L2 Digital IQ Index® Magazines (2011) by L2

Magazines SCOTT GALLOWAY NYU Stern

J U LY 2 6 , 2 0 11 A Think Tank for DIGITAL INNOVATION

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IN T R O D U C T I O N

Opaque There is no shortage of candlepower (i.e., smarts) or innovation in the magazine business. However, even with total advertising revenue down more than 20 percent from its pre-financial crisis peak, no company or individual has been able to paint a cogent picture of what the industry’s next iteration will look, smell, or feel like.1 While analysts and consultants bark about the urgency to

through the ether surpassed free content, and several pay walls

“embrace digital,” the web efforts of many leading magazines

appear to be gaining traction.4 As experimentation with digital

wilt under even the most forgiving analytics. In sum, the online

edition format, pricing, and subscription models continues,

revenue model for magazines remains opaque.

analysts at PwC express confidence that annual digital circu-

Broken Technology did not get the memo regarding traditional me-

lation revenues associated with magazines could grow from about $4 million last year to $611 million by 2015.5

dia’s business model. Re-targeting, coupled with a torrent of

Digital IQ = Shareholder Value

supply, resulted in online CPMs collapsing 30 percent in the

This study attempts to quantify and rank the digital competence

12-month period ending March 2011.2 The latest beacon, the

of 87 magazine brands. A close look at the relationship between

iPad, has not lived up to its hype, and as of December 2010, all

Digital IQ and performance reveals a link between a title’s digital

magazines reporting data experienced declining digital edition

competence and its advertising revenue per page. Our aim is to

sales. The Huffington Post, arguably the most successful In-

provide a robust tool to diagnose digital strengths and weak-

ternet media property based on a traditional advertising model,

nesses, and thereby help managers achieve greater return on

posted 2010 revenues of $30 million. In contrast, Google will

incremental investment in digital. We hope you will reach out

with comments that improve our methodology, investigation, and

Hope There is nothing wrong with the magazine industry that can’t be

findings. You can email me at scott@stern.nyu.edu. Sincerely,

fixed with what’s right with the industry. Iconic brands, differentiated content, deep talent, and robust cash flows to fund experimentation and acquisition should illuminate several paths to a brave new model. In 2011, the amount of paid content traveling © L2 2011 L2ThinkTank.com

Scott Galloway Founder, L2 Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern

1. Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), Full-Year Revenue & Pages Data, Updated January 10, 2011. 2. Efficient Frontier, Global Digital Marketing Performance Report, Q1 2011. 3. “Memo Pad: iPad Magazine Sales Drop,” John Koblin, WWD Media, December 29, 2010. 4. “Murdoch’s Leap Finds Converts in Cannes As Paywall Use Grows,” Matthew Campbell and Amy Thomson, Bloomberg, June 24, 2011. 5. Jeff Bercovici, “Digital Subscriptions Will Lift Magazines But Not Newspapers,” Forbes: Mixed Media, June 14, 2011.

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IN T R O D U C T I O N M A G A Z IN E d i g i tal i q S C O R E v s . 2 0 1 0 advert i s i n g R E V E N U E P E R A D V E R T I S IN G PA G E

150

130

Digital IQ

110

30 0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

2010 Advertising Revenue per Advertising Page (in thousands) © L2 2011 L2ThinkTank.com

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A B O U T T H E R A NKIN G S

M E T H O D O LO G Y

Site - 25%: C AT E G O R I E S

140+ Genius Digital competence is a point of differentiation for these brands. Site content is searchable, shareable, and mobile-optimized. Social media efforts complement wider digital strategy.

110-139 Gifted Brands are experimenting and innovating across site, mobile, and social platforms. Digital presence is consistent with print product.

90-109 Average Digital presence is functional yet predictable. Social media efforts are siloed across platforms.

70-89 Challenged Inconsistent adoption of mobile and social media platforms. Site lacks inspiration.

<70 Feeble Investment does not match opportunity.

Effectiveness of brand site. Functionality & Content - 75%: • Technology: Load Time, Integration of Analytics & Optimization Platforms, Video Presence • Navigation & Search: User Interface, Site Search • Home Page: Social Media Integration, RSS Customization, Blog Presence & Implementation • User Account: Signup Process, Interoperability, Account Features • Content: Shareability of Articles, Photos, & Videos • Customer Service: Subscription Promotion & Support • Interactivity & Innovation: Unique Tools, Web Applications, Microsites

BRAND TRANSLATION - 25%: • Aesthetics • Messaging

Digital Marketing - 25%: Marketing efforts, off-site brand presence, and visibility on search engines. • Search: Traffic, SEM, SEO, Web Authority • Email: Frequency, Content, Social Media Integration, Promotion • Innovation: Recent Brand Initiatives, Presence on Tumblr • Blog Presence: Mentions, Sentiment

Social Media - 25%: Brand presence, community size, content, and influence on major social media platforms. • Facebook: Likes, Growth, Post Frequency, Applications, Responsiveness, Content • Twitter: Followers, Growth, Tweet Frequency, Online Voice • YouTube: Views, Number of Uploads, Subscriber Growth, Content

Mobile - 25%: Compatibility and marketing on smartphones and other mobile devices. • Mobile Site: Compatibility, Functionality, Ability to Transact • iOS: Availability, Popularity, Functionality, iPad Differentiation • Other Platforms: Availability, Popularity, Functionality • Innovation: SMS, Geolocal, Recent Brand Initiatives

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

TIME

Time Inc.

News & Politics

140 Genius

Strong presence across nearly every platform; inspiring

PEOPLE

Time Inc.

Entertainment & TV

136 Gifted

Accessible on nearly any screen; launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook

SELF

Condé Nast

Health & Fitness

134 Gifted

Seamless integration of print and Facebook content

MEN’S HEALTH

Rodale

Health & Fitness

131 Gifted

Cross-platform Workouts are intense

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Time Inc.

