Passion and Power.

PPA_Power_Passion_Brochure_Artwork 3/5/07 11:10 Page 2
VOLUME 1
A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

USING MAGAZINES TO EMBED BRAND MESSAGES WITH CONSUMERS
Contents
2 Briefly…
4 Taking a fresh look at planning

It’s getting tougher to get marketing messages across
Finding a new way…and facing new challenges
8 Delivering power...with magazines

Planning scale in magazines
Integration: however its wanted
16 Fuelling passion...with magazines

Psychographic targeting : winning trust
Making brands relevant : messages which fit
21 Resistors and conductors

Ensuring a good reception…and engaging – with
magazines
This booklet forms part of PPA’s Revolution initiative – to give new help to planners faced with the
challenges of getting brand messages across effectively in an era of growing advertising dilution
Briefly…
It’s time to take a fresh look at planning
Today’s media and marketing bombardment increasingly drives people to sideline advertising
– and weakens its firepower
A revolutionary approach is needed
No longer is it enough to just grab someone’s attention. Advertising must seek to engage
consumers with the brand – not just place messages in front of them.
New challenges need to be addressed
To get across to consumer targets and engage with them, planners need to devise
campaigns which deliver brand messages with the necessary POWER and PASSION
Advertising messages need to be assured of a good reception
Some media are better than others at engagement and delivering campaigns with the
requisite power and passion – because some media features help the advertising engage the
target market, while others hinder this sort of communication
Magazines are especially suited to this task
They are superb message ‘conductors’
2 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

…Briefly
Magazines can deliver brand messages with POWER
They can deliver a scale or a niche audience which fully expects the advertising content to be an
enhancement to their media experience – not a detriment to it
Their ability to cross media boundaries means they can offer advertisers multi-platform contact points under
the auspices of a single brand relationship with consumers
Magazines can convey brand messages with the kind of PASSION to successfully engage people
Their ability to target consumers on a psychographic basis means advertising messages are perceived
as relevant, are valued and, moreover, are trusted
Magazines deliver advertisers the opportunity to embed their brands within the values of
their readers by delivering an audience with shared values, attitudes and interests
Magazine brands’ relationship with consumers, their creative flexibility and cross-platform
delivery, their ability to target consumers’ attitudes and values, the relevance of their content,
the attention paid to advertising within the medium and their ability to reach large target
markets mark magazines out as the 21st century medium of engagement
Taking a fresh look at planning

Today’s media and marketing bombardment increasingly drives people to sideline advertising – and weakens
its firepower
Just too much
Compared with 30 years ago we live in a world of unlimited choice. In 1977 the number of retailers, products and
brands targeting consumers was tiny in comparison with today’s marketplace. In 2007, buying a cup of coffee from
an informed position could take you a lifetime. For example, there are now 3,427 coffee outlets each offering UK
consumers an enormous choice of coffee. If you multiply the number of coffee types (like latte or espresso) by the
toppings, the milk, the sugar, the cup sizes, the strength and the syrups available then for each type of coffee bean
consumers are faced with more than 6,000 choices. If a consumer tried a different one each day it would take them
over 16 and a half years to try them all. Then of course, there’s the Arabica bean to move on to.
Media bombardment
So it is with media - for we also live in a time of unparalleled media proliferation. The number of media we have
access to has increased by over 20 times. Rather than one commercial TV station, we now have over 250 in the UK:
Along with17,000 radio stations available on the Internet, 3,500 consumer magazines, 1200 regional newspapers,
120,759 ad spaces on the London Underground, 85,670 ad spaces on buses across the UK, 22,000 ad spaces in
telephone kiosks,124,980 fuel pump nozzles, and 9,547 illuminated shop-fronts.
Then there's the world of new media, on-line advertising (and websites themselves), viral emails and text messaging.
It seems there is nothing that can't be used as an advertising medium nowadays.


