By Patricia Wilson


It’s about time! This month, five major magazine heavyweights announced they will join forces to collectively “promote the vitality of magazines as a medium.” The Power of Print campaign — targeting advertisers, media buyers and other industry marketing influencers — will roll out in April.


The five magazine companies — Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corporation, Time Inc. and Wenner Media — claim this is “one of the largest print advertising campaigns ever created” in support of magazine advertising.


With the support of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), the campaign is scheduled for seven months, will include nearly 100 titles (both print and online) for a combined reach of 112 million readers each month.


One of my favorite advertising headlines from the campaign:“Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?


As a 20-year veteran of media planning, I can tell you that print still matters in the advertising mix. Digital is the new kid in town and it’s gotten a fair amount of advertising attention over the last couple of years. However, finally, publishers and advertisers see a clear reader pattern — or lack of pattern, if you will — that’s emerging. Readers want choice. That includes print, digital, mobile, iPad and whatever else may come down the pike.

The benefits of magazine print: the intrinsic value of the glossy format, quality design, long-form journalism, beautiful photography and highly engaged readers.

Citing third-party data, the Magazine Publishers of America reports a healthy consumer outlook for magazines, compared to other media. Tops on its  highlight list is the fact that magazine readership has increased over the last five years. Yes, there has been a shift in readership and advertising to online. Despite the “Magazines Hemorrhage Cash” strories, more than 90 percent of Americans say they read magazines.

Print Versus Online Advertising

Magazine print continues to provide many advertising strengths: the intrinsic value of the glossy format, quality design, long-form journalism, beautiful photography and highly engaged readers. Of course, digital has its own set of intrinsic strengths: e-commerce, clickability, interactivity and trackability — to name a few.


Apple, for example, one of the most iconic brands in the world, fully understands the power of print. Even though Apple, itself, is a digital company. Magazines, for Apple, remain a cornerstone for their branding initiatives and product launches. This is true for many other top brands, as well.

Multimedia Integration

The lesson here, for marketers, is to look beyond the hype of digital to achieve desired results. All media can be valuable. Not all media can achieve all goals. Seasoned marketers understand that. In today’s multimedia world, integrated plans often work best — allowing advertisers to account for different readership styles, preferences and needs for various degrees of engagement levels.


Kudos to the magazine publishers for standing up for print and putting the facts out there. Magazine publishers, of course, have been wise to address the digital shift: adding multi-platform options, social engagement and integration strategies to the mix. But this is no reason to throw magazine print properties under the bus.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Barry Lawrence


When launching a social media engagement strategy, to pull consumers into brands, it’s important that companies begin to appreciate the many styles, tolerances and expectations that consumers bring to social networking. If your social media program is stuck in the mud, it may be that you are turning some customers away with a one-size-fits-all engagement strategy.


To help marketers account for different social media behaviors, Forrester Research created a Social Technographics®, classification system that places consumers into six overlapping levels of preferred participation (see Forrester’s Groundswell site and book for more details — highly recommended by BrandCottage). This week, Forrester announced a seventh rung, the Conversationalists, to account for “the very active communication style that has arisen recently within social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook,” said Forrester Analyst Emily Riley in her blog post, A New Rung on the Social Technographics Ladder.


To clarify, the bottom of the ladder represents the most passive level of social media participation; at the top of the ladder, we find the Creators, the most active social media participants. With each brand and social media program, marketers are wise to account for the predominate style or, more likely, styles of their target consumers.


Here’s how consumer social media styles break down, from top to bottom in terms of levels of engagement, according to data from the groundswell blog (note that Forrester has placed Conversationalists between Creators and Critics.:

• Creators, 24 percent of adults.
• Conversationalists, 33 percent.
• Critics, 37 percent.
• Collectors, 20 percent.
• Joiners, 59 percent.
• Spectators, 70 percent.
• Inactives, 17 percent.

In practice with our clients, rather than getting too hung up in the profile percentages of a company’s target consumers, BrandCottage thinks it’s best to account for all the styles in creating a well-rounded social media program. The goal of any social media program, when done correctly, should be to move consumers as far up the engagement ladder as possible, while still leaving room for spectators and joiners to get value from their social media interactions with your brand.


However, we most certainly need to account for the growing number of Conversationalists on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.


“Conversationalists intrigue me,” said Josh Bernoff in the groundswell blog. (Bernoff, along with Forrester’s Charlene Li, are the authors of Groundswell. ” They’re 56 percent female, more than any other group in the ladder. While they’re among the youngest of the groups, 70 percent are still 30 and up.”


“By following Conversationalists, you get free consumer insights,” noted Riley in her blog. “Conversationalists are your customers and they are talking about you. Listen to them.”


Indeed. Listen and begin to engage with your consumers. Participation on the high end of the ladder will continue to grow. If you haven’t already, now is the time to build a solid social media foundation.


Related BrandCottage posts: Why I’m a Power Tweeter on Twitter and The Essential 7 Ps of Social Media Relations. Also, see PR Squared’s blog post on Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder.


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.

By Barry Lawrence


BrandCottage is pleased to announce that one of its clients, Johnston & Murphy, is maintaining its long-standing tradition as shoemaker to the presidents. Johnston & Murphy recently presented President Barack Obama with a custom pair of dress shoes and boots.


We think this is a creative and remarkable service and marketing campaign, emphasizing Johnston & Murphy’s commitment to style and craftsmanship.


The Obama boots are especially interesting, inspired by a pair that Johnston & Murphy custom-made for President Lincoln in 1861. The company has handcrafted footwear for every American president since Millard Fillmore in 1850.


Johnston & Murphy created www.shoesofthepresidents.com to commemorate its 160-year tradition.


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.