10th May 2012
DISSERTATION BY HANNAH HOLT
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF CREATING CONTENT FOR WOMEN’S MAGAZINE BRANDS IN THE DIGITAL AGE?
Supervisor: Vic Davies | Student ID: 20925573
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly I would like to thank my Dissertation supervisor Vic Davies for his on-going support over the last two years and his support and patience with me through my final year of study. I would also like to thank my personal tutor John Hathaway, Ruth Hickmott and Bill Nicholls for believing in me and supporting me throughout the course.
I would also like to thank Emma Carter and Alicen Stenner for giving up your time to help me with my research for this study and all other respondents for my primary research as without you I would not have been able to complete this work.
Finally I would like to thank my friends and family who have always supported me and have been there for all my ups and downs throughout this process, you are all amazing and I love you all very much.
Thank you!
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ABSTRACT The purpose of this Dissertation is to discover women’s relationships with magazine brands, determine what implications there are for women’s magazines and if they can survive in the digital age and will try to answer the following objectives;
1. To look back over the last 20 years and discuss the way in which women have interacted with magazine brands. 2. To examine whether women are willing to adopt digital content into their lifestyles. 3. To critically review how digital formats will affect how brands advertise and discuss if content should be created specifically for each format. 4. To explore the idea that digital magazine editions could survive without its print counterpart.
This study will contain a review of secondary research on the current literature on the topic of women’s magazines in the digital age. Primary research will then be used to conclude the study. Research techniques used will include a consumer survey and interviews which will give insight into the industry.
With readers becoming aware of the amount of free content available online (Mintel, 2010) there is a great opportunity for women to get to grips with digital technology by taking advantage of this free content. Most women are in fact willing to adopt these technologies but there are some resistors. Brands need to understand their target market in order to reach the right people with digital technology; brands should ensure they are not putting it out on a digital platform just for the sake of it (Carter, 2012). But both interviewees can see digital being more dominant in the future. Stenner (2012) says it’s hard to imagine in twenty years’ time that is not how you would consume a magazine.
There are many implications for women’s magazine publishing in the digital age, but it seems the main one is brands getting target audience and communication right with their readers. Having people with the right skills managing daily social media and website traffic within the women’s magazine industry will create; that two way communication, that friendship between a reader and a magazine is important to women.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 2. Aim & Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 8 Aim ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter Two 3. Background ...................................................................................................................... 10-11 4. Women’s Relationships with Magazines ........................................................................... 12-13 5. Digital Takeover ............................................................................................................... 14-16 Where does digital fit in? ............................................................................................................ 14-15 It’s not all about digital ............................................................................................................... 15-16 6. Advertisers Perspective .................................................................................................... 17-18 7. Content Creation .............................................................................................................. 19-20 8. Secondary Research Conclusion ........................................................................................ 21-22 Chapter Three 9. Primary Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 24-26 Forum .......................................................................................................................................... 24-25 Interview .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Survey .......................................................................................................................................... 25-26 Chapter Four 10. Primary Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 28 11. Objective One ................................................................................................................. 29-30 12. Objective Two ............................................................................................................... 31-32 13. Objective Three .............................................................................................................. 33-34 Chapter Five 14. Primary Research Conclusions ......................................................................................... 36-37
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Chapter Six 15. Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 39-42 16. Appendices .................................................................................................................... 43-76 Appendix A – PPA Publishing Figures 2012 ...................................................................................... 43 Appendix B – Top 15 Paid-for Digital Edition Numbers ................................................................... 44 Appendix C - Bauer Media (2011) Five Main Roles .......................................................................... 45 Appendix D - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (1) ....................................................... 46 Appendix E - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (2) ........................................................ 47 Appendix F - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (3) ........................................................ 48 Appendix G – Survey Monkey Questionnaire .................................................................................. 49 Appendix H – Survey Question One Results .................................................................................... 50 Appendix I – Survey Question Two Results ...................................................................................... 51 Appendix J – Survey Question Three Results ................................................................................... 52 Appendix K – Survey Question Four Results ..................................................................................... 53 Appendix L – Survey Question Five Results ..................................................................................... 54 Appendix M – Survey Question Six Results ...................................................................................... 55 Appendix N – Survey Question Seven Results ................................................................................. 56 Appendix O – Survey Question Eight Results ................................................................................... 57 Appendix P – Survey Question Nine Results .................................................................................... 58 Appendix Q – Survey Question Ten Results ..................................................................................... 59 Appendix R – Interview with Alicen Stenner (2012) ................................................................... 60-67 Appendix S – Interview with Emma Carter (2012) ...................................................................... 68-75 Appendix T – Linkedin Forum (2012) ............................................................................................... 76 17. Personal Skills Review ..................................................................................................... 77-78 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 77 Transferability Skills ......................................................................................................................... 77 Areas for Future Development ........................................................................................................ 78 Record of Meetings with Vic Davies ................................................................................................. 78 Word Count: 9,027
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Chapter One Introduction Aim & Research Objectives
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1. INTRODUCTION This study into magazine publishing is an important topic within the industry right now. With digital technologies ever changing and innovation at an all-time high, it is clear to see this is an important time in the publishing industry, especially for magazines. Recent figures from PPA (2012) show that 68.8% of turnover in publishing still comes from print (appendix A) although among consumer magazine publishers, own print brands account for 82.3% of revenue. But with digital having such an impact at the moment, this study will look at what this will mean for print. This year household magazine brands Elle and Company were among 56 magazine brands which reported paid-for digital edition numbers via ABC for the first time (appendix B), but it is men's titles that have registered the highest circulations (Reynolds, 2012). Does this mean women are lagging behind on the digital stakes or are there other reason behind this trend? This study will contain a review of secondary research on the current literature on the topic of women’s magazines in the digital age. Primary research will then be used to conclude the study. Research techniques used will include a consumer survey and interviews which will give insight into the industry.
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2. AIM & RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Aim The purpose of this Dissertation is to discover women’s relationships with magazine brands, determine what implications there are for women’s magazines and their advertisers and ask if they can survive in the digital age. Objectives 1. To look back over the last 20 years and discuss the way in which women have interacted with magazine brands. 2. To examine whether women are willing to adopt digital content into their lifestyles. 3. To critically review how digital formats will affect how brands advertise and discuss if content should be created specifically for each format. 4. To explore the idea that digital magazine editions could survive without its print counterpart.
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Chapter Two Background Women’s Relationships with Magazines Digital Takeover Advertisers Perspective Content Creation Secondary Research Conclusion
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3. BACKGROUND The first recorded Women’s interest magazine was in 1693 (Hughes, 2008) and since then the industry has developed. This was the first time that women were addressed as a special interest category and now women’s magazines are the biggest magazine sector of all (Mintel, 2011). Over seven out of ten UK adults currently read magazines and six in ten women read women’s lifestyle magazines. Readers of magazines overall are more likely to be female than male, 16-34s rather than over-35s and ABC1s than C2DEs. Mintel (2011) estimates that 1.48 billion print magazines in total were distributed in the UK during 2010. This represents an estimated 14.1% drop since 2006. This drop is likely to be connected to the 2008 recession as there has been a 5% year on year decline since that time. Although, Hughes (2008) discusses that historically magazines do well in recessions, the difficult period of 1870-1900 saw more launches than at any other time.
Source: Mintel (2010) Key Note (2011) forecasts that the lifestyle magazine market will continue to decline in value until 2014, when a slight revival may be witnessed; by 2015, it is estimated that the total market will be worth £649m. While it is estimated that the total market for women’s and men’s lifestyle magazines in 2010 was valued at £634m with women’s making up most of the market. This shows that there will be a steadying growth and that women always have a need for a magazine moment.
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Hughes (2008) also states for women’s magazines, development can only take place at the same rate as the culture itself. This is true not only for content but for the format of the magazine itself. Most print centred women’s magazines now have an online presence which includes; website, social media and mobile sites. In some cases the brand will have an application for smart phone or tablet reader. For years, television and newspapers dominated marketing campaigns worldwide, with magazines playing, effectively, third fiddle. In 2009, the medium moved one more place down the rankings when it was also overtaken by internet advertising (Green, 2011). Last year it was Woman’s Weekly’s 100th birthday and this was celebrated by including a copy of the first ever issue with every copy of the new edition. Along with this, US Vogue has recently launched its digital archive which contains each page published since 1892. Women in Magazines (2012) whose conference on Research, Representation, Production and Consumption takes place this year explain; Source: IPC Media (2011) “these events remind us of the rich history which lies behind titles that continue to grace the shelves marked ‘women’s magazines’ on both sides of the Atlantic.” With the increased role of the Internet in delivering news and information, mass communication studies and media organizations tend to focus on the convergence of publishing, broadcasting and digital communication. McQuail's (2005) Mass Communication Theory describes how mass communication is quickly evolving and that this is affecting society and the world around us. Communication is the key function of a magazine and thanks to the internet and other digital technologies, it is easier for that communication to be a two way symmetry which Grunig states is the ideal situation to be in (Watson, 2007) as this ensure that both parties get to have their say.
