MPA Daily News Roundup

MPA Daily News Roundup, Feb. 21, 2012

The New York Times

The New York Times, Feb. 12, 2011
My Quotes:

“In luxury, paper is still king,” said Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi who tracks new magazines.

Chanel, Cartier and Porsche have all bought ads in the first issue of Bloomberg Pursuits; 29 of the magazine’s 72 pages are ads. “These advertisers view digital editions as a very disposable thing. You wave your hand and it’s gone,” Professor Husni said.

The New York Times

The New York Times, Feb. 10, 2012
My Quotes:

Ms. Coles’s Everywoman image has a special resonance in an industry that has grown weary of divas. The era of the superstar editor, ushered in by Tina Brown in the ’80s, during her tenure at Vanity Fair, is on the wane, said Samir A. Husni, a magazine consultant and professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. “That period ended with the start of the social media, when anybody who could put 140 characters together thought of themselves as a journalist,” he said, adding, that in the future, the brand, not its editor, will captivate readers and advertisers.

“The editor as a mini-god, someone nobody dares to enter the elevator with,” he said, “her day is long gone.”

Digital Now 2012 Conference

Digital Now: Association Leadership in a Digital Age, digital NOW Conference, April 25 – 28, 2012.
I will be speaking at the aforementioned conference on April 26. Check for details here.
My session:

From Content Providers to Experience Makers: Creating New Value Through Publishing
Presenter: Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D., Magazine Innovation Center, Meek School of Journalism and New Media, The University of Mississippi

As mobile technologies provide your members with unlimited access to unlimited content, how can your association compete? Simply by making the leap from just content providers to experience makers. Face it – creating content doesn’t deliver the value it once did; almost anyone can do it. Your opportunity to differentiate your association is in your ability to humanize the experience your members-customers have with the content you deliver. Join Samir Husni, Ph.D. (aka “Mr. Magazine™”) director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, The University of Mississippi for this engaging presentation about the importance of humanizing the total member-customer experience.

Learning outcomes

Discover why continued relevance for your association depends on your ability to recognize that you are in the business of building an intimate brand.
Learn about the importance of “falling in love” with your members again.
Hear stories about entities that have created customer engagement methods that are relevant, sufficient, and desirable.

Who should attend?
Leaders who are charged with developing new business and revenue models, and who are facing competition for member time, attention, and loyalty.

min: media industry newsletter

min: media industry newsletter, Jan. 30. 2012

DAVID CAREY TELLS SAMIR HUSNI WHAT MAKES HIM SLEEPLESS IN SCARSDALE.
We learn that Hearst Magazines president (since June 2010) Carey is a believer in the late, great Hall of Fame pitcher Leroy (“Satchel”) Paige’s famous Don’t Look Back. Something might be gaining on you with this answer to Magazine Innovation Group founder (August 2009)/University of Mississippi journalism professor Husni’s What keeps you up all night?
from a recent interview:
Well, in our case, we are so fortunate to work at Hearst…this great company at this moment in time, but I do know that everyday in scores of the proverbial garages, in Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley, you have entrepreneurs who wake up wanting to take down News Corp., Advance [Condé Nast], Time Warner, and Hearst, and they do so fearlessly, and they do so by not following normal rules and orthodoxies of what can and can’t be done. So, the only thing that I really worry about is we have to compete not against the other big multinationals, I think we know how to do that, we have to compete against a swarm of entrepreneurs; so how can we have a company of enormous scale, but have that scale aid us and not get in the way.
That’s what we think of everyday, how to be large and nimble, blessed with so much talent with the ability to move fast. If we can achieve that, then that’s a significant accomplishment.

Missouri Association of Publications

Missouri Association of Publications, Jan. 27, 2012
I have been asked and I have accepted to headline the annual Missouri Association of Publications, June 13 – 14, 2012 in Columbia, MO.
The Quote:

Mark your calendars now for the 2012 MAP Summer Conference, June 13-14, at the Courtyard by Marriott Columbia, featuring a keynote address by and the opportunity for one-on-one consultations with Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D. Registration will open in February; room block cut-off is May 15. Sponsorships are available.