Sports & Recreation

131 Gifted

A breadth of web content, solid mobile offering, and halo effect from CNN’s Sports tab

NEW YORK Magazine

New York Media Holdings

Lifestyle

129 Gifted

Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts

Condé Nast

Men’s

128 Gifted

Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle

GLAMOUR

Condé Nast

Fashion & Style

127 Gifted

Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Time Inc.

Entertainment & TV

126 Gifted

YouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain

COSMOPOLITAN

Hearst

Women’s

125 Gifted

Digital marketing innovator; turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square

THE ECONOMIST

The Economist Group

News & Politics

124 Gifted

Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

National Geographic Society

Science & Nature

123 Gifted

YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views

NEW YORKER

Condé Nast

News & Politics

123 Gifted

Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

RUNNER’S WORLD

Rodale

Health & Fitness

123 Gifted

Social media marathoner

O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE

Hearst

Women’s

121 Gifted

74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms

SEVENTEEN

Hearst

Women’s

120 Gifted

Social (media) butterfly; Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers

WIRED

Condé Nast

Science & Nature

120 Gifted

iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing

ESQUIRE

Hearst

Men’s

119 Gifted

Debonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page

TEEN VOGUE

Condé Nast

Women’s

118 Gifted

Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog

ELLE

Hachette Filipacchi

Fashion & Style

117 Gifted

Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties

FORBES

Forbes

Business & Finance

117 Gifted

A rich site

INSTYLE

Time Inc.

Fashion & Style

117 Gifted

A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS

Meredith

Home & Gardening

115 Gifted

Mobile site and how-to tools bloom

FOOD & WINE

American Express Publishing

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

115 Gifted

Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site

GOLF DIGEST

Condé Nast

Sports & Recreation

114 Gifted

Scores with Fans’ Choice 2011, an online bracket where Facebook fans select America’s greatest public golf course

FITNESS

Meredith

Health & Fitness

113 Gifted

Strong mobile site and apps

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

Digital IQ Index ®:

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

PARENTS

Meredith

Family

113 Gifted

Facebook fans thicker than water

VOGUE

Condé Nast

Fashion & Style

113 Gifted

At times geek can be chic, and at others it’s passé to be gifted

MARIE CLAIRE

Hearst

Fashion & Style

112 Gifted

iPad e-commerce standout

FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE

Hearst

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

111 Gifted

Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor

LUCKY

Condé Nast

Fashion & Style

111 Gifted

Faces of 5F Facebook/Tumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess

PLAYBOY

Playboy Enterprises

Men’s

111 Gifted

Nearly six million Facebook fans

ALLURE

Condé Nast

Fashion & Style

110 Gifted

Tempting site and QR-code giveaways, but bookmarking can’t possibly be Reader’s Choice

REAL SIMPLE

Time Inc.

Lifestyle

109 Average

Simply average

ROLLING STONE

Wenner Media

Entertainment & TV

109 Average

Site has good cadence, but other digital properties lack rhythm; turned over cover choice for August 18, 2011 issue to site users

US WEEKLY

Wenner Media

Entertainment & TV

109 Average

Robust mobile site

MOTOR TREND

Source Interlink Media

Auto & Cycles

108 Average

Apps and mobile site are head-turners, but site is middle of the road

NEWSWEEK

The Newsweek Daily Beast Company

News & Politics

108 Average

Daily Beast integration is a disappointment

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Rodale

Health & Fitness

108 Average

Apps and Twitter look good, but YouTube absence damages overall physique

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

FAST COMPANY

Mansueto Ventures

Business & Finance

106 Average

High octane iPad app, sluggish Facebook page

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

Bloomberg

Business & Finance

105 Average

iPad app is a victory; Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort

VANITY FAIR

Condé Nast

Lifestyle

105 Average

VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site

CAR AND DRIVER

Hachette Filipacchi

Auto & Cycles

104 Average

Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence

MARTHA STEWART LIVING

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Home & Gardening

104 Average

Rich site and multiple apps—but brand can’t replicate namesake’s success on Twitter

ESSENCE

Time Inc.

Women’s

99 Average

Recent site redesign works

POPULAR SCIENCE

Bonnier

Science & Nature

99 Average

iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books

BON APPÉTIT

Condé Nast

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

98 Average

Android/iOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy, but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course

BRIDES

Condé Nast

Women’s

97 Average

Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot

FORTUNE

Time Inc.

Business & Finance

97 Average

Fortune trumps sister brand Money, but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella

MAXIM

Alpha Media Group

Men’s

97 Average

Social media that proves sexier than aging site

SHAPE

American Media

Health & Fitness

95 Average

Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps, but a weak site

COUNTRY LIVING

Hearst

Home & Gardening

93 Average

Mentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip, but brand can’t pull away from Hearst boilerplate

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

ENTREPRENEUR

Entrepreneur Media Inc.

Business & Finance

93 Average

Needs to take more risks

GOLF MAGAZINE

Time Inc.

Sports & Recreation

93 Average

Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Hearst

Home & Gardening

93 Average

@Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content

POPULAR MECHANICS

Hearst

Science & Nature

93 Average

In-app subscription functionality is a start

REDBOOK

Hearst

Women’s

92 Average

Impressive mobile site, but main site is still underwhelming

Condé Nast

Fashion & Style

92 Average

Why no apps?

WOMAN’S DAY

Hachette Filipacchi

Women’s

91 Average

Live well every day… by engaging more with your Twitter followers

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Hearst

Home & Gardening

89 Challenged

House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY

COOKING LIGHT

Time Inc.

