Shannon Hessen M.A. Final Project

glossy the not so

future of

An analysis of today’s magazine industry & what Southern Living can do to save itself from the inevitable

Shannon Hessen Savannah College of Art & Design M.A. Luxury and Fashion Managment Final Project

a

bstract

T

he same magazines that were once thought of as the bibles of the fashion and lifestyle industry are now being described as irrelevant. The digital age has slowly taken over the market share that magazines once held and there’s conflicting feelings towards print. While the numbers of customers and titles on the newsstand has steadily decreased, celebrities and designers alike still fight for their space on the pages. With so much heritage and brand awareness, magazines need to find a way to reinvent themselves to ensure their legacy. This M.A. final project will take a closer look into the magazine industry with an in-depth analysis of the current magazine industry, market, and consumer today. After an initial analysis, the project will use this knowledge and apply it to Southern Living Magazine, a title that has strong roots, loyal readers, and like many print magazines, it is struggling with their unknown future. Using the analysis, a new strategy for Southern Living is created with the goal of introducing new content, increasing the number of millennial readers, increasing revenue, creating new ways to interact with consumers, as well as rethinking the visual aspect of the magazine. This M.A. final project proves that amidst the fragmented print and media world today, magazines are viable mediums. Overall, this project shines light on the not so glossy future of the magazine industry today and how Southern Living magazine can turn their future from dire to dynamic.

CONT table of

START

PART ONE

PART TWO

Abstract

3

Magazine Industry

12

Southern Living

45

Introduction

6

Magazine Market

22

History

46

Magazine Consumer

36

Consumer

58

Social Media Audit

61

Future Outlook

90

SWOT

95

Marketing Mix

97

Competitors

98

4

ENTS PART THREE

PART FOUR

END

Primary Research

105

Key Findings

117

Timeline

184

Survey

107

Goal

129

Costing

186

Industry Interview

112

Objectives

129

Conclusion

189

Works Cited

190

Strategy & Initiatives 131

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W

introduction

hile headlines globally have all proclaimed, “print is dead” in one form or another, there is always more to the story than the bolded words on the top of the page. The common belief today is that consumers prefer shiny screens over glossy covers, which is why many believe the digital age is slowly taking over the market share magazines once held. However, change is a constant in any industry, and new headlines now proclaiming, “print is changing” are starting to become more common. With more than 200 new magazine launches in from October 2016 to December 2017, the problem may lie in the approach rather than the medium (Henessy).

There is an inherent value in print that digital can’t recreate. Established magazine titles carry history and heritage, but despite naysayers, many still value that today. Southern Living, a 50-year-old publication, was founded in 1966 in Birmingham, Alabama with the goal of shining a positive light on the southern region. With a current print reach of 16 million, there is still room for the magazine to grow and innovate by implementing new strategies. Emphasizing the importance of history, this project will stay committed to fulfilling Southern Living’s mission of celebrating “the essence of the South, covering the best in Southern food, home,

travel, and style” (“About Us”).

This M.A. final project boldly publishes the headline that while digital may be a reason behind innovation; print is far from dead.

Lifestyle magazines continue to gain new market share and prove the front-page accusations wrong. This final project dives deeper into the print industry, providing an analysis of the magazine industry, market, and consumer. Upon compilation of this information, it will then be applied to the heritage magazine brand, Southern Living. With strong roots, loyal readers, and room for growth, this project suggests specific methods and strategies for the brand to implement to ensure their future legacy. It further explains and visually illustrates how these new strategies will benefit the brand as well as the consumer.

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7

cont.

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his project will begin with an introduction to the topic with an in-depth analysis of the magazine industry, market, and consumer today. Next, an introduction into the Southern Living brand and how the magazine originated. Southern Living’s history will be critical in order to understand their roots and the mission of the magazine today.

Other relevant Southern Living background information that is critical to this rebrand such as their mission statement, company statistics, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, their marketing mix, competitors, consumers, magazine design, advertisements, public relations, and their future outlook will also be explained. The project will then walk the reader through the primary research done that was conducted in order to better under stand the Southern Living consumer and industry today. Understanding what the customer wants and what industry experts are saying is crucial to any brands success; therefore, the next section will include an analysis of the key findings from the consumer’s survey as well as interviews with industry experts. Lastly, the project will include a future strategy explaining the specifics of what Southern Living can do to improve their print magazine.

This strategy will explain new ways for the publication to increase the quality of their advertisers, how to capitalize on social media, new ways the brand can interact with millennial consumers through fresh new content and columns, ideas how to incorporate the newest technologies, how to increase the quality of the magazine, incorporate new events and activates, and propose new collaborations. In order to explain how to integrate some of these changes into the Southern Living print magazine, the last part of the project will contain visual examples of new design techniques integrated into the pages of Southern Living. Overall, this M.A. final project shines light on the not so glossy future of the magazine industry today and how Southern Living magazine can turn their future from dire to dynamic.

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one part

Magazine Industry Magazine Market Magazine Consumer

industry J

ames Truman, the former “crown prince” of Condé Nast Magazine Publishing empire was quoted offering this sentiment about the beloved magazine industry he made his career out of: “I think magazines are going to be somewhat like department stores. They’ll stay in business, but you’ll wonder why, since you get everything in them from other places, usually with a better customer experience” (Abrahamson). The unpopular truth, is that print magazines, at least how we know them today, are dying a slow, painful, and drawn out death. Ink and paper, the materials that are synonymous with print magazines, are dissolving into digital pixels and bytes.

As print and media companies metamorphose into something new in the coming decades, magazines will adopt new strategies more fitting for the modern day consumer.

Magazines will be put under the microscope and compared to other print mediums.

Abrahmson writes that magazines will soon realize they “reside in what may be considered a “privileged position,” more detailed and interpretive than newspapers, but somewhat less reflective and comprehensive, yet more accessible than books” (Abrahmson). As the

stakes grow and the ability to stay relevant on the newsstands becomes more difficult, titles that once felt unstoppable are going to be feeling uncertain.

As 2017 came to a close, four top editors at four different titles, within just a few weeks of each other, all departed the magazine industry (Neuhaus). None of which mentioned moving onto new titles, instead, moving onto new sectors outside of print. With editors exiting, budgets dwindling, and the future of print unknown, audiences are confused and not sure what to make of the situation. While many hold on to hope that this chatter surrounding the demise of magazines is simply talk, the widely held opinion is transforming into fact, supported with statistics.

Looking at the big picture, magazine sales have dropped from 103 million in December of 2014 to 75 million by the end of 2016 (Dossier: Magazine Industry). As a result, global magazine publishing revenues are also expected to see a steady decline of -0.5% over the coming years from US$68.43bn in 2015 to US$66.62bn in 2020 (Bothun).

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Number of Magazines in the US from 2002 to 2016 8000 7,383

7,118 7000

6,734

6,809

7,110

7,163

7,179

2009

2010

2011

7,390

7,240

7,289

7,293

2013

2014

2015

7,216

6,325

6,234

Number of Magazines

6000 5,340 5000

4000

3000

2000

1000 0 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2012

2016

While revenues are falling, the number of U.S. magazines has surprisingly stayed fairly consistent, even slightly growing recently. Since 2008 the number of magazines in the U.S. has varied between 7,100 and 7,300 with 7,216 in 2018 (Dossier: Magazine Industry). The Association of Magazine Media reported in their 2018-2019 factbook that “the top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 prime time shows. And despite generational differences, magazines consumption is strong” (Patterson).

