October 13 - The Circulator
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| A weekly e-newsletter from Circulation Management | |||||||
| October 13, 2004 | |||||||
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Industry News: Epicurus Digital Mag Skips Print E-mailing an International Campaign Golf Magazine Chooses Controlled Circ Trend Features: Direct Response Rules for the Internet Hard Data and Cover Selection News Briefs Newly Available Lists Industry News:Epicurus.com Skips Print--Goes Straight to Digital By Meghan Hamill
With numbers thrown at him in the $10-50 million range, Web publisher Robert Angelone skipped the heavy costs of publishing a print magazine and went straight to publishing a digital magazine, spending only $150, 000.
"To produce a magazine and get it off the ground for under $150, 000 is not a bad thing," explains Angelone. "You'd think a lot of print publishers would take a look at that and think 'why didn't I do that'?"
He employed Zinio to produce and distribute the digital version of Epicurus.com. Zinio distributes Business Week, Popular Science and Golf Digest, among others.
The digital mag (or "d-magazine," as Angelone calls it) launched about a month ago and his goal is to transfer 5-10% of the Epicurus.com Web site reader base of 1.8 million unique monthly visitors to a paid subscription to the d-magazine. That's about 180, 000 subscribers; his goal is to have 295,000 in the near future.
"We assume that if they are going to the Web site, they are tech savvy enough to be online," says Angelone. "People want to get this kind of content, they read our articles, they like our recipes. We know that people are looking at this information. If they are interested in Web-based recipes, then some form of digital recipe delivery has got to be interesting to them."
There are over 500 digital publications in the market place right now. Epicurus.com is the first to work with Zinio to create a digital food magazine. "At the end of the day, the digital editions that are out there are not being sold to the advertisers--they are just basically a clone of the print edition," says Angelone.
"We are going out there and doing something really unique. We are trying to sell advertising in the digital edition, because we can add so much technology and so much capability to the ad. We think that advertisers should be sitting up and taking serious notice."
When it comes to advertising, let's say that you put an 8.5 x 11" ad in a print magazine. You can put photos and content in the ad. But in the digital format, you can embed audio, Flash, TV, a film clip, animated gifs--you can make that ad sit up and talk to people.
You can literally put a TV commercial in the d-magazine. You just can't do that with print. Digital publishing adds a whole new flavor to advertising and provides a lot more impact to an ad than print is capable of.
The metrics are digital--they are not guess work. Zinio measures the numbers of people who have looked at the ad. You can see how much time the reader has spent on that ad and how many people read through to page 9. You can tell if people bypass an ad or if they spend real time on it.
Digital combines all the mediums and makes it a great experience for the reader and advertisers.
Depending on the market place, Angelone will decide to go to print or not. He still has to deal with the fact that it costs so much more to produce a print magazine. He would much rather work with a large publishing house, because they would add a lot of value and resources.
"We're going to do whatever we have to do, with or with out a publishing house. It'll probably take at least a year before we go to print," he says. "I don't think this is the end of print. I think digital is an important tool. I really believe that we can get people interested in going straight to digital. People are web savvy."
E-mailing an International Marketing Campaign By Meghan Hamill
Last week the Circulator touched base on international marketing via mail. This week we are continuing the topic with marketing via email.
"Email lists are available," said Gerald Messer, president and CEO, Data Services, Inc. at a recent FMA session, "but you have to be very careful what you do with email in terms of making certain [legitimate names] are out there."
Messer said they are are involved in international emailing, but before they actually do any emailing, they make sure they have a signed contract stating that all the names they're getting for the campaign are opt-in. If they don't do that, he said, they could get put out of business as a service bureau.
Messer is very careful with companies that he deals with in regards to international email broadcasting. The privacy issues are such that there's nothing even written that you can fall back on when you do a program. Italy is the most difficult country of all.