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

88 Challenged

Hungry for more mobile investment

HARPER’S BAZAAR

Hearst

Fashion & Style

88 Challenged

Unremarkable

PARENTING

Bonnier

Family

88 Challenged

Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence

READER’S DIGEST

Reader’s Digest Association

Lifestyle

87 Challenged

100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain; acquisition rumors persist

ROAD & TRACK

Hachette Filipacchi

Auto & Cycles

87 Challenged

Good-looking site, but not much under the hood

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER

Condé Nast

Lifestyle

85 Challenged

Integration with Concierge.com is confusing and dilutive

PREVENTION

Rodale

Health & Fitness

85 Challenged

Sclerotic site navigation

FAMILY CIRCLE

Meredith

Family

84 Challenged

Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook

FIELD & STREAM

Bonnier

Sports & Recreation

83 Challenged

There’s plenty of game left on other platforms

Meredith

Women's

83 Challenged

More mobile please

MONEY

Time Inc.

Business & Finance

82 Challenged

In recession

SOUTHERN LIVING

Time Inc.

Home & Gardening

82 Challenged

They don’t use mobile phones in the South?

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

Condé Nast

Home & Gardening

81 Challenged

Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms

EVERY DAY WITH RACHAEL RAY

Reader’s Digest Association

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

81 Challenged

Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site?

TRAVEL+LEISURE

American Express Publishing

Lifestyle

81 Challenged

Digital has never been abroad

SMITHSONIAN

Smithsonian Institution

Science & Nature

79 Challenged

Museum-quality mobile site can’t make up for underwhelming social media

ESPN THE MAGAZINE

Walt Disney/Hearst

Sports & Recreation

78 Challenged

No dedicated URL (anymore), that’s gotta hurt…

HEALTH

Time Inc.

Health & Fitness

78 Challenged

Infirmed

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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D I G I T A L IQ R A NKIN G

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

Rank Brand

Parent

Category

SMARTMONEY

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Business & Finance

77 Challenged

Answer Engine registers, but no mobile presence

LADIES’ HOME JOURNAL

Meredith

Women’s

75 Challenged

Dear Journal: Create a mobile site and/or apps

TRADITIONAL HOME

Meredith

Home & Gardening

69 Feeble

Uploaded ad images are not traditional, just outdated

MUSCLES & FITNESS

American Media

Health & Fitness

64 Feeble

Ninety-pound weakling

ELLE DECOR

Hachette Filipacchi

Home & Gardening

59 Feeble

Designer Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership

STAR

American Media

Entertainment & TV

55 Feeble

The last to know

MEN’S JOURNAL

Wenner Media

Men’s

52 Feeble

No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content

TOWN & COUNTRY

Hearst

Lifestyle

43 Feeble

Is anyone home?

IN TOUCH WEEKLY

Bauer Publishing

Entertainment & TV

32 Feeble

A lot of opportunity to improve

Digital IQ Class

Home & Gardening

Description

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

D I G I TA L IQ D I S P E R S I O N % of Brands per Digital IQ Class

Many Are Gifted, But Only One Is ... GENIUS

People

Wired

Self

Esquire

Men’s Health

Teen Vogue

surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble, high-

Sports Illustrated

lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample.

New York Magazine

Forbes

The distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed towards the Gifted classification. Less than one-third of brands

However, only one Genius brand emerged from this study:

TIME Magazine. Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence, few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish them from a crowd of above-average performers. Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class share two features:

Balanced, sustained investment across social media platforms.

Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform.

GQ Glamour Entertainment Weekly Cosmopolitan The Economist

Digital IQ

>140

InStyle Better Homes and Gardens Food & Wine Golf Digest Fitness Parents

37% Digital IQ

110-139

Vogue Marie Claire

New Yorker

Food Network Magazine

AVERAGE

Lucky

O, The Oprah Magazine

Playboy

Seventeen

Allure

30%

Digital IQ

90-109

Real Simple

Bon Appétit

Rolling Stone

Brides

Us Weekly

Fortune

Motor Trend

Maxim

Newsweek

Shape

Women’s Health

Country Living

Fast Company

Entrepreneur

Bloomberg Businessweek

Golf Magazine

Vanity Fair Car and Driver House Beautiful

Southern Living

Cooking Light

Architectural Digest

Harper’s Bazaar Parenting Reader’s Digest Road & Track Condé Nast Traveler Prevention Family Circle Field & Stream More Money

Martha Stewart Living

CHALLENGED

Every Day with Rachel Ray

Good Housekeeping Popular Mechanics Redbook

Essence

Popular Science

Woman’s Day

Traditional Home

Men’s Journal

Travel+Leisure Smithsonian ESPN The Magazine

Digital IQ

70-89

24%

Health Smart Money Ladies’ Home Journal

FEEBLE 8%

TIME

GIFTED

ELLE

National Geographic Runner’s World

GENIUS

Digital IQ

<70

Muscles & Fitness ELLE DECOR

Town & Country In Touch Weekly

Star

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

A TIME -ly Victory Lightbox: Despite its demonstrable success, TIME is not afraid to innovate— it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March.

Diverse Investment Across Mobile Platforms: TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform, including Android, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Nook, and Kindle. Well-Managed Digital Footprint: One-stop access to TIME’s expanded digital footprint.

TIME Mobile App: One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app. Proves distinct from both mobilize-optimized site and tablet offerings.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

A TIME -ly Victory (continued)

Allie Townsend: TIME gives personality to its @TIME Twitter account by handing over the reins to the brand’s resident geek.

Facebook Page: Dedicated Twitter tab, integrated video library, and direct subscription signup—all implemented without redirects.