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4. WOMEN’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH MAGAZINES In the early days of women’s magazines, interaction was through problem pages and letters to the editors. These are still prominent today, but there are many more ways in 2012 for women to engage and interact with magazine brands. This however, has its own set of problems as social media gives brands less control over what is published about them (Hughes, 2008). “I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s Exhausting.” Mary from He’s Just Not That into You Carol Sarler, a women’s magazine editor said in the 1980s “at best, a magazine functions like a good friendship. There’s contact, there’s communication both ways” (Whitehorne, 2007). This quote feels more accurate today than ever before. Two-way communication has become more effective with social media, with women on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media sites being swamped everyday with women wanting that conversation, and that ‘friendship’. A lot of women do get overwhelmed by all the technology out there and use magazines as their ‘quiet moment’ without any digital fuss. Magtastic (2011) results show that women will usually read a magazine alone, in a quiet place so they can take their time reading it and relax. But these moments don’t come along very often as only one in eight women tend to read their magazine cover to cover (Mintel, 2010). The bite sized articles and snippets of information and gossip are clearly targeting the short attention span of women on the go. Mintel (2010) shows that women share magazines among friends, particularly women who buy more than one brand of magazine regularly; one in five readers will buy a magazine just because of the giveaway. This suggests that if that version was digital and there was no immediate ‘freebie’ women may not be as tempted to purchase if they are not an avid reader of that magazine brand. Impulse sales would decrease and this would be something a publisher would have to address in order to keep a strong relationship with the reader. Janice Winship (1987) believes that it’s a magazines femininity that makes women interact with them in such a positive way as they bring a source of pleasure into women’s everyday lives. Women’s magazines engage their audience by selling them the idea of being ‘a better lover, a better mother, a better wife, and a better woman’. Winship’s study however, is on one reader only, herself. This means that this study is not an accurate study as it relies on only her thoughts and does not Word Count: 9,027
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contain enough evidence. Winship’s theory, however, is still evident in today’s magazines; Cosmopolitan for example, brands itself as ‘The Women’s Bible’ as it gives all the knowledge and understanding that women need. Hermes (1995) argues that research about women’s magazines rarely takes the perspective or experiences of the reader into account and there is a strong chance that we know more about the views of the researchers themselves rather than the majority of female readers. Hermes’ research in reader’s habits showed that women mainly read magazines to learn and relax. Magazines need to be just as easy to pick up as they are to put down as women enjoyed being able to dip in and out of stories when they want quiet moments in their busy lives. Readers are now becoming aware of the amount of free content available online, particularly since the highest-volume of magazine readers are young (16-24) and also regular internet users. However, the increase of online magazines has had relatively little impact on women’s purchasing behaviour; around one in 16 women are buying celebrity weeklies and glossy magazines less often as a result (Mintel, 2010).
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5. DIGITAL TAKEOVER Where does digital fit in? Companies have traditionally pushed their brand messages out to consumers with no feedback loop. Today, the growth of social media has given consumers a voice and has empowered them to support in shaping brands and in some cases influence buying patterns of other consumers. With social media and digital technologies being part of everyday life for a lot of consumers, it would be easy to assume that everyone is a digital native. But this is not the case, and actually only a small percentage of the population are full engaged with digital (Ofcom, 2009). The fully engaged are very influential over other consumers and because of this, brands need to be smart when communicating with them. Bauer Media (2011) found that in groups of women there are five main roles (Appendix C) to be played within a conversation and advertisers need to speak to everyone in an engaging way. The research also discovered that women have three main reasons for talking to each other. These have been identified as; Affiliation, the need for bonding and belonging Mood uplift, for entertainment and escapism Being ‘in the know’, to help make decisions Women use social media, to bond with friends, to pass time being entertained and for research into companies to help make decisions. This means that if brands don’t embrace the social media and digital environment then they will be left out of these conversations. However the Digital Literacy research from Ofcom (2009) has shown that not everyone has adapted to digital. Appendix D shows that the ‘Hesitants’ and ‘Resistors’ are the least likely to use any sort of digital media within their lives. The report goes in-depth of the key low use segments. The Resistors, it says, tend to be older and more detached from digital. They do not see digital technologies as being relevant to their lives. Then there is the Hesitants, like the Resistors, the Hesitants are older, although 43% are under 45 years old. Women are a majority in this group which makes up 31% of UK adults. The research shows the Hesitants seem to lack confidence with using the technologies available to them although they are willing to try new things. The clear preference for learning is through family and friends and there is an indication of this group wanting to learn more about the internet. Word Count: 9,027
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Hesitants are significantly less likely than all UK adults to say they regularly use new media (20% vs. 56%) they are, however, just as likely to be regular mobile phone users (74% vs. 77%) which is shown in Appendix E. For women’s magazine brands this means having to come up with innovative ideas to help educate readers and shape the magazine in an engaging way using digital to enhance print but replace it. As a high percentage of readers will not use or are wary of using new media, it seems print will continue to dominate the market. It’s not all about digital The foundation to women’s magazine brands is still its print editions. However, the magazine brands websites are an important portal for interaction between them and their readers (Luft, 2011). Magtastic (2011) respondents feel that websites can supplement the print experience; especially with the use of high visual quality devices such as the iPad. These higher quality devices however, are expensive to purchase for a lot of women’s magazine readers. Very young respondents of the Price Waterhouse Coopers (2008) report (those ages 12-15) said they would rather read digital content. This is evidence that print is being kept alive by the generation Y and above. The younger generations such as Generation Z also known as the Digital Natives and Generation AO (Always On) (McKrindle, 2009) have always been around digital technologies and these generations may put a dent into the print world in the coming years. This may mean that eventually digital will become the format of choice for magazine brands and their publishers. The Magtastic (2011) focus group revealed that young women like digital editions as they enable individuals to receive guidance from magazines in regards to fashion. Young women can see something they want to buy and click straight through to purchase this item. Luft (2011) explains that a recent YouGov online survey commissioned by Vogue provided results that show glossy magazine readers are using both print and online titles. However readers do see the print and online versions as very different and as offering very different experiences with 82% of the sample believing the web would never fully replace print. Digital platforms have also become a popular way to access brands, according to the survey 75% of print readers access their magazine brands through digital platforms including digital copies and apps. Word Count: 9,027
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“Where once it were imagined that digital might kill print, it has instead heightened the level of engagement the reader has with her magazine of choice” Stephen Quinn, Publishing Director of Vogue. Zend (2012) released its Developer Pulse global survey in January. The survey itself was conducted in late November 2011 and around 3,335 respondents were polled. The report shows that around two thirds of developers around the world will be working on mobile app development projects in the next 12 months. And a further 67% of the developers surveyed said they wanted to improve their mobile app development skills this year. This highlights the growth and importance of digital platforms. More time is being invested in these as the technology itself is still quite new. The fact the technology is still new could mean that women have not caught up but would use digital technology more if they knew more about what it does and how it could fit into their lifestyles.
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6. ADVERTISERS PERSPECTIVE Advertisers are the most important customers for magazine brands as this is how they make their money. “The cover price does not fund magazines: the cover price would have to be doubled to break even” said a Cosmo publisher in 1983 (Winship, 1987). This shows just how important an advertiser is in the magazine publishing business. Print seems to still be very relevant in consumer’s lifestyles and magazines publishers certainly see a long life for print publications. Kevin Hand, Chairman of Hachette Filipacchi said in an interview with PPA (2010); “It is interesting that everybody seems to want to be a magazine, the newspapers, the banks, societies, everybody wants to produce a magazine to get their point across. So you could argue in a way that there has never been a better time to be a magazine if you’re forward thinking” But, digital formats can offer more benefits for advertisers than traditional print, Green (2011) advises that these benefits include; the potential for interactivity and personalised targeting and new high engagement formats such as video. Magazine advertisers now have more platforms to produce content for and need to think about how this content is produced. The International Journalists' Network (2012) has recently posed the idea that YouTube channels could one day replace women’s magazines. This comes after Hearst launched a channel which brings together five top women’s titles, which include Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar, to produce videos with a $10 million (£6.2 million) budget provided by YouTube. While some say you can’t take a computer everywhere; in actually fact you can. You can stream videos on your tablets and phones extremely easily and with the upcoming 4G network being released, streaming is going to be faster and easier. Magazine ads try to convince readers of the value of a product through the presentation of noninteractive information. Digital takes things to another level; it engages a reader; with a quick snap of a mobile phone, a potential customer can be transported to rich digital content. This can include in-depth product information, videos, promotions, reviews, coupons, contests, online stores and more (Tamigniaux, 2010). Others believe that the internet provides so much information to young people that they need to have this information put into context and magazines give that context which is a valuable resource.
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Although Charlotte Stockting, Publishing Director of Hello! Believes that one day print will be put on the back burner, but not just yet; “I don't see tablets or iPads or iPhones or any other smartphones being the alternative to magazines yet, and won't be until the entire editorial package can be transported in its entirety, including the advertising, in a satisfactory way, for the same price.” Ads regularly seem more worried with entertaining us, setting a puzzle for us to work out, or showing off their own sophistication. However, the aim of ads is actually to engage us and encourage us to participate by decoding their linguistic and visual signs and to enjoy this decoding activity (Bignell, 1997). What digital does is give advertisers the tools to be able create ads that reach their full potential visually.
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7. CONTENT CREATION At the Print and Digital Research Forum (2011) in San Francisco there was excitement about the opportunities produced by tablets, mostly as they are being seen as the chance to escape the concept of ‘content for free’ which is evident for websites. At the conference Scott McDonald said; “Magazine reading on tablets strongly resembles the behaviour long observed with printed magazines – and contrasts with quicker, more fragmented styles of reading associated with websites” If the reading experience is the same from magazine to tablet reader editions then why are there not more digital magazine editions available. While the website versions are still free, is there a need to create content for other platforms if readers are not asking for it? But as the founder of one of the most successful and leading edge digital technology companies once said; “A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.” Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple. Advertisers do however seem to be starting to get creative with the way they create content for magazines which incorporate print and digital platforms. Cosmopolitan magazine which has a history of being forward thinking and leading edge (Gough-Yates, 2003) has been working hard to give their readers a taste of digital with its 2011 Christmas gift guide. Cosmopolitan magazine chose to work with P & G to add interactivity to the pages, turning static advertisement pages in to interactive videos. With brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Braun and Olay, using this type of technology it shows that Digital Space (2010) works for men and women and across fashion, hair and beauty and even consumer electronics in a single publication. Source: Digital Space (2011) Digital Space is a free app which allows the reader of a print publication to learn more about a product or brand by hovering their camera mobile device (with the app open) over the advert. The reader will then be taken to the extra content on their mobile device (Cosmopolitan, 2011).
