Product Placement MAGAZINES: PAPER OR DIGITAL Sharp, the Toronto-based men's lifestyle magazine, recently turned 10 years old. And while its ad revenue did not grow as much as in the first few years, the publisher remained committed to the print format. With a circulation of 140,000 and 840,000 readers per issue, the magazine has positioned itself as a Canadian alternative to GQ and Esquire. And although these two titles showed a strong digital presence, Sharp continued its efforts to give strong paper offering. As this example illustrates, publishers, advertisers, and consumers are deciding which way to go, paper or digital. Consumers consume paper magazines more frequently than digital, at 50 percent versus 41 percent for weekly readership. Heavy magazine readership is skewed to those aged 45 and older living in rural areas, and light magazine readership skewed to those aged 18-35. Heavy magazine readers consume a magazine every week, while light magazine readers consume a magazine one to three times per month. The print subscription rate is 39 percent, 32 percent buy at retail, the digital subscription is 9 percent, and the rate for reading magazine content online without a subscription is 27 percent. Other data finds that publications people read include 68 percent food and recipes, 61 percent entertainment, and 60 percent health/fitness, and 64 percent read exclusively print magazines, while 33 percent read print and digital. New results about magazines indicated that digital magazines continued to gain traction, with nearly 5 million Canadians reading them in 2015, up from just under 2 million two years earlier, with one-quarter reading digital magazines exclusively. The 5 million are divided on their preferred delivery, with one-third each liking the web edition, tablet option, or print version. Digital readers are well educated, urban, young adults employed in a professional/managerial job. And they read digital magazines like a printed magazine, reading on the couch (96 percent) or in bed (73 percent). Readers answered that they attend to digital magazine ads; they enjoy digital ads more than ads on digital newspapers, social networking sites, and digital TV sites; and they are more likely to take action (71 percent to 59 percent) after seeing a digital magazine ad. For example, 83 percent visited the advertiser's Internet site, 53 percent recommended the brand, and 51 percent purchased the product. Digital magazines are all encompassing, with 79 percent having a Facebook page, 77 percent owning an Internet site, 67 percent sending enewsletters, 61 percent posting on a blog, 52 percent setting up a Linkedin profile, and 46 percent creating video content. Clearly, magazines are in a new world of communication. 1. Explain how you think the experience of reading a print magazine is similar to and different from a digital version of the same title and what that would mean for how consumers process ads in those two environments? 2. Print magazines have a number of strengths and weaknesses compared to other media. Use the strengths discussed in the text/class and make a strong case for when and why print magazines might be a good media choice for an advertising campaign. 3. Building off of question 3, now add in how you would use the strengths of Broadcast Media (Ch. 11) in your advertising campaign, as in integrated marketing program, to make up for the limitations you discovered related to the magazine use in your campaign. Product Placement MAGAZINES: PAPER OR DIGITAL Sharp, the Toronto-based men's lifestyle magazine, recently turned 10 years old. And while its ad revenue did not grow as much as in the first few years, the publisher remained committed to the print format. With a circulation of 140,000 and 840,000 readers per issue, the magazine has positioned itself as a Canadian alternative to GQ and Esquire. And although these two titles showed a strong digital presence, Sharp continued its efforts to give strong paper offering. As this example illustrates, publishers, advertisers, and consumers are deciding which way to go, paper or digital. Consumers consume paper magazines more frequently than digital, at 50 percent versus 41 percent for weekly readership. Heavy magazine readership is skewed to those aged 45 and older living in rural areas, and light magazine readership skewed to those aged 18-35. Heavy magazine readers consume a magazine every week, while light magazine readers consume a magazine one to three times per month. The print subscription rate is 39 percent, 32 percent buy at retail, the digital subscription is 9 percent, and the rate for reading magazine content online without a subscription is 27 percent. Other data finds that publications people read include 68 percent food and recipes, 61 percent entertainment, and 60 percent health/fitness, and 64 percent read exclusively print magazines, while 33 percent read print and digital. New results about magazines indicated that digital magazines continued to gain traction, with nearly 5 million Canadians reading them in 2015, up from just under 2 million two years earlier, with one-quarter reading digital magazines exclusively. The 5 million are divided on their preferred delivery, with one-third each liking the web edition, tablet option, or print version. Digital readers are well educated, urban, young adults employed in a professional/managerial job. And they read digital magazines like a printed magazine, reading on the couch (96 percent) or in bed (73 percent). Readers answered that they attend to digital magazine ads; they enjoy digital ads more than ads on digital newspapers, social networking sites, and digital TV sites; and they are more likely to take action (71 percent to 59 percent) after seeing a digital magazine ad. For example, 83 percent visited the advertiser's Internet site, 53 percent recommended the brand, and 51 percent purchased the product. Digital magazines are all encompassing, with 79 percent having a Facebook page, 77 percent owning an Internet site, 67 percent sending enewsletters, 61 percent posting on a blog, 52 percent setting up a Linkedin profile, and 46 percent creating video content. Clearly, magazines are in a new world of communication. 1. Explain how you think the experience of reading a print magazine is similar to and different from a digital version of the same title and what that would mean for how consumers process ads in those two environments? 2. Print magazines have a number of strengths and weaknesses compared to other media. Use the strengths discussed in the text/class and make a strong case for when and why print magazines might be a good media choice for an advertising campaign. 3. Building off of question 3, now add in how you would use the strengths of Broadcast Media (Ch. 11) in your advertising campaign, as in integrated marketing program, to make up for the limitations you discovered related to the magazine use in your campaign