Mr. Magazine

My magazine alphabet starts with a C and ends with a C. Content, Customers, Clients, Consumers, Choice, Control, Constant and Change are but a few of the Cs that compose my magazine alphabet.

In the big debate over digital first and print second, digital first and content second, one major voice has been ignored: the customer’s. Before I am ready to declare a winner in these heated discussions, I urge you to remember that as journalism changes with the times, so does our audience. I have always believed, and will continue to do so, that the customer comes before anything else, and here is why.

Hank Price is the president and general manager of WXII-TV, the Hearst-Argyle owned NBC affiliate in Winston-Salem, N.C. He is also a senior fellow in broadcast news strategy at Northwestern University’s Media Management Center, where he teaches in both the domestic and international executive training programs.

Recently, I spoke with Price about “customers first.” He identified two important changes influencing consumers today:

1. Choice and 2. Control.

“The consumer wants to achieve choice, on their own time, and at their own pace,” Price told me. “And they want to control the content on their timetable, not ours. That’s why less than 60 percent watch TV programs at their originally aired times.”

He also added the four criteria that consumers are looking for:

1. Trusted sources. His take: “Content for our customers still trumps everything else. It doesn’t matter whether you have an iPad, an iPhone or a PC with the most brilliant screen resolutions available, if you don’t have what your customers are looking for in content, you might as well have a stone tablet with markings on it. They’re not buying it.” My take: It’s not about the platform, but rather the folks behind, and in charge of, the platform.

2. Immediacy. His take: “The public today not only expects immediacy in their content, they demand it.” My take: To borrow a line from Fleetwood Mac: “Yesterday’s gone.”

3. Screen size. His take: “Screen size is growing in the workplace, and getting smaller at home. More people are buying and enjoying apps than ever before. Once you create that magnificent content, you have to give it to them the way they want it. Above all, it’s their choice.” My take: It is a crazy place out there. After years of buying bigger and bigger TVs for our homes, now we are watching TV on our iPhones.

4. Quality. His take: “This means detailed quality in whatever platform you’re using. Whether your priority is pixels, screen resolution, or the paper you’re printing on, quality is mandatory.” My take: The days of poor quality pictures, paper, etc. are in the past.

I always add a fifth criterion that is absolutely proven in our current market. Customers today are looking for an experience. Good content is no longer enough by itself; we have to become experience-makers.

History Lessons
Going back in history, our forebears in this industry knew who their product was for: not themselves, but their customers. It didn’t matter what they liked; it was what their audience wanted that was uppermost in their minds.

Mother Jones magazine was founded on the principle that working men and women come first. It has always championed the underdog, been David to the corporate Goliaths and is still operating under the same mission statement the 17 members of its staff voiced some 36 years ago. Mother Jones’ founders envisioned a magazine devoted to a new brand of socially conscious journalism—one that took on corporate as well as political power. Today, that mission remains as timely as ever.

“Customers first” would have to be the prime mission of this magazine. After all, the Irish-American trade union activist, Mary Harris Jones, inspired this truth-seeking publication. Its history and present-day success validates its mission statement wholeheartedly.

The legacy of “customers first” is a rich and distinguished one. Time magazine’s commitment to its readers was prevalent from the beginning. The goal of Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden was to deliver a magazine intended to
bring news to the mass public in a better way than the competitors of its day, such as The Literary Digest, which they considered their only real rival. Luce and Hadden wanted to break the news down into categories with each category delivering short punchy news pieces that the busy consumer could quickly understand and absorb.

The success of their innovations and mission statement to make news more than just bland facts, written down in black and white, validated their belief in caring about how their customers read and reacted to the news of that era. The philosophy carries over to the readers of Time today; the magazine’s longevity is a statement of that validation.

You can’t think “customers first” without mentioning Reader’s Digest. It was, and is, just what its title implies: A digest for its readers. Reader’s Digest was launched from the springboard idea that the founders (DeWitt Wallace and his wife, Lila Acheson) could provide their readers with the best value for their money by combining a “digest” of information: magazine, newspaper and periodical, all in the pages of one publication. However, after being unable to get any publisher interested in what seemed to be an impossible task, the couple decided to take on the mission themselves. They used direct mail as their marketing strategy and charged $3 for a year’s subscription, with a money-back guarantee. The magazine was launched in 1922 and was an instant success.

Wallace and his wife sought to save their readers money by giving them more varied content between their pages than the average magazine. For that reason, they more than validate their mission statement, and prove that a business model aimed at giving your customer the ultimate experience can, and will, succeed, no matter the odds.

Which brings me back to the fifth point on our criteria list: creating that experience. All of the above-mentioned publications went beyond the norm for their era (even beyond their own means, in some cases), to bring their readers more than just words on a page. They used the power of content to fight for justice, and to help right wrongs they saw inflicted. They tried to entertain, as well as to inform, and they sought value for their readers, when they could have, instead, just put their product out there like everyone else was doing. But they knew who mattered.

Experiences and encounters will be remembered—that’s the key. And when you give your customers the right experience, the sort of real encounter that effects all the senses, you are moving toward the stratosphere of real success.

