Launching Through Multimedia

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2000 by Jo Bennett

AS THE MEDIA ENVIRONMENT BECOMES INCREASINGLY CROWDED, SOME PUBLISHERS SEEK TO STAND OUT FROM THE PACK BY LAUNCHING THEIR MAGAZINES WITH ONLINE, EVENT AND EVEN BROADCAST COUNTERPARTS.

Until the last few years, multimedia marketing had little to do with most publishers' launch plans. Common wisdom was to build your foundation--the magazine--first. Then, once your brand was established, you might add complementary media. But today, the impetus to deliver content in whatever form customers demand has trickled down to the launch pad.

"Magazines need to start looking at opportunities in other media," says David Stewart, former COO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, who consulted on the recent Rodale launch, Pets: part of the Family. "Because I'll tell you, people in other media are looking at opportunities in the magazine business."

Stewart points to Viacom International's Nickelodeon brand to illustrate his message: "Ten years ago, a magazine in the children's market didn't have to worry about Nickelodeon, because they were in the television business," he says. Nickelodeon Magazine's circulation is now 900,000.

And in the sports category, yet another cable television whippersnapper, ESPN, The Magazine, with a ratebase of one million, has gotten into the game. Even members of the relatively nascent Internet crowd are becoming magazine publishers: Within the past year, companies such as Garden.com and B-bay have made forays into print.

Although most marketing juggernauts such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia were built in increments, Stewart advises that one rule of thumb for establishing your brand's presence in any medium is "the sooner, the better."

Benefits such as increased marketing and promotional opportunities are the primary reasons for launching a magazine through multiple media channels. Here, three publishers explain how and why they took the plunge.

PETS: PART OF THE FAMILY WITH TV

If not for a bit of serendipity, Pets: part of the family might have had a much tougher time nuzzling its way into the homes of pet lovers across America. The idea developed from a successful book, published by Rodale in 1995, that focused solely on relationships between pets and their owners. Pat Corpora, president of the Emmaus, Pennsylvania-based company's books division, says, "My thought was that if we didn't try a multi-product approach, we might not have the opportunity to be big enough." So while crafting a business plan for the title, Rodale investigated the different media options.

Television can be a venture demanding intense resources. But in a stroke of good fortune, says associate publisher Mike Fitzpatrick, Rodale was approached by a production company that was trying to start a similarly themed Public Broadcasting Service show. "We decided to partner with them because their television concept was so close to our magazine's," says Fitzpatrick. The brand was named Pets: part of the family, and after a newsstand test, the TV show, magazine and Web site launched in spring 1999.

Both parties exchange story concepts, and editor Mark Bricklin reviews every script to ensure that the show and magazine have a consistent voice. Rodale is responsible for all administration, as well as marketing, which includes online listings when the show airs on some 200 stations. "But we really try to stay out of the production end of it," explains Corpora, "because that's not our expertise."

The multimedia nature of the franchise has helped forge valuable relationships with marketers, such as online retailer Petsmart.com, says Corpora, which currently underwrites the production costs for the PBS show. Petsmart.com is also a partner online, as well as an advertiser in the bimonthly magazine.

Goals for 2000 include bringing the magazine's circulation to 200,000 and boosting the program's ratings--objectives that could go hand in hand, according to Corpora. "We feel that if this magazine is going to be really successful, it's going to be driven a lot by the success of the TV show," he explains. "They have to work in conjunction." For example, measuring single-copy sales in areas where the show has the greatest number of viewers, Rodale found that Pets: part of the family has sold best in markets where the show gets the highest ratings.

In broadcast, the programs with the highest ratings get the better airing times, but in many areas, the show is still scheduled in poor time slots. "With better ratings, we can get better time slots," says Corpora, "and with a better time slot, we hope things will just snowball."

NATURAL HOME, WITH RADIO

Every Saturday, Natural Home founding editor Laurel Lund trades her pen for a microphone. As host of the nationally syndicated Natural Home Radio Show, Lund is the link between a print and broadcast brand. "A lot of people in the magazine business have done add-on strategies," says Logan Chamberlain, president and publisher of Loveland, Colorado-based Natural Home LLC. "Our strategy has been to build a brand with an identifiable personality from the ground up." (See FOLIO:, July 1, 1999, page 105.)