The survival of glossies

How glossy magazines can overcome the current struggles

Glossy magazines have been facing some problems in the last couple of years. Critics say that glossy magazines are out of touch with the cultural changes that have been brought by social networks and online media (C. Lauw, 2009). The current economic crisis and the competition of new media are forcing people to re-examine the already existing business models.

One big problem that glossy magazines face is that they haven’t changed a bit the last couple of years (C. Lauw, 2009). It seems to be unable for them to change. Same subjects are being mentioned as in the glossy magazines of the years before: skin care, make over project, same celebrity’s. Glossy magazines are being repetitive and regular readers are losing interest in them.

The extreme popularity of blogs is also worrying for the glossy magazines. It is influencing their sales and their status. The blogs are realistic, they fit within budget of ordinary people. Glossy magazines portray celebrities with endless resources (C. Lauw, 2009).

A big problem to face is that for the last couple of years more and more information is moving online. People expect most of the time that they can get the information they like online, for free. Magazines try to solve this problem by putting the information online and asking people to pay for it in order to consume it. This principle is inspired on the iTunes model (S. Ngubane, 2009). An example of a magazine that applies this is the Rock and Roll Highschool magazine. It has put an PDF file online that you can buy for 6 euro 95 (www.rockmagazine.nl).

It seems to be necessary for the glossy magazine industry to review their content. New subjects should be discussed, there should be more attention for recent cultural changes. Magazines should be kept up to date to keep the audience interested. They should also pay more attention to low budget fashion, to keep it realistic. Further on they should pay attention to recent cultural changes, like the rise of the internet use of people. But this won’t solve all the problems magazines are facing these days. Glossy magazines need to keep their profit high enough to survive.

One way in which magazines industry can maximize their profit is by using price differentiation. With price differentiation different prices are being charged to different social or geographic sectors of the market. By using price differentiation magazines can come closer to charging every person what they are willing to pay. This way they fully optimize the consumers surplus (www.encarta.msn.com). For example a magazine could sell the standard magazine for 4 euro 95 and charge extra for a special edition of the magazine. People who want to pay more, can pay more, while people with a tight budget can also enjoy the magazine (www.businessdictonary.com).

Another way in which magazines could recover from the damage that they have suffered is to generate more publicity and in this way generate a greater audience. A greater audience stands for a greater demand, which generates higher prices. One way to do this is by documentary’s showing how magazines are made.

In conclusion, glossy magazines should seriously review the content of the magazines. Magazines should pay attention to recent cultural changes. They should also look at ways to maximize their profit, because they are losing ground. Ways in which profit can be maximized are price differentiation and by generating more publicity.


Literature

http://www.businessdictionary.com/tips/24/why-do-coupons-and-rebates-exist.html

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561539255/price_differentiation.html

www.fluxtrends.com
- Carina Lauw, A Glossy Downturn, 13 March 2009
- Sandiso Ngubane, New Model For The News Media, 15 April 2009

What will we do this week?

The assignment for week six started by dividing the different topics around an interesting economic case study from the creative industry we are addressing. The creative industry we deal with on this blog is of course the industry of woman magazines, we can shorten this to glossies.

In this essay we will try to give an answer to the following question: Have economic developments in relation to new media pushed away the position of the classic magazine format? To answer this question we had to use the literature of week 5 and also additional sources of new media.

There are some subjects we want to discuss in this essay, like the different economic development of the past years, the influence and consequence of these developments, the influence of the economic crisis on glossies in relation to the declining sales and other interesting topics around glossies and economics.

Diverse economic and technological developments have influenced the society of today. Especially Internet have changed the world enormously and it is developed and reinventured several times. ‘In other words the Internet came into existence as the result of numerous factors, accidents, passions, collisions and tensions’ (Lister, 2003: 163). Also political changes have influenced the status of the economy and thereby the status of Internet and its different departments (Lister, 2003: 165-176).

When the economy changes, society as a hole differs too. Ots (2008) tries to clarify these changes in media firms, consumers, and society as large in his article about media and brands. We now will put all the different viewpoints together to analyze the influence of the economic crisis and declining sales on glossies.

