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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 12-3
410
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
12. Evaluation of Print
Media
Proving That Magazine Ads Work
For years magazine publishers focused most of their
attention on selling ads in their magazines and devoted
less attention to proving the ads were effective. At
many magazines, efforts at measuring effectiveness
were often limited to tracking consumer response to
800 numbers that appeared in print ads. However, the
carefree days are over as many new advertising media
have emerged, such as niche-oriented cable TV networks,
narrowly targeted radio stations, and the Internet.
Moreover, there are more than twice as many
magazines competing for media dollars as there were a
decade ago. With so many media options available, marketers
now want tangible proof that magazine advertising
is effective and can build brand awareness, help
position a brand, or actually deliver sales.
Magazines have typically promised advertisers
exposure or access to a well-defined audience such as
fashion-conscious young women, sports-obsessed
men, or automotive buffs. However, advertisers want
evidence of more than exposure. They want proof that
seeing an ad for Calvin Klein jeans in Cosmo makes
readers more likely to spend $80 to buy them or that
placing an ad for a Volkswagen Jetta in Rolling Stone
helps the brand stick in consumers’ minds long
enough to influence their next auto purchase. The
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
executive vice president of Conde Naste Publications,
Inc., which publishes popular titles such as Vogue, GQ,
Glamour, and Vanity Fair, says: “Twenty years ago, our
only obligation to advertisers was to gather people
who would see the ad. Now we must prove the ad actually
does something. Sometimes, that’s possible;
sometimes it’s not.”
Magazines increasingly have to compete against
media that can provide evidence that their ads do
indeed do something. For example, the Internet can
show accountability instantly because consumers’
movements and purchases can be tracked through
their mouse clicks. And with new digital technology,
television sets will soon become transactional tools,
allowing consumers to order information and goods
right from their sofas with a remote control. Magazines
can ill afford to wait any longer to prove that
they work.
The magazine industry is taking steps to address
the accountability issue. The industry’s lead trade
group, Magazine Publishers of America (MPA),
recently spent half a million dollars investigating ways
to prove magazine effectiveness. One of the group’s
studies found that boosting ad spending in magazines
increased short-term sales of products and also generated
more sales over time. Sales increased among
magazine-exposed households for 8 of the 10 brands
measured. Individual magazines are also trying to
prove how advertising in their pages can help build a
brand or move the sales needle. Another phase of the
study found a significant relationship between advertising
awareness and purchase intention. Moreover,
awareness attributed to a combination of both television
and magazines was most strongly related to positive
changes in purchase intention. This “media
multiplier” effect occurs because the heavy magazine
reader is traditionally a light TV viewer and magazines
deliver a new audience when added to a heavy TV
schedule and can also help build frequency.
Consumers’ loyalty to magazines and their willingness
to spend uninterrupted, focused time with them
has always been a powerful selling point for the
medium. Now, however, magazines must prove that
their connection with readers will generate sales for
the companies that advertise in them. As Chris Miller,
the MPA’s head of marketing, notes: “One of the most
important questions for this industry is the bottomline
question—does it drive sales?”
Source: Wendy Bounds, “Magazines Seek to Demonstrate Efficacy
of Ads,” The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 12, 1999, pp. B1, 3. Magazine
Publishers of America, “Documenting the Effectiveness of Magazines
in the Media Mix,” www.magazine.org.