Advertising diluted
This has had a significant impact on the ability of advertising to deliver results.
Back in the good old days, when consumer choice was limited to a single commercial TV station, it was possible to
shout. Very loudly. Effectively 100% of your target audience could see your advertising a huge number of times across
the year.
But times have changed. In the US today, it would take a hundred and twenty-five CBS, NBC, or ABC ads to reach
the percentage of viewers that three network ads once reached. Advertising has become an increasingly pervasive
aspect to everyday life and so has “ad clutter.”
People want control
As media choices have proliferated, so consumer expectations have changed. People increasingly insist on being able
to use media when and where they want, on any platform or device, and in any context—and the technology and
media industries are obliging them. Consumers have a newfound control over their media experiences.
This is having an effect on the consumer response to advertising. As Jim Stengel of P&G puts it –
”Consumers show an interesting lack of tolerance for marketing that is irrelevant to their lives,
or that is completely unsolicited. Traditional marketing methods are diluted by a hurried
lifestyle, overwhelmed by technology, and often deliberately ignored.”
This lack of patience with irrelevant marketing reflects the value placed by consumers on their time.
Which one of the resources is most/least

valuable to you in everyday life?
Least Valuable Most Valuable
Time -5 41
Energy -5 27
Money -11 18
Information -33 9
Space -47 5
Source: Henley Centre Planning for Change 2005

Base Total Population. Rebased for any agree: excluding Don’t Know/Not Stated
Information and money are not seen as the resources of most value. A tough break for marketers as they seek to
underline the rational and emotional benefits of their product or service.

Finding a new way…
No longer is it enough to just grab someone’s attention. Advertising must seek to engage the
consumer with the brand – not just place messages in front of them.
Marketers are having to re-think their approach
The key challenge facing today’s media planners is to ensure that advertising is given the best possible chance to engage
the consumer it is aimed at.
But the proliferation of media and increase in consumer control over exposure to advertising represent significant barriers
to this objective.
Now, more than ever, it is essential that media planners and creative teams work together to improve the likelihood of
engagement. In combination these two disciplines need to ensure that the message is both relevant to the consumer and
welcomed by them. Those that fail to do this run the increasing risk that the consumer will find ways of avoiding or
ignoring their attempts to communicate.
In short, marketers need to revolutionise the way that they think about reaching the consumer.
As the Chartered Institute of Marketing put it:
“We need to enter the age of consent across the media spectrum. This will involve a shift from a
model of intrusion to one of communicating and building relationships through collaboration...”


…and facing new challenges
But the difficulties with this new approach are not insignificant. Advertisers face four problem areas, which, in turn,
resolve themselves into two key challenges:
Delivering a campaign with the necessary POWER
Here there are two particular issues:
1. Balancing scale and relevance

For any advertiser with even the vaguest aspirations of volume the quality of the communication will have to be
balanced with the scale of audience exposed to it. There appear to be three basic choices;
1. Single messages to large audiences (scale but lacking relevance)

2. Single messages to a niche audience (relevant but lacking scale)
3. Multiple messages to multiple audiences (scale and relevance)
2. Multi-platform Integration
Creating the ‘brand collateral’ required to expose consumers to the brand is a key challenge. Increasing consumer
control over exposure to advertising means that campaigns will have to appear in multiple environments to
communicate successfully. There is an almost unlimited range of touch-points with consumers today requiring many
different formats for content. The key to effective communication is a blend of the right message(s), in the right
format(s), allowing the right consumers to be communicated with at the right time (for them). The days of the 30” TV
spot as the default are over. A blend of visual, audio, audio/visual, interactive, experiential, user generated, and
social networking content could be required for a successful campaign. As a consequence, communication is much
closer to content creation than it used to be.
Conveying the message with the kind of PASSION to successfully engage the target
Again, two specific challenges exist:
3. Meaningful consumer segmentation

The target groups for this type of campaign are likely to be psychographic in nature rather than socio-demographic. It matters
more what values, attitudes and interests a consumer has (because communication should reflect similar values and attitudes in
order to engage the consumer) than how much they earn, or what age they are. The ability of media to target this way varies
enormously with many media unable to segment their audience into meaningful psychographic segments.
4. Fitting the brand to the community