In spite of the fact that Italy doesn't have a pander file (a national do not mail list) for direct mail or email--they have almost put out of business the direct mail companies that have used this as their main means of marketing.
However, there are still multinational lists available with names in Italy. As a U.S. marketing company, you're free to use those names. Aviation Week, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, National Geographic Society--all major publishers have subscribers in Italy. So you can still mail the names that are available.
Where you have to be careful is trying to get local lists--Italy has pretty much stopped leasing. For the most part, though, it's business as usual if you are marketing an upstanding product and giving people the option to opt-out.
Keep in mind that about once a year most major publishers who use the international list will run their file through the list to get the most up-to-date address changes. Usually this is done prior to a mail campaign program.
Golf Magazine Chooses a Controlled Circ Strategy By Meghan Hamill
Like a membership to an exclusive golf, country or yacht club, the affluent magazines of publishing only want subscribers if they meet specific criteria--income criteria. Don't bother subscribing to the following magazines if you aren't really affluent: Vitals, W, W Jewelry, Robb Report, Smithsonian, Sotheby�s Preview, Elite Travel, Valley Scene, The Week and more.
Golf Connoisseur, a new luxury lifestyle magazine anchored to the golf world, is taking a page from the business-to-business model by launching with a very unique controlled circulation methodology.
Publisher Joe Kelly wants the new startup to be as exclusive as a private country club. His team has employed circulation expert Dan Capell to help ensure that "average Joe" stays away.
The magazine will only be mailed out to those with the highest incomes, and lower-income readers will be discouraged from subscribing, with a prohibitively high subscription price.
"Instead of, 'Would you like to receive this magazine?' It's almost like, 'Can you qualify to receive the magazine?" says Capell, industry consultant and editor of the respected Capell's Circulation Report. "I'm not sure it has been [done before]."
The magazine will debut in December.
To reach this well-heeled demographic, the initial issue of Golf Connoisseur is being mailed out to the top 200-plus private golf clubs across the country, including Augusta National (host of the Master's tournament) and Pine Valley. In addition, Capell and his team have identified the most high-worth mailing lists and wealth-heavy PRISM clusters--plus a selection of C-level executives at the top 1,000 companies--to receive the magazine's first issue.
Respondents must then submit a request in writing to receive the magazine, and fill out a detailed demographic questionnaire. They are expecting 235,000 readers to start.
"We are trying to produce the highest demographics in America," says Capell.
Thus, Golf Connoisseur will likely compete in the realm of The Robb Report and Cigar Aficionado, rather than, say, Golf Digest. There will be few pages devoted to tips on improving your swing, or stories on Tiger's win at the U.S. Open.
"These people are smart enough to know that a story going out to 500,000 other readers isn't going to help them get better at golf," says Editor in Chief James Frank, who knows of what he speaks, as he is the former editor of Golf Magazine. "Besides, they can hire a pro to improve their game."
The prototype issue has been printed on oversized 9x12 stock, and features stunning photography of the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle in Great Britain, along with an accompanying profile of one of Europe's most exclusive golfing venues. An interview with famed golf junkie Michael Jordan is also featured.
So far, advertisers have been responsive, although the company is hesitant to divulge names until insertion orders have been signed. "Advertisers want higher-end users, particularly luxury goods advertisers," adds Kelly." These people are very hard to find."
Golf Connoisseur is expected to go quarterly next year and bimonthly in 2006.
Trend FeaturesInternet is a Whole New World of Direct Response By Barbara Love
John Klingel, VP-worldwide circulation, Reader's Digest, speaking at FMA Day in New York, said that the Internet was a channel he paid a lot of attention to when moving away from sweepstakes. "We got tremendous success--right through the roof--and then it stopped," he said. "And now it's exactly where it was four years ago in terms of volume."
"It has not become a major source, but we are still watching it and spending a lot of time and effort testing it," he said. ""We have seen that the types of offers that work on the Internet are very different from direct mail. It's a whole new world of direct response in terms of types of offers, prices�the whole nine yards."
