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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
music and popular culture. The magazine has
undergone a major redesign and changes to
update its image and make it appealing to a
younger audience. The new Rolling Stone has
shorter articles, brighter colors, and less serious
news content. The Rock ‘n’ Roll section has been
expanded, with new subsections like “rock feuds,”
which highlights rock-star whining in convenient
sound-byte form. The Reviews section has been
broadened to regularly feature movies, books,
DVDs, video games, and music gadgets. The New
Releases section has been expanded to include
more CD reviews in each issue and compete with
Blender’s exhaustive review section. The
redesigned Rolling Stone uses more sidebars and
navigational aids like toolbars that emblazon
department titles across the pages it runs.
The CEO of another publishing company
equates the challenge facing Rolling Stone with
that facing Levi’s jeans, noting: “They are both
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12. Evaluation of Print
Media
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
iconic brands in their own sectors, but the biggest
challenge is to make sure folks don’t perceive Levi’s
as my father’s jeans and Rolling Stone as my
father’s magazine.” In the late 80s Rolling Stone
ran its now famous “Perception/reality” campaign,
which was successful in repositioning the publication
and changing advertisers’ image of the type of
person who reads the magazine. The goal of the
campaign was to convince advertisers that Rolling
Stone was not a “hippie magazine” read only by
those stuck in the 60s but rather that it reached a
well-educated and affluent audience and reflected
the changing attitudes, ideas, and lifestyles of people
who were changing the world. The challenge
facing Rolling Stone this time is different, as it
must now convince a new generation of young
people that it is still relevant to them.
Sources: “It’s Over 30; Can Rolling Stone Be Trusted?” Los Angeles
Times, Sept. 7, 2002, pp. F1, 5; Jon Fine, Rolling Stone Reinvents
Itself,” Advertising Age, Aug. 26, 2002, pp. 1, 19.
Magazines and newspapers have been advertising media for more than two centuries;
for many years, they were the only major media available to advertisers. With the
growth of the broadcast media, particularly television, reading habits declined. More
consumers turned to TV viewing not only as their primary source of entertainment but
also for news and information. But despite the competition from the broadcast media,
newspapers and magazines have remained important media vehicles to both consumers
and advertisers.
Thousands of magazines are published in the United States and throughout the
world. They appeal to nearly every specific consumer interest and lifestyle, as well as
to thousands of businesses and occupations. By becoming a highly specialized
medium that reaches specific target audiences, the magazine industry has prospered.
Newspapers are still the primary advertising medium in terms of both ad revenue and
number of advertisers. Newspapers are particularly important as a local advertising
medium for hundreds of thousands of retail businesses and are often used by large
national advertisers as well.
Magazines and newspapers are an important part of our lives. For many consumers,
newspapers are their primary source of product information. They would not
think of going shopping without checking to see who is having a sale or clipping
coupons from the weekly food section or Sunday inserts. Many people read a number
of different magazines each week or month to become better informed or simply
entertained. Individuals employed in various occupations rely on business magazines
to keep them current about trends and developments in their industries as well as in
business in general.
While most of us are very involved with the print media, it is important to keep in
mind that few newspapers or magazines could survive without the support of advertising
revenue. Consumer magazines generate an average of 47 percent of their revenues
from advertising; business publications receive nearly 73 percent. Newspapers generate
70 percent of their total revenue from advertising. In many cities, the number of
daily newspapers has declined because they could not attract enough advertising rev-