Today, the largest magazine publishers and key players in the industry are feeling those statistics hit hard; the three biggest being Meredith Corporation, Hearst Publications, and Condé Nast.

Each of which own a large variety of media companies including news outlets, numerous magazines and publications. However, with Meredith’s new acquisition of Time Inc. Meredith and Hearst together now “control nearly half of all the newsstands in the United States” (Silber).

Meredith Corporation, the proud new owner of Time Inc., and competitor of Hearst and Condé Nast, has a history dating back 115 years (“Company Profile”). Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Meredith heavily focuses on lifestyle and home magazines targeted at women. The company owns some of the most popular

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cont.

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publications such as People Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Steward Living, Time, Allrecipes, Real Simple, InStyle, Magnolia Journal, Sports Illustrated, and Southern Living (“Our Brands”). With a large portfolio of lifestyle publications Meredith’s “media group reaches more than 110 million unduplicated women every month, including more than 70 percent of U.S. Millennial women” (“Company Profile”). Despite the fact that Meredith is doing slightly better than it’s New York City competitors, Hearst and Condé Nast, they also reported a slight decline in their print revenue in it’s most recent fiscal year (Ember).

Hearst Magazines, another power player in the magazine publishing industry is headquarter in New York City and has a heritage lasting 131 years. Today the publishing companies owns 360 businesses in wide variety of categories including cable television networks, medical information and services, software, newspapers, and magazines (“Hearst About Us”). Looking more specifically at their magazine portfolio, Hearst owns more than 300 magazines around the world, making them one of the largest magazine publishers (“Hearst Magazines”). 25 of those titles are U.S. based while the brand also owns close to 300 international editions as well (“Hearst Magazines”). Some of Hearst’s most known publications include Good Housekeeping, Bazaar, HGTV Magazine, Marie Claire, O Magazine, Town & Country, Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Seventeen (“Hearst Magazines”).

as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ, Allure, Condé Nast Traveler, Wired, W, and Brides (“Condé Nast About”).

However, looking at specific publications rather than just publishing companies, the top ten largest individual players as of July 2018, based on the average monthly audience of both print and digital, are as followed; AARP, People, Better Homes & Garden, National Geographic, Good Housekeeping, Readers Digest, Time, Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, and Southern Living (“Top Ten Lists”). If you look at average monthly audience growth percentage however, the list as of July 2018 would be as followed; Motorcyclist, AFAR, This Old House, Harper’s Bazaar, HGTV Magazine, Car Craft, Diabetic Living, O Magazine, Outside, and Men’s Journal (“Top Ten Lists”). One last way to look at the top performing publications is to rank them based on overall audience numbers.

As of July 2018, the ten magazines with the biggest audiences are; ESPN The Magazine, People, WebMD Magazine, Allrecipes, AARP, Time, Better Homes and Garden, Cosmopolitian, Good Housekeeping, and National Geographic (“Brand Rankings”).

These rankings are just a fraction of the way magazines can be analyzed. Success of a magazine publications can be measured in a variety of ways including statistics based on circulation, digital replica circulation, revenue by platform, overall revenue, as well as annual growth rates (Dossier: Magazine Industry). Some titles that specifically standout today include Entrepreneur, which was named the fastest U.S. magazine publisher Condé Nast was growing magazine brand in the U.S. in founded in 1909 and is also headquartered 2017 (Dossier: Magazine Industry). Town in New York City. As a premier media & Country as well as Popular Science and company “renowned for producing the W, were also both leading publications in highest quality content for the world’s most the category of fastest growing magazine influential audiences” Condé Nast attracts brands (Dossier: Magazine Industry). These more than 144 million consumers (“Condé leading magazines continue to push forward Nast About”). The company is a leader in through the uncertain times and find new, print, digital, and video and is known for innovate ways of growing their reach and

some of the most iconic publications such expanding their customers.

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cont.

Since print magazine’s inception, in the 1890s, magazines have always relied on the same two revenue streams: glossy volumes with high priced ads and subscription fees (Ember). With a business model that was created over 100 years ago is it realistic to believe that this model can last another 100 years? The Association of Magazine Media’s (AMM) recent study found out that the time left using that strategy may be waning. The AMM reported that magazine advertisement spending by the 50 largest magazine titles fell to $6.1 billion in 2017 from $6.5 billion in 2016 (Hays). While the advertising buying firm, Magna, projects that the print magazine ad sales will fall an additional 13% in 2018 (Ember). However, when you compare these statistics to other vessels of advertisements, print is projected to account for a majority of the magazine spending vs. digital (Dossier: Magazine Industry). It is predicted that in 2018, print magazine advertising spending is forecast to amount to 15.23 billion U.S. dollars, while digital magazine ad spend is expected to stand at 4.34 billion U.S. dollars during the same period (“Advertising Market in the U.S.”).

In total however, 12.5 billion U.S. dollars were invested into consumer magazine advertising in the U.S. in 2016 with the leading magazine advertiser to be French beauty company, L’Oréal, spending 698.5 million (Dossier: Magazine Industry).

With mixed statistics defining the future of the magazine industry, it is becoming increasingly clear that magazine publishers cannot rely on this age-old strategy of relying on ads. While magazines may not be able to rely on advertising for a large part of their revenue publishing companies are getting creative and offering new types of advertising deals to their advertisers. Bothun reports that there is currently “a strategic shift that’s

emerging…within magazines…mov[ing] away from business models founded on publishing a set of separate titles, and towards selling an audience demographics to advertisers… including multiple titles in both print and digital formats” (Bothun). This new custom approach on advertising sells offers the advertisers a more holistic approach and allows them to directly target the specific audience they’re trying to reach through many of the brand’s established platforms.

With this new method, magazines are able to better compete with digital ads where they are able to better select who sees the ad.

While this is one way magazines are attempting to compete with advertiser giants such as Facebook and Google, “innovation and diversification will continue to be key for magazine sales houses, and should run throughout the business” (Cranston). This diversification of influence into digital media has its positives and negatives. On the positives, it gives the company another outlet to create ad space therefore creating another source of revenue, however, it simultaneously weakens the value of the print ad. Digital ads are becoming more valuable because the greater level of control the buyer has over the ad and in addition the lower prices of the digital ads are making the high prices of print ads increasingly unrealistic. A side-by-side comparison of print and digital ads confirms this fact. Abrahamson reports that “the median cost-per-thousand for a one-time, one-page, advertisement in an American consumer magazine today is approximately $140: that is, $140 for every thousand readers who had purchased the magazine. In comparison, the average equivalent on the web is less than half a cent” (Abrahamson). With this math, it makes it hard for buyers to continue to see the value in print ads today.