And the economics are very different, he said. "One of the keys to understanding the Internet is you really have to play around with a source evaluator," he said, "because the leverage points are totally different on the Internet than in direct mail. And if you understand that, it drives you in different directions in terms of how to use it."
One of the hurdles still is integrating the Internet into fulfillment operations. He does not blame his fulfillment company, he added, because "it's a function of publishers being willing to pay for it."
Another hurdle is getting rid of spam. "If spam is ever taken care of and people become more responsive to email direct marketing, maybe it will start to become more effective," said Klingel.
"It's been a relatively short period of time since we've had the Internet if you look at the history of direct mail," he said. "We still see it in the future as a major source, and a potential rival to direct mail."
Klingel added that his statements relate to the United States. "The Internet is a big, big, big source in some other countries," he said.
Hard Data and the Cover Selection Process By Barbara Love
"I can't emphasize enough that you really need to become involved in the cover process," Mark Peterson, President, ProCirc Retail, told circulators at a recent FMA session in New York. "It's the number one selling tool you have at retail."
"Maybe the reader has three seconds to look at the cover at checkout or a reading center," Peterson said. "How do you fight for that consumer's time among 200 or 500 magazines?"
But becoming an integral part of the cover selection process is tricky, because the cover has traditionally been the editor's domain.
Peterson said he's worked with editors who were great to work with and he�s worked with editors who are the enemy. The secret is in the numbers.
"The best way to get involved is to show hard data on what you've found works and doesn't work," he told circulators. "It's hard to ignore very strong data when you are talking to an editor or the publisher.
"You really need to look at historical data points and current trends to help guide you," he explained. "I look at certain magazines back 15 or 20 years to see what drives them. And there is historically great volatility, and that is true for every year that I study."
Some tips from Peterson on gathering data points:
"I can tell you the top 10 things you should do for a successful cover and I can poke a hole in every single one of those," Peterson said.
"You really want to develop a database for your own magazine and competitive set that includes different points like cover lines, the number of cover lines, the fonts, colors, image, whether it's a head shot, a three-quarter body shot, whether the cover model is looking at you," he said.
"You want to make sure you are using all data that you can find. So you can make a better-informed decision."
"This data will certainly help you with future sales. It's different for different magazines. Something that works for Motor Trends will not be the same as for People magazine or US magazine. So you really have to make sure you are dealing with your own magazine.
When you are doing cover analysis, you are really playing with the averages, he explained. And you have to be flexible interpreting data. "There are no absolutes," said Peterson. News BriefsConde Nast Buys YM Conde Nast Publications has agreed to buy G+J USA's troubled teen title YM and related assets, including its subscription file, brand name, the rights to YM's special publication titles and the YM domain name.
Investcorp to Acquire Thomson Media Thomson Corp.'s Thomson Media properties (which includes Bond Buyer and American Banker magazines) was acquired by global investment company Investcorp last week with a bid of $350 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
"It's an indication of a strong rebound in the M&A market for media companies," said Reed Phillips, managing partner at media investment bank DeSilva & Phillips, "and for b-to-b in particular."
Thomson Corp. had initially pulled the unit off the market two years ago because the offers were too low. Thomson Media had revenues of $170 million in 2003 with operating cash flow of an estimated $30 million, according to published sources. Media reports previously estimated the value of the deal to be between $250 and $300 million.
Investcorp has said it will keep the current Thomson Media management team, led by CEO Jim Malkin, in place.
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American Dieter (157,192 names, $85/M) Consumers who filled out Internet surveys and requested information about weight loss. Counts are available based on weight loss goals. Selects by hotlines, weight loss goal, diabetes/heart disease in household, obesity, smoker, magazine subscriber, age, credit card, education, homeowner, income, marital status, presence of children, state/SCF/zip. Contact: ListSolutions (732) 967-1516
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