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Another type of advertising which has been used in print publications but also in shops and on CDs or DVDs is augmented reality. This is being used everywhere at present and you can even create an augmented reality business card says Arthur (2010). He goes on the say; “The idea is straightforward enough: take a real-life scene, or (better) a video of a scene, and add some sort of explanatory data to it so that you can better understand what's going on, or who the people in the scene are, or how to get to where you want to go.” But having done research on this it does not seem to have taken off within advertising. The magazines that have been using the technology are using it to create content such as celebrity interviews which has worked well previously for Cosmopolitan (2011) and was also demonstrated in The Gadget Show by the use of an interacted bus stop (Vahed, 2010). Creating content specifically for every platform used is important. Technology will show content in different formats depending on what it is viewed on. For example if you look at the same website on a laptop, mobile phone and tablet, each will be presented slightly differently. If the website has not been created especially for mobile, the images can be distorted or the text can appear off screen. David Hockney knows better than most how important it is to create content specific to the technology available. Hockney is an artist that creates artwork on the iPhone and iPad. These pieces of art are not then printed off and displayed as you may think. They are actually displayed on the iPhone or iPad just as they were meant to have been seen when this innovative artist created them (Grant, 2010). Hockney states in an interview with Grant (2010); Source: BBC News (2010)
"It's a real privilege to make these works of art through digital tools which mean you don't have the bother of water, paints, and the chore of clearing things away…you can make a drawing of the sunrise at 6am and send it out to people by 7am." This art of creating content for specific platforms is not a new thing however. TV advertising is highly successful on the small screen but showing that same quality advert at the Cinema, you will have image quality problems. The image will appear stretched or grainy. Cinema advertising dates back to 1899 when a commercial for Dewars Whisky appeared on UK screens (Pearl and Dean, 2011).
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8. SECONDARY RESEARCH CONCLUSION Women have a special relationship with magazines and this has been a constant feature throughout the history of magazines. Communication is an important factor for women and the magazines themselves. It is clear that print is an important part of that relationship and digital has enhanced the experience. Whether it has been augmented reality, mobile apps or QR codes, brands have been quick to jump into using new technologies as part of their brand strategies. This is fine but advertisers need to think of the customer’s needs and not try new technologies for the sake of being the first to adopt these technologies. Magazines have been around for hundreds of years and during this time have had to constantly evolve content to meet the needs of their readers. The digital landscape has made them have to change once again. Some believe this will one day lead to the end of print, and magazines will be replaced with an electronic edition on a reader device. However most believe that print will live on and that there will always be a big need for print. This certainly looks to case for the foreseeable future, but once the younger generation come through the desire for all digital may at least put a strain on print publications. For the time being advertisers are finding ways to use digital to advertise alongside print. This means they are having to work harder to be innovative and are struggling to find staff with the right skills. Although advertisers will benefit from one day having all publications go digital. This will give publishers a better understanding of their readers through analytics. Then advertisers will know exactly where to place an advert so it reaches their target audience. Advertisers do need to be careful about multi-platform advertising. Content needs to be created to fit the needs of each platform in order to get the highest quality. The message needs to be consistent throughout while not compromising on attraction. Women’s magazine readers it’s reported, have a high likelihood of taking up these digital technologies. But maybe just need a big of education about the benefits and encouragement from publishers. The technology itself is expensive (an iPad being £400) so this may be a setback for younger readers wanting to adopt the technology but not being affordable to them.
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There are many advantages of print media advertising and it’s often stated the more familiar buyers are with a brand, the more likely they would buy it. It’s for this reason why there are strong beliefs that print media advertising will never be out of fashion. Advantages of Print Advertising
Disadvantages of Print Advertising
Specific Target Audience
Cost
Loyal Readerships
Shelf Life
Special Ad Positioning
Audience Reach
Credibility
Planning
Long Life Span
Messages without Context
High Reach Prospective Glossy Ads
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Chapter Three Primary Research Methodology
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9. PRIMARY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The primary research for this report will consist of consumer based research and corporate based research and will require both qualitative and quantitative data. The consumer research will consist of forums through social media sites, questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. For the corporate research companies and individual employees will need to be contacted ahead of time for interviews. Forums will also be used through professional sites such as Linkedin. It may also be beneficially to send out short questionnaires to companies who use magazines for advertising. Forum To begin the primary research for this report a series of forums will be set up online through mediums such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. This will enable conversations to begin to highlight the key points of interest for the study. This information will then be the basis for creating the questions for the next part of the primary research.
Source: Linkedin (2011) Facebook will be the main forum for the consumer based questions and Linkedin for the corporate based. A Facebook group will be set up so that individuals can join the group, but have to be sent and invite or request first. This ensures that the right sample is joining in the conversation and that any updates to the group can be seen in their news feed. The sample for the Facebook group will be Females, aged 18-24, social class C1/C2. This is due to the fact TGI (2009) shows that this groups are the most likely to be regular readers of lifestyle magazines.
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The forums on Linkedin will be targeting previously set up groups of professionals in the publishing and marketing industries. This is to guarantee the right sample of people will be used for the data. Interviews Interviews will be conducted for industry representatives. Requests will be sent to various magazine publishers, PPA and advertising agencies. Ideally a contact from each area will be interviewed to get their views on various topics. The proposal will be sent to them ahead of time as well as a list of topics and discussion points. The willing interviewees will be asked if the mind being filmed or recorded for purposes of the study and a convenient time and place for them will be arranged. An interview with Alicen Stenner will be requested. Alicen has worked as Digital Development Director at IPC Media, Group Digital Marketing Director at Hearst Digital and Brand Director at handbag.com ltd. She has a wealth of experience in the women’s magazine industry, especially in the digital sector. Another interview will be set up with Emma Carter, MD of Beyond Creative Thinking. Emma is a graphic designer and marketer and specialises in branding. She has experience working with digital technologies, website building and mobile. The interviews will be semi-structured as there will be a mix of standardised questions and open questions so the interviewee can talk freely (Walliman, 2011). This will hopefully mean gaining more insight into their beliefs of digital technologies and publishing. When interviewing individuals, insight gained is from only one point of view which can cause bias. The Publishing Expo will be attended to help gather insight from a mixed of industry experts and key note speakers. This will not be recorded but will be used as anecdotal evidence for the primary research. This is due to the fact it will be time consuming to approach every expo stand and ask if they will be willing to be recorded for purposes of this study. Surveys The survey for this study will be created through Survey Monkey as the survey will be distributed online. Survey Monkey enables this to be done easily by creating a link which can be sent via email, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. The results will be extracted and put into excel to analyse and
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graphs will be created to clearly present the results. The target for respondents will be 50 and will ideally be: Female Age 18 – 24 and 34 - 44 C1/C2 and A/B Most regular readers and least regular readers The questions will all be multiple choice questions so the survey will be quick and easy to complete for all respondents. This will ensure all questions are answered to give accurate results. This survey collected responses from 45 females. These females are either social media users or are able to access emails. As the survey was distributed online, this may have caused an age bias; however all age categories did get at least one response.
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Chapter Four Primary Research Objectives Research Objective One Research Objective Two Research Objective Three
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10. PRIMARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVES From the secondary research that has been undertaken it has been decided that the objectives for the primary research part of the study will be amended to suit the information that has been gathered and the research that is to be done.
1. To ask whether women are willing to adopt digital content into their lifestyles 2. To discuss how much digital technologies effect how a brand advertises 3. To explore the future of print in a digital world
The primary research used in these findings was firstly a survey sent out online to respondents of various age entitled Interacting with Women's Magazine Brands and also a web forum on Linkedin was set up to gain more information. I then interviewed Emma Carter from Beyond Creative Thinking who is a graphic designer that works across various digital platforms. Finally I interviewed Alicen Stenner who is a marketer and associate lecturer at Bucks New Uni and has a long background working in women’s publishing on the digital side.
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11. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE ONE FINDINGS To ask whether women are willing to adopt digital content into their lifestyles Secondary research has shown that women are likely to adopt digital technologies with more education, however Stenner (2012) states in a recent interview (appendix R): “I don’t think any education is needed, I think everyone is quite au fait.” And even goes on to say that; “I think even titles which you might have felt were more targeted at the older age groups have been completely amazed by their consumer’s response to anything they do digitally.” However a survey taken for this study says women are much more prone to buy print titles (appendix O). But there is also evidence from this survey to show that out of 30 respondents to the question ‘Do you use any of the following to interact with magazine brands?’ 19 people said they interact by using some form of digital technology, with 50% of respondents using magazine brands websites. Stenner (2012) discussed that she thinks consumers are really savvy and actually magazines need to push a bit harder to ensure they keep up with what consumers expect. This backs up what is said in the Ofcom (2009) research for the ‘Engaged’ and the ‘Pragmatists’ but that still leaves almost half of the population that are still unsure about this technology (appendix F). The survey also shows that women are somewhat more likely to purchase a magazine because of, specific articles, special offer cover price and for the freebies (appendix M). All of these reasons are down to impulse buying which digital editions do not cater for. These reasons are more about browsing a shop and picking a magazine because it is attractive to that person in some way. Digital on the other hand is more about specific magazine reading, for people who follow the same magazine brand regularly. This backs up the Mintel (2010) research which suggests if there was no immediate ‘freebie’ women may not be as tempted to purchase. It also suggests that women enjoy sharing magazines amongst friends and family, as does the survey (appendix Q) with over 55% agreeing that they like to share. But there is also the fact that because more and more women are accessing content online or through mobile that print circulations are going down. Stenner (2012) thinks that “to some extent it’s more to do with the fact that print magazines have not understood how to create and deliver a brand in the digital age” and not about women not wanting or not wanting to adopt this technology.