Also, if you can realize that customers today want to have choice and control in their hands, not those of the publications that seek to maneuver them this way and that, the debate over which should come first, digital or print, will cease to be everyone’s main focus.

The main focus should always be our customers. No matter the format. End of story.

This column appeared in the May/June issue of Publishing Executive magazine.

The magazine business model drama continues… It is amazing that after all this talk about the new magazine business model and how it is going to be more “consumer centric,” to receive offers to  subscribe to some great-name-brand magazines for a mere $5.00 for five or six issues (That is at least 80% discount of the cover price).  There is no need to blame customers and consumers for the decline in single copy sales, and there is no need to blame the tablets for that decline either.  There is no one to blame but the magazine publishing industry itself.  Publishers willing to sell a magazine like Wired, Vanity Fair or GQ for a mere $5.00 for the entire year, need to blame no one but themselves if their newsstands sales are declining.  For the magazine industry to survive and thrive we have to start charging the fair value for the content and experience magazines deliver, whether on the newsstand, digital or by subscription.  Otherwise, if we continue to be in the business of counting customers and not the business of customers who count, the magazine business can easily see the writing on the wall… and that writing is NOT good news!  Take a look at the latest offer that arrived in my inbox this morning…

This week’s cover of TIME magazine created more buzz than any many cover in recent memory… and it did not have to do with a celebrity or scandal.  It dealt with a very real subject with a very real human being.  Here is the cover to judge for yourself and here are two of the many links in which I have offered my views on the subject matter:

The first is in the LA Times and the second is in CommPro.biz

In short, in this digital age where everything travels faster than a speeding bullet, this cover, in print, has been able to stop people in their tracks, create a conversation and carry on with the conversation like no other medium has done before.  There is still plenty of life in good print.  There is a print life after digital.  Today and tomorrow.  So, never underestimate the power of print in a digital age. Never!

And here is the video for the CommPro.biz interview…

No two magazines are alike and no two covers are the same.  The magazine industry seems to have discovered the art of split covers en-mass.  It is rare to see a magazine with one cover anymore.  Through my travels across the country, and overseas, I was able to collect a variety of magazines that shared the same date, same issue, but different covers.  The covers differed in the treatment of the nameplate, images, cover lines, colors, etc…  Below is a gallery of images with a brief explanation of what some magazines are testing or just trying to grab readers’ attention in one way or the other (no pun intended here…)

Here are some of the magazines in random order:

People Style Watch:  A different nameplate…

April 2012

There are two different covers for this magazine. The differences easily detected are the name, stretched across the top on one, and broken apart and stacked on the other cover. A $1 off coupon is attached on one and also has the tantalizing offer of “Exclusive Discounts for You!” where the other magazine has neither. The feature story is presented in a different placement as well, on one it is centered, midway the page, and the other cover has it aligned left, yet far enough from the edge to allow for the same sidebar story on Spring’s Hottest Shoes, while it still holds the midway spot.

Weight Watchers:  Different images, different colors…

March/April 2012

This issue of Weight Watchers has two covers. One has Charles Barkley, with the color orange (possibly due to the basketball in Barkley’s hands) used to highlight certain words on the page, and the other cover is a slim, attractive young woman wearing a green sweater, with a coordinating sequined top beneath. Green is the chosen color on this cover, with the highlighted words inviting us to do as the main story suggests: Go green, get lean. Inside the cover, on the table of contents, Weight Watchers calls the reader’s attention to the fact that there are two covers and invites consumers to respond with an e-mail as to which one they prefer.

Men’s Fitness: The female touch…

May 2012

Two covers this issue, one for the subscriber, the other for the newsstands. Both have the very enigmatic Beto Perez, the founder of Zumba, on the cover, but the newsstand issue also has a very provocative, left-corner shot of Scarlett Johansson from The Avengers, while the subscriber’s get only their address label located there. The cover lines are also arranged differently on each magazine, and on the newsstand issue, there is a promo shot of Jason Kidd, and the command to “Get Lean” with him. The story “Bigger Arms in Less Time” is more predominantly featured on the newsstand issue, and there is an identifying arrow pointing toward Perez that is missing from the subscriber’s, as well.

Men’s Fitness:  The cover lines: Sex vs. Ripped…

June 2012

Two covers for June, subscriber and newsstand. Newsstand gets the promise of “Your Hotter Sex Issue,” while the subscriber gets “Ripped in Six Weeks.” The cover story about Stacy Keibler is the same, except for color and font size (her name is bigger and in red on the newsstand issue and the title is done in white, versus black on the subscriber’s copy).

Entertainment Weekly:  A sexier image for the subscribers?

April 6,  2012

Two covers for this issue. The newsstand offering has a big, splashy photo of Jennifer Lawrence, in her Hunger Games regalia, living on the cover. And the subscriber’s edition has a much calmer, albeit, provocative, image of a nude, female back, arms crossed in front, and one hand clutching the New York Times Bestseller, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The newsstand issue devotes the entire front cover to The Hunger Games, with a small mention of James Cameron’s Titanic 3-D (complete with a small photo of a partially-sinking ship), and the Fifty Shades of Grey “Exclusive,” as it is written here, while on the subscriber’s cover it is designated as Fifty Shades of Grey “Exposed,” and Cameron’s Titanic 3-D has no image. So, the cover lines are very different on the two magazines.