Fastest Growing Magazine Brands in the US in 2017 0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

Entrepeneur

45.0%

39%

Town & Country

34.4%

24.5%

Popular Science

W

23.6%

Veranda

22.1%

Year-on-year audience growth rate

Magazine Advertising Spending in the US from 2013 to 2018, by platform (in billions U.S. dollars) Print

16

15.13

15.09

Digital

15.23

15.15

15.1

15.05

Spending in billion U.S. dollars

14

12

10 8

6 4

3.52

3.98

3.77

4.21

4.08

4.34

2 0

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

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cont.

Projected Global Spending by Category in US billions

Print & Digital Magazine Revenue (US Million), 2015- 2020 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

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SHIFT TO DIGITAL While expenditures for traditional, nondigital media, such as consumer print magazines or newspapers has continued to decline, analyst Bagchi of McKinsey & Company, after studying the industry believes that by 2019 “digital will account for more than 50 percent of overall total media” (Bagchi). The rapid shift to digital is partially due to the number of connected users on these digital platforms and the growing number of smart phones. On this chart you can see the projected global spending by category and compare the spending of consumer magazine publishing vs. the number spending on digital advertising.

It’s hard to predict if consumers will get more comfortable with the idea of spending money on digital magazines. Consumers tend to enjoy getting something physical in return when they spend any part of their budget. However, regardless of how hard digital magazines may be to sell, there are few benefits of digitizing magazines that print cannot compete with. Those things are “(1) the effective removal of most space limitations, (2) the new display architectures required by new display formats, (3) the added value offered by hyperlinks and archival materials, and (4) the promise of inveracity” (Abrahamson). Magazines have to continue to evolve as rapidly as technology and their consumers evolve. Innovating and coming up with new ideas to reach their customers is key to lasting success, explains Norton the chief business officer and president of revenue at Condé Nast, “we have to adapt the way in which our content gets delivered” (Fine). Competitor, Hearst Corporations has a relatively similar strategy as the president and marketing publishing director; Michael Clinton said, “we don’t care where the point of entry is- just that she is engaging with the brand. The beauty of digital is that we have multiple ways of connecting with audiences” (Fine).

However, with all that being said, as many magazines turn to digital content as the solution it may not solve all their problems.

The revenues from digital platforms will fail to make up for the loss of print sales; proving digital content is harder to convert into revenue. Transforming your title to purely digital, just as Condé Nast did with Glamour UK, can be just as much as a risk (Cranston).

Bothum explains that “the difficulty of monetizing digital magazines means digital growth will not make up for print losses- and while digital revenue will grow steadily, it will still make up only 30% of total consumer magazine revenue in 2020, up from 16% in 2015” (Bothum). Part of the slow transition Despite the fact there are multiple channels over to digital is because consumers have and platforms for magazines to share their proved to be reluctant to spend money on content on today, it is evident that the days digital magazines or content, mainly because of the early 90s where magazine editors most prefer having the ability hold a physical told society what to wear, what to watch, copy. In a world today where users are so who to read have faded into the dust. Social used to have the ability to go to any website media has made it possible for everyone to and receive the content for free, consumers influence each other rather than just the struggle to justify spending any amount on one-way conversation that once occurred. digital content. As a result of all of this, it’s Magazines today need to rediscover how to harder for digital magazines to sell ad space gain back their audiences’ attention to prove because of the smaller number of paid users. their relevance in the market by finding a This graph compares the print and digital balance of exploiting their print platforms magazine revenue from 2015 and predicts while simultaneously using their digital one. the future of both through 2020.

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cont.

Future Predictions Speaking to the future of magazines, the industry is starting to see new trends appear throughout different titles that could prove to be lasting fixes for some of the current problems. While it’s a hard for some to accept, it’s becoming increasingly clear that publishing houses can no longer put all their eggs in one basket and rely solely on the print medium.

Producing different content on new forms of media will allow for multiple revenue streams and provide a more sustainable solution. Some of these new areas include moving into the video, events, and the paid-for product arena, all are seen as another way of expanding their brand influence (Bothun). Cranston reports that current publishing houses “need to be brave and front the investment for such initiatives. While innovation in print is still absolutely necessary to keep that part of the industry healthy, publishing companies must explore other options to make up for lost revenue.

information of clear perceived value to a definable readership who is (1) willing to pay for the information, (2) on whom advertisers want to focus their market efforts” on (Abrahamson).

Magazines publishers that understand the Special Theory of Magazines and execute based upon those things, “are likely to not just survive but flourish,” Abrahamson reports (Abrahamson). Understanding this theory, incorporating it, and integrating some of these trends will help a magazine stay relevant and up to date.

The future of magazines, Emma Cranston boldly states, “produce professionally crafted and trusted content, which is brilliantly relevant and taps into key moments of people’s lives in a way no other media can do. There is enough research, digital expertise, rich data and innovation for magazine media to succeed and grow in 2018.” Amidst the fragmented print and media world today, magazines are viable mediums of media. Due to their legacy, The Special Theory of Magazines states that level of trust from consumers, and deep “the dominant form for magazine success in heritage the print medium will continue to print or online, or both, is to provide specific survive during this digital age.

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“

Produce professionally crafted and trusted content, which is brilliantly relevant and taps into key moments of people’s lives in a way no other media can do. There is enough research, digital expertise, rich data and innovation for magazine media to succeed and grow in 2018.

”

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market

Trends in the Market

W

ith revenues in the billions, there’s no denying that there’s still a booming business in the print magazine market.

However, there needs to be improvement and a strategy in place to ensure that revenue continues, if not grows. Publications need to strategically figure out how to capitalize off of the volatile environment and innovate a product that resonates with the new generations. This analysis evaluates the current status of the U.S. magazine market and provides insight into what trends, markets, partnerships, emerging markets and the categories succeeding in the magazine market today.

Some of the larger, heritage magazine corporations have continuously been working to combat the current problems in the industry.

Titles are turning to new revenue streams such

as putting a large focus on digital, creating their own products, branded merchandise and giving their readers new, unexpected experiences (Fine). Multi-platform marketing strategies, encompassing both traditional and new mediums, are the reality for any brand today. Large publishing houses are focused on continuous innovation that leads to increased reach. These new strategies attempted have brought about new trends in today’s market that are resonating with some of the biggest of brands.

One of the largest trends seen today is magazine publishers extending their reach into selling physical merchandise. As ad revenues wan, media companies are turning to new ways to generate revenue and connect with customers.

Sports Illustrated has a new collection of swim

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and active apparel that became available in early 2018 in order to expand their brand’s reach (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). In order to successfully launch the collection the magazine hosted a runway show in Miami during Swim Week in July of 2017 where models showed off the new collection as well as iconic suits from past covers (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

Vogue, one of the most known fashion magazines in the world, recently celebrated their 150th anniversary by launching a variety of collaborations (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

Together with Karl Lagerfeld, the two brands created a range of summer dresses that were available at department store Lord & Taylor (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Vogue also partnered up with Soludos to create a small sandal collection (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

In August of 2016, People StyleWatch created a

collection of accessories with jewelry retailer, Charming Charlie (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

The collection was designed jointly and was available online and in stores across the country (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Lastly, solidifying this trend in the market, Rolling Stone magazine and Levis created a yearlong partnership to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the magazine (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

The capsule collection the two brands created together was released in March 2017 (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

Another trend that’s catching on with publishers is turning your brand into a physical shop. A physical store allows the magazine to step out of the paper pages and attract readers, creating an experience. Capturing the minds of a younger audience who focus on consuming

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content from trusted sources, this can be an extremely beneficial way to extend a brand.