Lister, M., J. Dovey, S. Giddings, I. Grant & K. Kelly. 2009. New Media. A critical Introduction. Second Edition . London, Routledge, 2009.

Ots, M. 2008. Media and Brands: New Ground to Explore. In: Ots M. (ed.) 2008. Media Brands and Branding. Jönköping, Sweden: JIBS. Pp. 1-7.

The Economic Crisis and Magazines: Comes autumn, comes hope

Research has shown that the economic crisis has an influence on the publishing industry and the magazines. The bleak days of the economy has it’s impact on the magazine industry.

The traditional men’s magazines continue to slide, while the women's weekly market has suffered from consumers cutting back on multiple purchases (Nicola Clark, 2009).

According to the managing director of BBC Magazines, Peter Phippen, in times like these, recession periods, people tend to be attracted to strong editorial brands (In: Nicola Clark, 2009).

The publishing director of Vogue, Stephen Quinn, insists that top-quality titles, such as Marie-Claire and Elle, are coping, despite the downturn in the economy (In: Nicola Clark, 2009).

However, the number of adverts in high-fashion magazine Vogue has fallen by 20% over the past few months (and advertising volume is down 7% across all group titles), which shows us that even a company with 70% of the luxury-magazine advertising market is not immune (James Robinson, 2009).

But now, the autumn is a very important time for glossy magazines. Think about the Vogue September issues, full of advertisements willing to promote their new season designs, which are ‘usually heavier than newborn babies’, says The Guardian journalist Lucy Barrett. In these times advertisers are not only keeping up their marketing, but are boosting it to large extends.

This had not been the case the past year. While magazines are suffering from an overall drop in advertisement, this is not due to a decline of luxury brand spend. The reason is because ‘mid-market advertisers are cutting back their marketing budgets’ (Lucy Barrett, 2008).

In addition, several luxury brands have increased their spent. These brands include Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, it is suggested that this will be a trend over the next months ahead of us.

These brands do so in order to stay top-of-mind for consumers.
So, in the months to follow we will see an increase in advertising of luxury brands and a decrease of advertisements of the smaller brands in the glossie magazines.

Barrett, L. 2008. The Guardian.
Why quality street will survive the credit crunch
16-12-2009

Clark, N. 2009. Marketingmagazine.
Weathering the magazine circulation storm
16-12-2009

Robinson, J. 2009. The Guardian.
Crisis, what crisis? Condé Nast says the future's glossy.
16-12-2009

Traister, R. 2009. U.S. Economy Salon.
Shop in your own closet
16-12-2009

Free offer, no buying?

What will happen to the sales figures of printed glossies when the same glossies also will be published online for free?


Internet can be considered an important new medium for reviewing cultural products. Besides websites linked to specific cultural genres such as theatres and museums, websites also emerged about already existing print media, such as regular newspapers. Now, the consumer can go online and read all articles for free. This new form of consuming can have positive but also negative effects on the regular printed media. I will discuss a couple of these effects.

Positive about this new development is that more people can get in touch with glossies for free. A lot of people do not want to pay for something they do not find interesting or do not know is interesting. If it is for free they might take a look after all. You do not know however whether it helps to make people actually buy glossies or subscribe themselves. If they like the online published glossies and they know what they can expect about it they might buy the printed version in the future.

It is also possible that most people do not want to pay anymore now that they can go online and read the glossy online for free. It is even possible that you lose some of your former consumers. Now that glossies are available online it kind of loses its prestige. People don’t need a subscription anymore. Magazine publishers will lose their consumers because there is a new way of getting articles of glossies for free. Consumers will most likely use this new option. The sales figures will drop and the organization has less revenue. On the long run this process will be bad for the printed media. This is a negative effect of online publishing.

Perhaps if magazine publishers would put part of the glossy online it would help to increase the attention. People then would like to see more and get interested. This way the sales figures might increase but with online publishing it is more likely the figures will decrease .

Sources:
Timmers, P. 1998. Business models for electronic markets. Electronic Markets Volume 8, issue 2, pages 3-8.