It is crucial to identify the genuine consumer needs which the brand fulfils and the consumers that possess these needs.
There is likely to be a range of potential requirements and audiences for each brand. While the fundamental
personality of the brand must remain consistent, it is essential that the facet(s) of the brand most relevant to each
audience are identified. The brand must be seen to fit the community targeted.
Lets examine in more detail how magazines can – and do – overcome these key challenges...
Delivering power...with magazines

Magazines can deliver a scale or a niche audience – and, moreover, an audience which fully
expects the advertising content to be an enhancement to their media experience – not a
detriment to it.
The combination of magazines’ psychographic segmentation, active media consumption and scale provides advertisers
with an unparalleled opportunity to engage with mass audiences. Planned the correct way (see PPA Planning Uncovered
2005) it is a medium capable of delivering mass market coverage or niche market reach -– and an audience ready to be
engaged by the advertising message
ABC1 25-44 Women – 4 week 30 rating campaign
100 55 26 insertions
50 51 51 54% cover
48 49
90 @ 3.0 ots
45 164 ratings
80 41
93% of cover
70 33
35 delivered within
60 6 weeks
23
50 25 87% of ratings
delivered within
40 6 weeks
30 31 33 32
15
30 Weekly delivery
23% @ 1.3 ots
20
10 5
Monthly delivery
10 6 48% @ 2.6 ots
4 3
0 -5
wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4 wk5 wk6 wk7 wk8
Ratings Coverage

79% cover
90 90 @ 5.9 ots
466 ratings
80 77 78 80
99% of cover
70 67 70
delivered within
60 60 14 weeks
55
41 delivered within
40 40 14 weeks
30 31 33 33 32 33 30 30 33 32 33 32
30 30 Weekly delivery
19 23% @ 1.3 ots
20 20
10 12 wk delivery
10 7 5 10 77% @ 5.0 ots
4 3 3 2
0 0
0
w 1
2
w 3
w 4
5
w 6
w 7
8
9
0
k1
k2
k3
k4
k5
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Ratings Coverage
Watch your weight
Magazines are often cast as a medium that struggles to deliver measurable sales effects in the short term, despite a
wealth of evidence to the contrary: it is often how we have planned the campaign that creates the difficulty in measuring
the strong consumer responses that research suggests result from magazine advertising.


Get your timing right
In television, newspaper and radio planning we have been able for some time to identify and locate with acceptable
precision, when and where exposure to advertising takes place. Timing of exposure, expressed as weekly or monthly
reach, dominates media thinking – but this is rarely applied to magazines.
Until very recently, we have been unable to locate the timing of exposures in magazines. As a consequence, the medium
has been planned title by title – or spot by spot, if you prefer. Media plans are chock-a-block with magazine title
insertions filling the planning schedule with activity – but these schedules do little to reflect the actual delivery of messages
or the intensity with which they are delivered.
But with the launch of NRS Readership Accumulation data we now have a much more accurate method of planning
magazines. With this data we can now plan magazines in much the same way that we plan every other medium. We
can work out the weekly rating delivery and the weekly coverage of target audiences. We can plan magazines to impact
on consumer purchasing in just the same way that other media is planned.
Take TV, for example. A pretty ordinary TV schedule would deliver around 100 ratings each week. As a consequence, a
significant proportion (50% or more) of the target market is exposed to advertising in order to affect the purchase
decisions they make that week. In every week, the delivery will be maintained at around this level – although the
campaign may be front-weighted to an extent.
Measure up
What does today’s magazine schedule look like in comparison?
We asked billets to analyse 100 recent magazine campaigns to establish their average weekly weight. Billets reported
that magazine weight appeared to be universally low, with an average of 8 ratings used each week across these 100
campaigns. That’s a guarantee that at least 92% of the market being targeted will not see the advertising each week!
Here’s an example. Plan A delivers 186 ratings in what looks like a pretty sensible schedule.
How should we plan? But here’s what it really looks like...
Page 4clr Ins March April May June July August

How should we plan?
Womens weeklies
OK! Magazine 4 X,X X X
Plan A as readers read – several “black holes”
Now 4 X X,X X
GRP’s
Heat 4 X,X X X
25
Women’s Monthlies 20
She 2 June August

