24

Feb

Grazia and the rise of social publishing

Contributed by Emma Thomas, Senior Account Executive:

As London’s biannual Fashion Week draws to a close, Bauer Media’s Grazia magazine, is celebrating the success of its big fashion collector’s issue. So, what was the difference between this issue to any other… this time it was Live!

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Grazia’s editorial team decided to open its doors to the Grazia HQ in an innovative and somewhat bold decision to co-publish the issue with the help of its readers to produce a whopping 264 pages of content in a mere week timeframe.

Supported by a daily online documentary series, ‘Grazia’s Fashion Issue…Live!, every second of the drama and deliberation was captured as the editorial team went about creating the spring London Fashion Week issue.

Recognised for being the first truly interactive social experiment ever undertaken by a print product, readers were provided with exclusive behind-the-scenes access as the magazine handed over the editing reins to fans and followers. They were given the chance to comment, influence and vote on the editorial selection process in a live, social publishing event, across all Grazia’s platforms, including graziadaily.co.uk, YouTube, it’s 24,479 Facebook fans and 97, 870 @Grazia_Live Twitter followers.

As publishers continue to face the challenge of maintaining full engagement between their brands and audiences through one print platform, they are starting to seek new ways of interaction through multi-platforms. Social publishing can provide a solution to this with the added benefit of instant reader feedback and the consequent ability to use this information as first hand research to improve content and increase engagement levels, whilst building a loyal community on and offline.

Social publishing can be seen as making publishing a two-way street, providing the reader with a direct channel to the writer to offer feedback, voice opinions and influence in a way we would not be capable of without social media.

Although we’re already witnessing this two way communication model in practice on the internet, via comment sections, survey’s and ‘email the editor’ links, the trend is set to see more magazine publishers like Bauer Media experiment with the many benefits it presents to print titles. Grazia’s YouTube channel has already reached an impressive 4,662,991 video views.

Abby Carvosso, managing director of Bauer Magazines lifestyle, shares her thoughts on the benefits: “London Fashion Week is a big event in the calendar of fashion-conscious upscale women and Grazia is celebrating it with a collector’s issue with a twist. The LG Mobile sponsored ‘Grazia’s Fashion Issue…Live!’ series gives our readers an additional level of exclusive content and demonstrates the depth of interaction advertisers can have with their audiences through Bauer’s influential brands.”

As individuals, we have become familiar in sharing our opinions and feelings with the world. Whether this is through our Facebook status updates, Tweets or blogs, we constantly have the opportunity to communicate directly on many more levels and platforms than was once possible. As our social media network generation continues to grow, social publishing can be seen as a logical progression from traditional publishing, providing a solution to the industry’s need to operate across multi-platforms to fully engage with audiences and attract advertisers to their brands.

We are both excited and eager to see how the level of interaction between brands and their audiences change as magazine publishers continue to look for more ways to fully engage and capitalise on the many advertising opportunities presented by the adoption of social publishing.

More information on Grazia can be found here: Braben PR Press Office

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17

Feb

ABCs – The children’s magazine market gets digital…

 

Contributed by Byron McCaughey to The Braben View:

 

The ABC consumer magazine results are in and we are going to focus on the children’s market which has noticed some fascinating trends emerging. Like all publishers across the industry the desire to get more ‘digital’ is a constant endeavour and that is no different for our client, the Egmont Publishing Group. That said, digital aside, children are still reading print magazine and at a healthy rate, from Toxic to Cars magazine, there have been some solid increases in circulation for key children’s titles. Combine this with the trend of hugely successful online brands making the leap to print magazines (BinWeevils & Moshi Monsters) and it is not surprising to hear of the optimism within the industry for the year ahead.

 

Here’s Egmont’s director of magazine, Debbie Cook, to share her thoughts:

 

“Despite a tough economic climate, there is still plenty the magazine industry can be optimistic about and the medium has never been more relevant to readers. The Professional Publishers Association (PPA) recently revealed that the UK’s annual print distribution has remained stable at around 1.3bn – that’s around 20 magazines per person.

 

Egmont Publishing Group is one of the UK’s leading children’s publishers and it’s been a fascinating 6 months for our market. We have seen virtual brands launching print magazines, including Egmont’s very own Bin Weevils, which is the opposite order to the past where print brands traditionally came first. These digital brands from Moshi Monsters to Bin Weevils command huge online user numbers and provided your timing is right, you have the perfect platform to launch a successful magazine from.

 

Keeping with digital, the advancement in children’s magazines social media platforms and websites have allowed us to maintain an on-going and direct dialogue with our readers. We make editorial decisions for the likes of Toxic (+ 2.5% POP) and Go Girl (+ 11% POP) print magazines based on the continual conversations of our digital community of readers – this is an amazing opportunity for children’s publishers and the wider industry to mould and change magazine content based on dialogue with readers.