Never Pay Twice for the Same Content: Adopted “All Access” subscription plan on July 19, granting current print subscribers unrestricted use of the title’s content across ALL its digital versions. © L2 2011 L2ThinkTank.com

The Page iPad App: Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine, TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Size Matters In aggregate, brands that belong to a larger parent company perform better than those associated with a smaller publication house or independent venture. Companies that manage ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent higher than their smaller counterparts. The one exception, Rodale, which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112, has tapped into a Health & Fitness category-specific formula that translates across its four titles. Condé Nast nabbed the top spot of the large conglomerates, registering an average Digital IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored. The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of scale—employing common site templates and mobile app architecture across their titles. The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (Elle, ELLE DECOR,

Car and Driver, Road & Track, and Woman’s Day) perform below those of Hearst, which completed its acquisition of the company on May 31. This merger will provide a valuable case study for the export and/or exchange of digital best practices.

As a group, Hearst magazine brands outperform Hachette Filipacchi Media brands online. Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent company’s digital best practices.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

Auto & Cycles

Business & Finance

Entertainment & TV

Family

Fashion & Style

Cooking, Food, & Beverage

Health & Fitness

Home & Gardening

Lifestyle

Men’s

News & Politics

Science & Nature

Sports & Recreation

Women’s

A verage D i g i tal IQ by PA R E N T C ompa n y Organizations with More than One Brand in the Index

Genius

170

Disparity

140

Disparity

Gifted

Disparity

AVG IQ

112

Disparity

AVG IQ

110

Average

110

Disparity

AVG IQ

106

Disparity AVG IQ

100

AVG IQ

Disparity

AVG IQ

Challenged

Disparity

AVG IQ

84 AVG IQ

Feeble

n= dia 3

M Am

ad e As r ’s so D ci ige at s n= i o n t

n= dia 3

rM ne W en

n= i e r 3

ac lip Fi te et ch Ha

n= chi 5

n= ith 7

er M

ic a Pu n Ex bl pr is es hi s n= ng

n= ars 13 t

n= Inc 13 .

m Ti

N n= as 16 t

nd Co

n= ale 4

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

T op E I G H T R E F E R R A L & D E S T IN AT I O N S I T E S F O R M A G A Z IN E B R A Nd S Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites

Button vs. Feature

Upstream Traffic To Brand Site

Ensuring content is distributed across social networks is critical for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic. However, the relative gains from implementing additional sharing features beyond the dominant platforms is modest.

100%

Downstream Traffic From Brand Site

99%

99% = FACEBOOK

Why? First, upstream traffic from social media sites is over-

= TWITTER

whelmingly driven by Facebook, which represents more than

= YOUTUBE

15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-

= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

80%

dia sites). Second, our data demonstrates no detrimental effect on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social bookmarking buttons, despite recent reports that StumbleUpon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all

62% 60%

industries.6

52%

51%

Instead, basic improvements to the accessibility, diversity, and interactivity of content, as well as the incentives provided to recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most

40%

demonstrable impact on traffic.

32%

20%

14%

15%

14%

3% 0%

6. “StumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebook,” Colleen Taylor, GigaOM, July 5, 2011.

16%

3% 2%

% of Brands

% of Upstream Traffic

% of Brands

% of Downstream Traffic

for whom the following are a top eight source of upstream traffic

to brand sites originating from the following sources

for whom the following are a top eight source of downstream traffic

from brand sites to the following destinations

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

SITE CONTENT & ToOLS

Impact of S I T E C O N T E N T & T O O L S O N traff i c gro w t h

% of Brands With and Without the Following Features:

Content:

% Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites With and Without the Following Features: 34%

92%

= WITH = WITHOUT

Video

= WITH = WITHOUT

15%

85%

16%

Increasing

Comments 84%

13%

Brand/Editor Blogs 59%

41%

Interactive Polls & Quizzes

16% Sweepstakes & Giveaways

Tools:

Traffic Growth

84%

97%

Video

Commenting on Content

Original Blog Content

Interactive Polls & Quizzes

Sweepstakes & Giveaways

Facebook Open Graph

= WITH = WITHOUT

10%

-4%

90%

-3%

38%

62% Sharing Widget (e.g., ShareThis)

60%

40% Social Bookmarking

Decreasing

Twitter

-27%

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Blog Diversity Blogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as

Impact of B LO G I M P L E M E N TAT I O N O N traff i c gro w t h

readers demand original content between print cycles. Eighty-

% Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites With and Without the Following Features:

four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one blog. However, unlike other site features that demonstrate a high degree of conformity across the industry (e.g., subscrip-

= WITH

tion sign-up), blog implementation is diverse.

= WITHOUT

18%

Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on the home page. This figure is surprising low as blogs typically Increasing

generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of the best opportunities for community engagement. More than 90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit comments in response to a post. On average, users spend 30

8% 5%

Traffic Growth

percent more time on sites that allow commenting.

0% Blog Content Viewable on Home Page

Blog Permits User Comments

Blog Promotes Author of Post (Follow, Contact, etc.)

Blog Permits User Comments Without Sign-in

0% -1%

Decreasing

-4%

-15% New York Magazine’s Home Page integrated feeds from Vulture, its popular culture blog, as well as foodie-based Grub Street and fashion-oriented The Cut

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Facebook: The New OS All 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook. The average magazine has 250,000 “likes” and posts 26 times per week. The most active post upwards of 10 times per day. Both Family and Health & Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook, providing a diverse mix of wall content, including tips-of-the-day, recommended workout routines, daily recipes, and community questions.

M A G A Z IN E S U B S C R I P T I O N IN T E G R AT I O N O N FA C E B O O K % of Brand Facebook Pages With and Without the Following Features:

= WITH = WITHOUT

Playboy leads the Facebook arms race, focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media, interactive applications, and custom social media integration. O, The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth, utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period.

49% 51%

More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook, and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google).7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic, but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services. Today, nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are secured through Internet promotions.8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page, only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer. Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (i.e., F-commerce).

