It's Tuesday: 5 Things about the World of Magazines and Media - Issue #21
If you’re reading this on Tuesday morning, then you know that we’ve turned the corner, survived the winter Covid siege, an uninspiring Spring, a long, long, hot Delta Summer, and (at least here in flyover country), an alternately dry as a bone and wet as a used dishrag Fall. There are now exactly 59 days left to this year.
So, how're you feeling?
By the way, you get to turn your clock back an hour next week. That always seems nice until you realize it will be dark at 4:30. And all those presents you ordered for Christmas? They’ll show up by Valentine’s Day. Maybe.
Has this year has left you feeling like an almost empty bowl of Halloween candy? And you've suddenly realized that you can’t get to the store and there’s a few hours of Trick or Treat left? That happened to me in real life once. It's not fun!
You know what? You’ll make it. Somehow.
Trust me.
So, let's take a look at the news. See what we can learn.
#1. MPA says magazines are read by 90% of young adults in the US.
Magazines read by 90 per cent of young adults in the US, says MPA Magazine Media Factbook 2021 - FIPP — www.fipp.com The vast majority of young adults in the United States are reading magazines and most still love print, according to the latest MPA Magazine Media Factbook 2021 which launched last month.
If you look closely at that picture FIPP is using, you'll notice that the woman in the middle is holding a "feature" phone. Either it's an old picture or these are Brooklyn hipsters trying to be ironic.
But in all seriousness, to me, the interesting part of what was written here wasn’t so much the praise for the print portion of the magazine. The interesting part was further down where MPA reported that “Those aged between 18-34 report that they like to follow their favorite magazines across social platforms…”
So, yeah. Update your Instagram. Keep adding to Twitter. Figure out Snapchat and TikTok . Promote your print product regularly on social media. I mean, you’re paying good money to print the darn thing so why don’t you try to sell it to the people who are going on your free media and “following” you there?
And for heaven’s sake, can we please get #MagTok going?
#2. Mr. Magazine's Launch Monitor shows 47 new magazine titles in the last six months.
The Mr. Magazine™ Launch Monitor… 47 New Titles In The Last Six Months… | Mr. Magazine — mrmagazine.wordpress.com Black Cannabis magazine and 46 other new titles arrived to the nation’s newsstands during the months of April to September of 2021. The new arrivals join the 34 titles launched in the first quarter of 2021 bringing the total of new titles to 81 titles so far. The new magazines covered every conceivable subject from the…
A total of 81 new print magazines have been launched in the last six months in the US according to Dr. Samir Husni (aka Mr. Magazine). Samir’s method of counting new titles is pretty simple: He has to be able to hold it in his hand to count it. Of equal importance, this count does not include SIPs or Bookazines ("Special Interest Publications" and/or one shots not associated with another regular frequency publication).
#3. From Wessenden Marketing: "Keep On Keeping On"
Keep on keeping on. - Wessenden Marketing — wessenden.com 2021 is going to be a longer trudge than anyone anticipated. Or as someone recently put it, “2020 has turned into an 18 month year – 2021 is 2020 Part 2”. The Big Picture is the editorial comment page from the wessendenbriefing newsletter. Click below to sign up for a free sample issue. However, as …
While this article was originally published in the "Wessenden Briefing" back in February, the appearance of editor Jim Bilton at last weeks’ MBR Conference inspired me to put it back in front of all of you for a quick review. How are you doing with sustainability? How’s the “long game” working out for you?
Is he right to refer to 2021 as a long trudge? I think so.
So, maybe the question to ask after you read this is: “How are you going to wrap up this year and what do you hope to accomplish in 2022?
#4. CEOWorld: "Why Consumers Don't Care About (Most) Brands.
Why Consumers Don’t Care About (Most) Brands - CEOWORLD magazine — ceoworld.biz Each year, brands spend over $600 billion (and counting) to convince us to buy their products. Yet, as consumers we have become insensitive to most advertising. This excerpt from Brand Hacks – How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest for Meaning aims at helping CEOs understand why consumers don’t care about (most) brands […]
This makes a great deal of sense, even for media consumption. Back in the day, if you lived in a big city you had: The three networks, one indie station and maybe a PBS station, a handful of radio stations, one newspaper, the local library and some bookstores.
Now? Which social media platform are you on? Some folk are on all of them. How many streaming services do you subscribe to? How many channels on basic cable? Who has time for the newspaper?
And if they continually interrupt you, mess with your browser, follow you around the internet, spam your email non-stop, constantly insist on puzzling updates that make no sense, why would you have any loyalty to them?
#5. A tip of the hat to Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman for showing me this years most offensive, "Business Speak"
HOW MANY USERS DOES FACEBOOK REALLY HAVE? — typeagroup.cmail20.com Last month a certain blogweasel said, "How any marketer or advertiser can be stupid enough to believe anything Facebook says about their advertising or audience metrics is beyond me."
How Coca-Cola maintained 'human-centric' insight throughout the pandemic — www.marketingweek.com Coca-Cola had young participants take part in a digital diary during lockdown to gauge consumer habits and ensure marketing activations remained relevant.
I absolutely love (to mock) corporate jargon or “business speak.” We use the jargon to sound more professional, more scientific, more….more. But sometimes, when you actually just read the words, it all just sounds really foolish.
Bob Hoffman’s weekly blog is always a worthwhile, informative and often hilarious read. Read all the way down to the article he references at the end of his post. Go ahead. I dare you to empower yourself to review the vital branding content and see if it enriches you in such a way that it empowers your ability to influence the consumers who consume your brand in this omni-human world.
Go ahead. I won’t wait. But I urge you to go ahead.
And now, your moment (or at least mine) of Magazine Zen
And here's your moment of Magazine Agita
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Got any questions or comments? Please drop me a line. You can always reach me at joe.berger@newsstandpros.com
That’s it! May this early part of your week be filled with meaningful work and only necessary emails. Zoom is optional.