Scheduled to open in 2018, Newark’s Airport will be home to Wired Magazine’s permanent retail store (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Inside the store will feature high tech items that can be found within the pages of the magazine (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Meredith Corporation’s Southern Living has also tried out this trend and opened up their first retail location in 2016 as an extension of their magazine brand in South Carolina (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Now with multiple locations, customers can find a variety of goods such as food products made in the South, small gifts, and books (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

Another trend witnessed by magazine publishers is moving beyond shallow content and “addressing timely, social issues in a

culturally relevant manner” (Napoli, “Instagram Trends…”). Gone are the days of using magazines as an escape from the real world.

Magazines are taking a stance on all things and asking their readers to share their opinion.

WGSN, a trend forecasting website reports that “while US fashion publishers are aiming to offer a sense of escapism through beautiful…shoots, they are also taking social and political issues seriously. Today’s successful publishers seem to have found a healthy balance, posting fashion imagery side-by-side with images that see them taking a stand politically” (Napoli, “Instagram Trends…”).

The magazine market is also seeing trends in publications creating branded conferences and events (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Moving beyond the written word and creating a memory with the brand has become a new way of

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connecting with readers. Branded events that align with the magazine’s content can provide a powerful experience for the customer. New magazine Goop, launched their inaugural conference, in Goop Health, in Los Angles in 2017 (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). The event sold tickets to readers ranging from $500 to $1500 and planned multiple sessions to attract all kinds of consumers (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). We have already seen Hearst announce it will be expanding its events team by 30%” (Cranston). Events serve as a way for magazines to interact with their readers in a whole new way. Not only do these events act as a new revenue stream, but they are perfect for “publishers that understand their audience and are intent on building strong relationships around passion for the brand” (Henessy).

Experiences such as Stylist Live, Radio Times Festival and Empire Live “attract paying audiences and bring them closer to the experts they care about” (Hennessy). These events will be bigger and more tailored to each brand as we look forward into 2019.

The power of voice has become a recently discovered trend among large publications as a result of products such as Amazon’s Echo.

It’s recently been measured that according to a report from VoiceLabs, “it’s estimated that more than 30 million voice-powered assistants will be in American homes by the end of 2017” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). This statistic justifies why magazines need to decide how to capitalize off of this new product that could become a potential brand partner. Elle magazine was one of the first magazines to use the product to their advantage as they “developed a special skill for Amazon and Google’s products enabling them to deliver horoscopes” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

While Good Housekeeping offers skills to users about how to fight fabric stains (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Executive director of emerging technology at Hearst spoke on the topic and reported that it’s an “approach to develop truly voice-first experiences. That means working

with the platforms to identify what are the features of the platform and matching that up with the creative and editorial” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Hearst’s O magazine also embraced this new medium. Oprah record 90 inspirational messages on the platforms that can delivered to users daily (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

Design has always been an important aspect to any magazine; however, it’s becoming increasingly important, as competition gets fiercer. Trend forecaster WGSN reports that, “a growing number of new titles are arriving in the market and they look more and more like books, with a longer shelf life than most magazines” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

People are spending more time writing them, and readers are devoting more time to reading them (Williams). As the presentation becomes an increasingly important aspect of any magazine, it has become evident that publishers are attempting to make their printed magazines a form of art that one would rather keep on their coffee table after reading rather than throwing it away. Magazines are strategically playing into the design aesthetics of today’s target consumer and using their publication to tell a story through fine design (Williams).

Design has become gradually essential in every realm of retail and service. The act of picking out a magazine off a newsstand is in many ways a competition between magazines covers.

Millennial consumers are always searching for something “pretty enough” to post on their social media and if a cover fits into this box, that might be enough to persuade them to purchase. This trend has influenced magazines to push beyond their original, expected looks, and instead test the limits of design.

Lastly, another popular trend that’s been seen across many publications is the use of subscription boxes. According to WGSN “as of March 2016, there were over 2,000 subscription box services in the US” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Standing out among all

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cont. these can be difficult. However, Condé Nast was the first to hop onto the bandwagon and offered a box service in 2015 with Allure magazine (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Since 2015, Condé Nast has tried it out with numerous of their brands including Teen Vogue, Traveler, and GQ (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). However, in order to increase excitement and interest, often the boxes were for a limited time to drive traffic as well as test out the concept (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Teen Vogue was able to offer the box at only $39 filled with $145 of product. This strategy allowed Condé Nast “to tap into a conscious spender while upping its revenue at the same time” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”).

These large trends sweeping across the magazine market have changed the way many consumers look at magazines today. Instead of a one-story brand only told through print, these brands are creating marketing stories through multimedia platforms and can be found in almost any aspect of life.

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Outside Partnerships Some of the largest publishing companies have also seen enormous amounts of success with outside partnerships. Large publishing companies have been partnering up with digital and physical brands to create a new trend in the market. Companies like Hearst, Meredith, Condé Nast, and Time Inc. have all successfully tested out partnering with different influencers or celebrities, who already have their own self-established brand, to create a brand new publication as an extension of their brand. The large majority of these new magazines, most of which fall into the lifestyle category, have been an instant success, flying off newsstands.

Reconfirming that there is still an interest in the market for lifestyle related magazines.

Bringing in an outside partner for many of these large publishing companies means a secure, established, and large fan base for a new title (Trachtenberg).

Hearst in partnership with the Food Network launched The Pioneer Woman Magazine, sold exclusively in Walmart, in June of 2017 with Ree

Drummond, Food Network host and blogging star (Ember). The Pioneer Woman Magazine translates Ree Drummond’s life on her ranch into a lifestyle magazine while offering a threedimensional look into the brand (Levy). It has proved to be extremely successful expanding it’s distribution to 500,000 after only releasing one issue ( Jarvis). After a successful launch, Hearst printed an additional 100,000 copies after the first run of 150,000 sold out ( Jarvis). The magazine also plans to expand its distribution footprint into newsstands at Barnes & Noble, Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Walgreens, and CVS in addition to Walmart ( Jarvis). The opening issue had a total of 35 ads throughout its pages and as a mark of its success; the September issue had 50 ads ( Jarvis).

Following the successful launch of The Pioneer Woman magazine, Hearst launched Airbnbmag, “geared toward customers of the do-it-yourself with distribution at newsstands, airports, and supermarkets” (Ember). The idea was born out of a conversation between Airbnb CEO, Brian

27

cont.

Chesky, and Hearst Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles (Levy). Using the data from their search engine, Airbnb was able to determine which kind of content would most resonate with their readers and customers (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Hearst debuted the magazine in May of 2017 with a distribution of 350,000 ( Jarvis). Airbnbmag has an attractive appeal to advertisers as circulation is extremely controlled among Airbnb hosts and it allows advertisers to place their brands in front of thousands of millennial travelers (Levy). The magazine can also be found on newsstands, priced modestly at $3.99 (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Currently Hearst has plans to continue running the magazine ( Jarvis).

one year, Magnolia Journal generated 1 million paid subscribers (Meredith Corporation).

