Mr. Magazine

During the IMAG Conference in Boston, I was honored to be one of the judges of the IMAG Imagination Awards and the Events award presenter.

“Magazine Media are a short cut to quality.” When people accuse you of being “legacy Media,” OWN IT. “They are credible.” Linda Thomas Brooks opening IMAG Conference in Boston.

Jeff Levy, Director, Consumer Marketing, Harvard Business Review Group, “driving subscriptions & increasing retention by reaching new users and nurturing their journey.”

How the tote bag with the September issue of Vogue increased the sales of the magazine at Barnes & Noble by 40% at a higher cover price. Just one of many smart initiatives from the bookstore to enhance the newsstand sales.

Krifka Steffey, Director, Merchandising, Newsstand, Barnes & Noble, Inc. And Tom Maloney, National Account Director, Time Inc. Retail, A Meredith Corp. Division: on how to highlight your brand and drive newsstand sales collaboratively with the reader.

Data and the right to win. From having a winning data strategy to working on a unified data framework. Mike Woods, VP, Sales & Client Services, Acxiom and Fran Middleton, CDO, America’s Test Kitchen.

“No brand has more to offer in technology media than MIT Technology Review,” Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, CEO and Publisher.

From 1899 until now, how the first ever technology publication, is doing now… why are we here and what place in the world we want to be. Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, CEO and Publisher, MIT Technology Review.

“More revenue from the readers and why this should be the magazine media new strategy,” David Algire, MediaWorks 360, “Bundle multiple brand assets to increase value.”

“Nothing beats the credibility of your brand… everything we do starts with the power and values of our brand.” Hayley Romer, publisher & CRO, The Atlantic.

The power of Brands according to Hayley Romer, publisher and CRO, The Atlantic, and why 87% of the readers return to the brand because it, “Helps inform my opinion on critical things.”

“Editors bring credibility to the sales meeting. They are not there to sell, but to add credibility.” Dan Hickey, CEO, Kalmbach Media.

“No more planning for a year or so, but rather active planning continuously…” Beth Brenner, CRO, Domino Media Group on sales and advertising from the clients.

Beth Brenner, CRO, Domino, Dan Hickey, CEO, Kalmbach, Bryan Kinkade, VP, Publisher, AFAR and Jonathan Dorn, CIO, Active Interest Media on do we really need salespeople? The answer is YES.

Chris McDonough, Chief Sales & Brand Officer, L.L. Bean on reinventing the brand: Customers First. ”Translate consumer needs into a brand positioning & emotionalize and rationalize the brand.”

L.L. Bean celebrates the return to print as and in an innovative way to create awareness across platforms.

Laura Simkins, COO, AFAR Media, reporting on the 3 challenges facing magazine Media: decline in traditional revenue; digital growth; and operational costs.

“If readers can get what you offer at some other place, then go away. You need to talk about how amazing your products are.” Linda Thomas Brooks, CEO, MPA

Adam Grossman, CMO, Boston Red Sox answers Mel Allen, editor, Yankee magazine re: audience engagement & brand value. “The DNA will not change, but you can’t rest on that. You have to evolve without losing your ID.”

“Make sure that you are going to stay relevant,” Simon Leslie, joint CEO, Ink Global. “Magazines are about storytelling. Believe in Print. Worry about your people first; not your profits.”

“Data is the very air that we will all breathe in the digital future,” Acxiom’s Shelia Colclasure stated and how to build a data driven ethics. “It’s all going to be regulated.”

The ongoing evolution of This Old House: “we are not in the media business, we are in the audience business.” Eric Thorkilsen, tells the audience.

David Liu “leads the revolution” by telling the transformation of The Knot from a digital entity to a print and digital empire. “You need to do the hard work for your business to survive.”

Thank you and looking forward to more lessons at the next IMAG Conference.