When TIme Inc. was presented with Publishing Executive’s Publishing Innovator of the Year award during a special reception at the 2008 Publishing Business Conference & Expo last month, it was a recognition of more than just a few good ideas. For the nation’s largest magazine publisher, being on the leading edge means competing successfully on a playing field that did not even exist a few years ago, leveraging cherished brands to build new readers in a media world where many publishers find themselves fighting institutional inertia and struggling to remain relevant.
For Time, the winning formula has come from a simple recognition that the desires and habits of the consumer need to be respected and catered to. Such is the philosophy behind its upcoming Maghound service, set to launch in September, which will allow consumers to mix and match magazine subscriptions online, changing what they receive whenever they please, for one monthly fee. Maghound will initially offer print subscriptions only, says Brian Wolfe, Time Inc.’s president of consumer marketing, but he notes that digital publications could be added in later versions. Another Time service, Giftscriptions, in operation since 2005, offers an easy way for customers to give magazine subscriptions as gifts. The package can be ordered online or picked up at national retail bookstores, and includes a gift box and catalog, from which the recipient can pick the publication she or he wants.
One of the ground-breaking elements of both the Giftscriptions and Maghound services is that Time Inc. looked beyond its own walls to partner with other major publishers to offer industry-leading services with maximum benefit to consumers.
“[These services] indicate two things about our strategy,” says Wolfe, who accepted the award on behalf of Time Inc. at the reception. “[We] try to meet unfulfilled customer needs, and build subscription programs that save consumers valuable time and allow them to take advantage of the Internet to improve their magazine experience. Both programs are excellent marketing tools because they are all about satisfying customer needs.”
The same basic principle lies behind the transformation of Time Inc.’s Real Simple into what the lifestyle magazine’s president, Steve Sachs, calls a “multimedia power brand.”
“The one thing that, from the beginning, Real Simple has built its franchise on is understanding consumer needs, and [understanding] where there is an opportunity to help people solve a problem that nobody else is helping them with,” Sachs says.
In August, Real Simple will launch a multi-tier partnership with the TLC cable network. The two companies will create content across several platforms, including TV, radio, print, the Web and in-store events, targeting “women who are happy with their careers and personal lives—but are trying to make their lives easier,” according to a Time Inc. press release.
As a component of this high-profile partnership—which features a Real Simple prime-time TV show that will air in association with TLC’s popular “What Not to Wear” on Friday evenings—Real Simple and TLC will jointly sell integrated multimedia packages to sponsors. Each month, the magazine will run content in print related directly to that month’s TV shows, covering topics such as cooking, home decorating and entertaining, with an overall goal, Sachs says, of providing “helpful information presented in an entertaining, modern way.”
Married to Unique Partnerships
“It all really comes back to the brand promise of beautiful, practical solutions to make life easier,” Sachs says.
Real Simple’s efforts are grounded in proprietary research into what consumers want—though sometimes gleaning the desires of an audience requires little more than paying attention to casual online behavior.
The launch of Real Simple Weddings, a yearly, 160-page special issue that published for the first time in January, is an example. The magazine took seriously a number of e-mails requesting information on nuptials, and noticed “weddings” was the No. 2 most-entered search word on the magazine’s Web site, “even though we did not have anything on there about weddings,” Sachs says. Clearly, there was a demand for an alternative to the rococo aesthetic of most wedding guides, and the magazine responded by forging a partnership with Crate & Barrel. The magazine is carried in all Crate & Barrel stores, and is available from the retailer’s Web site. Sponsors can purchase advertising in the issue or on the wedding portion of Real Simple’s Web site for the entire year.
Maghound, too, addresses a desire for simplification, by eliminating much of the hassle (and some of the expense) of consumer magazine subscriptions for a public accustomed to the convenience of services such as Netflix.