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With readers becoming aware of the amount of free content available online (Mintel, 2010) there is a great opportunity for women to get to grips with digital technology by taking advantage of this free content. Stenner (2012) discusses how magazines publish themselves monthly and so everything happens so far in advance. In May, publishers would be closing the July issue and working on the August and September issues. However with digital if somebody reads something today, they want it to be today not something from a month ago. With magazines having to think so far ahead, they have to think about what they can publish now. This allows for new content to be created and added value for the readers. However, over 38% of respondents to the survey disagreed with the statement: I would be willing to adopt digital into my lifestyle to enhance my reading experience (appendix Q). For the same question over 27% stayed neutral not having an opinion and over 27% agree with the statement. If the readers who answers ‘neutral’ to this survey questions could be given more information about digital, how it works, what the benefits are, then maybe they would be more willing to give it a chance. This would boost the ‘agreed’ answer up to make up over half of respondents.
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12. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE TWO FINDINGS To discuss how much digital technologies effect how a brand advertises The survey for this study shows that over 40% of respondents agree with the statement: The advertising in women’s glossy magazines adds to the ‘feel’ of the magazine. This not only shows that women enjoy print advertising, but it is also evident that advertisers need to think about how to duplicate that ‘feel’ of print adverts to digital platforms. Carter (2012) discusses how, with digital technology there’s augmented reality and QR codes but, advertisers will have to be more creative and digital allows advertisers to be more creative. Stenner (2012) follows this by saying that its advertisers that drive what media owners offer and they do see the true potential in digital. As Green (2011) stated the benefits include; the potential for interactivity and personalised targeting and new high engagement formats such as video. However with all these different platforms now available, it means more work that has to go into a campaign. Carter (2012) confirms that images and even copy needs to be formatted and tailored correctly for print, web, tablets, mobile or whatever a brand might be using. This means getting the right people for the job with the right skills to manage all the different areas which brands now need to keep maintained. Stenner (2012) believes that brands have not quite got the hang of social media yet and staff having to be almost like customer service agents, through Facebook, Twitter etc. Stenner (2012) says that when hiring staff now, brands need people who can also Blog, Tweet, and Facebook and use all the digital tools available to them. In an interview with Grant (2010) David Hockney discussed how important it is to create content specific to the technology available. This shows that creating the right content for the right platform is something that matters to all industries not just publishing. Advertising revenues are now split between print and digital and people really see digital as a massive growth area in terms of revenue (Stenner, 2012) because of this magazines need to be able to offer different forms of content to their advertisers in order to capitalise on all the excitement. Magazine advertisers now have more platforms to produce content for and need to think about how this content is produced (Green, 2011). Stenner (2012) thinks that premium ads from the luxury brands really see the excitement in the use of tablets. Here is this ‘thing’ which you can hold, which is the size of a magazine where you can have a full page ad and it does not take away from the consumer’s experience, especially because they are stunning and glossy. Word Count: 9,027
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Scott McDonald said, at the Print and Digital Research Forum (2011) that magazine reading on tablets strongly resembles the behaviour observed with printed magazines. However true this statement is, there is still a lack of enthusiasm about digital from a large percentage of the population. There are still new technologies being developed however which could benefit print and encourage the ‘resistors’ to use digital more. “Augmented reality is really exciting” (Stenner, 2012). Augmented reality has not been widely used in advertising yet but has been used to enhance content in magazines, brochures and recently greetings cards. Carter (2012) believes this will completely change how print design works; a lot of people have said that print is ‘old hat’ but Carter thinks by applying new techniques to print it will change. Stenner (2012) said about augmented reality; “I think magazines can charge a premium for it, so this print page with some sort of augmented reality element to it can be charged at a higher rate.” However brands need to understand their target market and if they can reach the right people with digital technology; brands should ensure they are not putting it out on a digital platform just for the sake of it (Carter, 2012). QR codes for example, have been used everywhere but are not always relevant to the audience and they don’t give any enhancement to the content (Stenner, 2012).
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13. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE THREE FINDINGS To explore the future of print in a digital world In the survey conducted for this study, 100% of respondents read print editions of magazines compared to 9% who also read websites and 2% who also read digital editions on tablets (appendix O). “I think there will always be a need for the written word” (Stenner, 2012). “This weekend I’m going away with friends and I can’t wait to get to the airport a buy some magazines.” There seems to be no doubt throughout this study that print is important in people’s lives but will it still be as important in years to come. If you look at Stylist Magazine that is given away free once a week in London, that’s an excellent magazine with top quality advertisers. So Stenner (2012) does not think that print editions are about to be pushed aside for digital. “Some brand may decide in the future to close their print editions and concentrate on digital but right now the majority of revenue is being driven by the print titles.” Stenner (2012) goes on to say that right now, the majority of revenue is still being driven by the print title and not by the digital title. So if you’re not making your print title financially viable then the business will close. This supports PPA (2012) that shows over 68% of turnover in publishing still comes from print. But saying that Stenner (2012) does not think you can be a print title today without some digital aspect to your offer, it’s really about the mix. Carter (2012) compares this to direct mail. “People started going to emails and that was the craze, but then everyone started getting their inboxes filled so then they have now started going back to the older stuff like snail mail...It’s like people going back to buying vinyl as they are looking for something tangible.” But both interviewees can see digital being more dominant in the future. Stenner (2012) says she doesn’t know of there will still be print items in twenty or thirty years as the tablet is so tangible and it fits in your bag so easily. It’s hard to imagine in twenty years’ time that is not how you would consume a magazine. Willardson (2011) from the Linkedin forum (appendix T) states that; “From my personal experience and viewpoint, I don’t think print will ever go out of business. Maybe in the year 2050 people will collect print magazines in the same fashion and manner as hipsters collect records, but even then, print magazines will still be alive and well.”
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Carter (2012) has similar beliefs for print, she says it’s here to stay but, it’s going to have to up its game. She thinks people will always be buying books because it’s a tangible item and you get really nice paper. You can’t duplicate that with digital, so she can’t see them dying out completely and she also thinks there will always be a place for print, but in what format she is unsure.
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Chapter Five Primary Research Conclusions Recommendations
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14. PRIMARY RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS Women are more prone to buy print titles but use alongside magazine brands websites. Magazines are starting to have to think about what they can publish now, as well as next month which is creating added value for readers. However, over 38% of respondents to the survey disagreed with the statement: I would be willing to adopt digital into my lifestyle to enhance my reading experience. With advertising revenues now split between print and digital magazines need to offer new platforms their advertiser in order to take advantage of all the current excitement. Magazine advertisers want more platforms and are driving the content. For print to become more exciting it will need to use digital aspects with it. This will enable it to be easier to track and also will ensure that customers feel they are getting added value with the advertising or publication. Augmented reality could be a game changer with print and this element could be charged at a higher rate. However brands need to fully understand if they can reach their audience with digital and make sure they are not just using it to stay ahead of the curve. Digital is looking like it will be more present in the future. The tablet is tangible and it fits in your bag so easily. Stenner (2012) believes this is how the future will consume a magazine. But print seems like it is a force to be reckoned with, and as least for now, is here to stay and is the most value source of income for magazine publishers. Once the Digital Natives and especially when the Always On generations fully come through this will need to be questioned as by then the cost of the tablet will be lower, and the people wanting their content digitally will be higher. Publishers need to keep their eye on the ball when it comes to digital. Getting people with the right skills to manage daily social media and website traffic should be on every brands agenda but especially within the women’s magazine industry as having that two way communication, that friendship between a reader and a magazine is important to individuals. Moore’s Law suggests that the chip doubles in power every 18 months (Paparella, 2010) so in 2014 some of the interviewees predictions may have started to come true. There are many implications for women’s magazine publishing in the digital age, but it seems them main one is about the brands getting it right in terms of target audience and communication with their readers. Word Count: 9,027
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This topic will need to be researched regularly to keep up to date with all the changes happening in the industry and technology. But for now print seems to be valuable not only to the publishers but the reader as well.