Subscription Offer Link (Any Link in Any Tab)

68%

32%

Dedicated Subscribe Tab

92%

F-Commerce Subscription Signup

7. “ShareThis Study: Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Web,” Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch, June 6, 2011. 8. Association of Magazine Media (MPA), Internet Subscription Survey, 2010.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

top 1 0 B R A N D S : FA C E B O O K L IKes

top 1 0 FA S T E S T- gro w i n g faceboo k accou n ts

(June 2011)

(May–June 2011)

5,828,349

Playboy

1,456,537

Vogue

Cosmopolitan

856,783

The Economist

790,451

783,347

Teen Vogue

472,893

Us Weekly

375,520

Parents

345,214

33%

Shape

28%

Self

28%

National Geographic

26%

Town & Country

25%

Bon Appétit

23%

Golf Digest

23%

20%

40%

60%

80%

00 ,0

20%

2, 0

00 0 00 , 1, 5

00 ,

00 0

Parenting

1, 0

00 0 50 0,

Maxim

37%

Better Homes and Gardens

987,306

Seventeen

74%

Parents

1,269,243

People

O, The Oprah Magazine

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Size vs. Engagement While much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been

FA C E B O O K C ommu n i ty s i ze v s . e n gageme n t rates

about the size of an organization’s page, we believe that a more

Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)

important metric is the percentage of the community interacting with brand content. Across magazines, interaction rates were negatively correlated with page size.

FAMILIES

TRIBES

Only one brand in the Index, Parents, maintains a high interac-

Field & Stream

tion rate within a comparatively large fan base. The magazine accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all comments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content

Parents

Architectural Digest

that resonates with its primary audience (including informational

Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice, community polling, and frequent updates

tips and inspirational comments). Brands closing in on the desirable “Tribes” quadrant include

Entertainment Weekly, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Essence. O, The Oprah Magazine Essence

Entertainment Weekly

Runner’s World Sports Illustrated

= “TRIBES” BRANDS: Magazines with Large Facebook Communities and High Engagement = MAGAZINES with the best chance of becoming “TRIBES” BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base, Engagement, or Both

LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT

ELLE Maxim

Teen People Vogue

COHORTS

Playboy

CROWDS

SIZE OF COMMUNITY Note: Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

O V E R A C HI E V E R S & U N D E R A C HI E V E R S

Circulation ≠ Fans and Followers There is a weak relationship between a magazine’s circula-

Overachievers:

tion and its number of Facebook “likes” or Twitter followers. Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain

Po pu la Go r Me od c H ha La ous nics die ek e s M ’ Ho epin or e me g Jo Tra ur na dit l ion Sm al H ar om t In Mon e To ey uc M hW en ’s eek l St Jou y ar rn al To wn & Co un tr y

Actual Facebook Fans vs. Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)

250%

a fan/follower base that meets or exceeds their average circula0%

the most widely read brands, which arguably have the most to prove online (i.e., successfully transitioning a large audience online without cannibalizing print revenue).

Ne tw

than just active readership—a frightening prospect for some of

-250% -500%

Fo o

This suggests that the social media battleground is about more

ay b

both platforms.

oy Vo k M gue ag az ine Co Peo sm ple Th opo e E lita co n no Te mis en t Vo g u Se ve e nt Us een W ee kl Pa y re nt s

tion per issue. No brands manage to accomplish this feat on

-750% -1000%

Underachievers:

2 0 1 0 T otal pa i d & V er i f i ed C i rculat i o n (Average per Issue) Avg. Circ. Per Issue (FY2010)

Woman’s Day

3,907,651

Family Circle

3,845,395

Ladies’ Home Journal

3,834,461

People

3,578,189

TIME

3,313,739

Sports Illustrated

3,193,688

Source: Association of Magazine Media (MPA); Circulation Facts & Figures, Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines, 2010

Be tte r Tra Hom e dit io s a Ro nal nd Ga H ad & ome rde ns Re Tr db ack oo k W om an Re ’s D ad er ay Go ’s D ig od H es To ous t wn ke ep & Co ing In To un uc tr Fie h W y ld ee & k St ly re am

4,423,181 0%

-250% -500%

ire tW d e Ne ekly ws we ek Th He eE a co lth Fo no od m Ne New ist tw or Yor k M ke ag r az ine

Good Housekeeping

250%

Overachievers:

tyl e

4,493,067

National Geographic

tai

5,822,924

ter

Reader’s Digest

ple

Actual Twitter Followers vs. Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)

InS

7,660,754

Better Homes and Gardens

Pe o

Brand

TIM

Rank

-750% -1000%

Underachievers:

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Twitter All 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter, averaging 330,000 followers and 17 tweets per day. The most active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of 40 times per day. News & Politics and Fashion & Style publications have the most prominent Twitter followings. Both categories excel at delivering time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog entries. The strongest brands don’t just broadcast, they also engage in conversations. Last year, Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues), which resulted in 170 paid subscriptions in less than 24 hours.9 Promotional content helps publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14 percent during the study period), despite the fact that the brand tweets half as frequently as its primary competition, Teen Vogue. Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media accounts from their Twitter stream, suggesting limited social

Seventeen builds its Twitter base via a healthy stream of promotional content

media integration.