 

Strong brands continue to perform. Egmont has a solid portfolio of brands that are promoted through other major channels. From the Cars 2 launch playing a part in our Cars magazine enjoying 30.4% YOY and 30.1% POP growth to Barbie’s (+ 6.1%) licensors continuing to invest heavily in the property through multiple platforms, publishers have an opportunity to work closely with the property owners for the benefit of all parties.

 

We are excited about the future of the children’s magazine market and feel we are in a good place to capitalise on the many opportunities presented by digital brands making the jump from the virtual world, the advancement in how readers consume our content and also ensuring that every publisher, including Egmont, continually adapt and invest in products that are relevant and engaging to our audiences.”

 

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17

Feb

ABCs – how magazines are performing as digital editions

While publishers talk about commitment to long-term editorial plans for their brands, the latest ABCs for consumer magazines include a number of new digital editions reporting for the first time which is an interesting and timely development.

 

Looking at how these magazines perform and digging into the influence of these household brands across more platforms than just print is of fundamental importance for all communications professionals looking to engage with target audience groups.

 

According to Brandrepublic.com, In total, 72 magazine brands have reported average circulation figures for their digital editions, more than quadrupling from the last reporting period, when just 16 reported.

 

ABC rules mean that digital edition of a magazine – downloaded to tablets or smartphones through Apple’s app store and the Zinio platform – must have less than 5% editorial difference to the printed edition of the magazine.

 

This development is worth tracking and following how the influence of these brands evolves in line with the growth in numbers of UK consumers using tablets and smart-phones.

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17

Feb

ABCS – Consumers spend £2.5bn on magazines each year

Following yesterday’s round of magazine ABCs, I think it’s worth taking a look at the size and scale of the consumer magazine market.

According to figures from the PPA, over recent years, the UK’s annual print distribution has remained relatively stable at around the 1.25bn mark – or around 20 magazines per person.

This figure only refers to the basket of titles that are audited by ABC, and it is achieved in the context of a particularly challenging economic environment.

It places the UK as the second most magazine-friendly country among the G8 nations, a grouping of countries which collectively makes up an estimated 53% of nominal global GDP.  In commercial terms, it equates to an estimated annual spend on consumer magazines in the UK of £2.5bn or, to put it another way, £40 per person.

To find out more about how magazines can be used as part of a campaign, I recommend taking a look at the PPA’s recent Magnify study.

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15

Feb

Bin Weevils uses print magazine to build on social success

Contributed by Byron McCaughey to The Braben View:

We have seen Moshi Monsters do it – the jump from the virtual to real world – and now it is time for the latest children’s social networking phenomenon Bin Weevils to join the party. BinWeevils.com boasts 105,000 visitors per day and following the recent announcement it will be creating a line of licensed physical toys and merchandise, the brand has now announced Egmont Publishing Group will be creating its first print magazine. With Moshi Monsters magazine already a huge success and Disney’s Club Penguin recently announcing its own foray into print, it will be fascinating to see how the real-world battle unfolds for these virtual-world brands.

More information here: Braben PR Press Office

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15

Feb

Bloomberg Pursuits: new title to target global luxury consumers

We’re launching a new title this week for Bloomberg which offers PRs a route to directly target the user audience of the Bloomberg Professional service (“the terminal”).

Bloomberg Pursuits promises to distinguish itself with high-quality journalism that showcases the cultural ambitions and luxurious lifestyles of Bloomberg Markets magazine readers worldwide.

A few words on the audience the magazine will target…

This select audience is not reached by other magazines. These men and women make up the global financial elite, and they collect rare watches and fine art with the same vigor that they bring to their investment careers.

Bloomberg Pursuits covers the world, including fashion in Asia and Europe, yachting adventures in the Atlantic, jewelry in London, exotic cars in New York, resorts in Laos, and more.

And some background on the planned editorial content:

The stories in Bloomberg Pursuits are about Bloomberg Markets’ readers. In many cases, our readers will actually know the people in our stories, literally or by reputation, and connect to them because they lead similar lives.

Bloomberg Pursuits draws from Bloomberg Markets magazine’s award-winning journalists and Bloomberg News reporters based in more than 150 bureaus around the world.

Bloomberg Markets publisher Mike Dukmejian said: “As the marketplace for goods and services expands worldwide and becomes interconnected, brands must now appeal to the increasing number of globally minded consumers. We believe Bloomberg Pursuits is the first luxury lifestyle magazine to embrace this reality.”