Advertisers have noticed and took note of these impressive statistics. Suddenly companies are pining over their spot within their pages and VP of Group Clients at Meredith Corporation, Mark Josephson stated that they are noticing “clients return[ing] issue after issue while at the same time attracting new and unique ones to the mix” (Meredith Corporation). As a result of their unparalleled success, the Association of Magazine Media (AMM) named the Magnolia Journal the “2017 Magazine Launch of the Year” at the American Media Conference (Meredith Corporation).

Meredith Corporation continued the trend into 2018 by launching a magazine partnered with Lisa Lillien called Hungry Girl after her food and recipe brand. Hungry Girl launched in January 2018 at $9.99 with an initial run of 225,000 copies while the second issue hit stands in May of 2018 (Hardy). The new issue includes over 50 recipes and many lifestyle tips and tricks for women (Hardy).

Meredith launched this new title with hopes of capitalizing on Lillien’s large following of over 3 million social media and email subscribers (Hardy). The brand new title fits into Meredith’s portfolio by targeting female audiences through lifestyle magazines.

Competitor, Meredith Corporation also understood the value of outside partnerships.

In fall of 2016, Meredith partnered with HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines and created The Magnolia Journal, a magazine extension of their lifestyle brand. Magnolia Journal had an initial run of only 400,000 copies, however like most things Chip and Joanna Gaines put their hand on, within a week retailers started to request additional copies and another 200,000 were printed as a result (Meredith Corporation). Doug Olson, the president and general manager of Meredith magazines explained the launch stating that “it’s the first time in our history at Meredith that the largest Competing with Hearst and Meredith, Condé retailers in the business called back on day one, Nast similarly recognized the power that and said ‘we’re already sold out. Can you send outside partnerships could have on a brand. more copies” (Levy). Within their first year Condé Nast launched Goop Magazine, a of publishing their magazine the publication quarterly title, based on Gwyneth Paltrow’s gained a “rate base of 1.2 million, through a lifestyle brand in September of 2017 (Levy). full price, direct-to-consumer subscriptions With just under 250,000 copies printed and newsstand placement with an average selling at $14.99, the premier issue was sold sell-through rate of 60%, more than twice the on newsstands and carried impressive ads for industry average (Levy). Selling at only $7.99, in luxury brands such as Gucci, Neiman Marcus, 28

and BMW (Levy). Paltrow told Business of Fashion in an interview that the extension into a print magazine is very “legitimizing for the brand- and a really interesting way of getting across our point of view and what our values are” (Levy).

In April of 2018 Time Inc. premiered their title HelloGiggles, “a print counterpart to the millennial focused lifestyle brand co-founded

by Zooey Dechannel” (Dool). The new print magazine will be geared towards “millennial women with a focus on beauty, fashion, and pop culture” (Dool). Currently HelloGiggles is set to run twice a year with an initial run of 500,000 (Dool). It will be initially sent to select subscribers of People Magazine between the ages of 18-39 as well as on limited newsstands

in Target, Walgreens, and Barnes & Noble (Dool).

Clinton, president, marketing and publishing director at Hearst Magazines explained “finding those uber influencers” could be a “recipe for a print magazine” (Levy). Titles such as The Pioneer Woman, Magnolia Journal, and Goop prove the new interest on special interest magazines. Partnering with already established brands signal to readers and advertisers that the publication is a collectible item and merits higher price tags which in turn raises demand for ad inventory and often the limited ad space in these magazines allows publishers to charge more per unit (Levy).

29

cont.

Social Media

While trends and partnerships may come and go, one thing that is here to stay is social media.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest have reinvented the way we interact and connect with large-scale brands.

While the “demise of print media is commonly attributed to the success of free, easily accessible digital media…some editors have embraced it as a way to enhance their magazines; content and increase revenue” (Gotthilf). Minimizing the space, social media “strips away the barriers formerly present between glossy magazines and their readers” and allows the consumer to see the brand as more than just a magazine (Napoli).

Magazines have the ability through these social networks to add additional context to their editorial content beyond just the photos on the pages, through interactive media such as videos, games, real-time chats, and polls (Gotthilf).

However, one of the most valuable aspects of any social media platform is the community it can provide to readers. Publications encourage

their audiences to participate in their posts “through hashtag campaigns or by influencing them to engage in the comments section by “tagging a friend” or commenting answers to posed questions” (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

Often, this engagement is incentivized through giveaways or possibly the chance to be featured on the pages of the magazine (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”). These interactive spaces often lead to readers feeling like they are connected to a community of people with similar interests to them. Some magazines understanding this have taken it out of the online world and have organized formal meet-ups for their readers (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”). Cosmopolitan Magazine for example, promotes this sense of community through member questions on their Facebook page (Gotthilf). This opportunity to instantly write-in generates personal comments and responses between Cosmopolitan Facebook members as they share their personal experiences and give advice (Gotthilf).

30

graph 7

Total Magazine Media Industry Likes/ Followers by Social Network

527

(as of June 30, 2018)

Total: 1.1 billion

289

(millions)

274

30

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram Pinterest

graph 8 Growth in Number of Magazine Media Industry Likes/ Followers by Social Network

11.8

(second quarter 2018 vs. first quarter 2018)

4.8

(millions)

2.6

Facebook

0.6 Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

By positioning themselves as a destination for community, knowledge, and entertainment, magazine’s social media accounts have become apart of many reader’s daily routines and this, as proven by statistics, will not be changing anytime soon. After the second quarter of 2018, magazine brands likes and followers are up 2.4% from the previous quarter and magazine brands proved to outperform non-magazine brands on the top four social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest), labeling these magazines as large consumer influencers (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

Looking more specifically at the various platforms, Facebook continues to remain the social media with the largest amount of likes/ followers “accounting for nearly half of the magazine brand industry’s fans” (“Likes/ Followers Analysis…”). Although Twitter and Instagram are currently battling it out for second place, each currently have onequarter of the industry fans (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”). Instagram, however, is slowly solidifying second place as the second most liked/ followed outlet for magazine brands after Facebook with the highest growth rate over the past 3 years (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

As magazines fight to better understand their reader, social media allows them to better understand their audience and create content based on first hand feedback.

As these social media platforms create a space that allows the brands to connect directly to readers 24/7 it has allowed editors to “measure their readers’ pulse more accurately than ever” (Gotthilf). Food & Wine Magazine for example, allows their readers to connect with experts in real time by hosting Facebook chats and giving readers the opportunity to ask questions and get answers instantly (Gotthilf).

31

cont.

Community engagement like these live chats is one way Facebook is able to connect with audiences so well.

Facebook, for print magazines, is known for driving more click-through traffic than any other platform (“Likes/ Followers Analysis…”). Through the vast amounts of content shared, posted, and created on Facebook, it has given the opportunity for readers to have an endless amount of content to connect with (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

Travel + Leisure is using their Facebook page strategically to entice fans to engage by offering them the possibility of being featured in the publication.

