansas.

Most credit the success of Forbes’ campaign to his ability to present new, compelling ideas that challenged his audiences. One idea, the flat tax, eventually took center stage and became almost synonymous with the Forbes campaign. USA Today reported, “Dole pokes fun at Forbes for being a one-note candidate: "You ask him about your headache, he gives you his flat tax message."
   
The story of how Steve Forbes, a virtual political unknown nationally, could enter a crowded field and have a solid shot at winning the Republican presidential nomination is the story of just how powerful an idea, skillfully delivered, can be.

The essence of using an idea to persuade is to sell an audience on a unique idea which, if accepted, gains acceptance for your candidate, product, or proposal. In short, buy my idea, buy what I am selling.

If you bought the idea of the flat tax back in 1999 you likely voted for Forbes. In the same year, if you bought the idea that the best value in computers was in buying direct from a manufacturer, you likely bought from Dell Computer. Before you start, ask, “If they buy my idea will they buy what I am selling?”
Consider these four ways an idea most often results in a sale:

1. Idea ownership. Steve Forbes “owned” the idea of the flat tax. If you wanted it as part of your future, he was the guy who could deliver and you had to vote for him.

2. Sell an idea as feature. In 2003 Seachange Technology introduced a new idea to structure video storage by using a ring pattern instead of the commonly used linear structure. If IT audiences bought the idea of the ring structure, they had to buy from Seachange, the only supplier who had it.   

3. Implementation. An ad agency recently proposed a new idea for a marketing campaign targeting senior citizens. Because the agency had extensive and unique knowledge and experience implementing programs like the one proposed, they felt confident they would get the contract if the client liked the idea.  The client might say, “OK we love the idea.  Who can make this happen?”  

4. Change that requires specific expertise. A technology company proposed using new digital technology to change the workflow at a radio stations. While many suppliers offered the equipment necessary, implementing the changes in workflow required specific expertise that only this company could provide.  

Ask yourself:

What idea can we advocate which, if accepted, generates preference for our product or service?

Have ideas been used to manipulate? 

Many times. In the 1960's Shell Oil sold the idea that an ingredient in their gasoline, platformate, gained cars extra mileage. Was it true? Yes. In the dramatic 60 second TV spot that follows Shell sells this idea. Shell correctly assumed that most Americans have little understanding of petroleum products. In the ad Shell did not mention that all brands of gasoline had platformate.

 But if you bought the idea that an ingredient in Shell gasoline extended gas mileage would you buy your gas from Shell? Many did so for many years. That's a pretty resilient parasite.    

 

Trouble getting through to media buyers? Here's why.

Media buyers are a stressed out bunch. Think they have a lot of time time to talk to you? Think again. According to a recently released study by Cento, they barely have enough time to talk to their own clients.

According to the study, over half are either neutral or disagree they have enough time to "properly communicate" with clients. Only 45.1% agree or agree strongly that they do.  

In addition:

• 45% of the industry works more than 10 hours per day on average.

• Nearly half (43%) of the industry spends more than four hours per day working in Excel.

• Nearly half (49%) of the industry spends more than four hours per day composing or responding to email strictly for work purposes.

• 85% of respondents indicated they would like to spend more time on highly strategic work, but are required to devote the bulk of their time to managing administrative or logistical activities.

• 82.2% no longer use fax machines.

Good luck getting through.

Download the whole study:

http://centro.net/files/Centro-Media%20Planner%20Survey%20Executive%20Summary-June2010.pdf

Free Linkinar today at 4 PM EST on selling the client who "owns" their media

Today at 4 PM EST I will be hosting a Linkinar for the National Association of Publisher's Representatives

The topic will be selling the media buyer whose company which publishes a lot of media of their own: their own newsletter, a website with more traffic than yours, their own webinars etc.

Here's the description from NAPR:

Josh Gordon, a former publishers' representative and a frequent NAPR featured speaker will address our association on Wednesday, July 21st at 4 P.M. EDT.  The title of Mr. Gordon's speech is "My Company Has Popular Web Sites, E-Newsletters, E-Magazines, Social Media Programs and a Huge Database...Now, Just Why Do I Need YOUR Media."  Mr. Gordon will answer that question and more concerning the compounding number of organizations that consider themselves to be "Media Self-Sufficient".