Informaworld
Checked 06 December 2007.

Benkler, Y. 2006. ´The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom´. New Haven: Yale University Press.

PowerPoint presentation peer production

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Ppp Trends

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Social network sites and magazines

In this small essay I will talk about the link between social network sites and magazines and about what they can mean for each other. A social network service is a way for people that share the same interests to come together and to interact. It is a way to get to know people and to keep in touch with people that you already know. An example of a social network site in the Netherlands is hyves.

One way magazines can make use of the social network sites is through directed advertising. On hyves there is a group called welovetijdschriften (http://welovetijdschriften.hyves.nl/). Here 1817 people come together, because of their interest in magazines. The hyves is used to start discussions and to exchange experiences. On the hyves you can also find a lot of advertisement. This is of course a smart move of the companies that advertise here because in this way they easily reach their target group. They don’t have to spent time and money in investigating how they can reach their target group, because this group has already gathered online in a group on hyves itself. Social network sites enable companies to advertise at low costs.

Another way for companies to make use of social network sites like hyves is to make a profile for the company. This is a good way to represent it and to try to gather ‘friends’. Cosmopolitan has a profile on hyves with 667 friends (http://cosmopolitanofficial.hyves.nl/). The hyves is a good way to show people the identity of cosmopolitan and to give people the opportunity to stay in touch with Cosmopolitan and to be the first to know about new changes when they become friends. It is a way for Cosmopolitan (and other companies) to get in touch with their target group and to keep them interested. Social networking sites are great ways for companies to build a brand image (Jody Nimetz, 2007).

Social networking sites can also be used by companies internal. A lot of companies have a private site for their employees to share and exchange ideas, thoughts and even important files. Consequently high travel costs can be avoided. In this way John Swartz states in USA Today (2008) social networking sites can help companies boost their productivity.

In conclusion, social network sites can play a big role for magazines. Social network sites can enable magazines to get in touch with their target group, to advertise at low costs and can help them build a brand image. They can also help the company boost their productivity. Social network sites can mean a lot for magazines and other companies and should be seen as an extension of the original format.


Literature

Cosmopolitan hyves (http://cosmopolitanofficial.hyves.nl/?ref=sr). Accessed December 2, 2009
Nimetz, Jody. "Jody Nimetz on Emerging Trends in B2B Social Networking". Marketing Jive, November 18, 2007. Accessed December 1, 2009
Swartz, John. “Social networking sites can help companies boost productivity”. USA Today, August 10, 2008. Accessed December 1, 2009
We love tijdschriften hyves (http://welovetijdschriften.hyves.nl/). Accessed December 2, 2009

Interesting video´s about our topic

Two video´s that have some interesting information about new media and glossies.The first is about the view of the editor of the Esquire magazine. He talks about the magazine of the future:



This video is about the possible way future magazines will look like:

The Future of Magazines

Proof that social media is killing print magazines

Source: http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/

Why so negative?

When people talk about the changes in media and how it effects, in our case glossies, it is often not very positive. They are afraid that technological changes and new media will blow away the printed media. But why? It could also be a potential strength for the industry.

These technological changes are very important for all industries, but for magazines it is sometimes hard to adapt to this change. The magazines are a printed format, this isn’t going to change soon, now they can use the internet as an extend. Some magazine publishers really try to combine the digital platform and the traditional printed magazine. The publishers which were most succesful were the ones who used strong brands on different media platforms. They also used it as an advertisement tool, like advertising online (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 25). But with the use of cross media in magazines there must be a organisational change. They have to keep up with the interest of the readers, and the employees must have technological skills (PriceWaterHouseCoopers, 27).

In an article of the Guardian in the United Kingdom in 2008 they discussed how the sales of magazines changed. The title of the article is self-explanatory: ABCs: Women's glossies record strong performances.In the article there is a long list of sales increases and sometimes decreases from different magazines. The women’s glossy sector increased with 12,1% in 2008. This shows that the new media doesn’t push away the printed media. There were media changes in 2008, like the always increasing use of the internet (EIAA). But the glossy sales were also increasing.
In our previous blogs there were a few examples of the use of cross-media in magazines. It is shown that the new media can really be an extend of the printed version. So it is important to see the positive effects of these changes, because change is, more often than not, a good thing!

