4 minute read
Editor's Forum
A Future In the Making
Mobile Electronics was reimagined from the minds of children. Now, it will become something else.
New Year. New Change. By now, many of you have noticed this January issue did not arrive in your mailboxes. I’ll just rip the Band-Aid off quickly: this digital version is the only one you’ll see for the foreseeable future.
Earlier this month the decision was made to make a total conversion from print to digital. Like just about every magazine that has made this change, the reasons centered on the increasing costs of printing and mailing.
So let’s get through the facts first. You will continue to see a monthly edition of the magazine available at me-mag.com as a digital issue. You will get the same experience as a magazine, with easy flip-and-enlarge pages that can be viewed on any device. We will present the same statistics, high-value peer-topeer information, business advice, editorials, shared retail successes and lessons learned … and of course, technical information.
As you can probably tell from the tone of my writing, I have mixed feelings about this. I left the cold of Michigan to take over as editor of Mobile Electronics in 1999. I remember standing in front of the managers of then-Bobit Publishing, nervously going through a presentation of how I would revamp the once-proud installer’s resource that had turned into a dry, detached business publication. My first inspiration was—of all things— Highlights magazine, a children’s periodical you’d find in dentist’s and doctor’s offices. I liked it because it created an immersive kid’s community within its pages to temporarily take them away from the notion of scary medical or dental visits.
My other inspiration was Vogue, which always featured a person on its cover. Of course, none of our “shapely” storeowners could hold a candle to the models featured on the front of the fashion title, but I like the fact that it immediately humanized the content and created the expectation that this was a special publication for our industry.
Then there were smaller but still impactful things: feature real success and failures from people who experienced them. Do away with clip art and showcase pictures of actual stores, showrooms and install bays. Let the industry have a voice rather than just the writers. In short, build a community for us within the pages, just like the kids have.
It worked. And from a content standpoint, it’s still working. Every year the content changes to reflect our changing industry.
And every year the magazine’s ecosystem has changed to provide even more value to the industry: The Industry Awards. The growth of KnowledgeFest. And of course, your growth and success. So this is also a change; one that will ultimately make us better. That essence—that DNA that defined and invigorated our industry on printed pages—will not go away.
New Year. New Evolution.
For some of you, it may be no big deal as your phone has become your go-to-resource. But for others, even though you read mostly on your device, you knew that the print copy back at the shop was the foundation: a home that would always be there. Today, you will take that home with you. Just as consumers transferred the core of their entertainment to their pockets and purses, we will celebrate our industry on the very devices we work to integrate into our customers’ vehicles.
This is just the start. Just like that evolution in 1999, we have a new challenge to leverage faster, more interactive and more vibrant mediums to educate, inform and empower you. The book format will evolve into something else that will be more intuitive to electronic formats. We will be able to gauge your opinions in real time; share your advice in one day so that other retailers and professionals can implement it the next. The success you tout on social media will be amplified to the larger industry, and your vendors will be able to deliver product information and support that much faster.
KnowledgeFest is just around the corner here in Long Beach, then it’s on the road for Indianapolis and the first event in Orlando before the flagship Dallas event later in the year. There’s lots of work to do in the coming weeks to prepare these shows to bring the best of our industry to you.
But that’s for tomorrow. And I’ll be ready; we will all be ready. But today, I’m going to be sad, as I feel it’s only right to be.