It is a powerful example of how a community can be built around a must-have B2B service which can then be monetised in other ways by accessing and engaging with other areas of the professional’s lifestyle.

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15

Feb

More icy PR stories on the way? The Weather Channel knows…

We’re getting daily updates here in the Braben office from our client, The Weather Channel, and its expert forecaster, Leon Brown.

With the weather dominating our news media, it is apparent once again just how much weather impacts on life here in the UK and the many different news angles the weather offers PRs offers, good (DIY stores selling out of sledges)and bad (poor Heathrow).

The app from the Weather Channel gives you the latest temperature whenever you need it if you’re thinking of pitching a last-minute story around the weather, well worth a look.

In the meantime, here is today’s Braben first ever weather forecast, brought to you by The Weather Channel:

Here at TWC-UK we are watching closely as warmer Atlantic weather again tries to move SE against the cold block we are currently experiencing. This will bring the risk of freezing rain, sleet and snow for the end of this week. There’s a snow risk across the Midlands on Friday with 5cm or more over hills. A little snow may reach the SE, but not as much as last weekend. Freezing rain expected over East Wales and N.England which could make very difficult travel conditions. On the plus side it’ll become less cold for a time across Scotland.

More severe night frosts this weekend across the south of the UK, especially Saturday when we could again see -10C.

A change in the weather pattern next week from the north rather than the east. The severe cold that has been prevalent across much of Europe with temperatures 10 to 15C below normal will be blown away as winds increase from the north.

Temperatures not as extreme as the past 2 weeks, but this pattern change will bring a snow risk to much of central Europe and even as far south as Greece. Some heavy snowfalls over the Alps.

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02

Feb

Radio celebrates its rude health with latest RAJARs

So, RAJAR results are in and the headlines are good once again, with the UK listening to huge amounts of radio every day, commercial and BBC alike.

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There’s no doubt this is a media sector with a positive outlook and rightly given the general performances across the different radio groups.  Millions and millions of people listen to the radio in the UK, providing hugely powerful relevant outlets across national, regional, local and specialist for PRs.  So, its success once again should be celebrated as radio is an essential channel in many great PR campaigns.

 

I’m going to hand over the rest of this blog to Steve Parkinson, MD, Bauer Radio London to give an inside-the-industry on why radio is a medium that is in a strong, exciting position in 2012.

 

STEVE PARKINSON, MD BAUER RADIO LONDON

I know journalists often hate the influx of “best ever” RAJAR press releases which descend after each new audience release, but it does feel like there can be some justified celebrations around many of the commercial radio board tables this week.

 

In terms of pure audience increases, it’s congratulations to the guys at Absolute who have increased their audience year on year by 26% from 2.2 million to 2.8 million. GMG and UTV have also seen 7% increases in audience to 5.6 million and 4.5 million respectively. Bauer’s seen an increase in both its Passion and Place portfolios to 13.3 million, and Global has seen a very slight decrease in audience year on year but is still out there with 19.4 million listeners.

 

In commercial radio we all no doubt have the ongoing discussions about how much advertising we can feature in any given hour, when the BBC carries none, other than its cross promotional might. I love the BBC as a consumer but we’ve got a fight on our hands when it comes to winning share off the ‘Giant with Deep Pockets’.

 

However, nonetheless it’s good to see that many of the commercial stations are giving it a damn good go.

 

In London, often seen as the shop window to the rest of the UK, it can only be beneficial for the radio industry to see Capital back at full strength with increases in reach and share, and a new breakfast duo leading the charge. With Magic beating Radio 2′s audience for the fourth time in three years, and Kiss celebrating record figures beating Radio 1′s audience again, these headlines can only add further reassurance to advertisers that radio is in a very healthy state, with some great platforms for clients to add to their media mix.

 

As an Aberdonian I have to remind some people that there is a world outside London. Whilst in England we take on the BBC in hand to hand combat, things are very different in Scotland, with Bauer stations surging ahead, each one taking number one position in their respective towns and cities, with breakfast shows also leading the markets, against commercial and BBC for audience reach. This often gets lost in the London led headlines and should be championed more.

 

Back in the big smoke and the battle at breakfast is going to be interesting this year. There’s Dave Berry at his new Capital table in pole position, Neil Fox is second and building his breakfast following to the detriment of Heart; and at a very close third Rickie, Melvin and Charlie are chipping away at Chris Moyles (with 25% more 15-34s preferring brekkie with Rickie and co than Chris). And let’s never forget how well Nick Ferrari does too at LBC with a healthy dose of commercial speech.

 

So plenty of choice on the menus this year – both for consumers and advertisers alike. Justifiably, a few reasons to be cheerful all round.

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