15
Red 2 July August
New Woman 3 June July August 10
Marie Claire 2 June August

5
Top Sante 2 June July
0
Target Audience Young up-scale women
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
49% @ 3.8 OTS Weeks
Source: NRS

No single week has more than 20 ratings. The strike rate is all over the place. Many weeks have less than 10 ratings
being delivered.
This is unlikely to have a measurable effect on a marketplace that can be attributed to magazines. In discussions with
various ‘measurement’ companies it would appear a reasonable rule of thumb is that around 25-30% coverage of a
target market is required before the effect is likely to be measurable.
Planning…a new approach
So, how should magazine weight be planned?
In discussing a change to planning methodology, it is our intention to spark a debate – but not to cast ourselves as media
planners, as we obviously have a vested interest in this discussion. But we feel that it is important for us to consider current
planning practice and point out how new information and planning tools could be used for a more effective return on
investment. A good approach might be to:
Set incremental weekly reach targets.

Week 1 might be a 30% target, by week 4 this should have delivered at least 50% reach and by week 12 this should
be up to 70%.
Establish a candidate schedule.

Using NRS, select those magazines (both weekly and monthly) that deliver the target audience. You might use a threshold
for selection, such as a target audience profile of 60% minimum.
Establish the weekly reach available.

Using ‘Timeplan’ or equivalent, input your title selection with the maximum number of insertions within the campaign
period. This establishes the maximum reach available.


Optimise the schedule.
Taking into account weekly reach targets, environment and cost issues, reduce the number of magazines/insertions on the
schedule until objectives are met.
50 51 51 54% cover
48 49
90 @ 3.0 ots
45 164 ratings
80 41
93% of cover
70 33
35 delivered within
60 6 weeks
23
delivered within
40 6 weeks
30 31 33 32
15
30 Weekly delivery
23% @ 1.3 ots
20
10 5
Monthly delivery
10 6 48% @ 2.6 ots
4 3
0 -5
wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4 wk5 wk6 wk7 wk8
Ratings Coverage

79% cover
90 90 @ 5.9 ots
466 ratings
80 77 78 80
99% of cover
70 67 70
delivered within
60 60 14 weeks
55
41 delivered within
40 40 14 weeks
30 31 33 33 32 33 30 30 33 32 33 32
30 30 Weekly delivery
19 23% @ 1.3 ots
20 20
10 12 wk delivery
10 7 5 10 77% @ 5.0 ots
4 3 3 2
0 0
0
w 1
2
w 3
w 4
5
w 6
w 7
8
9
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k2
w
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w
w
w
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w
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Ratings Coverage

Paying attention
In addition to this scale of delivery comes the ability to segment audiences into groups that have similar attitudes, interests
and values. The process of title selection (reflecting the consumer’s mood or needs) and subsequent payment means that
the consumer expects the magazine consumption will deliver something of value to them. ‘Pay as you go’ media like
magazines and newspapers enjoy higher attention levels than more default media consumption. As a result, they are
much more likely to be the sole focus of consumer attention.
Keeping control
Furthermore, magazines offer consumers a consumption experience over which they have full control. This leads to a far
more positive view of the contribution advertising makes to the media experience – something that augments the process
of engaging audiences with advertising.
Consumer control of the media consumption has a profound impact on consumer attitudes and expectations of the
advertising within the medium in question. In media where the consumer struggles to remain in control, advertising is more
often than not seen as an interruption – something that detracts from the experience. In media where the consumer can
control the speed of consumption, and so the amount of advertising exposure, advertising is generally seen more as an
integral part of the media consumption rather than an interruption to it.
“In a media environment increasingly characterised by interruption, magazines remain an oasis

of engagement”. (Starcom US 2005)
As a consequence of this control, advertising in magazines is consumed by readers at a pace that they deem appropriate
to the communication. If the message is considered relevant and interesting the consumer is able to spend as long as they
like with the advertising. This has an obvious impact on the ability of magazines to generate advertising awareness (better
than TV on first exposure) and positively affect brand imagery, familiarity and purchase intent.
Brand Familiarity Brand Imagery Purchase Intent
Magazines 85% Magazines 75% Magazines 72%
TV 57% TV 61% TV 53%
Online 64% Online 55% Online 33%
Source: Marketing Evolution 2006

Results represent the percent of the 19 studies in which each medium produced a positive point change for each stage of the purchase cycle.
Erwin Ephron summed it up nicely;
“Readers have a more favourable reaction to print ads because print ads do not intrude or attempt
to control…Even though people may avoid commercials, they don’t dislike advertising. They object to
intrusive, controlling advertising.”