Cosmopolitan uses their Facebook page to keep readers on their profile by creating games and entertainment specifically created to entertain their consumers while they are at work (Gotthilf).

As the largest growing social media platform for print magazines, “editors and stylists, take to Instagram to offer additional context about a particular project or image” (Napoli). This social media platform has emerged as a more visually focused medium for readers primarily focused mostly on photos and videos. Instagram has proven its importance against all other social media platforms as it counts 59% of US 18-24 year-olds to be active users on the app (Napoli). And while Facebook is leading in terms of volume of fans, Instagram during the second quarter of 2018 leads in engagement with a “media engagement factor of 3,073 vs.

1,843 for non-magazine brands (“Likes/ Followers Analysis…”). This high engagement rate can be attributed to the user-friendliness of the app, limited response icons, and high application of visuals (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

Print magazines specifically use Instagram as a way to tease new content, lead readers to their websites, show behind the scenes events, and to drive consumers to buy the physical print copy (“Likes/Followers Analysis…”).

Equipped to adapt to all different kinds of brands, National Geographic magazine, known for their amazing use of Instagram, constantly shares beautiful photos of earth’s landscape, while magazine Playboy uses it to share backstage moments.

While social media isn’t a huge source of revenue, social media platforms today also allow monetization through sponsored posts, statuses, and photos (Gotthilf). Although “banner ads may still be the most common form of digital monetization for online magazines, creative uses of social media profiles have increased opportunities for partners and advertisers” (Gotthilf). Social media monetization opportunities will continue to increase just as the platforms grow. Magazines will continue to find new ways to use the platforms to reach new readers and better understand their current customers. These digital platforms might also lead to easily expanding their reach and touching new markets globally.

32

2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% -0.5% -1.0% -1.5% -2.0% -2.5%

North America

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Western Europe

Central & Middle East & Eastern Europe Africa

Emerging Markets While print magazines may be going through a rough patch in America, the print market is thriving in other places in the world. While many lifestyle brands are culture specific, understanding where the magazine market is growing may lead to an opportunity to open a new title in an emerging market. This strategy is another way for a publishing company such as CondĂŠ Nast, Hearst, or Meredith that has many titles to expand their growth.

Analyzing consumer magazines revenue, several markets exhibit healthy growth.

Examples include India with 4.1% CAGR (compound annual growth rate), Indonesia at 3.4% CAGR, and Peru, with the highest CAGR in the world at 6.3% (Bothun). This

growth is also evident at the local level as consumer magazine revenue increase in the Asian Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa (Bothun). In Europe, Finland also has a “relatively high proportion of consumer magazines sold via subscription� (Bothun). Similarly, in Spain magazine audience numbers are also growing. According ARI, a magazine media company in Spain, between June 2017 and June 2018, the audience of magazine media increased by 19.8% across paper, digital, web, video, and social media platforms (Patterson). These untapped and unexploited magazine markets hold possibly opportunity for new magazines catering specifically to that region.

33

cont.

Innovative Magazines

While one way of setting yourself apart and creating revenue is to break into emerging markets, another way is to set yourself apart is through creating a truly innovative magazine unlike any other ones on the market. In a world today where the market is over saturated and everyone is always competing in a race to see who can come up with the next big technology first, it makes it hard for magazines to truly do something different from the rest.

Some are proving the impossible possible however.

Fast Company, a progressive business media brand who focuses on editorial, produced a four-page Porsche spread in April 2016, which was unlike any other magazine advertisement. There was an acetate sheet that readers were encouraged to assemble into a prism, then place on a tablet, and launch a Porsche video that projected a hologram image into the prism, creating an extremely unique experience for readers (Abu-Gadil). Attempting to also create a one-of-a –kind experience, Empire Magazine’s Special Edition cover in Fall 2016 was created to celebrate the opening of the latest Harry Potter movie (Abu-Gadil). The pages came alive as an embedded video player played the trailer, behind-the-scenes shots, and interviews with the director and author J.K. Rowling (Abu-Gadil). Elle’s November 2016 issue

was created with the idea of giving the reader an interactive element. The issue included eight different covers, each featuring a different actress (Aja Naomi King, Amy Adams, Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones, Helen Mirren, Kathy Bates, Kristen Steward, and Lupita Nyong’o) (Abu-Gadil).

Readers could use their phone to log into the ElleNow app and hold their phone over each corresponding cover to see more information and see video interviews with each actress (Abu-Gadil). Lastly, IKEA, one of the most iconic global furniture brands, used a combination of print, augmented reality, and their app to allow readers to place pieces of furniture they saw in the catalog virtually into a room of their home in 2016 (Abu-Gadil).

These innovative ways to create unforgettable experiences for readers and give the consumer a new way to interact with ads could lead to a whole new way of producing print magazines.

As all of these examples proved, it will be increasingly important in the future for magazines to find a way to combine the use of technology and print to create a cutting edge, and fascinating product the consumer will be interested in. As categories such as Lifestyle magazines grow, it will be interesting to see how home and lifestyle magazines integrate new technologies into print.

34

Lifestyle Magazines As the magazine industry and market changes, there is no doubt consumer’s interests evolve as well. Magazines that were once popular a decade ago are now struggling to stay in print.

However, as Hays suggest in her analysis of the magazine market, there may be a consumer shift towards lifestyle publications “with a sense of permanence and home” (Hays). Popular magazines such as Hearst’s Time & Country and Elle Décor have the statistics to prove this shift. Elizabeth Angell, Elle Décor’s and Town & Country’s digital director reported that both titles have boomed in recent years (Hays). Hearst also reported “Town & Country managed to get into the top 10 for mobile growth and total audience growth, seeing an average monthly increase of 75% and 37% respectively, while video at Elle Décor increased an average of 548% and total audience rose 20% (Hays). Combining

Elle Décor’s print, digital, and video the publications total audience rose by 11% overall (Hays). As a result of Town & Country’s recent success, it was named the second fastest growing magazine brand in the U.S. in 2017 (Dossier: Magazine Industry).

These statistics proving that both publications are creating content both digitally and in print that is resonating with modern readers and also attracting the eyes of new ones. Angell added that the “audience for design ‘has exploded in recent years and what 2017 taught us is that those people are confident in their taste and in search of great ideas’ and more are coming to the magazine for inspiration and news on trends” (Hays). All this reconfirming the possible reader shift towards lifestyle related publications.

35

Number of magazine readers in the US from 2012 to 2016 (in millions)

Number of readers in millions

250 210.7

214.1

215.7

216.5

221.9

200

250

100

50

consumer 0

2012

2013

W

hile dozens of new magazines are debuting yearly and give the magazine industry hope for the future, “getting the product into the hands of the right people, whether they are prepared to pay for the magazine or not, will continue to be key as we move into the future of print” (Henessy). While the design, content, and branding of the magazine is essential; none of these elements matter if you can’t attract the attention of the customer. The customer holds the purchasing power and ultimately makes the final decision if a magazine lives or ceases to exist. Therefore, it is essential that magazines today place a high level of importance on understanding their consumer’s wants and needs.