Literature:

http://www.pwc.com/nl_NL/nl/assets/documents/pwc-future-of-magazine-publishing.pdf bladzijde 25, 27.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/14/abcs.pressandpublishing4

European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA):
http://www.eiaa.net/news/eiaa-articles-details.asp?lang=1&id=79

New Media: Blogs and women’s magazines

A recent social media survey conducted by BlogHer, a women’s blog site, found that 42million women in the United States participate in social media at least weekly (42 million use social media: Blogs most influential, 2009). As these women spent more time with the social media, women are spending less time with the traditional media: 39% less on newspapers, 36% less time reading magazines, and 30% less watching television. We can see the results of this survey in the table below:


Source: http://www.blogher.com

The survey also shows some other interesting findings. Such as the fact that women are using networks like Facebook and MySpace more than anything else, with blogs as their second choice.

In our second table is the difference in types of advice and information sources visible, and how the different types of social media are being used. One of the results shows us that women are more likely to go to blogs, or other social media, for beauty, entertainment and specially written for women things, like dating advice. When women were traditionally looking in magazines for such topics, women are now visiting blogs for that kind of information:


Source: http://www.blogher.com

How the popularity of blogs is going to influence the women’s’ glossies is yet to be discussed.

Literature:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/05/42-million-women-use-social-media-blogs.html
http://www.blogher.com/files/2009_Compass_BlogHer_Social_Media_Study_042709_FINAL.pdf

The Influence and Consequences of New Media on Glossies

This week we will discuss the concept of new media and what is exactly new about it. We will apply this question on the topic we adressed last week. The question asked by Sofie Spindler was:

Is the medium really still the message? And have digital media and interactive media influenced, pushed and reinvented the structure of the classic magazine format?

This week we will have a look at how the magazine format is influenced by new media. You can read our essay by clicking on the link below:

The Influence And Consequence Of New Media On Glossies

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The influence of new media, an introduction

In this blog we will have a look at the influence of new media on glossies. Sofie Spindler has worked as an art director specialized at visual brand identity and she asked us the following question, which we will answer in this blog:

Is the medium really still the message? Have digital media and interactive media influenced and pushed and reinventured the structure of the classic magazine format?

The question is asked in the video below:


To answer this question we will look first at different sources which could help us to answer this question. The assumption that the medium is the message is first formulated by Marshall McLuhan. He says that ''Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate that by the content of the communication.''
An example about his vision can be seen here:


We will ask ourselves if the medium really is the message in the case of glossies.
We will look at the new digital and interactive media and how they are an addition to the classic format. We will look if the new media will enforce the glossy or not.
Some suggest that it will be harder to publish magazines in this digital age. The future of this branche is discussed in the investigation of PricewaterhouseCoopers by Connected thinking. The outcome can be found here:
http://www.pwc.com/nl_NL/nl/assets/documents/pwc-future-of-magazine-publishing.pdf

The relationship between printed and online media is also discussed in the following article:
http://managing21.skynetblogs.be/post/6772628/gedrukte-media-blijven-belangrijke-entertainm

We will look at this more further in our next blogs.

Another big aspect in society, and of course also glossies are advertisements. The way in which they play a role is discussed in the article below. It describes the way in which printed advertisements have more influence on their readers than they have in online magazines.
http://www.nuv.nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/Mediahandboek%20GPT%20-%2014%20april.pdf

This article below describes the influence of new media on society and the changes over time in reading online or on paper. The article was prestented by the Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau, SCP, and is titled:
Oude en nieuwe media voeren strijd om schaarse vrije tijd

In this media blog it is discussed how online media is not a replacement for the printed newspaper. In this article this statement is discussed by examples from society:
Online kranten vormen geen vervanger van gedrukte media

In our next blog we will try to give a more specific answer to these questions after reading and analysing the sources above.