Integration : however its wanted
There is an almost unlimited range of touch-points with consumers today requiring many different formats for content. The
key to effective communication is a blend of the right message(s), in the right format(s), allowing the right consumers to be
communicated with at the right time (for them).
This is likely to require blends of visual, audio, audio/visual, interactive, experiential, user- generated and social
networking content rather than a reliance on a single channel for communication.
Any way, any time, anywhere
One of the defining aspects of magazines is their ability to cross media boundaries in a way other media struggle to mimic.
Many magazines have become recognised brands in their own right, enjoying a relationship and
meaning that goes beyond the paper product delivered on a weekly or monthly basis. This allows magazines to step into
territories beyond print without stretching the credulity of consumers.
As a consequence, magazines can now offer advertisers multi-platform contact points under the auspices of a single
brand relationship with consumers.
Whether it’s awareness generation

via display advertising…
...the implied endorsement

of the magazine brand via advertorials
...or the more detailed endorsement and

depth of content available from bespoke publications...
...magazines are extremely flexible in the content that they can carry for advertisers.

The physical nature of the medium also allows
magazines to deliver coupons
to consumers for in store redemption...
...samples within the magazine

for consumers to trial new products...
...generate consumer feedback and dialogue...
...and reward the consumer in-store

with a product of high perceived value
from a brand that they both recognise and value.
The nature of magazine brands also allow them to endorse advertisers’

brands to an audience much wider than the magazine’s readership.
Innovative ways of carrying the message

to the consumer are achievable
with good briefing...
...as is retail activity which enhances the

experience of shopping, as well as adding to the
credibility of advertisers’ brands.


Furthermore, publishers have already extended the influence of magazine brands beyond the
print product and into RSS feeds, Mobile services, Internet, Web TV, Digital TV, Digital Radio,
V.O.D., PSP, and consumer events.
Mobile Internet
Magazine RSS Feeds
PSP
Web TV
Interactive
Fuelling passion...with magazines

Psychographic targeting : winning trust
If communication is going to engage consumers, the target groups for this type of campaign are
likely to be psychographic in nature rather than socio-demographic. It matters more what
values, attitudes and interests a consumer has because communication should reflect similar
values and attitudes to engage the consumer.
“Engagement is all about making it relevant to the consumer.”

James Speros, Chief Marketing Officer, Ernst & Young
Keeping in step
The ability of media to target consumers on a psychographic basis is key: values and interests rather than the emotionally
‘blind’ targeting offered by socio-demographic segmentation.
Magazines are perfectly placed for this. People read particular magazines because of the life-stages and events which
currently involve them: from teenager to golfer, from having a baby to coping with retirement. A person’s choice of
magazine moves in step with his or her personal, social and psychological development. Magazine choice is, of course,
likely to be modified as people pass through the life-stages of childhood, adolescence, early working years, early years
of marriage or living together, the years of young children, older children, the empty-nest years after the children have left
home, and finally the years of old age. Within a much narrower time-span there are other changes that affect people’s
repertoire of magazines, even if only temporarily, such as moving house, redecorating, or thinking of changing the car.
The plethora of consumer titles not only declares a very healthy market but is also a visible sign of this consumer
segmentation. Each subject area tends to be broken down by magazines focusing on specific areas, striking an
increasingly personal chord with those readers who are especially interested in a given sector.
Creating belief
With magazines, the editorial/reader relationship creates a bond of trust, belief, expectation and empathy. This trust in
the editorial content of magazines rubs off on consumer attitudes to advertising within their chosen title. Not only is
advertising expected to be more relevant in magazines, it is also more likely to be trusted and believed by the consumer.
And because the medium offers psychographically segmented audiences, advertisers can make their messages more
relevant to the consumer in a medium where advertising is more trusted.
Relevance is not just the fit between advertising message and audience or advertising and media environment – it is also
the fit between the audience and the advertiser’s brand.
Reaching who matters
Magazines have a distinct advantage over many other media when it comes to the core audience delivered. The price
charged for access to the medium provides magazines with a strong bias towards more affluent audiences, while the
subject matter covered by many magazines ensures strong penetration amongst younger consumer groups. If you compare
TV and Magazines directly the relative strength of magazines becomes more apparent


