The Strength Of Magazines

Director of marketing at PPA, Phil Cutts, discusses how magazines can provide a powerful platform for advertisers, engaging readers more effectively than other forms of media in a fast-paced, fast-forwarded world…

Last year, Ofcom announced that UK households were spending a third more on communications than they were five years ago. Magazines have played a recognisable part in this.

Research released last week by WARC showed that between 2004 and 2005, the consumer magazine industry recorded its highest rate of growth in sales for decades. More than 1.4 billion magazines were sold last year, up 7.4% or 100 million copies on the year before. Sales of magazines have now increased year on year continuously since the year 2000.

Just like the rest of us, consumers want a return on their investment. They are more demanding than ever of their media. As time becomes one of the most precious commodities, so the options (and technology) for self-editing media become more prevalent.

Inattention to commercial messages is a big enough issue for some media without people being provided with the means to actively screen them out altogether. PVRs are one of a growing number of technologies and services that offer consumers the opportunity to avoid uninvited, and often unwelcome, commercial messages. Figures from Sky suggest that up to three-quarters of users never watch any advertising when viewing time-shifted content, no small issue for TV advertisers.

Put simply, consumers are in control. They are less willing to accept commercial messages that interrupt their media experience. Ad avoidance is therefore a bigger threat to media that are based on an intrusive model of advertising. Or, if you prefer, the difference between actively and passively consumed media has never been more important.

The balance of power is shifting, a shift that Ofcom’s head of strategy, Ed Richards, describes as a “gradual change in power from broadcaster, distributor and supplier to viewer, listener and consumer.” Media that allow advertisers to customise messages to the environment in which they are carried and allow consumers to control the rate of commercial exposure, will ultimately deliver more powerful and effective messages.

Advertisers can no longer afford to rely on mass scheduling alone. Metrics, like reach and frequency, remain relevant, but are not everything. Millward Brown agrees that the personality and tone of the media that carries the message can be a crucial determinant of its power and effectiveness.

Consider attention. Media is about more than just placing the ad in front of the audience. For a start they may not be looking (or perhaps they are but at thirty times the speed), or may have already edited your ad out. A recent American report found that nearly all people spend a third of their day using two or more media at one time. Multi-tasking helps people cope with the time pressures of daily life, and media is no exception. If concentration is divided and so reduced, so is attention.

Studies have shown that magazines are the least multi-tasked medium. With magazines, the newsstand is the PVR. Consumers have already made their choice. The last thing they then want to do is to fly through the pages of their favourite magazine at thirty times real speed.

So magazines have your attention as a reader. But is that enough? For advertisers, attention is a big word. But engagement is even bigger.

Magazines engage their readers. They inspire, inform and entertain. The experience of reading a magazine is often an intensely personal one with the reader in a completely absorbed, and so receptive, mood. As an actively consumed medium, readers are in control of the rate of commercial exposure and so are more likely to absorb and less likely to reject. Try reading your favourite magazine passively – it’s just not possible.

Last year, the Henley Centre found that consumers no longer trust institutions, governments and corporate bodies as a reliable source of advice and information. Instead, the value of “my world” – advice and values from family, friends and colleagues – has never been greater. Magazines dovetail better than any media with the concept of “my world”. They enjoy many of the same characteristics of a close friend; they are a trusted source of advice, help generate points of view, and are triggers for conversation.

This has inherent benefits for advertisers. The PPA’s Absorbing Media study shows that in comparison to other media, readers expected magazines to be most closely tailored to their individual needs, contain the information they are most interested in and advertising which is relevant to them. If people perceive messages as being relevant to them they are more likely to take notice of them.

Just as power is nothing without control, advertising is nothing without engagement.