The Magic Of Magazines – 1996
The Magic of Magazines opening session at the PPA conference saw Tom Purves, managing director of BMW outlining the role of magazines in the BMW media mix. He outlined 3 BMW perspectives:
- How magazines work
- BMW’s requirements from media
- Future predictions
How magazines work
Advertising in magazines achieves not only awareness, but can provide in-depth information as well. For BMW, production values are crucial; readers can linger over the quality of the shot or the beauty of the cars, which is a definite value over newspapers, for example. BMW chooses titles to fit the brand “attitudinally”, thus aiming for high levels of exposure yet retaining exclusivity.
BMW’s requirements from media
Whilst BMW’s core brand values remain consistent, but in their media mix they look for:
- the ability to innovate
- courage to move on
- delivery of brand values
Future
In what was a recurring theme of the conference, Tom warned delegates that the main problem consumer magazines have is fighting amongst themselves. Magazines should market magazines as a whole; every title should sell the medium as well as the magazine.
The next two speakers focussed on new technology. Jennifer Laing of Saatchi and Saatchi appealed to publishers that whatever they do with the new technologies, “Please don’t take my magazines away. Take away my hard copy magazines at your peril”.
To Ms Laing, the individual, she said, magazines appeal as a treat, used to reflect and enhance her lifestyle. As a business woman, business magazines are an essential window on the world, and editorial quality is important. As Ms Laing from Saatchi and Saatchi, her needs are those of her clients. If magazines are to continue being strong, they will have to stand out in an ever increasing fragmentation of media. But she warned, “Don’t be slaves to technology; drive the new products for your customers”. She also said magazines should follow their own advice and advertise and build on their own brand values.
John Mellon of Reed Elsevier, with a contrasting view point to Jennifer Laing, said that over the next five years, Reed’s strategy is to focus on on-line publishing, although traditional publishing skills are still important. He expects migration to on-line publications as the key growth area of their business in the next five years. In 1995, 16% of Reed’s revenue was from electronic publishing; he predicts that by 2005 this will be 40%.
On-line publications bring added value for customers; for example, on one of Reed’s new sites, Estates Gazette Interactive, over 80% of the databases are new editorial material. With the New Scientist site, Planet Science, the magazine has incorporated ideas originated on the net site. A big advantage to on-line databases is the knowledge of who accesses what.
Despite his pro-technology stand, John Mellon predicted that magazines in the future will co-exist with on-line products, not be replaced.
The specialist session, Pre-Testing Magazine Ads, with speakers Terry Prue from the HPI Research Group, Fran Elston from the Research Business and Merry Baskin from JWT presented some specially commissioned research into pre-testing magazine ads. This revealed that television campaigns are twice as likely to be pre-tested as press ads. The reasons for this are that the methodology for testing press ads is seen as unreliable, and very difficult to copy the way ads are seen in real life. (ie ads in magazines are mixed with copy, where readers choose to read ads or flick past. In testing conditions it is hard to reconstruct this; the accepted methodology of using a folder test does not replicate real life.)
Merry Baskin, giving the agency view, said pre-testing is often seen as too artificial. She believes it to be “Wanna-be” television behaviour from the press. Far more effective, she believed, in an often repeated plea, would be if magazines worked together as an industry rather than fighting each other for business.