Psychographic targeting: winning trust
In 2005 the best converting ABC1 Women spot on ITV’s terrestrial broadcast was ‘49 Up’ on 15th September:
ITV – Best converting programme to ABC1 women
49 Up (Thu 15 Sep 05)
Adult Universe (000s) Adult Ratings Adult Viewers (000s)
46,563 11.4 5,308
Target Universe Target Ratings Target Viewers (000s)
11,973 15.1 1,808
Universe Profile Spot Profile
25.7% 29.4%
Source: BARB
29.4% of the delivered audience was within the target market – 70.6% was not. It should be stressed that this represents
the best converting terrestrial airtime – the complete schedule is likely to convert at around 27%. In other words, 73% of
the audience reached (and paid for) are outside of the target market.
This difficulty in reaching an affluent market is at odds to the magazine experience. Magazines which are unlikely to strike
planners as particularly good for affluent audiences are still better than the best TV has to offer – by some margin. Take a
Break offers advertisers 3.5 million consumers with an ABC1 profile (31.6%) that is 7.5% superior to the best afforded by
ITV. Chat magazine is probably closest to the best ITV conversion standing at 29.2% ABC1 women profile.
When it comes to those magazines that specifically target affluent groups the figures are incomparable. Glamour offers a
ABC1 women readership where 67% of the audience fit the target market, Elle is 66%, Marie Claire 65%. All of them
are more than 220% better at reaching this affluent audience, in large numbers, than ITV.
These figures become most relevant when consumer purchasing power is taken into account. The heaviest spenders in the
UK grocery sector account for almost 60% of the sterling value in the market. These consumers are likely to see the least
advertising in a strategy dominated by broadcast media.
All Grocery Shoppers
% Pop %£ ITV Mags
Heavy spenders 35 58 77 111
Medium spenders 26 24 105 99
Light spenders 39 18 121 79
TGI: Heavy users of medium vs HW grocery shoppers


Recently, research in the US analysed the relevance of TV campaigns, comparing these with magazine campaigns. The
audience delivery from 30 actual campaigns across 6 product categories in both media were examined and the profile
of product users reached assessed.
TV Product User Magazine Product Percent

Index User Index Difference
Brand*
SUV 118 138 +17
Coffee 101 123 +23
Tampons 134 186 +39
Financial 140 165 +18
Men’s Razor 114 142 +24
MP3 Player 133 198 +49
Source: MRI and TNS/Media Intelligence
In every case the audience delivered by the magazine campaign was more relevant to the advertiser’s brand than the
audience delivered by the broadcast medium.
Magazines’ ability to reach a scale audience, segmented by attitudes and interests is significantly better than other media.
The content of the medium is relevant to the consumer, the advertising is expected to be equally relevant and is
consequently welcomed, and the audience delivered is likely to be highly relevant to the advertiser’s business given the
purchasing power of the magazine audience.


The segmentation of audiences into groups of similar attitude and interest provides advertisers
with an opportunity to ensure brands are presented to markets in a way that reflects their
relevance to the consumer – and stimulates word of mouth within the target communities
Embedding brands with readers’ values
As we have seen, readers approach magazines in a frame of mind geared to absorbing that particular magazine’s personality
and opinion. They expect relevance and consonance between the character of the advertising and the magazine.
The challenge for advertisers is to fit their brand to the values, attitudes and interests of the community in question.
Often we appear to have this the wrong way round. We will talk about fitting the medium to the message – placing ads
only in those magazines which reflect a particular message or attribute of our brand. This limits the reach of the
campaign. Surely the point is to fit the brand’s messages to the media used by the target market?
In delivering an audience that shares values, attitudes and interests with each other, magazines deliver advertisers the
opportunity to embed their brands within the values of their readers.
Here’s an example:
Madonna has used magazines as her lead medium for creating a multi-faceted brand. She appears in Good Housekeeping
as a mum and in Esquire as a sex goddess, in Newsweek as a iconic businesswoman, in Rolling Stone as the archetypal
American musician, in Vogue as part of the New York ‘fashionista’ and so on.