9. “How Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along, Build Voice,” Susan Currie Sivek, PBS: Media- Shift, March 16, 2010.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S

B E S T IN T W E E T: T O P 1 0 follo w ers

T op 1 0 FA S T E S T- G R O WIN G T WI T T E R A C C O U N T S

(June 2011)

(May–June 2011)

2,646,954

Time

2,626,367

People

Entertainment Weekly

1,619,847

1,417,223

Wired

Newsweek

1,392,836

1,350,541

Health

The Economist

1,215,258

1,039,866

Sports Illustrated

1,014,028

ESPN The Magazine

18%

14%

ELLE DECOR

12%

In Touch Weekly

12%

Bloomberg Businessweek

12%

Bon Appétit

12%

Prevention

11%

Parents

11%

10% 0

10%

15%

20%

25%

0 00 0, 50 2,

0 1,

0 50

National Geographic

22%

Seventeen

2,022,690

InStyle

Vogue

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K E Y F IN D IN G S YouTube A recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of

T op 1 0 B ra n ds : Y O U T U B E

survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content

Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views

when it is shown in the context of an article, suggesting an op-

(June 2011)

portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on digital properties.10

National Geographic

566,153,387

Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an active YouTube channel. On average, they boast 289 videos,

140,928,267

Sports Illustrated

nearly 12,000 subscribers, and approximately 400,000 channel views. During the time period in which this study was conducted, brands averaged more than 9,000 upload views per day. Over the past two years, YouTube has engaged in content partnerships with National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and Motor

Trend, recognizing the important role publishers can play in the platform’s growth. However, Southern Living registered the fast-

102,273,730

Motor Trend

Playboy

83,614,262

Seventeen

67,443,234

est growth in upload views during the study period, incorporating video links to instructional content featuring contributing

Maxim

53,285,940

O, The Oprah Magazine

51,729,694

00 0 00 0, 60 0,

00 0, 00 0 50 0,

00 0, 0 20 0,

00 0

0 10 0,

36,218,917

00 0, 0

Maxim

40 0,

40,429,532

30 0,

Parents

41,858,716

,0 00

Us Weekly

00 0, 00 0

editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book

of BBQ).

10. “Yahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetime,” Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch, June 29, 2011.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Email More than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email

T op 1 0 B ra n ds :

marketing programs. However, 16 of the brands that offered

Average Emails Per Week

opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup. Participating magazines averaged 2.5 emails per week. Entertainment Weekly leads the pack with 29 emails per week.11 Across the Index, nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices.

Entertainment Weekly

28.9

However, nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing options directly into emails via application programming inter-

8.8

Money

faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms. E M A I L M A R K E T IN G % of Brands With & Without the Following: 7%

Every Day with Rachael Ray

7.6

Parents

7.5

93%

Email Signup 21%

TIME

6.5

Lucky

6.3

Newsweek

6.3

Prevention

5.9

Glamour

5.9

Fast Company

5.7

79%

Viewable on Mobile 31%

69%

Customization Options 54%

46%

Brand Social Media Links 90%

10%

Personalization 92%

8% Social Sharing

11. Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an “Alerts” for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process. This 24/7 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver age. “Alerts” also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (@EWAlerts).

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K E Y F IN D IN G S Apple-Centric (Apple of Their Eye)

MOBILE COVERAGE % of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms:

A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioritization of the iOS platform—with more brands present in the iTunes store than any other platform, including mobile web

= MOBILE WEB

development efforts (which are device agnostic). Only 57 per-

= iOS PLATFORM

cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites,

= OTHER PLATFORMS

perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up

= E-READERS

82%

their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App

= SMS = GEOLOCAL

Store instead of Safari. Only 31 percent of brands maintain a dual strategy—actively maintaining a mobile site and develop-

67%

ing apps for each iOS device. Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the

60%

context of other device platforms. A recent Forrester Research

59%

57% 51%

study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and e-reader owners, with the men skewing towards the former and the women towards the latter. Top sellers on Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color e-reader include: Us Weekly, Shape, Women’s

44% 40%

Health, and Every Day with Rachael Ray.12 Our findings support

31%

the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selectively invest in either tablets or e-readers, with less than 70 percent of brands providing content on both.

20%

18%

11%

With respect to magazines, Apple maintains a clear lead when

10%

it comes to mobile operating system development. Each of the

27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone

Mobile Web

Fo u

rs qu a Fa re ce bo ok

S SM

nd Ki

Zin

No o

ry er kb

oid dr

Bl ac

th s iP iPa ho d ne Ap & ps

tiv Na iPa

that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market).

0% Op Mo tim bile iz Si ed te

or an iPad app, with Android app functionality closely mirroring

iOS Platform

Other Platforms

E-Readers

SMS

Geolocal

12. “Female Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Color,” Jeremy Peters, New York Times, May 22, 2011.

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K E Y F IN D IN G S iPad iSolation We reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced by brands in the Index. Of the 58 brands present on the tablet device, only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product available on the iTunes store as a unique application (excluding those brands relying exclusively on Zinio’s cross-platform reader). Efforts on this platform are impressive, but consistently lack a

S U B S E T of i PA D A P P S R E P R E S E N T IN G D I G I TA L ed i t i o n O F T H E P R IN T M A G A Z IN E % of Brands With and Without the Following Features:

key feature in terms of functionality. Despite the near-universal ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter, only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition

14%

enable sharing of app content to either social media platform.

86%

Rich Media Content 28%

72% Link to External Content

33%

67%

Interactive (“Gesture”) Page Elements 58%

42% Embedded Social Sharing

= WITH = WITHOUT

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D I G I TA L P R O J E C T I O N S

L2’s road map for navigating the past, present, and future of magazines online Sales Outlet

Subscription Promo Cover Platform for Digital Edition Digital Pricing Model Must-Have Digital Edition Feature User Accounts Forums Archives E-Commerce

Yesterday Corner Newsstand Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading Experience Static Zinio Full Newsstand Price; No Subscription Option Moving Covers and Interactive Graphics Unlock Ability to Comment Active Premium “Shown in Image” References —

X-Factors

Tomorrow

Today App Store Download Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing Experience Dynamic iPad Discounted Price; Digital-Only Subscription Ability to Share Content/ Enhanced Readability Become Interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials Defunct Free Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner —

Cross-Brand Digital Newsstand Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe; Reward for Referral) Fully Interactive HTML5 Modular Print / Digital Subscription Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications Enable Access to “Social” Site Features Discontinued Basis for Microsite Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site Google+ iTunes Newsstand Google E-Reader Amazon Tablet

Digital IQ Index ®:

Magazines

Want to know more about your brand’s ranking? CONTACT US Starting in March, Self adopted a “like gate” strategy for its Facebook page, synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue

F L A S H O F G E NI U S

ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in page “likes” by updating the brand’s Facebook landing page in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this fresh content with rewards, promotions, and access to live events hosted online. By maintaining a timely content program, Self provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans.