Josh Gordon now publishes an absorbing Web site, www.smartermediasales.com and an indispensable monthly e-newsletter entitled "Smarter Media Sales".  Watch for Gordon's new blog: www.sellingwithcontent.com 

The call in # is 218.844.3377 code 94612#

If you join me, here are the links I will walk you though:

 1. If content is King then audience is Ace: http://jgordon5.typepad.com/content/2010/07/if-content-is-king-then-audience-is-ace.html

2. Content marketing spending http://www.junta42.com/resources/content-marketing-spending-2010.aspx

3. How publishers profit when advertisers are publishers http://jgordon5.typepad.com/blog/2009/08/what-publishers-must-do-when-customers-become-publishers.html

4. Print magazines have never stopped selling http://jgordon5.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/magazines-sell-heres-proof-.html

5. Aggregate or die http://jgordon5.typepad.com/content/2010/07/aggregate-or-die.html

6. The social media platforms that most advance business goals http://jgordon5.typepad.com/content/2010/07/the-social-media-platforms-that-most-advance-business-goals.html

 7. The Energy Collective survey: http://www.theenergycollective.com/Home/41889

8. Community Sherpa study: http://community-sherpa.com/social-media-marketing-tidbits/12-keys-to-using-social-media-to-improve-marketing-in-the-multi-family-industry/

9. Interactivity is the Core Reason Marketers Advertise in iPad style Interactive Digital Magazines http://jgordon5.typepad.com/blog/2010/05/interactivity-is-the-core-reason-marketers-advertise-in-ipad-style-interactive-digital-magazines-1.html

Hope to see you there!

Josh Gordon

Print magazines have never stopped selling

  At the just concluded Folio show Kerry Smith, Red7Media CEO, offered a surprising view of what the future of print publishing might be. Challenged, like all publishing companies, with the decline of print ad revenue, Smith has diversified his organization's offerings to include marketing services such as research, and consulting. But even as less of his company's revenue is tied to print he is more committed to it. Why? Because he has found that his magazines are most often the the first point of contact leading to the sale of all the other services he is now selling.  

Today, publishers of all kinds are using the presence they have in their markets to start related businesses. For example: 

• Premier Guitar, sells sheet music to subscribers
• Oil and Gas Journal sells industry data and research
• Dwell, a shelter book for the modern home, sells modern prefabricated homes

But this "new" tend where publishers use a magazine presence to sell products and services to readers is not so new. Marketers have used sponsored or branded magazines to do this for years. Despite the migration of ad dollars away from print magazines, the dollars flowing into sponsored magazines are going strong as documented early this year by The Financial Times: 

"According to the UK research body Mintel, this type of “customer publishing” is booming. It estimates that the industry in the UK alone is likely to be worth £1bn by 2013. Between 2008 and 2009 it grew 16 per cent, and by 2013 it is projected to increase by a further 22 per cent – no mean feat when the rest of the glossy magazine world is in the doldrums.

What attracts companies is the direct impact on consumers. “Our research has shown that these magazines create an eight per cent uptick in sales,” says Julia Hutchison, chief operating officer of the Association of Publishing Agencies, the representative for the customer publishing industry in the UK. “On average, every customer spends 25 minutes reading these titles. That’s 25 minutes spent with the brand. Lots of companies are redirecting their ad and marketing spends to this avenue.”

In the past, some sponsored publications were little more than product promos. But now, savvy marketers are investing in quality writers, photographers, and more objective journalism to attract larger audiences. The FT article continues:

"Whereas in-house magazines used to be glorified advertorials, today the branding is much more subtle and there’s a genuine effort to tap top editorial talents and introduce original material; Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, photographic stalwarts of the fashion publications Vogue and Visionaire, shot the latest YSL manifesto.

The investment makes sense: it gives depth to a brand in an environment they can control. It pushes product without the obvious “sell”, and in many instances may be cheaper than advertising.Asos’ title, for instance, which is known for its mix of celebrity, shopping and entertainment, is now the second largest women’s fashion title in the UK with an annual circulation of 471,522.

Terri Westlake, head of media at Asos.com, says, “Customers are savvy; they understand that it’s a brand title (and not independent), but they still appreciate a very good free magazine.”

Print magazines can provide marketers with a "media marquee" that gives them consistent visibility hard to duplicate in the crowed online world. What Kerry Smith, and a growing number of publishers are taking advantage of is the same benefit marketers using sponsored publications have used for years...print magazines sell!

Read the Whole article in FT