The point is that she understands the communities she wants to appeal to. She finds an angle for her ‘brand’ and delivers
it through a medium that she knows will reach an audience that appreciates these brand attributes.
This doesn’t mean that advertising need be specific to individual magazines, but the genre of magazines that the target
audience consume is important to the creative process. Sex Goddess is appropriate to more men’s magazines than just
Esquire, New York ‘fashionista’ may be just as meaningful to readers of Elle as Vogue. While the fundamental personality
of the brand must remain consistent, it is essential that the facet(s) of the brand most relevant to each audience are
identified. The brand must be seen to fit the community(s) that it is targeting.
A word in your ear…
A huge potential help to this process is the role of brand ‘advocates’ and the word-of-mouth recommendations which they
can add to the marketing of any brand.
Now, more than ever before, consumers are relying on people they know and trust to advise them on what to buy.
Magazine titles fulfil an important role as an advocate and source of referral for consumers. They are crucial to people in
generating points of view and personal recommendations in day-to-day conversations. This is because the relationship
which magazines enjoy with readers shares many of the same characteristics as a close friend.
The role of titles as a trusted agents, acting on behalf of the consumer by helping them edit choice within their lives,
means that magazines have the strongest media influence on purchasing behaviour and act as a catalyst for personal
recommendation.
As a consequence, magazines is the marketing channel which contributes most to the recommendations made by
consumers, particularly those whom others look to for advice. Research has shown that magazines readers are likely to
generate two to three times more word-of-mouth recommendations than the average UK adult – and that these are more
likely to convert into action than from the population at large (Ipsos Mori).

Resistors and conductors

While something of a revolution is required in the way media planning is undertaken, the
medium that can spearhead this is not so new.
The medium is magazines.
It is the medium which provides the key to overcoming the growing indifference to marketing messages and reinvigorating
the overall effectiveness of advertising.
Now is time for planners to take a fresh view of magazines – and just how they can help
Why magazines?
Simply because magazines are particularly conducive to engagement.
In terms of the analogy, they are superb ‘conductors’: they possess all those features, outlined opposite, which enable
brand messages to strike a chord with their intended targets.
And because of this, they can overcome the main difficulties presented by this new approach to planning for engagement:
Let’s examine in more detail how magazines can – and do – overcome these key challenges...
Ensuring a good reception…
This is not so much a question of creativity, but of using a medium which will get brand
messages accepted: A medium which helps advertisers to get across to people, rather than one
which makes ads rather more resistible.
Some media help advertising engage the target market, while others hamper this sort of communication. To help identify
which media are particularly conducive to engagement and which are not, we can make a simple analogy...

We have seen that some aspects of media consumption make effective communication more difficult (we call them
‘resistors’) while others help advertising engage the target audience (these are called ‘conductors’).
Below is a list (not definitive but hopefully helpful) of media consumption dynamics to avoid and seek out.
Resistors (things to avoid).
The medium is consumed as a default.
The medium seeks to control the consumption experience.
The medium is not the primary focus for the consumer.
Advertising is seen to get in the way of enjoying the media experience.
Consumers have negative attitudes to advertising in the medium.
Clutter reduces communication effectiveness (lack of consumer control).
The medium does not segment consumers into meaningful psychographic groups.
The consumer does not expect the advertising content of the medium to be relevant to them.
Consumers generally distrust advertising in the medium.
Consumers are light users of the advertiser’s brand (less likely to engage).
Consumers don’t identify themselves with the medium (relationship).
The medium doesn’t prompt personal recommendation or word of mouth.
The medium doesn’t reach key influencers in the marketplace.