In 2018, 70% of adults in the U.S. have read

2014

2015

2016

a print magazine in the last 30 days, and 51% read at least two publications (Dool). So while many of the statistics surrounding the magazine industry and market do not give magazines a positive outlook, the number of U.S. magazines readers rose from 216.5 million in 2015 to 221.9 million readers in 2016 (Dossier: Magazine Industry).

Combining the print and digital magazine sector, the audience for all magazines rose 1.4% to 1.7 billion (Patterson). So although aspects of the industry are not hopeful, the consumer statistics proves there is still an audience interested.

As the consumer changes, the industry’s job is to reflect those changes in their publications so they can continue to appeal to the modern customer. Jerry Lynch, president of Magazine and Books Retail

36

Association told Forbes that “change in consumer behavior is something that all product categories have to deal with; it’s constant…magazine as a product- and the way that product gets to the retail consumer- must flex to that changing customer” (Silber). One of the main aspects of change is magazine distribution.

Magazine consumers today spend less time in stores and are frequenting few stores in general (Silber). Raatz, publisher/ co-founder of Centennial Media says magazine brands can combat that struggle simply through new strategies such as “a special in-store display [which] can then propel a growth segment” (Silber). The good however, always has a bad. American magazine consumers spent an average of 18 minutes daily reading magazines in 2010, which is predicated to decline to 15 minutes by 2018 (Dossier: Magazine Industry). As the behaviors, lifestyles, and needs of the American magazine consumer evolve, magazines can fight to stay relevant by reflecting those changes.

Read through many different formats, as of June 2018 50% of consumers report reading magazines in print and digital versions, 36% on mobile web, 10% on a desktop, and 4% through video (Dossier: Magazines).

Print is still the main medium consumers prefer to interact with magazines through as most readers admit they like the ability to hold the physical copy. As a result, 45% of magazine readers in 2017 admit they have never read a magazine through a digital version (Dossier: Magazine Industry).

However, as more magazines spread their influence through digital platforms, and more consumers start to take notice, understanding consumer’s digital habits will be critical for future success. Today, “the average US reader consumes 200 web articles each month” and “visits nearly 400 websites a month” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). The average magazine reader also consumes content in a variety of ways.

Daily time spent reading magazines per capita in the United States from 2010 to 2018 (in minutes) 30

Time in minutes

25

Graph 12 24

23

22

21

20

19

18

17

16

15

15

10

5

0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016*

2017*

2018*

37

cont.

As expected, the multiplatform customer who both print and digital to read magazines is typically older and more affluent than the digital-only consumer.

This multiplatform reader is also 1.67 times more likely to spend more than $100 per year on a digital magazine subscription or content in comparison to the digital-only customer (Dool). The multiplatform customer is important for magazines to really understand, as that group is growing, specifically 32% since 2017 (Dool). In general, it is fair for magazines to assume that the print-only readers are female as they are 1.76 time more likely and a male reader (Dool).

Despite the fact that technology is giving magazines a good challenge, emerging technology has allowed magazines to get to know and understand their readers better. This more frequent interaction “holds out the promise of an enriched sense of community and a deepened bond between the publication and its readers” (Abrahamson).

As technology reveals more and more about the reader, it’s important to take these demographics in mind when creating any publication. With more than 71 million millennials, expected to surpass the number of baby boomers, millennials are becoming a coveted

generation to figure out (Miller). And As the Millennial generation moves into an age with more purchasing power it will be crucial to invest in capturing the mind of this age group to create ads and products that better appeal to them.

However, as magazines begin to think about marketing to this generation it’s important not to overlook the fact that reaching out to the entire generation that spans 23 years (1977-2000) with the same standard message, may not be the most effective. Brands need to specifically narrow down which millennial group they are trying to reach and do that through an effective message that their customers can relate to. As many in the industry blame the millennial generation for the transformation from print to digital, Forbes reported, “contrary to popular belief, Millennials read more than older generations do- and more than the last generation did at the same age” (Howe). Readers today have more access to books than ever before.

Although many believe today that digital is pushing out print, print books remain by far the most popular format of reading throughout all generations (Howe).

Forbes reported a study that was able to quantify how millennials feel about print and break down exactly how many prefer it to digital.

38

72% last year

of americans read a print book

“Last year, 72% of Americans read a print book, dwarfing the share who read an e-book (35%) or listened to an audiobook (16%). And according to the Pew study, adults under 30 are no more likely than their elders to read digital books exclusively (around 6%). A survey of college students found that 92% prefer reading print material to digital material.

If the cost of the print and digital copy of a leisure book were the same, 80% would pick the paper version. Even late-wave Millennials and homelanders are attached to hard copies: In 2014, nearly two-thirds (65%) of 6- to 17-year-olds told Scholastic they’ll “always want to read books in print,” up from 60% two years earlier” (Howe).

So despite the common misconceptions, print is still reigning over digital in the book and magazine sector, even in the millennial age group.

Some

magazines

have

figured

out

however how to best market to this age group and are seeing success. Titles like Cosmopolitan, Maxim, ESPN the magazine, Seventeen, Vibe, and Glamour have successfully implemented a strategy that attracts the attention of millennials (Tan).

While breaking down millennials into smaller age groups is one way to segment the generation, SmartAssest, a company studying millennial demographics, used the 2016 US census bureau migration data to narrow down the ten most popular states where millennials are moving (Miller). With Texas at number 2, Virginia at 4, Georgia at 5, North Carolina at 7, and Florida number 9 it’s safe to assume that the Southeast is attracting the millennial generation (Miller). As this new generation becomes the aim for most media and editorial companies, despite the technology focused generation that millennials are, the printed medium is still heavily respected and trusted.

39

cont.

A Sense of Trust

A recent analysis illustrated the value behind print magazine’s decades of history and heritage. This study done by Magnetic, entitled “A Matter of Trust” explained how brands with so much history play a vital role in delivering trustworthy information to magazine consumers. The study looked at a variety of different kinds of media and magazines and through their research then concluded that 73% of consumers considered print magazines to be the most reliable news source trusted by the public, over digital forms of content and social media (Cranston). Trust for any company is vital to a brand’s success, however “trust in a magazine brand translates into perceptions of trustworthiness” for brands globally that use this medium (Cranston).

Michael Clinton, president, marketing and publishing director at Hearst Magazines agrees, “hours and hours can be invested in a story by editors, fact-checkers, photographers, designers and other magazine professionals before it’s printed” and “the consumer…spend time with the magazine knowing that” (Levy). The long history and heritage that is ingrained into these large publishing groups often supersedes innovation (Cranston). As the media ecosystem become more and more saturated, magazines become a shortcut to quality information.

In a world of fake news, the Association of Magazine Media (AMM) has recently launched a campaign to remind consumers of the trustworthiness of magazines today (Bloomgarden-Smoke). With the tagline “Magazine Media. Better. Believe It.” featured in 123 print and digital magazines between October 2017 and March 2018 the AMM’s goal is to reaffirm to “audiences that our industry remains dedicated to creating the most professionally researched, written, curated and best-in-class content” (BloomgardenSmoke). So while many magazines are changing the way their content is delivered, this information proves that “the consumer demand for highly trusted, curated, quality content is still satisfied by magazine brands” (Patterson).