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Chapter Six Bibliography Appendices Personal Skills Review
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15. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bauer Media (2011) Influencing the Women's Market [online]. PPA. Available from: http://www.ppa.co.uk/New%20PPA/Marketing/Features/Bauer%20Media%20insight%20into%20inf luencing%20female%20opinion/ [Accessed 21 Oct 2011] Bignell, J. (1997) Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press Bradley, N. (2010) Marketing Research: Tools and Techniques 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Press Carter, E. (2012) Interview with Emma Carter. Interviewed by Hannah Holt [in person] Beyond Creative Thinking Office, 20 Apr 2012 Cone, J. (2011) Women’s Magazines Linkedin Forum [online] Linkedin. Available from: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-Are-Implications-Women-s111536.S.77167142?qid=99afc667-a49e-4f8b-bfca-7a3e596e024f&trk=group_search_item_list-0-bttl [Accessed 03 Jan 2012] Cosmopolitan (2011) Christmas Gift Guide Digital Space (2011) Dolce and Gabbana in Cosmopolitan [online] Digital Space. Available from: http://www.digitalspace.co.uk/?p=1512 [Accessed 20 Nov 2011] Glamour (2010) An Insight into the 21st Century Woman [online]. YouGov. Available from: http://www.yougov.co.uk/specialisms/specialisms-medianewsMain.asp?newsid=32&submenuheader=2 [Accessed 2 Oct 2011] Gough-Yates, A. (2003) Understanding Women’s Magazines: Publishing, Markets and Readerships. Routledge: London Grant, C. (2010) David Hockney’s Instant iPad Art [online] BBC News. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11666162 [Accessed 20 Dec 2011] Green, A. (2011) How to Measure Magazine Audiences 2001. London: WARC Hermes, J. (1995) Reading Women’s Magazines. Cambridge: Polity Press Hughes, K. (2008) Women's Magazines down the Centuries [online]. Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/20/women-pressandpublishing [Accessed 18 Oct 2011] International Journalists' Network (2012) Could YouTube Replace Women’s Magazines? [online]. Mashable. Available from: http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/youtube-womens-magazines/ [Accessed 23 Apr 2012]
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Key Note News (2008) Men’s and Women’s Buying Habits [online]. Key Note. Available from: http://www.keynote.co.uk/media-centre/in-the-news/display/mens--womens-buyinghabits/?articleId=61 [Accessed 20 Oct 2011] Keynote (2011) Lifestyles Magazines UK Market Assessment 2011. London: Keynote Luft, O. (2011) Report Sheds Light on Digital Consumption of Glossy Mags [online]. Brand Republic. Available from: http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1077460/Report-sheds-light-digitalconsumption-glossy-mags/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH [Accessed 02 Oct 2011] Magtastic (2011) Investigating young women’s magazines in the digital age [online]. Kantar Media. Available from: http://kantarmedia-custom.com/2011/06/24/magtastic-investigating-youngwomens-magazines-in-the-digital-age/ [Accessed 1st Feb 2012] McCracken, M. (2001) Women as Consumers [online]. Women & the Economy. Available from: http://www.unpac.ca/economy/consumers.html [Accessed 20 Oct 2011] McIlheney, B. (2011) Barry's Intro [online]. PPA. Available from: http://www.ppa.co.uk/New%20PPA/Marketing/Future%20of%20Publishing/ [Accessed 21 Oct 2011] McKrindle, M. and Wolfinger, E. (2009) The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd McQuail, D. (2005) McQuail's Mass Communication Theory 5th Ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd Mintel (2010) Women’s Magazines – UK – December 2010. London: Mintel. Mintel (2011) Magazines - UK - September 2011. London: Mintel. O’Dell, J. (2012) Vend Report [online]. Venture Beat. Available from: http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/11/what-developers-will-be-doing-learning-listening-to-in-2012survey-results/ [Accessed 11 Jan 2012] O’Reilly, L. (2011) A blinkered digital vision makes marketers forget the customer [online]. Marketing Week. Available from: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/disciplines/digital-strategy/a-blinkereddigital-vision-makes-marketers-forget-the-customer/3031191.article [Accessed 1st Nov 2011] Ofcom (2009) Digital Lifestyles: Hesitants, Resistors and Economisers. London: Ofcom Paparella, M. and Simko, E. (2010) Current Topics in Technology 3rd ed. Boston: Course Technology
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Pearl and Dean (2011) Cinema Advertising [online]. Pearl and Dean. Available from: http://www.pearlanddean.com/?node_id=1.9.2 [Accessed 20 Dec 2011] Plunkett, J. (2010) Grazia publishes 3D issue [online]. The Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/23/grazia-3d-walkin-talking [Accessed 30 Sep 2011] PPA (2010) Future of Publishing: Insight into the future of magazines [online]. PPA. Available from: http://www.ppa.co.uk/New%20PPA/Marketing/Future%20of%20Publishing/ [Accessed 21 Oct 2011] PPA (2012) Publishing Futures 2012: At a Glance [online]. PPA. Available from: http://www.ppa.co.uk/marketing/features/publishing-futures-2012-at-a-glance/ [Accessed 10 Apr 2012] Price Waterhouse Coopers (2008) The Medium is the Message: Outlook for Magazine Publishing in the Digital Age. London: PWC.com Print and Digital Research Forum (2011) Symposium Papers [online]. Print and Digital Research Forum. Available from: http://www.printanddigitalresearchforum.com/ [Accessed 23 Oct 2011] Proctor, T. (2000) Essentials of Marketing Research 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd Reynolds, J. (2012) MAGAZINE ABCs: Men's titles lead digital editions charge [online]. Media Week. Available from: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/News/MostEmailed/1117627/MAGAZINE-ABCsMens-titles-lead-digital-editions-charge/ [Accessed 12 Mar 2012] Singer, A. (2010) How (And Why) To Create Remarkable Digital Content [online]. The Future Buzz. Available from: http://thefuturebuzz.com/2010/07/13/content-marketing-primer/ [Accessed 1st Nov 2010] Stenner, A. (2012) Interview with Alicen Stenner. Interviewed by Hannah Holt [in person] Bucks New Uni, 01 May 2012 Storey, J. (2001) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd Tamigniaux, R. (2011) Making Magazine Ads More Engaging [online]. Microsoft Tag. Available from: http://tag.microsoft.com/community/blog/t/making_magazine_ads_more_engaging.aspx [Accessed 10th Dec 2011] The Guardian (2011) Magazine News [online]. The Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/magazines [Accessed 30 Sep 2011]
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Vahed, A. (2010) The Gadget Show [online]. Augmented Reality. Available from: http://www.augmentedreality.co.uk/?tag=/Gadget-Show [Accessed 20 Dec 2011] Walliman, N. (2011) Research Methods: The Basics. Abingdon: Routledge Watson, T. & Noble, P. (2007) Evaluating Public Relations: A Best Practice Guide to Public Relations 2nd Ed. London: Kogan-Page Whitehorne, O. (2007) Cosmo Women: The World of Women’s Magazines 2nd Ed. Maidstone: Crescent Moon Publishing Willardson, C. (2011) Women’s Magazines Linkedin Forum [online] Linkedin. Available from: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-Are-Implications-Women-s111536.S.77167142?qid=99afc667-a49e-4f8b-bfca-7a3e596e024f&trk=group_search_item_list-0-bttl [Accessed 03 Jan 2012] Winship, J. (1987) Inside Women’s Magazines. London: Pandora Press Women in Magazines (2012) Research, Representation, Production and Consumption [online]. Tumblr. Available from: http://womeninmagazines.tumblr.com/ [Accessed 9 Jan 2012] YouGov (2011) Vogue Business Report 2011. London: Condé Nast
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16. APPENDICES Appendix A – PPA Publishing Figures 2012
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Appendix B – Top 15 Paid-for Digital Edition Numbers
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Appendix C - Bauer Media (2011) Five Main Roles
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Appendix D - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (1)
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Appendix E - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (2)
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Appendix F - Digital Literacy Research from Ofcom (2009) (3)
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Appendix G – Survey Monkey Questionnaire
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Appendix H – Survey Question One Results
Response 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Response
Male
Female
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Appendix I – Survey Question Two Results
Age Group % 18-21 22-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 60+
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Appendix J – Survey Question Three Results
Relationship Status
Single In a relationship Engaged Married Divorced Widowed
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Appendix K – Survey Question Four Results
Which of the following women's glossy magazines do you read? Glamour Cosmopolitan Company More Red Marie Claire Vogue New Woman In Style Woman's Own
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Appendix L – Survey Question Five Results
How often do you read women's glossy magazines?
Extremely often Very often Moderately often Slightly often Not at all often
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Appendix M – Survey Question Six Results
Would any of these factors make you more likely to buy a magazine? Brand name Cover Star Specific articles Special offer cover price Freebies Supplements Special Features
Index
Index
Index
Index
Index
109 87 50 100 86 60 50
36 33 150 50 86 60 38
100 100 100 100 100 100 100
100 47 600 317 257 53 288
18 13 175 133 86 7 75
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Appendix N – Survey Question Seven Results
What is your favourite place to read a magazine? In bed Curled up on sofa On the train On long trips In the bath On the toilet Work Hairdresser Don't Read or Buy Them Holiday Sitting in a Chair
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Appendix O – Survey Question Eight Results
Which formats do you read your favourite magazines in?
Paper copy Website Digital copy on mobile Digital copy on tablet None
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Appendix P – Survey Question Nine Results
Do you use any of the following to interact with magazine brands?
Letters Website Competitions Facebook Twitter Tumblr None
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Appendix Q – Survey Question Ten Results
How do you feel about the following
Strongly
statements:
Agree
The advertising in women's glossy
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
3
18
13
6
4
0
12
12
17
3
11
25
2
5
2
0
0
2
11
31
0
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magazines adds to the 'feel' of the magazine. I would be willing to adopt digital content into my lifestyle to enhance my magazine reading experience. I share my magazines with friends and family. I regularly buy digital editions of magazines. I only buy a magazine when there is a freebie.