Conductors (things that help).
The medium is actively chosen by the consumer.
The medium is paid for.
The medium is the primary focus for the consumer.
Advertising is seen as an integral part of the media experience.
Consumers have positive attitudes to advertising in the medium.
Consumer control of media consumption negates the impact of clutter.
The medium segments audiences into sizable groups that share similar attitudes, values and interests.
The consumer expects the advertising content of the medium to be relevant to them.
Consumers generally trust advertising in the medium.
Consumers are heavier users of the advertiser’s brand (more likely to engage).
Consumers identify themselves with the medium (relationship).
The medium prompts personal recommendation or word of mouth.
The medium reaches key influencers in the marketplace.

Tell me more
Want to know more? Finding out more about how magazines can reinvigorate the
effectiveness of advertising and successfully engage consumers is easy…
From PPA Marketing?…
There's a good deal of other material available from PPA Marketing to help with the planning of campaigns involving
magazines - and which flag magazines' particular strengths.
We also have free training available for planners and clients on how to make the most of the magazine medium.
If you would like to discuss Passion and Power or free training please contact Colin Robinson at PPA Marketing on
0207 400 7563.
…and from you?
PPA Marketing and individual magazine publishers would very much like to hear planners’ thoughts and answer any
questions they may have. There is still much to learn, particularly about magazines' ability to affect specific businesses
and any ideas for achieving this with the magazine industry would be gratefully received…
Acknowledgements
PPA Marketing would like to thank:
• The author of Passion and Power, Tim Lucas, Consultant.

• David Hepworth of Development Hell for the covers on page 19.
• Peter Dear for editing this booklet.

JOIN THE REVOLUTION, PUT MAGAZINES AT THE HEART OF YOUR COMMUNICATION.
www.ppamarketing.net

Passion and Power.

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PPA_Power_Passion_Brochure_Artwork 3/5/07 11:10 Page 2

A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

4 Taking a fresh look at planning

8 Delivering power...with magazines

16 Fuelling passion...with magazines

21 Resistors and conductors

It’s getting tougher to get marketing messages across

A revolutionary approach is needed

New challenges need to be addressed

Advertising messages need to be assured of a good reception

Magazines are especially suited to this task

They are superb message ‘conductors’

2 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

Taking a fresh look at planning

Just too much

4 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

Taking a fresh look at planning

People want control

Which one of the resources is most/least

Least Valuable Most Valuable

Source: Henley Centre Planning for Change 2005

Taking a fresh look at planning

Marketers are having to re-think their approach

As the Chartered Institute of Marketing put it:

6 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

Taking a fresh look at planning

Delivering a campaign with the necessary POWER

Here there are two particular issues:

1. Balancing scale and relevance

1. Single messages to large audiences (scale but lacking relevance)

Again, two specific challenges exist:

3. Meaningful consumer segmentation

4. Fitting the brand to the community

Delivering power...with magazines

ABC1 25-44 Women – 4 week 30 rating campaign

ABC1 25-44 Women – 12 week 30 rating campaign

100 100 74 insertions

Watch your weight

8 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

Delivering power...with magazines

Get your timing right

What does today’s magazine schedule look like in comparison?

How should we plan? But here’s what it really looks like...

Page 4clr Ins March April May June July August

She 2 June August

New Woman 3 June July August 10

Marie Claire 2 June August

Delivering power...with magazines

Planning…a new approach

So, how should magazine weight be planned?

Set incremental weekly reach targets.

Establish a candidate schedule.

Establish the weekly reach available.

10 PPA MARKETING PASSION AND POWER A FRESH APPROACH TO PLANNING

Delivering power...with magazines

ABC1 25-44 Women – 4 week 30 rating campaign

ABC1 25-44 Women – 12 week 30 rating campaign

100 100 74 insertions

Delivering power...with magazines

“In a media environment increasingly characterised by interruption, magazines remain an oasis

Brand Familiarity Brand Imagery Purchase Intent

Magazines 85% Magazines 75% Magazines 72%

TV 57% TV 61% TV 53%