Women’s Health:  No sex for subscribers…

May 2012

Two Covers for the May issue, newsstand and subscriber. If you buy it from the newsstand, you can have the “Hottest Sex Ever,” and also have your attention drawn to a story on how to “Look Great Naked,” by having checkmarks beside each of the criteria, but with the subscriber’s issue, no such bonuses. There are minute differences in the other cover lines, such as line placement of words, but no major changes anywhere else.

Seventeen:  A collector’s edition…

May 2012

Two newsstand covers, one has Justin Bieber, the other Chloe Grace Moretz. The Bieber cover is designated as a “Special Collector’s Cover.” Moretz’s issue has her story, and a chance to win tickets to see her in Dark Shadows, and Bieber’s issue has his story on the making of his new album, but both offer a free poster of JB inside the magazines. The Moretz issue also has a small photo of Bieber next to the poster offer. The other cover lines are arranged a bit differently on each magazine, as well.

Real Simple:  Different cover lines…

May 2012

Two newsstand covers. One, you can have a cleaner house every day, the other you can be smarter, happier, and healthier. The smarter, happier, and healthier issue also has the cover line, “A Cleaner House Every Day,” but favor wasn’t returned on the other cover. Other than that, everything is the same.

Southern Living:  Cover line placements: Right or left…

April 2012

Two newsstand covers, both with the same luscious-looking strawberry meringue cake. The main differences are one is left-sided cover lines, the other is right-sided. Other than that, they are alike.

The Economist: Europe vs. USA

March 24 – 30, 2012

Two newsstand covers. One is the US edition, which has a cover story about Cuba; the other is the UK version and has a story about Britain’s budget for global business. The British edition includes the Cuba story in one of its cover lines, as does the American version with the British budget story. Other than a piece on Mario Monti in the UK edition, all the other cover lines are the same.

Elle US:  Cover lines, images and design treatment…

May 2012

There are three different covers for the May 2012 issue. While all three feature the singer and actress, Rihanna, and the two newsstand issues are very similar, except for the placement and angles of the cover lines; the subscriber’s copy is a totally different entity. The photograph of the singer is far-removed from the mega-entertainer look that she has on the newsstand copies, and the text on the cover is much less spread out and more compact. There are two cover titles missing from the subscriber’s issue also.

Elle US:  More cloth for sensitive eyes and regions of the country…

April 2012

There are three covers for this issue, two newsstand editions and a subscriber’s. The newsstand issue offers a very pregnant Jessica Simpson, one nude, but strategically covered. The background colors are different, but the cover lines are the same. The subscriber’s issue features Heidi Klum, and while the Jessica Simpson story is listed, Klum owns the cover. It’s also missing one cover line story the newsstand issues have.

Elle UK: Sister sister…

April 2012

There are two newsstand covers for the UK editions, one with Mary-Kate Olsen, the other with Ashley. The cover lines are the same, but the background colors are different, and the Olsen’s first names are listed according to the cover: Ashley’s first on hers, and Mary-Kate’s first on her page.

Winq. Netherlands:  Same magazine, different language, different name

March/April 2012

Mate.:

Spring 2012

The global man’s magazine has two different names, two different versions, but both have MaDonna as their cover girl. The cover lines are designed the same, but the content is different, but other than that, the entire look of both magazines is exact.

GQ:  Three images, same magazine…

April 2012

Three different covers for this issue, all of them designated as “Special Issues.” Cover lines, color scheme, and design are all exactly alike; the only difference is the models: one is rapper, Drake, and the other two are actors Dave Franco and John Slattery.

Lucky:  Only at Target…

May 2012

Two different newsstand covers. Salma Hayek graces both covers, but one issue offers a tag the consumer can scan at Target to win a $5000 shopping spree. The other offers one different cover line. Everything else is the same.

Glamour:  Cover line treatment…

May 2012

Two different newsstand covers, same model (Lauren Conrad) and same overall look, but very different cover lines. While some of the stories are the same, the words used to describe those articles are very different on each magazine. The only difference for Glamour: the cover lines.

Juxtapoz: Creating a collector’s item…

May 2012

Four different newsstand covers, with the cover line (line-as in only one) the same, just four different photos and artistic images on each cover.

Harper’s Bazaar: Subscribers deserve less…

May 2012

Two different covers, both with Penélope Cruz on the cover. One, the subscribers’, has just a faded image of her face, that showcases her eyes, no cover lines, except for “Eye On The Season,” the other, the newsstand’s cover, is filled with all the stories inside both magazines. It’s an amazing contrast.

Entrepreneur: Red sells more on the stands?

April 2012

There are two different covers for this issue: one is red for the newsstand and the other white for the subscribers. The cover lines are somewhat rearranged, but nothing too drastic. Overall, other than the actual magazine color, the other differences are minimal.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the journey…