PPA Conference 1995 – Full Report
Introduction To Magazines ’95
The 1995 conference of the Periodical Publishers Association was opened by the new chairman of the PPA, Terry Mansfield (National Magazine Company). He tried a very upbeat speech to welcome delegates, and to introduce the first session of the day. In it he outlined the themes that would run throughout the rest of the conference.
He described a strong magazine industry that has more titles than ever, increasing circulation, and increasing readership; he emphasized the unique advantage that magazines offer to advertisers, in the nature of the relationship between the reader and the magazine; he reminded delegates of the consistent creativity and ingenuity of editors and designers in the magazine industry and he predicted a wildly prosperous future if the PPA could succeed in its campaign to change government rules on cross-media production, allowing magazines to produce complimentary TV programmes (at present, a successful programme can launch a same-title magazine, but a magazine cannot produce a same-titled programme).
However, there also seemed to be an unofficial theme at the conference, concerning the Internet. There was a definite curiosity amongst advertisers about how they could get adverts on the net, but there seemed to be more than a little paranoia coming from publishers about the effect that electronic publishing would have on their businesses.
Winning Hearts and Minds
The opening session of the conference aimed to give a broad overview of the current state of advertising in the magazine industry. There were speakers to represent the views of advertisers, of agencies, and of magazines, but to start, there was a presentation of new research from the Henley Centre.
The new report, “Magazines into 2000”, was introduced by the Henley Centre’s Bob Tyrrell. He quoted a 38% increase in consumer titles and a 74% increase in business titles over the last 10 years. Magazines are also reaching a higher proportion of ABs than ever before.
To put this further into context, he pointed out that this was despite the recession, and despite the fact that magazines are a luxury item which should, theoretically, be amongst the first hit during recession. Also, in the new multimedia world, compared to other media, magazines are very expensive in terms of cost versus hours of use – yet more people than ever are using magazines. The research from the Henley Centre suggests that this great success is due to changes in social identities and social patterns. As people are changing, they are demanding new behaviours from their media, and they are using media in a new way. After the move from broadcasting to narrowcasting, we now have what Bob Tyrrell calls ‘individuation’.
A series of theoretical models in the Henley report illustrate this. They show a feminisation of the labour force, a move to SOHO work (Small Office/Home Office), and a preference for new de-centralised methods of information flow. People are also now less trustful of the government, the royal family, and manufacturers (in other words, ‘institutions’) and more trustful of family, friends, and work colleagues (in other words, ‘individuals’). It is from these one-to-one contacts that people are now seeking advice and influence. In the same way, the media that is preferred is that which also provides one-to-one contact or, at least, some element of interactivity. Obviously, this covers CD-Rom, the internet, and telephones, but magazines are also fulfilling these needs. Magazines provide a strong reader/editorial relationship; they are portable; they allow for interactivity through letters pages and competitions; and they have traditionally always provoked very good interaction through these letter pages and competitions.
Next to speak was John Hoerner (Burton group), representing the position of the advertiser. He was quite adamant that magazines can offer the advertiser much more than simply space. He emphasised the nature of the relationship between the reader and the magazine – the fact that the reader has chosen one particular magazine and actually bought it; the fact that reading a magazine is viewed very much as a leisure activity, so readers are in a positive frame when they see ads, unlike television advertising which physically interrupts a viewer’s enjoyment of a programme. John Hoerner believes that, on the contrary, people are often buying magazines just as much for the adverts as for the editorial.
Most importantly, however, John Hoerner has great confidence in magazines’ abilities to deliver specific audiences. With the ever-increasing diversity in the magazine market, with more and more specialised publications, advertisers can identify and reach very specific target audiences with greater efficiency than ever before. Jane Campbell-Garratt (Ogilvy and Mather) offered a perspective from agencies, which was very much in consensus with what had gone before. The much debated reader/magazine relationship was, in her opinion, often stronger than the bonds between consumers and long established brands. It is for this reason that magazines now “have the ability to be the prism through which the consumer sees brands and through which she forms her relationship with brands”
She also re-emphasized Bob Tyrrell’s notion of individuation, pointing out a move from dictation to dialogue – instead of manufacturers telling consumers about their products, there are more attempts to involve the consumers in a dialogue about the product in the hope that the consumer will thus form a closer personal relationship with the brand.
