Consumer/trade marriages produce beneficial offspring

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 1991 by Lisa I. Fried

NEW YORK CITY-Golf's Nick Romano and Decorating Remodeling's George Fields Jr. don't work for Gralla Publications. But they've helped Gralla publishers Scott Pierce and Tom Woodring pull in new advertisers.

In exchange, Pierce, publisher of Gralla's Resorts & Incentives, has given Gov's travel advertisers free exposure to meeting planners. And Woodring, publisher of Gralla's Kitchen & Bath Business (KBB), has expanded Decorating Remodeling's account list by 30 to 40 percent.

Each magazine has its own motives for forming these cross-company, consumer/trade marriages. But all agree they are win/win and extend way beyond additional ad revenues.

Resorts & Incentives, Golf tee off

Hotels and resorts buying ads in Times Mirror's Golf often have three requests: targeted geographic distribution, the best rates, and exposure to meeting planners, according to Romano, Gov's marketing director. The magazine accommodates the first two with its twice-a-year "Meetings On the Green" advertorial. But to reach meeting planners, Golf has turned Resorts & Incentives.

Advertisers who bought into Golf's advertorial last year were offered free distribution to 10,000 meeting planners among Resorts & Incentives' readership. Golf actually bought the space in Resorts & Incentives for the special section-an added value for advertisers.

At times, Resorts & Incentives' Pierce joined Romano on sales calls, solidifying the benefits of the joint distribution and pitching his title.

Twice last year, 24-page advertorials were distributed to selected readers of both books. The advertorials will run again this year, and the publishers are exploring additional marketing synergies. One possibility: cosponsored golf tournaments.

"The Gralla people are more forward thinking than publishers of some other trade books," says Romano. "We wanted a marketing relationship [and] they knew what we wanted."

KBB a splash with decorating tide

An advertorial also brought Decorating Remodeling, published by the New York Times Magazine Group, and KBB together last year. This year, their editors are working side by side on three editorial sections to appear in both magazines.

A kitchen planner; a bath planner; and a cabinet, counter top and hardware planner are being written by KBB editorial director Leslie Hart and edited by Decorating Remodeling editor in chief Olivia Buehl.

The first planner, scheduled to a ear in KBB's March issue and Decorating Remodeling's April issue, will help homeowners remodel their kitchens. Questionnaires, checklists, a foldout worksheet and other helpful tools will guide the process. Other planners will appear later this year.

The editorial sections aim to narrow the gap between the trade and the consumer audiences. Decorating Remodeling's 600,000 subscribers plan to redo 129,000 kitchens and 141,000 baths this year. Their need for the planners is obvious. And KBB's readers-49,000 kitchen and bath designers-can now help educate their customers.

By ensuring distribution of the special sections-KBB readers can buy them in bulk, consumers are getting them through subscription or newsstand copies, and advertisers are being sent free reprints-the magazines hope to reduce the time lag between consumer planning and purchasing.

Not all editors in chief could brush aside egos and work together as Hart and Buehl have done. "If we had been strangers, it would have been more risky," says Buehl. But "Leslie and I respect each other as professionals. I wasn't afraid she would talk in technical jargon that consumers couldn't understand." Adds Hart: "I knew we had similar points of view on things, and I made it clear I wouldn't be offended by editing."

Buehl's staff designed the section. It was important that they be in charge of graphics," Hart explains. "This has to sell on the newsstand."

Decorating Remodeling is covering most of the production costs.

The KBB/Decorating Remodeling collaboration extends to the ad side, too. Advertisers paid $37,300 to appear in the kitchen section. KBB's one-time four-color rate of $5,845 is quite far from Decorating Remodeling's $27,000 rate, and revenues will be split with that in mind.

Most of the ads sold in the first planner were new for one of the magazines. KBB publisher Woodring was "tap dancing" when he got his first automotive page. Convincing them to run in both for more money was a challenge, he admits.

Meanwhile, the two publishers have agreed to share research and are discussing tie-ins at trade shows.

Fields, publisher of Decorating Remodeling, says his affiliation with KBB has provided his sales staff with additional prospects. But generally he believes that "every customer they have becomes a prospect for us and every customer we have becomes a prospect for them." Woodring adds, "We're each other's added value."