Print versus Online – Pay versus Advertising

Back in August I commented about the Deloitte & Touche report call “The State of Media Democracy” and how it didn’t seem to say very much of interest. I have just discovered this chart on eMarketer that quotes data from the report about the choices of different age groups for print, online and paying for content or being forced to watch ads.

For most of the questions there doesn’t appear to be any meaningful difference between the generations. The only distinct trend is the preference for paying for news content rather than watching ads. Amazingly it goes in the opposite direction to what I would have guessed. The older you get the more willing you are to put up with ads. I really do find that hard to believe. Dick Stroud

You can have too many inserts

My Saga magazine has just thumped through the letterbox. As I opened the wrapping a pile of inserts fell onto the floor. And when I say pile I mean a pile. See the photo.

I have always had my doubts about the effectiveness of magazine inserts. I have major doubts when the insert total is thirteen items. The temptation is to bundle the whole lot of them directly into the waste bin. This definitely a case of where more does not mean better.

Saga is responsible for 4 of these items trying to sell me:
Health insurance
Motor Insurance
Product likes mobility scooters and stairlifts. They sent me an extra one of these.

Then there are the promotional items from companies. These were promoting:
Hearing aids
Beef (yes, fresh beef)
Fashions for the 50-plus (two of these)
Eye Glasses
Which (The consumer magazine)
Furniture covers
A utility company
Gadgets

Why have I taken your time to read this list and my time to type it? Ask yourself this: if you were a brand manager, for multi-age international brand, would you want to be associated with this assortment of stuff?

Well, fortunately for Saga there are a few that do. The magazine had full page ads from Hertz, Peugot, L’Oreal, Bose, Benecol and Shredded Wheat.

I know Saga walks a tightrope between trying to appeal to global brands and paying the bills from day to day age-silo products. This is not a simple task.

But, the one thing it can do something about is the excessive number of inserts. It doesn’t do the image of the magazine any good and it is ineffectual adverting. Dick Stroud

A boomer magazine from Martha?

I noticed an article in Adage that suggests that Martha Stewart might launch a magazine targeted at Boomer women. How much of this inside knowledge and how much results from the doldrums of a low-news August I have no idea.

This quote from the article gets to the nub of the issue.

One point that media buyers raise is that magazines revolving around their readers' ages aren't necessarily the most compelling; age itself is rarely a point of passion. People interested in fashion will read Vogue or Harper's Bazaar for decades; travel addicts are going to dive into Travel & Leisure or Condé Nast Traveler over and over.

It also goes beyond old vs. young. Lifestyle is playing a role in how the category evolves. Certain advertisers are going to need to continue reaching sub-segments within age demographics determined by their interests and needs.

So Martha, do you feel lucky? Well, do ya? Dick Stroud

The Boomer Time Line.

This and the previous blog post are about the same thing – an insight into the past.

Austerity Britain does it with few pictures and 700 pages of text; The Boomer Time Line does it with no words and mass of imagery.

The timeline’s creator realized that the Boomers are the first generation to be shaped by a barrage of images. In an e-mail to me he said

Most generations of humanity were shaped by the events around them. News was the gathering of persons from the points on a compass. Opinions and thoughts on life were shaped by the written word or verbal recitations of events. Most of humanity was shaped in a time of no film, or TV, and marketing was limited to trading. The Boomer generation caught the first onslaught of images from mature mixed media.

That onslaught of images has shaped us all. Thus the Boomer time line of images is born.

The idea is that visitors can define what the pictures mean to them, Wikipedia style.

I can see a lot of applications for this project. I know its creators would like to hear from people with their ideas.

Forget the web site’s design (it is very much a beta site) and just focus on the amazing wealth of imagery that has been collected. Send your e-mails to MaltaInc@aol.com Dick Stroud

I’ll have what he’s having

This ad from Specsavers appeared in today’s Telegraph. If he is 60+ my wife says she wants to swap! Dick Stroud

Eat your heart out Saga

I like dealing with the Dutch. Maybe it is because the Brits and the Dutch have a very similar sense of humour.

I have just returned from New York where I was speaking at an event staged by Bayard Press, the publisher of Plus magazine. This magazine is published in the Netherlands, Belgium and has just been launched in Sweden. Brent Green was the keynote speaker at the Swedish launch and has posted a great video on his blog.

I was joined in New York by Chuck Nyren and some other fascinating people involved in the 50-plus market. Laurel Kennedy of Age Lessons, John McMenniman (former president of the US’s Advertising Hall of Fame), John Migliaccio, Susan Silver, Mary Duffy, and Peter Himler.

A few facts. Plus claims 1.4 million readers and has a monthly circulation of 320,000. 60% of its readers are under 65 years old and 40% are men.

Saga has a monthly readership of 1,205,000 and a circulation figure of 610,771.

Remember that the UK has 4 times as many 50-75 year-olds than the Netherlands.

The biggest difference between the magazines is the quality of the advertising. Plus is laden with multinational brand advertising, something that is still a bit of a rarity in Saga.

Even though I cannot read a word of the Netherlands version of Plus it has a much more appealing and light feel than Saga.

If there are any Saga people reading this blog I reckon it would be worth taking out a subscription to Plus. Dick Stroud

The Economist pushes its luck

The full inside back page of the Economist had this advertisement. The purpose of the ad was to publicise an Economist study about the EU.

I think it is amusing – just. When you think that the average age of Economist readers in the US is 47 years and in the Europe it is a sprightly 45 years. Worldwide over half of its readers are 45+.

Maybe people who read the Economist are fearful of the future, need its words of wisdom because of their self doubt and spend too much time reading magazines and hence increase in size. Word of advice – don’t push your luck too much further. Dick Stroud

Another ‘exclusive’ discount for the over-50 (ish)

Amongst the pile of stuff that fell out of my Economist magazine this week was this item from Standard Life.

Good to see that one of the stalwarts of the British Finance industry is targeting the 50-plus. Not the most eye-watering creative I have ever seen but it does the job. Dick Stroud

RIAS gets a new agency

I bet the staff at Watson Phillips Norman are celebrating having just won the £10m customer acquisition and retention and brand development account for over-50s insurer RIAS as sole agency.

RIAS, established in 1992, has been leading the way (after SAGA) in capturing the over-50s insurance for home, motor, travel and pet insurance and now has over 880,000 customers.

It will be interesting to see how the RIAS brand develops – well at least we know who to blame or congratulate. Dick Stroud

Stannah’s newspaper advertising 1/2

This Saturday’s Telegraph (one of the UK’s most popular newspapers, especially with the 50-plus) contained a full page ad from Stannah, the stair lift people.

Most of the page was white space, with a stair lift in the left hand corner and the imagery shown in this and the next blog item.

It doesn’t work for me. Would the copy and imagery make me pick the up the phone, as is clearly the intention? Note the telephone number extension to track the calls from the ad.

I feel that in this and in the television ads (covered in previous blogs postings), Stannah is being so ultra cautious that it runs the risk of melting into the background. It will not cause any ripples but maybe not that many new orders.

Advertising is such a subjective thing that I would welcome comments from the readers of this blog. Dick Stroud