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Appendix R – Interview with Alicen Stenner (2012) Digital Advertising Role of Print Content Creation Women’s Perspective The Future of Technology Alicen: My name is Alicen Stenner and I am an associate lecturer here at Bucks New University, so I just lecture on two courses. Prior to lecturing here I worked at IPC Media across all of the women’s monthly magazine titles looking after all of their website development, editorial, content trying to expand the site in terms of consumers using the sites and in terms of expanding the website technically and digitally into other arenas. Then prior to IPC I worked at Nation Magazines, where I worked across all of their magazine title and had some web only brands there too. The prior to working at Nation Magazines I worked for a website called Handbag.com which was owned by Telegraph Newspaper group and Boot the Chemist PLC where we focused on creating women’s content. Then prior to that I worked at the BBC and that was on websites and digital radio so not magazines or for women. Hannah: Ok thank you. So firstly there is a huge amount of change happening in the magazine publishing industry at the moment, how are these changes in technology affecting the business of women’s magazine brands? Alicen: Well it kind of affected the business in two ways in that because more and more women are accessing content online or through mobile then print circulations are going down and probably more importantly, because some circulations are not going down you know magazines like Grazia are not going down they launch into the market and there new, so I think to some extent its more to do with print magazines have not understood how to create and deliver a brand in the digital age. So equally alongside circulation it’s affecting advertising because advertising revenues are now split between print and digital. In terms of the business itself it’s changed it quite dramatically in that all of the journalists that work on the magazine have to be bi media so they have to be able to write for print as well as digital and they have to use all the digital tools available to them. They have to be able to Blog, they have to be able to tweet, they have to be able to potentially interact some way on Facebook and I think that another thing that has happened to the magazines that has been brought about by technology is that they, whereas before, you know many of they and where I have worked is more so on monthly magazines Word Count: 9,027
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Hannah: Ok Alicen: That they kind of publish themselves monthly and so everything is built around you know and because publishing happens so far in advance something that’s, what month are we in? May, you would be closing the July issue you would be working on the August and September issues and so you’re always ahead. Whereas with digital if I read something today, I want it to be today, you know. It’s not something from a month ago it’s about today and so magazines are finding that they have had to think, whatever circulation they have, even the weeklies have had to think minutely and hourly and well as weekly and the monthlies have had to think weekly, daily then hourly so it’s a whole new way of thinking and they have been afraid. Because they worry that ‘we can’t put our monthly content online’ because people won’t then buy the monthly magazine and so and the other thing that’s changed in terms of operations when thinking about digital is that I as a consumer can now tweet I can interact with you on Facebook, I can email you, I can do a whole host of things and brands, not just magazine brands but all brands, have had to learn how to deal with this interaction from a customer service basis. So I’m in WHSmith in Brighton and you know where is my copy of in style, I can’t see it so I put that on twitter I put it on Facebook, wherever it might be and so somehow the magazine has to respond to that and they just don’t have to set up for that they don’t have you know, customer services teams dealing with that level of interaction. ‘I saw on your front cover a lovely dress, where can I buy it?’ you know they just don’t have that. Hannah: I found that, I subscribe to cosmopolitan and they sent through my magazine and I went into Sainsbury’s the next day and they had free gifts and they didn’t send me the free gift so tweeted about it and I got nothing in response and that got my back up a bit, I was like hang on a minute... Alicen: That’s Netmags policy actually, they don’t send the gift to subscribers, and when I was at IPC we talked about that because obviously it’s a cost reduction method and should we not give the free gifts to subscribers and IPC decided they would definitely give the free gifts to subscribers. So it’s literally a business decision, and I think it appalling, your most loyal customers are the ones that are not getting the free gift, I personally found it disgusting. But it didn’t affect us digitally so it was kind of none of my business Both: (Laughs) Hannah: Yeah Alicen: Butt out (laughs)
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Hannah: With the rise in video at the moment, everyone is talking about video being the next big thing, do you think something like a YouTube channel could replace what women’s magazine offer in terms of the sections of magazines, makeovers and things like that appearing on video format rather than in print Alicen: No, I don’t think it could, the reason being is I think there will always be a need for the written word you know, even having a print magazine, for example this weekend I am going away with my friends and cannot wait to get to the airport, buys some magazines and sit in the airport lounge, I don’t care how early I get there, I won’t have my kids or anyone else it will just be me and my magazines on the plane, you know brilliant, I can’t even describe to you how exciting it is to me (laughs) and I just wouldn’t want to be looking at my iPad or whatever and viewing a YouTube video I just feel that there is a place for images, there is a place for the worked and there is a place for video and definitely, I love watching catwalk shows and I love watching how to videos and things like that but equally I do enjoy you know all those different forms of content you have when it comes to magazines so I think it enhances the magazine and what it offers I think it can replace certain aspects of the content that you have, I think you could view the video alongside other elements that your interacting with but I think it is to be honest just one element in the total package that is magazine content, be it print, digital, whatever. I think where people are really talking about video is in advertising. Hannah: Yeah Alicen: You know, people really see it as a massive growth area in terms of advertising revenue and so magazines in order to capitalise on that that excitement amongst advertisers, they do need to be able to offer video content and there aren’t many magazines who have been able to really crack that nut. It just feels that video channel are kind of appended, you know there on the navigation and they are sort of over here and I don’t think that I can think of any website where it has feel really integrated. Maybe a site like NME, they do it really well. But then its music, its music videos Hannah: Its part of what they do Alicen: It is yeah, so I don’t think anyone else does it well. Hannah: Ok, speaking of advertisers, do you feel advertisers are talking full advantage of what is possible with digital magazines and how they can interact with their consumers? Alicen: Do you know, I think to some extent advertisers’ drive what happens in advertising terms on digital magazines because in the search for, you know every advertiser wants to do something new, Word Count: 9,027
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something really creative, something that their competitors won’t have seen yet and because of that new ad formats are created? So the creative teams at magazine just spend their time trying to come up with these new ideas. If you look at the IAB American website I think it is, they have new ad formats that they are testing out in the market, just to see what advertisers might think of them, they’re not specific to magazines but, I think that they will, most of those have been created by advertisers in conjunction with media titles, not just magazines as such but magazine type websites, like MSN or Yahoo and even websites like ASOS. Well you know we are doing an assignment with Selfridges and they are talking about creating more content on their website so retailers, if you look at New Look for example, they have a whole magazine section within their website in order to showcase their products and create a context for it to then allow you to be more, you know, be more interested in buying their product, so I think it’s the brand owners not the media owner that are really driving that. So I think yes, advertisers I feel, to answer your question, advertisers are seeing the true potential and driving, because if you think about it, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you the half page ad, so where you have got something that looks like a double leader board, that was created for glossy, premium advertisers like Gucci, Versace, who if you look at them in the magazine there in the inside front cover or they have a full page ad and when they came to work online, a banner or a sky scraper was not really something that appealed to them at all. So having something that was much larger space, they suddenly felt like they owned the page, in the same way if you have a left hand ad and right hand content they are a half of that double page spread. So that is what that half page ad was created for. Hannah: Ok. Alicen: In that sense advertisers were driving what media owners then offered. If you look at the tablet, I think that premium advertisers, the luxury brands, really see excitement there, because here is this ‘thing’ which you can hold and it kind of like the size of a magazine and you can have a full page ad there and it doesn’t really undermine the consumers experience with the content because it easy for you to get back into it. Hannah: Yeah. Alicen: Especially because these ads look stunning and glossy Hannah: They do look amazing. Alicen: Yeah, so, you know, I never have minded ads, I have always quite enjoyed looking at them; admittedly I am a marketer so Word Count: 9,027
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Both: (Laughs) Alicen: But when you see ad like that it does enhance, I feel, the overall experience. So to my mind I feel that magazines, their downfall are they are not making the most of what digital offers. I do feel like advertisers have driven what they offer. Hannah: Ok. Augmented reality seems to be taking off with magazines, I have seen it everywhere. Why do you think this has been so popular? Is it because like you said before, it gives that enhancement to what’s already there? Alicen: I think it’s really exciting. Hannah: Yeah. Alicen: I think magazines can charge a premium for it, so suddenly this print page with some sort of augmented reality element to it can be charged at a higher rate. I feel that the problem with content online is that is very hard to bring it to life in some way. This is what magazines especially magazine content that doesn’t have a print version alongside it you try to create more tangibility and I think having your mobile phone and your interacting with the ad in some way then straight away you have got that tangibility, you know you’re holding something at the same time. Hannah: Yeah Alicen: And it just brings so much more details, doesn’t it, to the ad and it allows a lot more information to be in parted and it’s just incredibly engaging. So you’re engaging with every sense that the consumer has. Hannah: Yeah that’s true. Alicen: Not just sight and touch and it feels like it in that way has much greater cut through. So, you know, I haven’t seen a rubbish augmented reality ad yet. I have seen some where I think ugh it not quite got it right. Hannah: Yeah Alicen: But I haven’t seen any that are totally rubbish. I think some QR codes they’re a bit rubbish because they, you know especially, I was looking at one in Woman and Home the other day and I thought ‘this is not really what this is about’ Hannah: They don’t really look very nice QR codes Word Count: 9,027
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Alicen: Well they don’t look very nice, but also just to use a QR code, I have gone to the trouble of downloading my app and I have held it up and I have now gone through to a webpage that’s totally static, you know. That’s not really what I’m after, that just, I could have just put in the URL, it would have been much easier for me. So yeah I feel that everyone jumped on the QR code band wagon and wasn’t really sure how to use it and augmented reality is quite expensive and so it will be interest to see where ultimately it goes although personally I think it’s very exciting. That’s why brands are using it and because it adds tangibility and it like I said you’re using every scent to get the most out of it. Hannah: Thanks. Have you found in the past or more recently that woman’s magazines readers need more education regarding digital technologies, or do you think they have jumped in feet first? Alicen: Totally, I think even title which you might have felt were more targeted at the older age groups have been completely amazed by their consumers response to anything they do digitally. You know, even older titles interacting on Facebook, consumers have, maybe, possibly five years ago or more but not now. I don’t think any education is needed, I think everyone is quite au fait. I mean you see some sort of education type content on some magazine websites and you see it in print versions to where you might have something about the best websites to look at for, whatever it might be, or how to... you used to see this a lot more, like how to download photos to your computer, you know and thing like that Both: (Laughs) Alicen: I don’t feel that I have seen much of that recently, you know, brand are using some really advanced tools and you know, you look at scrapbooking type tools that home magazine websites are using and make up tools and lots of apps that you can download. They might have a bit of info on how to download an app but I don’t think, well I do think consumers are really savvy so I think really it just the magazines need to kind of push a bit harder to ensure they keep up with what consumers want and expect. Hannah: Yeah, when it comes to measurement, obviously it will be a lot easier to measure digital than print and give the reader exactly what they want. Do you think this will result in publishers pushing print to one side to concentrate more on digital, or do you think they are both just as important? Alicen: I think that there was a time, six years ago a lot of magazine closed and I think it was much more to do with the fact that they didn’t have a position or brand proposition that was really Word Count: 9,027
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appealing and that offered something unique given what was becoming available through the internet and not even just through the internet but through free sheets, I mean if you think about Stylist magazine, that is given away free once a week in London and I think it’s an excellent magazine and I look forward to reading that and that was launch recently, maybe two or three years ago that it was launched and you look at the quality of advertisers they have in there, that title is not about to be pushed aside, is it and you look at something like Grazia with lots of excellent advertisers within that magazine. So I don’t feel that print will be pushed aside, I think what will be pushed aside are magazine title, be they digital print, whatever that don’t move with the times, that don’t remain current and relevant and exciting and interesting and haven’t got a clear proposition and to me I think the celebrity titles potentially fall here, what is the difference between heat and OK! Also Closer and I look at them all on the shelf and would I ever go to their website. I mean those titles, I don’t know what their website traffic is like but when you look at the Daily mail online that the biggest newspaper website in the world and it not because of its news content, it because of its celebrity content and so I just wonder how the celebrity print titles can continue to, because if you look at Heats website, I think its rubbish, so I wonder how they will continue to remain relevant. There are some still very competitive little sectors, so fashion, if I look at InStyle as a magazine I wonder, like Marie Claire is clear to me what that stands for, I look at Elle and Vogue and Harpers Bazaar but I just wonder where InStyle fits in. Again Cosmo it very clear, isn’t it what that’s about. But yeah, I just wonder about that magazine. So to me it’s much more about some brands may in the future decide to close their print title and just focus on being digital. They may have paid for sections within their website, I dint know, but right now, probably in most cases, the majority of revenue is still being driven by the print title and not by the digital title so if you’re not making your print title financially viable then there is no need to, you know, the business will close. Hannah: So do you think it more about having a strong brand identity than anything else? Alicen: Yeah, I think it’s your brand identity, your brand proposition and you’re overall positioning with the market place and if you have not got those clear and you haven’t got your own space then you will fail and close, something. Digital, print whichever it might be. Hannah: But you think print is here to stay? Alicen: Definitely Hannah: But have to mix with other technologies to keep it more interesting?