Specifically, according to Wolfe, the service manages all of a customer’s magazines in one place; eliminates subscription terms and commitments, as well as billing and renewal notices; allows readers to switch magazines or add others at any point in time; avoids having the same magazine offered at different prices depending on the source; and ensures consumers get a discounted price for multiple subscriptions.
“Maghound, in particular, will be tied in with existing marketing programs,” Wolfe says. “[It] will be cross-sold when other magazines are sold, and will be heavily promoted on existing magazine Web sites and in existing magazine renewal notices.”
Other subscription marketing initiatives launched in recent years, according to Wolfe, include tie-ins to fundraising efforts—“essentially offering magazines alongside other typical fund-raising products … with part of the magazine’s subscription price going to [for example] a local school band [or] sports team … through the use of an innovative new magazine voucher,” he says.
Time Inc. has also partnered with other companies to sell subscriptions for publications with similar brand appeal (Sports Illustrated and retailer Finish Line is one example). “These are incentives that increased continuous-service subscriptions, where a customer’s subscription automatically renews, thus saving paperwork and money,” he says.
Real Simple’s partnership with TLC is part of a strategy the magazine has been planning since its inception. When launched in 2000, the Real Simple name was trademarked across media platforms, Sachs says, though initial brand development was focused solely on the magazine product. “Significant brand extensions” were introduced in 2006, he says, including a successful line of branded products sold at Target stores (now including 25 home office/organizing products and 10 cleaning tools) and a half-hour show on PBS. The magazine has also worked closely with Whole Foods Market, building in-store displays and offering exclusive recipes.
Sachs says having the Real Simple product grounded in print has proven a key component of the magazine’s success. “I do think that consumers have a unique experience with magazines that is very relevant to their lives, especially where there are emotional benefits that magazines uniquely provide,” he says. “It’s different than other media … [because] Real Simple is not just about information.
“Nobody goes to the Web to relax,” Sachs adds. “It’s the last thing you go to the Web for. You go for fun, to solve a problem. It’s very action-oriented, and the Web does that very well. We provide that action element as well, but it has a set of emotional benefits. People relax with Real Simple. A woman in one of our focus groups talked about the ‘mailbox effect’—when she sees the magazine there every month, she feels relaxed because she knows that experience of reading the issue makes her feel more in control of her life. So print has benefits that other media do not.”
For Time, the winning formula has come from a simple recognition that the desires and habits of the consumer need to be respected and catered to. Such is the philosophy behind its upcoming Maghound service, set to launch in September, which will allow consumers to mix and match magazine subscriptions online, changing what they receive whenever they please, for one monthly fee. Maghound will initially offer print subscriptions only, says Brian Wolfe, Time Inc.’s president of consumer marketing, but he notes that digital publications could be added in later versions. Another Time service, Giftscriptions, in operation since 2005, offers an easy way for customers to give magazine subscriptions as gifts. The package can be ordered online or picked up at national retail bookstores, and includes a gift box and catalog, from which the recipient can pick the publication she or he wants.
One of the ground-breaking elements of both the Giftscriptions and Maghound services is that Time Inc. looked beyond its own walls to partner with other major publishers to offer industry-leading services with maximum benefit to consumers.
“[These services] indicate two things about our strategy,” says Wolfe, who accepted the award on behalf of Time Inc. at the reception. “[We] try to meet unfulfilled customer needs, and build subscription programs that save consumers valuable time and allow them to take advantage of the Internet to improve their magazine experience. Both programs are excellent marketing tools because they are all about satisfying customer needs.”
The same basic principle lies behind the transformation of Time Inc.’s Real Simple into what the lifestyle magazine’s president, Steve Sachs, calls a “multimedia power brand.”
“The one thing that, from the beginning, Real Simple has built its franchise on is understanding consumer needs, and [understanding] where there is an opportunity to help people solve a problem that nobody else is helping them with,” Sachs says.
In August, Real Simple will launch a multi-tier partnership with the TLC cable network. The two companies will create content across several platforms, including TV, radio, print, the Web and in-store events, targeting “women who are happy with their careers and personal lives—but are trying to make their lives easier,” according to a Time Inc. press release.