CDS Global

CDS Global blog, Jan. 26, 2012
A summary of my interview with David Carey.

In a recent interview conducted by Mr. Magazine (Samir Husni – @MrMagazine), David Carey (@CareyAtHearst), president of Hearst Magazines shared his views on the future of publishing, the ongoing print vs. digital debate and what keeps him up at night.

As a marketer focused on the publishing industry, the interview provided valuable insight into Hearst’s approach the future of publishing related to both print and digital.

Key highlights of the interview include:
- Successful Launch of New Title – HGTV Magazine – This property had an overwhelmingly positive consumer response in its initial launch in late 2011. Success of this new title can arguably derived from changes in the housing market, increased consumer interest in DIY design projects and most importantly filling what Carey mentioned as “whitespace” in the market for a publication dedicated to home improvement topics. As ratings increased for HGTV in the television market, moving into the magazine publishing arena was a highly lucrative move for both Hearst and the broadcasting channel.

- New Devices – Carey mentioned that this has both enhanced and increased the level of consumer consumption. Not to mention, this takes the friction out of the customer experience – consumers can easily download publications directly to their tablets for immediate consumption, which isn’t available through newsstand or print subscriptions.

- Marketability of Archived Content – Hearst reported that 30 percent of their single copy sales come from archived content. This provides an incredible opportunity to move into the backlist market – a traditional strategy of book publishers that can now be translated to the magazine publishing industry.

- Digital is not a threat to print – Carey mentioned that digital is viewed as a new opportunity rather than a threat to print. When embracing a digital strategy, publishers should consider digital editions and replicas as just another part of their overall marketing mix with print, online, products and other methods to extend their brand(s) in the marketplace.

The most important piece of the interview that I found most compelling is related to what keeps David Carey up at night. Carey relayed that the fact that his organization is now in competition with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs brings a new channel for them to consider in their competitive landscape. While this is a group of nontraditional competitors for magazine publishers to consider, this pushes large publishers like Hearst, Time Inc., Meredith and Conde Nast to operate in a “large and nimble” atmosphere with the ability to move quickly under pressure.

Overall, I would highly recommend watching the full interview included below as it drives new insight and expert opinion regarding the future of the magazine publishing industry.

Des Moines Register

Des Moines Register, Jan. 25, 2012
My Quotes:

As it continues its push, magazine media consultants and analysts say they would be hard-pressed to think of another stretch such as Meredith’s.

Samir Husni runs the industry tracking site Mr. Magazine and teaches at the University of Mississippi’s Magazine Innovation Center.

“I’ve never seen anybody as aggressive as what they are doing,” said Husni, who has followed or taught about the industry since 1984. “People are going to say they are either crazy or they are hot. I would err on the side of saying they are hot.”

Husni said Meredith’s location has also worked to its advantage, as moves made by the company tend to fly under the radar.

“The best thing is, being in Des Moines in the Midwest, they can do things cheaper and quieter,” he said. “They have always been the little engine that could, but now they are becoming the bigger engine that could. It is really amazing.”

The Media Briefing

The Media Briefing, Jan. 25, 2012

Summary
The man who believes in newspapers is putting his money where his mouth is. Jack Haire, CEO of Parade Publications, publisher of the mother of all newspaper-distributed-magazines, Parade, and its newest sibling, Dash, has managed to do what only a few managed in this “digital age”: he increased the circulation of one of America’s already largest circulated ink on paper magazines.

Publishing Executive magazine

Publishing Executive magazine, Jan. 24, 2012

David Carey is the eternal optimist. The president of Hearst Magazines has his fingers on the pulse of the magazine industry. His prescription for an industry’s cure was outlined in his New Year’s letter to Hearst employees in which he stressed the need and importance of both the ink on paper and the pixels on the screen new magazine media business model.

I had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Carey last week in his office on the 43rd Floor of the Hearst Tower on 8th Ave. in New York City….

Read Full Article…
Source: Mr. Magazine