The final speaker of the opening session was Frank Bennack, from the Hearst Corporation, representing the position of magazines. Again, he drew attention to the bond of magazines and readers. He chose, in particular, the trust and the permanence in the bond. The first point he illustrated with the observation that when his company recently had to promote an editorial shift in the US edition of ‘Good Housekeeping’, it was able to do so very successfully with the copy, “the magazine America trusts”. “The second point, he illustrated with an anecdote from his company’s history. When William Randolph Hearst had been frustrated that the phenomenal success of the ‘New York Journal’ could not be exported nationally, that it was limited by geography, he decided that only a magazine could offer a strong enough, permanent enough relationship across the country – a decision which led to the 1905 launch of ‘Cosmopolitan’.
He concluded his speech, and the whole session, very confidently. Speaking as a representative of a pan-media corporation, he feels that magazines have nothing to fear in a multi-media future. He does not believe that the internet will mean the death of magazines. Rather, he believes that magazines are a genuine growth medium. Every medium has its advantages, but only magazines have that special relationship.
Magazines And The Internet: Digging For Gold In Cyberia
Of the various specialist sessions provided in the morning, probably the most over-crowded was the one discussing the Internet. Eva Pasco (Cafe Cyberia), Stuart Snaith (BBC Top Gear), and Tony Westbrook (Ziff-Davis) all gave presentations, and took part in a lively questions session.
Theoretically, the subject under discussion was the opportunity that the net offers for making money – hence the banner, “digging for gold”. However, the questions centred more around fears of the net. Questions from publishers and agencies expressed fears that the net would mean the end of magazines, the end of a trusted outlet for advertising, and doubts about the viability of advertising on-line.
In response to the threat to publishing, it seems that those who work on the net have somewhat less faith in its all-conquering abilities than those on the outside. The panel agreed that, even at the bleakest scenario, the net can supercede magazines, this could not happen until such a time that PCs can offer print quality graphics on-screen, until we can have disposable PCs which commuters can leave on train seats, and until we can take our PCs with us for a soak in the bath. And all this is a long way away.
Until this fateful day does come, the Internet should be explored more for the opportunities it offers. The panel provided, between them, several reasons for putting magazines on-line. Stuart Snaith claimed that the simple reason ‘Top Gear’ had gone on-line was because it had no option. Although ‘Top Gear’ is Britain’s best selling car magazine, there are over 130 car magazines on the market, and it holds the top spot with an ABC of only 137,000. Net exposure offers another way to take the ‘Top Gear’ brand (TV programme, magazine, compact discs) to a world audience, and a chance to reinforce the brand with consumers. With the editorial and commercial experience at his disposal, and with an existing audience, he feels the move was logical and inevitable.
Eva Pasco also suggested the possibilities that lay with creating magazines that exist only on-line, such as the music and style title ‘Fix’, where there may be opportunities for fast-movers to pick up brand new audiences. But, perhaps the most exciting future for electronic publishing lies with Do It Yourself newspapers, where users can define the sections they want to read in their newspaper, and have various net services fill these pages with current news – allowing for newspapers with no sport, or only TV and fashion, or even just news.
Prospects for advertising on the Internet, however, provoked very little clear response. And knowledge of internet audiences is similarly hazy. Unlike any other medium, web pages can score ‘hits’ recording every single occasion that a particular page is opened, offering unparalleled accuracy in audience research. However, as yet, most locations are too young to offer any reliable history. Also, there is no way of knowing who is doing the reading. In future, more and more net services and locations may require users to register (and pay) before reading. In this situation, researchers will be able to know literally everything about their audience (age, sex, and e-mail number), but until then, they will have to rely on more traditional forms of research. In the meantime, perhaps the most helpful advice is that of Tony Westbrook, who believes that this Internet audience should not be treated as new audience at all, but as a subset of the old audience.
Magazines – Contemporary Medium Of The Future
The afternoon proceedings of the Periodical Publishers Association conference were opened by Marjorie Scardino of the Economist who lead a discussion on the multimedia future with George Gilder, new media commentator at Forbes and John Evans, who established News Electronic Data. The discussion was entitled Magazines -The Digital Dark Horse.
George Gilder, who writes for Forbes Magazine, began by promising that the Internet will transform business and everyday lives. The Internet has a wealth of untapped advertising potential which as yet has not been fulfilled. The speed of technological change has advanced and the advertising and publishing industries must invest in the future.
