Real-World Solution

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 2003

RESEARCH

Freebies for Your Thoughts

Goodness knows, there's much more to modernism than Eames and Le Corbusier. So to tap into the tastes and interests of today's modernist, Dwell is "incentivizing" its readers by sending them cutting-edge freebies in return for their juicy demographics and psychographics. Participants in the January/February issue's "100% Design" offer, for instance, receive a white Isamu Noguchi teacup or a Maximo Design pillow. All that's required is logging on at dwellmag.com and answering a few questions. The idea arose, says Dwell president and publisher Michela O'Connor Abrams, when the the staff looked at reader response to various features in the mag. "Designers, architects, and manufacturers began calling us to say their phones were ringing off the hook ever since we'd featured a particular item of theirs in a spread," says O'Connor Abrams. "When we strike a chord like that, if that designer or manufacturer weren't telling us about it, we wouldn't know about it. So that's all great, but we'd like to know in front of the idea." Of the 60,000 issues of Dwell that included the offer (in the form of an "onsert" cover replica glued to the actual cover), she calculates a 30 percent response rate. And of the program, which will be continued in four more issues this year, she says, "It's very fluid. As we learn more, we can take different subsets, ask opinions on different topics, and really tap into readers for everything from story ideas to understanding products they like."

Cycling for Subs

When you're a 9,000-circulation magazine with a very targeted audience, you can't afford to sit back and wait for new readers to find you - you have to go out and find them. For more than two years now, staffers of Dirt Rag, a Pittsburgh-based mountain bike title, have been driving around the country in a marathon race to find new readers. Equipped with free products from their advertisers, DR staffers take turns going to bike events, like last summer's National Off-Road Bicycle Association competition, where they set up booths to lure new subscribers. Everyone who signs on for a sub along the tour receives an advertiser-supplied product, like Michelin bike tires, a handlebar from accessory manufacturer Salsa, or an Accelerade energy drink. This all works as a nice enticement for the magazine's ad-sales crew. "What it garners for the advertisers," says ad staffer Chris Crosby," is grassroots product sampling and a manned booth at an event where they would otherwise not have a presence." DR hasn't tracked how many new subs it has gained on these road trips, but Crosby reports that last year's 15-stop tour is the main reason subs are up 15 percent and that ad sales in the February issue increased 35 percent over the same issue last year. He says the cash generated by the additional subscriptions should cover travel expenses for this year's trip, which kicks off in April at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California.

AD SALES

Cross-Media Martha

Forget about the something-borrowed-something-blue church wedding. These days the hip get hitched at exotic locales, called "destination weddings" - a trend that the folks at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia parlayed into their latest multimedia party. Last month the company invited the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) and Rums of Puerto Rico to join it in a cross-media marketing ceremony. MSO ran a "Perfect Wedding" promotion, in which one lucky couple exchanged vows in Las Croabas, Puerto Rico, during a dream wedding orchestrated by the Martha Stewart Weddings staff. The event was promoted in advertorials in MSO magazines, on its Web site, and on Stewart's TV show. PRTC and Rums - wanting to generate increased awareness of their products to the MSO audience - were looking for something unique, according to Suzanne Sobel, MSO's executive vice president for ad sales and marketing. "We were able to create something that nobody has ever really done before to this degree and create an awareness out there," she says. "We got several calls in the last couple of days from different people interested in doing something like this. And we were able to put together for the Weddings magazine a beautiful destination wedding that will teach people how to make their own." Something like this does not happen overnight (it took 18 months for the whole promotion, from cradle to grave), nor does it come cheap. Though Sobel would not disclose the costs of the undertaking, she did say, "We created the wedding, and [PRTC and Rums] covered almost everything."

INCREMENTAL REVENUE

Service Provider

Magazine publishers have long touted the opportunities of cross-media content delivery, and now InformationWeek has taken reader and advertiser service to the next level. The weekly, published by CMP Media, announced the formation of a new platform, "Services," which includes benchmarking, training, and consulting. "We think it's a great opportunity and the next evolution of where media needs to go, from a media platform to an IT platform," says Michael Friedenberg, vice president and publisher. InformationWeek kicked off the platform by announcing the formation of the Software Genome Council (SGC), under the benchmarking arm. Friedenberg says the project is a partnership between InformationWeek and Emergeon, a consulting firm that assists tech organizations. InformationWeek readers will be targeted to join the SGC at $25,000 for a charter membership. Friedenberg says the goal is to have about 25 members in the first few months. "We think it's going to be an opportunity where we generate revenue out of our readership base," he says. He wouldn't give specifics but says the project - and the platform - mark a significant investment for the publication. The SGC is geared more toward readers, but Friedenberg says other platform components will target advertisers later this year. Offering these types of programs is a natural progression for a magazine, he says. "If publishers have a true understanding of the market they're serving, there should be opportunities to leverage the expertise they have and monetize it." Sponsors ponied up to donate the prizes, which include a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV, a dining room set from Broyhill, and a two-week RV vacation from the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.