As a component of this high-profile partnership—which features a Real Simple prime-time TV show that will air in association with TLC’s popular “What Not to Wear” on Friday evenings—Real Simple and TLC will jointly sell integrated multimedia packages to sponsors. Each month, the magazine will run content in print related directly to that month’s TV shows, covering topics such as cooking, home decorating and entertaining, with an overall goal, Sachs says, of providing “helpful information presented in an entertaining, modern way.”
Married to Unique Partnerships
“It all really comes back to the brand promise of beautiful, practical solutions to make life easier,” Sachs says.
Real Simple’s efforts are grounded in proprietary research into what consumers want—though sometimes gleaning the desires of an audience requires little more than paying attention to casual online behavior.
The launch of Real Simple Weddings, a yearly, 160-page special issue that published for the first time in January, is an example. The magazine took seriously a number of e-mails requesting information on nuptials, and noticed “weddings” was the No. 2 most-entered search word on the magazine’s Web site, “even though we did not have anything on there about weddings,” Sachs says. Clearly, there was a demand for an alternative to the rococo aesthetic of most wedding guides, and the magazine responded by forging a partnership with Crate & Barrel. The magazine is carried in all Crate & Barrel stores, and is available from the retailer’s Web site. Sponsors can purchase advertising in the issue or on the wedding portion of Real Simple’s Web site for the entire year.
Maghound, too, addresses a desire for simplification, by eliminating much of the hassle (and some of the expense) of consumer magazine subscriptions for a public accustomed to the convenience of services such as Netflix.
Specifically, according to Wolfe, the service manages all of a customer’s magazines in one place; eliminates subscription terms and commitments, as well as billing and renewal notices; allows readers to switch magazines or add others at any point in time; avoids having the same magazine offered at different prices depending on the source; and ensures consumers get a discounted price for multiple subscriptions.
“Maghound, in particular, will be tied in with existing marketing programs,” Wolfe says. “[It] will be cross-sold when other magazines are sold, and will be heavily promoted on existing magazine Web sites and in existing magazine renewal notices.”
Other subscription marketing initiatives launched in recent years, according to Wolfe, include tie-ins to fundraising efforts—“essentially offering magazines alongside other typical fund-raising products … with part of the magazine’s subscription price going to [for example] a local school band [or] sports team … through the use of an innovative new magazine voucher,” he says.
Time Inc. has also partnered with other companies to sell subscriptions for publications with similar brand appeal (Sports Illustrated and retailer Finish Line is one example). “These are incentives that increased continuous-service subscriptions, where a customer’s subscription automatically renews, thus saving paperwork and money,” he says.
Real Simple’s partnership with TLC is part of a strategy the magazine has been planning since its inception. When launched in 2000, the Real Simple name was trademarked across media platforms, Sachs says, though initial brand development was focused solely on the magazine product. “Significant brand extensions” were introduced in 2006, he says, including a successful line of branded products sold at Target stores (now including 25 home office/organizing products and 10 cleaning tools) and a half-hour show on PBS. The magazine has also worked closely with Whole Foods Market, building in-store displays and offering exclusive recipes.
Sachs says having the Real Simple product grounded in print has proven a key component of the magazine’s success. “I do think that consumers have a unique experience with magazines that is very relevant to their lives, especially where there are emotional benefits that magazines uniquely provide,” he says. “It’s different than other media … [because] Real Simple is not just about information.
“Nobody goes to the Web to relax,” Sachs adds. “It’s the last thing you go to the Web for. You go for fun, to solve a problem. It’s very action-oriented, and the Web does that very well. We provide that action element as well, but it has a set of emotional benefits. People relax with Real Simple. A woman in one of our focus groups talked about the ‘mailbox effect’—when she sees the magazine there every month, she feels relaxed because she knows that experience of reading the issue makes her feel more in control of her life. So print has benefits that other media do not.”
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