It’s time for magazines to reassert their place in today’s crowded media marketplace. At least that’s what some industry trade associations feel about it. The Magazine Publishers of America has hired a boutique ad agency to create a campaign designed to promote the power of print. It’s called “Under the Influence of Magazines.”
“The campaign comprises print and online advertisements as well as information on a Web site (magfacts.org). The goal is to show that advertising in magazines encourages consumers to consider buying products — a phenomenon known as purchase intent — and stimulates them to go online to shop or to learn more about items they might want to buy,” writes Stuart Elliott in the New York Times.
It’s not a laughing matter. According to data collected by the trade association, “the number of magazine ad pages dropped off 6.4 percent [during the first quarter of 2008] compared with the same period of 2007, then fell 8.2 percent in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of last year.”
The print ads will feature three prominent brands during its first phase (Adidas, Haagen-Dazs and Mini Cooper) and will appear in industry trade magazines such as Advertising Age and Brandweek