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Alicen: Yeah, I think it’s about the brand overall and what it offers and how it offers it. I don’t think you can be a print title today without some digital aspect to your offer. I think it is really about the mix. Hannah: Yeah Alicen: And if you look at magazine readership between certain age groups, it not going down it is amongst younger people but overall it’s not going down. So I think that you may find I mean I have no idea, but you may find that a monthly magazine may go bi monthly but if you look at a magazine like wallpaper magazine it continues to thrive. Its circulation is really buoyant and a lot of magazine the circulations are pretty buoyant. But if you are asking me about twenty or thirty years from now, I don’t know if we will still have print items then, I just feel something like the tablet is so tangible, they way you read it. Reading stuff on your phone is really annoying and clunking around a laptop is annoying. Hannah: Yeah Alicen: So having something like the e-readers and tablets, they fit in your bag there easy to hold, you can almost do that page turning with technology, it’s hard to imagine in twenty years time, that is not how you would consume a magazine. Hannah: Especially with the younger generations coming up Alicen: Definitely, it’s so easy and attractive and I enjoy reading magazines and I enjoy reading articles but it is good to have that combo. It’s almost like when you read a book and you think ‘what does that word mean’ or ‘who is that person again’ and you can just dot around. Click on an ad, come back to the content, find out a bit more, use another resource and come back, take a photo, upload it, all of that stuff. I can’t imagine that is not the way to go. But that is me as that comes down to my personal taste and my view on what might happen in the future. Hannah: Thank you very much.
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Appendix S – Interview with Emma Carter (2012) Digital Advertising Role of Print Content Creation Women’s Perspective The Future of Technology Emma: I'm Emma Carter; I own the design agency Beyond Creative Thinking. I set up the agency six years ago, my background is graphic design so I did the usual GCSE graphics then A Level and a Foundation course then went to University in Bournemouth and did my graphic design degree; then left there to work for a couple of agencies in and around London. Then decided to set up my own agency and got Jack Wills on as first client. From there on it has been growing, that’s the agency in a nut shell Hannah: Thank you very much, how do you feel digital technologies have effected how brands advertise? Emma: There has been a massive shift in the last couple of years between brands and how digital and print stuff works and I am writing about this in my new book. With digital technology there’s obviously augmented reality and QR code which for a designer are really ugly. But some of the apps I have been looking at like Arazma, what their technology does is create augmented reality. You can have an app on your phone which takes you through to a picture Hannah: I have seen similar things... Emma: It’s really cool. With that stuff I think it’s really going to change how print design works and especially magazines. There’s loads of stuff on you tube where one of the Cadburys packaging so you could use augmented reality and the wrap would activate content on your phone. Hannah: Yeah Emma: I think in terms of print it will completely change how print works. A lot of people are saying that print is old hat and it is going to die but I think by applying some new technology to the print technology it will change Hannah: Do you think it will make print more relevant in the digital world?
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Emma: I think so. I also think that with direct mail, everyone says direct mail is dead, and it is expensive but if you use digital technology and direct mail and the new technology you can make mailing campaigns more relevant and targeted to your market, rather than using email campaigns. So I think that will completely change. Hannah: So you can you make it more personalised? Emma: Yeah it’s called intelligent direct mail, one of the charities Santory worked with was a dog charity and on their mailing list they had a list of people and types of dog they owe, so when they were printing the direct mail campaign they could pull out images of the owners particular dog. Hannah: Ahh Emma: So not only was it personalised to them but it also had a picture of their dog which increased their charity donations that year from that campaign. But if you used that with augmented reality you could then even have a video so I think it will really change things. Hannah: Do you think that because of digital, brands are going to be more creative in the way they look at advertising? Emma: Yeah, I think they will have to be more creative and I think it allows you to be more creative because now a picture is not just static you can animate it thanks to digital tech. So I think brand still need to be careful not to use these things just because it the next craze that’s come in like a lot of people who starting using QR codes before they understood how that could really work for their brands. I was doing research on a big insurance company more than who usually have their marketing departments separate so anything that is to do with their email campaign or digital stuff and their print stuff was really separate and then they brought the two teams together and it worked for them much better. But a lot of people especially in marketing tend to keep then separate but I think they need to start working together. Hannah: Yeah be more integrated within the company. Emma: Yeah definitely Hannah: Ok, what do you believe are the strengths and weaknesses of digital platforms for advertisers? Emma: I guess it depends on the way you look at it. For a company looking to advertise using digital technology, it’s quite cheap, depending on what you do. If you’re doing the 'don’t Shoot the Bear’ Word Count: 9,027
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viral that would be really expensive but massive for their brand. It’s cheap compared to some of the print thing and you get to be quite experimental. But it also means that some people wouldn’t get so much revenue. For example, billboard advertising, are people going to spend that much money on billboard ads when they can do digital tech instead so people that own the billboards will lose some revenue. So it is probably going to shift a little bit maybe unless they can start bringing the two together, like holding your phone up to the billboard ads. But a lot of the huge brands are still going to use that kind of thing anyway but I think there might be a bit more of a shift. I mean with direct mail, then people start going to emails and that was the craze, but then everyone start getting their inboxes filled so then they have now started going back to the older stuff like snail mail because not many people are using it so. Hannah: But with the digital stuff being easier to track using analytics, do you think the snail mail stuff will be outdated as because it’s harder to track? Emma: Well I think the only way with the snail mail is if you’re using digital with it, then you can track it. So by using the two together you can track it but if you don’t you are not going to be able to so yeah, I ends up more expensive so I think you need to use the two together to maximise it. Hannah: Are there any brands that you think do digital really well or really badly as an example? Emma: Probably not mention that I said this (laughs) I think that the Tippex thing was brilliant; don’t shoot the bear, which was absolutely fabulous. The Compare the Meerkat campaign, if you look into the research for that, Mark looked into it and apparently of course everybody already know who the brands is, but they don’t. They spent millions on it and it hasn’t actually generated any extra sales for them. Hannah: Oh ok. Emma: Yeah, so that I found quite interesting Hannah: People know the brand but they are not necessarily using it. Emma: So they are not actually making any more money, but because everyone knows it they have to continue with it. Another thing as well, Hani from Tuttoluxo, just doesn’t get social media we did all his social media and now he is handling it he is just pushing sales, sales, sales on it. And of course you can’t use social media just to constantly push sale out, you need to interact with people, it needs to be a two way thing and I think, yeah, there are some brands who aren’t that good at doing it Word Count: 9,027
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Hannah: That just does not really get it Emma: Yeah Hannah: Do you feel content should be created specifically for each platform that you put it on, because there is some brands out there that like make something quite generic and then just put it onto like the iPad, website etc and sometimes it doesn’t sort off come across as well. Emma: Yeah, I think what you need to is um you obviously need to think about who your targeting because obviously... the client I went to see earlier, we were talking about using augmented reality, he’s got multi layered clients, customers rather, some of them would never ever use an iPhone to look at an app they would get their pa to look at the brochure but then you have got the other side of the audience which are younger people who would use it. So I think you need to understand your target market and who you’re targeting and make sure your not just putting it out on a digital platform just for the hell of it. Hannah: Yeah Emma: Because it just doesn’t help the brand. And I think, I mean, it’s the same with copy. If your writing copy for the web or for print it got to be done differently because they are two different things, so I think you can have the same message and you can use that on the different platforms that are relevant to your brand but you probably need to change the copy. Hannah: Yeah Emma: So it’s relevant otherwise you’re going to end up with brochures that have copy that is more suitable for the web and vice versa Hannah: OK Emma: That’s my opinion anyway (laughs) Hannah: Thank you. Do you feel that digital has made way for gender lines being blurred within the digital/social media/design/online, because obviously traditional stereotypes of what women want, what men want no longer really seem to apply so much because it’s all quite generic Emma: Yeah, I mean there is really good stats that actually, um I can probably dig out the presentation and show you, and they have, they still say, women are more prone to buy something if there is a picture of a man on there and men are more prone to buy something if there is a picture of the opposite sex. Word Count: 9,027
