Magazine advertising is still a viable vehicle for print advertising, according to the Magazine Publishers of America. The MPA is even currently campaigning in print and online ads to show that “advertising in magazines encourages consumers to consider buying products — a phenomenon known as purchase intent — and stimulates them to go online to shop or to learn more about items they might want to buy.”
The campaign includes ads that show people who have bought too much stuff, being “Under the influence of magazines” (the tagline). The campaign started in early September and is included on Magfacts.org. According to a New York Times story, “The campaign offers “third-party, independent research” on the power of magazine advertising, “none of it commissioned or paid for by us” Nina Link, president and chief executive at the MPA in New York said.
Despite dropping numbers of magazine advertisements, the MPA wants to communicate to people that magazine advertising is still strong – by advertising online and in magazines. Somewhat paradoxical, yes? And no. Magazines ads are used to drive traffic to Web sites, which are precisely what these ads are designed to do – drive traffic to Magfacts.org.
The number of magazine ads fell by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 when compared to the same quarter in 2007. These numbers come from the Publishers Information Bureau, an affiliate of the association. The second quarter of 2008 was even worse: numbers fell 8.2 percent compared to the second quarter in 2007.
Of course, the economy is somewhat partly to blame for the low numbers. Ad revenue for newspapers is falling fast (faster than magazines) and even online advertising growth has slowed. Several magazines such as Golf for Women, Quick & Simple, and Stuff all recently closed or announced plans to stop publishing.
Of course, how many Web sites have closed in the same time period due to low or non-existent advertising? A higher number than the magazines that have closed, I would bet. I couldn’t find any stats online, believe it or not.
So, what is the basis for the MPA’s campaign that magazines are still an advertising vehicle of choice? Here are the stats (you can get the research findings by visiting Magfacts.org).
Magazines are:
• #1 in driving search among 18- to 44-year-olds
• #1 in influencing automotive purchase intent. 2/3 more effective than TV. 1 ½ times more effective than online.
• #1 in influencing purchase intent of packaged goods. At nearly 2x the rate of TV and 3x the rate of online.
• #1 in driving word of mouth.
• #1 in driving brand favorability. 2x the impact of TV and 4x the impact of online.
Also,
• People were 2 times as likely to visit a website after seeing a magazine ad.
• Seeing a magazine ad increased web traffic by more than 40 percent.
These sound pretty good for the magazine industry, no? To underline the power of magazine ads, Anne Bologna, chief executive at Toy (the agency who created the ads), said the three brands featured in the first stage of the campaign — Adidas footwear; Häagen-Dazs, owned by Nestlé; and Mini Cooper, part of BMW — “are all winners of Kelly Awards.” (Kelly Awards are given annually by the MPA for best magazine ads.)
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