Mr Gilder believes that developing technology should not be strangled by legislation and bureaucracy but given more freedom to develop. The future of magazines lies in technology. Magazines are the most suited medium to be allied with technology, this advantage must be exploited. According to Mr Gilder, people use computers in the same way as they use magazines. Both are read and accessed at will. This makes the magazine medium particularly adapted for Internet use. The customer is now king and advertisers now realise that incentives have to be offered if they want to compete in the marketplace.
The future of magazines and technology appeared to be through video images on computer but the Internet has partially dispelled this view. Mr Gilder sees the future as a more familiar environment which uses high quality, high resolution images which compete with paper. Magazines could easily make the transition from paper to microchip, including distribution. Mr Gilder emphasised how crucial it was for magazines not to dabble in television.
Last year in the US unit, sales of PCs out-sold televisions. This is an indication of how important and vital investment is into technology that will gather advertisers and revenue “The future is beyond television”. The role of the editor will become more important in the Netscape as communities are created in familiar surroundings.
John Evans (News Electronic Data) began his speech in agreement with George Gilder. But, he added, what must be maintained in the transition from paper to microchip is the emotion that magazines convey. Publishing houses have the ability to manage creativity, and build on it.
Mr Evans said that the Internet was a “Mad world” where editors will be essential to create order out of chaos. It will be ever more important to have brand logos and familiar icons in an attempt not to alienate the user.
The ever expanding Internet needs a method of ‘sieving’ information from the vast amount of data that exists. Mr Evans demonstrated a ‘sieving software’ in which familiar objects are icons. The software is run over Windows and contains huge amounts of information which is easily accessed. In this community where information is being exchanged, the user does not need knowledge of computer technicalities as software will enable direct access.
The magazine medium through the Internet must be coordinated and user friendly to exploit its full potential. Among questions asked of George Gilder and John Evans was whether all magazines would be suitable for the transition to the Internet; the reply was that all magazine material was indeed suitable.
Another delegate asked Mr Gilder if magazines would be different on the Internet. The answer was no, magazine format will not need a radical transformation.
Winning Hearts And Minds – Again & Again
The second meeting of the afternoon attended by Mediatel was entitled Winning Hearts and Minds …Again and Again. The moderator was Jean Liggett (EMAP Consumer Magazines), and the panel were Guy Consterdine (consultant) and Derek Morris (BMP DDB Needham).
The discussion was based on the premise that new evidence boosts the research based case for advertising in consumer magazines.
Guy Consterdine began by outlining the way in which people choose and read magazines. Magazines are a wide and diverse medium and peoples’ interests are reflected in this. Magazines can target a group more effectively than any other medium. With such a large range of magazines available there will always be a magazine to cater for every taste.
Mr Consterdine said that the reader and magazine have a special relationship in which the reader trusts and respects the opinion of what is written. An active choice is made when a magazine is bought which is to the advertisers benefit. An example of the special relationship between the reader and the magazine is evident in the Parenting Magazine. Research carried out showed that the readers of Parenting Magazine trusted the articles and features that appeared within the magazine. The trust also extended to adverts.
Mr Consterdine posed the question: what makes a good advertisement? There are certain guidelines which have to be adhered to. The reader must be in control of what is read, they have to be their own editor, there must be a hook and an initial interest which appeals to the reader. This is especially applicable to teenage magazines. Brand awareness, according to Mr Consterdine, is worth measuring because it is evidence that some level of communication has occured. Magazine ads are as powerful as TV commercials for getting consumers’ attention and thoughts to brands.
Ad Track research has demonstrated the power of the magazine medium, both in delivering a message about the brand and in influencing purchase decisions Derek Morris from BMP DDP Needham then took the stand. He was asked to give a talk on his views on magazine research and how it could be improved.
He began by saying that there is an abundance of good quality research and he “Didn’t want anymore” Why?, because he thinks that what is there is not being properly used. Research has not affected beliefs that media planners have – they pigeon hole. It should either confront or confirm a prejudice. Most research has failed to do this. It has failed because it is overstretched and uncoordinated.
The research that already exists is overstretched and in a bid to obtain value for money the results overclaim, become blurred and are not reliable. One study does not build on another and good research is not supported.
Mr Morris said that research needs to be marketed and not merely sold. It is traded between the buyers and sellers. This is an adversorial relationship but works to the benefit of research. Mr Morris advised the researchers to coordinate and organise the already available quality research.