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Hannah: Oh ok Emma: So selling to the opposite sex still works and obviously people use sex a lot in advertising like with ice cream and stuff like that. So I think that actually there is still, maybe people don’t think of it so much or maybe it just because it’s so in our face all the time we just don’t really think about it Hannah: Yeah Emma: I mean, who was it, L’Oreal, have you hear of the man expert I think it’s called? Hannah: Yeah Emma: So that’s very much targeted at men so I think that’s quite interesting how they done that but I think, yeah I mean there’s a lot of men nowadays that you know have their man bays and all that kind of stuff Hannah: Yeah (laughs) Emma: So I guess in terms of advertising maybe something’s do get split and of course with iPhone and stuff its aims at both so therefore the advertising has to be quite general Hannah: Research done by Gloria Moss into gender design shows that design created by women’s tends to be more appealing to other women, what are your opinions of that? Emma: Ok, personally for me for a designer I find I can easily adapt between design work target at men and design work targeted at women. But I do know a lot of female designers that maybe when they do the design is slightly more feminine. But I also find that a lot of men fine it difficult to do work that’s more feminine as well. I think it just depends on each individual designer, for me personally, I am quite happy with designing, I mean we have got clients who design stuff for some of the big car brands and I am quite happy doing that because it’s really amazing photography so I kind of don’t look at it in the way that most men would probably look at it Hannah: Yeah Emma: It’s just really nice photography we are working with. But it depends on what designer you are I think. I mean I guess some of the people I have interviewed you can see in their portfolio’s that the men were probably more masculine and the women had a slightly more feminine touch to things as well and I guess with some brands that you know when they need really bold advertising with bold typography I guess maybe some women probably, maybe don’t do that so much. It depends on each individual designer. Word Count: 9,027
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Hannah: Yeah Emma: So, it’s the same with print some women are really good, well designers in general some are really good at print or really good at web or good at both it all depend on each individual designer I think. Hannah: Ok and where do you see the digital age taking advertising looking forward, where can you see it going? Emma: Yeah, I think, I mean there’s a lot of stuff going on at the moment, I found a video the other day actually which was in its really rough stage it where rather than having your business card, where some people have a QR code on there, again this was using augmented reality. So you would get a little video projection of the person from the business card on there. Some of that I don’t know whether it’s going to be a bit too gimmicky for some people I guess it right for some markets and not others. Hannah: Yeah Emma: I think there’s areas that still need to be improved like email campaigns. With direct mail they have obviously worked really hard to kind of try and get back you know into the limelight and people still use them but I fell that email campaigns are now seriously lagging behind because there’s load of technology you can use on the print side of the direct mail that you can’t do with emails. With an email campaign you can’t really get all that different information through one email campaign Hannah: Yeah Emma: So there is not that much stuff on sending emails around but I think other platforms like sharing stuff, there’s loads of sharing websites out there like Pinterest, have you seen that? Hannah: Yeah I have Emma: There’s instagram, how much that sold for the other day so I think the digital stuff is going to keep on growing and growing but I think that the print stuff needs to grow with it and they need to merge together. I mean a lot of people, there was a thing on TV this morning actually about how people are now going back to vinyl Hannah: Yeah
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Emma: Just because they like holding something so I think that’s kind of quite interesting that some people are going back to some of the older stuff. So I think although there is some of the digital stuff out there some people will still kind of use some of the other elements as well. But I think, when I looked into a few years ago what was going to happen, I had to predict fifteen years into the future what was going to happen with our mobile phones. Of course when I was at uni my mobile phone was a brick Both: (Laughs) Emma: But I predicted actually, looking at all the research in fifteen years time which is actually only a couple of years away from now from when I first predicted it that we would be having what we now call the smart phones. But of course at the time they were called PDAs so now it’s a smart phone and of course with the smart phone I had on there that, I predicted that we were going to have DNA recognition and finger recognition as well to keep your phone secure, locked, so you can use all of that technology in there. So I think all of those new technologies are really going to help, and of course apps are going to just keep growing as well. Hannah: Yeah, it’s amazing what they can do. Emma: Yeah, it’s pretty cool Hannah: So you don’t see print dying in the next ten to twenty years? Emma: Um, I think what they are going to have to do is up their game. I think people are always going to buy books because it’s a tangible item and you get really nice paper Hannah: The smell of the books as well Emma: Yeah and the paper and stuff you get you can’t get that with something digital. I think people will always want that. Whether they still buy in the way they do, I mean we have seen loads of book shops go under recently, so I think that although we are not going to have as many books people are still going to want them, so I can’t see them ever dying out completely. Hannah: I saw a piece of research the other day from a big print company and it just said like sit down in your living room and look around and then take away everything that’s printed and what are you going to be left with? Emma: Nothing
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Hannah: Pretty much an empty room there’ll be no family photographs no books no painting no anything. Emma: Yeah, I mean I have one of those digital photo frames at home, we never use it, it’s just sat on the side, turned off don’t even use it but we have got actual photographs there but I think it just because we can’t be bothered to plug it in and all that kind of stuff and update it Hannah: Waste electricity Emma: Yeah so I think there will always be a place for print in what format I don’t know and the same with the direct mail items they’ve obviously had to up there game so I think that just going to be the way it’s going to go Hannah: Thank you very much
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Appendix T – Linkedin Forum (2012) Digital Advertising Role of Print Hannah: What are the Implications for Women’s Magazine Brands in the Digital Age? Can digital magazine editions survive without their print counterpart? I wonder if anyone has any information on this for me. I am currently in my third year of University doing my dissertation so any feedback would be very useful. Many thanks. Jim Cone: It's quite a quandary Hannah. Digital isn't replacing print. Economics is replacing print. Many of the magazines are beautiful pieces of publishing, relating extraordinarily to specific demographic, psychographic and generational readers. But here is the thing; if a pub goes out to 400K readers (which is below average for women's magazines), to print a half million copies, mail and distribute a half a million copies would cost an advertiser $25,000 to $35,000 (highly discounted advertising rates) a page before cost of creative. The ROI on this expenditure is immeasurable in relation to some very attractive accountable marketing that is available. That is not to say Women's magazines have a tremendous "feel good" return to advertisers. Thirty five thousand dollars will sell a nice quantifiable number of handbags on a search engine. How many would be sold from a $50,000 page in Vogue? The answer to this answers your question. Content is paid for by advertising and advertising only continues with accountability. Collin Willardson: Hannah that is a very good question. First, I want to say that I do agree with a lot with what Jim is saying. Right now, I am the director of digital marketing for PixelMags, a company that takes magazines and turns them into digital editions for readers globally. From my personal experience and viewpoint, I don’t think print will ever go out of business. Maybe in the year 2050 people will collect print magazines in the same fashion and manner as hipsters collect records, but even then, print magazines will still be alive and well. As much as everything seems to be turning digital, the reality is, our world is not paperless. But Jim summed it up really well; content is paid for by advertising. One thing we do at PixelMags is have an ad network. I won’t go into all the details, but if you’re curious about it, you can read a blog post about it here: http://pixelmags.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/pixelmags-keeping-the-magazine-experiencegenuine/ And a press release about it here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8815073.htm Have you any further questions, let me know.
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17. PERSONAL SKILLS REVIEW Introduction Over the last year years of studying Public Relations and Marketing Communications I have been inspired by so many people and I feel I have grown as a person. I now feel like a confident young lady with an amazing career before her. Since becoming a student at 21 years old I have learned new communication skills and I can now feel comfortable standing in front of a group of people and giving a presentation, which I would never have dreamed of doing 3 years ago. I have gained skills during the course of my degree in web content, writing and speaking, analytics, perception, putting reports together, pitching ideas, research and team work. During writing this dissertation I have learnt a lot about the magazine publishing industry, but more importantly I have learnt to discipline myself, I have learnt to be more patient and I have expanded my research skills. Transferability of Skills I will take a lot away with me from my time at university, both things I have learnt on the course and from all the wonderful people I have met along the way. This course gives amazing opportunities to build connections within the industry which is priceless. I have definitely been able to build upon existing skills on this course, especially with key skill that will improve my CV for the job market. Research is one of the most important skills I have been able to acquire and will be a real asset throughout my career. The tools that Bucks New University students had access to, I believe is second to none and I feel that is one of the reasons I feel so confident about my research skills. Digital is a favourite part of the course for me and I was able to learn how to blog in my first year which opened my eyes to what was possible. I now have my own personal blog which I have just started but I have only had to confidence to do this because of everything I have learnt on this course. I will also be taking my presentation skills with me with my head held high. I could never stand in front of even one person with my legs shaking and going a horrible shade of red. But now I can confidently and honestly say I have pitched an idea (which was put together by me and my team) in front of the client and lecturers. I will treasure that experience.
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Areas for Future Development I will never stop wanting to learn and I know there are still areas that I can improve on. My belief in myself has increased tenfold since starting this course but there are still times I need to have more confidence in my work. I also need to develop skills in making myself heard with a group of strong headed people. I have sometimes had my ideas unheard as there are bigger personalities than me. I aim to get a job that I love and can excel in and have a long and happy career using the many skills I have learnt across the course from some inspirational and supportive lecturers. Record of Meetings with Vic Davies
Date of Meeting
Reason of Meeting
20/10/2011
Dissertation proposal
25/10/2011
Dissertation proposal
2/12/2011
Proposal Feedback
16/12/2011
Literature Review and Methodology
05/01/2012
Literature Review
03/02/2012
Literature Review Feedback
22/03/2012
Primary Research
19/4/2012
Primary Research
3/5/2012
Results
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