Lights! Camera! Research!

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 2002

Media buyers demand a clearer picture of magazine readers as a way of capturing what they contend to be the special bond that lassos individual titles to their audience. "There's a huge desire on our part to know more," says Susan Nathan, director of media knowledge for McCann-Erickson. "Print is the one area where there's a huge connection with readers. [Syndicated audience data] only takes you so far."

There's something else going on here, say media buyers. Publishers who want to shift the conversation from discounting (how many eyeballs for how low a price?) to value (how many left-handed, VW-driving, Budweiser-drinking, Tommy-Hilfiger-wearing, extreme sports-loving guys aged 24-35 can you deliver?) have to be willing to go the extra mile when it comes to research. David Verklin, CEO of Carat North America (which three years ago made research the center of its sales pitch) somewhat immodestly credits his own firm with the shift. "Research is the new battleground of media planning and buying," he says. "Agencies and clients are searching for new ways to decide where ads should be beyond just price." Agencies are also feeling pressure from their clients for more proprietary research at a time when recession-forced cutbacks have reduced their pure research staffs to skeleton crews.

What agencies want is a 360-degree view of magazine readers - one that adds flesh and blood to the skeletal picture provided by the reader data that's currently available. At Arnold, Moynihan used MRI numbers to choose his list of 120 magazine finalists, but then left it up to the publishers to provide a model of their readers. The mini-movies the agency received for the VW account, "better dimensionalize the reader for us," explains Moynihan. "It was not based on syndicated research, but on what their other interests are. It really opened our eyes to readers' passion level." Moynihan - and increasingly his peers - want to move beyond raw reach. "We can use network television for reach," he says. "Everyone picks up a magazine for a specific reason. We want to tap into that for VW."

Even though that campaign is over, the VW team has been lending its notes to Arnold's other relevant accounts. The target is to build an in-house repository for all this accrued knowledge. "I think the questions asked for another brand may be different, but the insights that you get will be fairly similar," Moynihan says. "It's really just a way to get inside the reader' s head. If you understand the music they listen to and the clothes they're wearing and the activities they enjoy, that information can be used for your brand."

In pursuit of ad pages, some publishers have embraced the new reality by agreeing to financially underwrite and supply the creative muscle this new conception of research requires. Esquire publisher Valerie Salembier estimates that her magazine has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on this commitment in the five years since editor David Granger came aboard. And Gruner Jahr USA is embarking on a six-month effort in conjunction with MediaCom that will measure the effectiveness of magazine/TV ad combinations in different proportions - a study that industry insiders believe might end up costing the partners a combined $1 million.