FACEBOOK TIMELINE: Brand “Likes” Per Day on Facebook (May 8 – June 8, 2011)

MAY 26

Continued momentum from 5/25 Twitter community solicitation: “Our Facebook page is 1,000 fans away from 100,000 fans! Like our page & help us reach our goal (& you’ll get fun perks!)”

4,000 3,500

MAY 25

3,000

MAY 17

Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event

2,500 2,000

MAY 11

Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event

MAY 10

1,500 1,000

Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative Color Director for Avon) hosts Facebook event

MAY 23

Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of the 2011 Healthy Food Awards

JUNE 6

Dr. Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook event

Tone It Up Sweepstakes #1 (Workout DVD)

MAY 27

Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event JUNE 5

Karena & Katrina (trainers from health & fitness company Tone It Up) host Facebook event

JUNE 1

Exclusive subscription rate for Facebook fans

MAY 24

Transition to June issue promotion

JUNE 7

Tone It Up Sweepstakes #2 (10 pairs of Sketchers ToneUps shoes)

31 5/

30 5/

28 5/

27 5/

26 5/

25 5/

24 5/

23 5/

22 5/

21 5/

20 5/

19 5/

18 5/

17 5/

16 5/

15 5/

14 5/

13 5/

12 5/

11 5/

9 5/

8 5/

500

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

Channeling Fan Enthusiasm Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit usergenerated content beyond commenting. Golf Digest does both—recently porting a bracket version of its annual ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses (published since 1966) to Facebook. Each week, fans vote on a head-to-head matchup of public courses, and over summer will determine the 2011 “Fans’ Choice” for the best public course in the country.

Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to choose America’s Greatest Public Golf Course through a competitive bracket

Golf Digest’s static version of the rankings on their site

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET… CO-BRAND As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading social media platforms, advertisers are often left behind. The Facebook app “BreaKaway” is designed to blend into the social media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions who use K-SWISS gear to win races. It goes on to present social media links to official K-SWISS online properties, a series of tips and tricks for running enthusiasts, and an interactive gallery of KSWISS shoe models with direct links to the brand’s online store.

The K-SWISS sponsored Facebook app provides Runner’s World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions, tips and tricks, and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

E(ditorial)-Commerce Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail sales has created an opportunity for Fashion & Style publications. Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping sites.13, 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from direct product sales and fulfillment. Glamour’s shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates thousands of products across several hundred online retailers.15 While the portal contains several innovative features such as “sales alerts,” its “genius” becomes apparent when browsing Glamour’s main page. Within select photo galleries, users are presented with an option to “Shop This Look”—which then redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item is one-of-a-kind.

The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products, sales alerts, and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale

13. “GQ, Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Site,” Lucia Moses, Adweek, June 16, 2011. 14. “Social Shopping Gets Personal: Lucky Magazine Partners With This Next,” Lydia Dishman, Forbes.com: Style Inc., July 11, 2011. 15. “The Great Glossy Sell-Out,” Kat Stoeffel, New York Observer, July 5, 2011.

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

Crowdsourcing Reinterpreted The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow to offer user-centric tools, features, or access privileges that diverge from the successful sweepstakes model. One notable exception is National Geographic’s “Your Shot” program. “Your Shot” enables readers to submit their own photos. Each weekday, magazine editors select 12 photos for further consideration by the user community. Each month, the community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal favorites. All uploaded photos are archived on the site, and a selection of each month’s best images is printed in the magazine. Since launching in June 2006, the site has accumulated nearly 138,000 users and more than 970,000 images.

National Geographic’s “Your Shot” program has accumulated nearly one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006 © L2 2011 L2ThinkTank.com

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

What’s Old is New Again Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain an issue archive, only a handful differentiate. Some of the more engrossing archives (e.g., New Yorker, Rolling Stone) are offered as premium content or as a subscriber perk. Alternatively, some of the most voluminous archives (e.g., Popular Science) are accessible thanks to Google Books’ archival efforts. However, only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site feature. “Voguepedia,” launched in early May, is an encyclopedia for all things Vogue.16 The tool draws from 119 years of content and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers, brands, models, personalities, and makeup artists. Profile pages are broken down into useful sections, each with forwarding links to accessible Vogue content, including archived collection slideshows and recent appearances in web content.

An archive of various celebrity personalities can be found in “Voguepedia”

“Voguepedia” enables users to retrieve profiles on designers, brands, models, personalities, and makeup artists

16. “119 Years of Vogue, Now Available on Voguepedia,” Misty White Sidell, Fashionista.com, May 9, 2011.

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S

Sonic Bloom-berg Available since April, Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies the needs of readers seeking both news and research. The app features intuitive, persistent “Table of Contents” navigation as well as an expansive company index. A “Related” tab on the right-hand side provides access to additional information about

Bloomberg Businessweek’s iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation, sharing, and search features

companies cited within articles, such as stock quotes and other recent news. Users can share content via email, Facebook, and Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library. The app’s advanced search functionality is equally impressive, allowing users to customize their search by company and over multiple issues.

ACCESS

CLIP

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S + Parlez-Vous Innovation? Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content via e-reader rather than tablet platforms, iPad editions of Fashion & Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry, featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike. Elle and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack, showcasing content and featured products through animated covers, tap buttons that reveal additional content, as well as interactive quizzes and live contests. Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools showcased in both apps. Elle’s app has a “Buy Now” API (powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its

Elle showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn more and/or buy with the touch or flick of a finger

combined swipe and scroll navigation. Marie Claire’s app offers users 360-degree views of items with live links to each product’s respective storefront.

Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app

Marie Claire’s 360° view provides readers with a closer look at each of its showcased products

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S Live Your Best App O, The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue

of leveraging both design and technology on its iPad app. Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes. Keeping with the theme, there is an issue-specific interactive poetry game that enables users to create poems and save them to their image galleries. Likewise, the “Reading Room” section showcases books, allowing users to read excerpts, share via email, add content to favorites, and buy the full edition through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Beyond books, featured products are effortlessly browseable, easily shared by email, and linked to Oprah’s “O List” storefront and other e-commerce sites.

Browse books, products, and recipes; Read and share book reviews & excerpts; View recipes and watch how-to videos; all within this app

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F L A S H O F G E NI U S HTML5 DODGING THE APP-ALANCHE

OLD SCHOOL CNNMoney’s Tablet View Beta— provides tile view of breaking stories

Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet apps, others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android marketplace altogether, creating both mobile-optimized and tablet-optimized sites. Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon, the degree to which brands have adopted this “pass-through” strategy varies considerably. CNNMoney, the parent brand of Fortune and Money magazines, has released the beta version of money.cnn.com/ tablet, a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for viewing in landscape mode.17

NEW SCHOOL

Another Time, Inc. publication, Sports Illustrated, made waves last

Forbes and Marie Claire’s tablet-optimized HTML5 sites

year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle of innovation across the industry. Since then, there have been several advancements. This June, Google Labs released Swiffy, a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool.18 Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead, offering HTML5powered, tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPadnative apps.19 This platform, pioneered by Onswipe, provides the opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and mitigates some of the bandwidth, memory, and time demands of a permanent application.

17. “Will Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Apple’s Walled Garden?” Matthew Ingram, GigaOM, May 24, 2011. 18. “Swiffy: convert SWF files to HTML5,” Gordon Michael, The Official Google Code Blog, June 28, 2011. 19. “Onswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magic,” Ryan Singel, Wired: Epicenter, June 21, 2011.

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TEAM SCOTT GALLOWAY Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern Founder, L2 Scott is the founder of L2, a think tank for digital innovation, and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing. Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners, an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in U.S. consumer and media companies. In 1997, he founded Red Envelope, an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs, $100mm). In 1992, Scott founded Prophet, a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Scott was elected to the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow,” which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 “whose accomplishments have had impact on a global level.” Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company, Gateway Computer, and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. COLIN GILBERT L2 Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors. Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington, D.C., he helped lead research, advisory, and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups, defense contractors, and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing, cybersecurity, and online privacy. Colin received a B.A. in History from Stanford University and an M.P.A. from the London School of Economics. While completing his graduate studies abroad, he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firm’s Public Service Value (PSV) methodology.

MAUREEN MULLEN L2

JON WEINBERG L2

Maureen leads L2’s Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Index®. She has benchmarked digital marketing, e-commerce, and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma, Auto, Luxury, Specialty Retail, Beauty, and the Public Sector. Maureen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients. Before joining L2, Maureen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals, including UCLA Medical Center, UCSF, and HCA. Maureen has a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern.

Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns, a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy, where he worked with clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations. While there, he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients. Jon received an A.B. in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University, where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review.

R. DANIELLE BAILEY L2 Danielle began her career at The Home Depot, Inc., where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain, merchandising, and in-store process improvement. She went on to manage the implementation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients, including The New York Times Company, NBC Universal, Disney/ABC, Maxim magazine, and Zagat. Danielle has a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern. CHRISTINE PATTON Creative Director, L2 Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands. As creative director of L2, she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints, with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2’s research. She began her career at Cosí, where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants. Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients, including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRL! magazine. Christine received a B.A. in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an M.B.A from NYU Stern.

LINDA MATELJAN L2 Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Management Consultants in London, where she worked on development feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients. She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust, as well as develop brandbuilding initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMorgan Chase in the United States. Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia, a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading. JESSICA BRAGA L2 Jessica, a freelance art director, specializes in identity, iconography, event graphics, and invitations. Initially beginning her career in fashion, designing textiles and prints at Elie Tahari’s design studio in New York City, she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines. Desiring to explore other facets of design, she went on to become the art director of a small, prestigious design firm in Chelsea, where she focused on event graphics, digital and print collateral, and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small. Jessica holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design, as well as an A.A.S. in Illustration, from Rochester Institute of Technology.

UPCOMING 2011 EVENTS 07. 28.11 L2 Clinic Video & Celebrity This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive engagement and brand awareness through the use of online video and traditional—and untraditional—celebrities.

L2 is a think tank for digital innovation. We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation.

09. 09.11 L2 Clinic

China

A full-day clinic devoted to raising brands’ Digital IQs in the world’s biggest—and soon-to-be most digitally savvy— consumer market.

10. 14.11 L2 Clinic The Social Graph: Pharma Re search

Digital IQ Index®: The definitive benchmark for online competence, Digital IQ Index® reports score brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points, diagnosing their digital strengths and weaknesses.

An intensive workshop examining social media’s platforms and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens.

11. 10.11 L2 Forum Innovation 2011 Called the “TED for marketing,” L2’s third-annual Innovation

EV ENTS

Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars,

Forums: Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment.

business leaders, startups, and marketing executives in

The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America.

North America.

300+ attendees Clinics: Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory, tactics, and case studies.

60 –120 attendees Working Lunches: Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics. Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion.

12 – 24 attendees MBA Mashups: Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools. co nsu lt ing

Advisory Services: L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives. Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps, Social Media Strategy, and Site Optimization engagements. MEMBE RSH IP

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