All in all, the secret to future success for any magazine is truly understanding your reader and acting on that. In a contentsaturated world today where consumers can find the content they’re looking for by typing in a few words into a search engine and hitting enter, “publishers must build strong strategies in order to capture audiences” (Napoli, “How Publishers…”). Magazines that command their consumer’s attention in a variety of different ways, through print, digital forms, and social media, and “think like brands across every touch point, will be the ones that build even strong connections with their most valuable readers” (Henessy).

40

3

two part

Southern Living History Consumer Social Media Audit Future Outlook SWOT Marketing Mix Competitors

about B

orn with a purpose, and created out of necessity, Southern Living was first produced and envisioned in 1966 in Birmingham, Alabama (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

Despite the social turmoil and race riots happing in the South, Southern Living was born to shed a positive light on the region.

Originally, Southern Living was ironically once just a small section of a different magazine, the Progressive Farmer Magazine (now Southern Progress Corporation, a division of AOL-Time Warner), however, it quickly grew so popular that it

demanded the need to form it’s own publication. To understand the full history of the magazine of the modern South, it’s crucial to understand what originally sparked the idea for this new publication.

By the early 1960s, the Progressive Farmer Magazine was a force to be reckoned with amongst all print magazines.

The magazine held the largest circulation of any farm magazine on the newsstands in the South and was also the leader in paid advertising space amongst all of the nation’s farm magazines (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

45

history

T

he Progressive Farmer Magazine’s mission was to serve the “various needs and interests of the South’s farmers and their families” (Lauder). However, as the region began to change, The Progressive Farmer Magazine needed a new way to connect with these new types of readers.

The country was experiencing a major shift from an agricultural industry to an industrial economy, which resulted in the South’s population becoming increasingly urbanized. These lifestyle shifts affected the rural-focused magazines and resulted in declining advertising and readership figures for titles like the Progressive Farmer (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

In efforts to save their company before circumstances got increasingly worse, the Progressive Farmer magazine

started evaluating new options.

While considering their choice of expanding their publishing empire, “three key issues were at the forefront in their minds: attracting readers, luring advertisers, and overcoming an increasingly negative perception of the South” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). As ideas were discussed it became clear that a product that capitalized off of this lifestyle shift and provided a “cultural link between city dwellers and their rural roots” while attracting a new urban population was the key to a sustainable future publication (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

During this time, the South was stricken with racial strife and hard economic struggles that only brought negative attention to the region. At the center of the civil rights battle

and nearing a crisis point, the region was craving any good attention to distract from the constant chaos.

In August of 1963, the company’s Diversification Committee, lead by Oscar Dugger, proposed the idea of a new magazine to the board of directors (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

The concept was simple; the committee envisioned a family friendly magazine “targeted at male and female homeowners ages twenty to forty that would dramatize those phases of Southern living different from other areas” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). This new concept was envisioned not only to publish positive rhetoric on the region, but also to solve the company’s issue of decreasing subscribers and advertisers.

46

T

he mission of the new publication would be to celebrate the positive aspects of the Southern American region by focusing “articles on people, places, and pursuits that represented regional personality as well as promoting a new-South vision of progress and promise” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). The idea, however, was not revolutionary at the time.

In fact, Atlanta native, John Owen Broomall had already scheduled a launch of a new magazine also by the name of Southern Living for September 1964 with a circulation of 100,000 (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). With this bump in the road not part of their original plan, The Progressive Farmer was forced to buy the name from Broomall, whom apparently “realized he didn’t have the financial strength to make a success of such a magazine” and gave up the reins fairly easily “for nominal payment” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

In an effort to fix all of these problems and shift the 400,000 non-farm Progressive Farmer readers to a new publication, in October 1963, The Progressive Farmer magazine renamed the Progressive Home section of the magazine to Southern Living (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). This strategic move was made in order to establish a loyal readership before launching the section as it’s own title. Just two years later, in 1965, the Progressive Farmer Magazine made the announcement that it was launching the Southern Living section as a separate magazine just as they originally planned (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). In February of 1966, the first edition of Southern Living hit the newsstands with an annual subscription rate of $2 (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

47

cont.

T

he magazine industry at the time was experiencing a dynamic shift and it became readily apparent that the new Southern Living would be a perfect fit. Industry experts were reporting that specialized magazines were pulling ahead in the market and the demand justified the risk (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). Simultaneously, new homeowners were eagerly looking for a source of information to help them through the new house buying and decorating process which therefore meant, advertisers were looking for an opportunity to capitalize on this through home-oriented magazines (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). Harlan Paul Douglass found out through a survey he conducted in 1958 that the “two major interests associated with this new American lifestyle were the home and recreation,” both of which Southern Living planned to include inside their new publication (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

The details of the new magazine almost ensured success. Southern Living inherited the non-farm circulation list from Progressive Farmer, giving them an automatic strong paid readership (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

It was a win, win situation. Not only was Progressive Farmer able to help Southern Living establish an automatic readership, Southern Living provided another advertising medium for the publishing company (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). After the launch in February 1966, Southern Living saw an almost automatic acceptance from both readers and advertisers. With a “guaranteed circulation of 200,000 and a press run of 302,000; 255,000 subscribers received the premier issue, including 140,037 transfers from the Progressive Farmer and nearly 93,000 from direct mailing that yielded an almost 10% return” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). It was considered one of the most successful magazine launches in history with the title quickly becoming the lifestyle guide for families in the 17-state region below the Mason Dixon line (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

48

Southern Living Cover, September 1967

W

ithin the first year of business, Southern Living had nearly 350 advertisers make the decision to include Southern Living as part of their media budgets (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). While the new title was initially supported by the Progressive Farmer’s reserve funds, Southern Living reported a profit within eighteen months of launching and was able to thrive off of new subscribers as well as advertising sales (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). The number of subscribers continued to increase as the publication expanded reaching half a million within two years, and the April 1969 edition was sent to 576,000 subscribers. Over the next decade, Southern Living continued to grow reaching 1.3 million in circulation by 1976, and by 1980 proudly ranking as one of the top fifteen U.S. magazines in terms of advertising revenue (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

49

Southern Living Cover, April 1969

cont.

T

hroughout it’s 50-year history, the magazine has not always played it safe, content-wise. Southern Living has published conflicting pieces portraying both a wife as a homemaker and a workingwoman however, despite the norms of the South; Southern Living did occasionally attempt to break stereotypes by publishing pieces geared just to women about certain topics.

For instance, in a 1967 issue, the magazine offered a guide to the New York Stock Market targeted specifically towards women (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). It’s also been given many nicknames, such as “a dixiefied version of Better Homes and Garden, and Howell Raines, New York Times executive editor calling Southern Living “one endless festival of barbecue, boiled shrimp, football Sundays, and good old Nashville music”

(Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

Through the years, Southern Living’s mantra has always been: “a Southern magazine edited

by Southerners for Southerners” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). By the 1970s the title had an established reader basis and generally knew what was working and what wasn’t. Typically every issue was broken down into five major categories that remain similar today. Those included travel and recreation, homes and construction, gardening and landscaping, food and entertaining, and features, which was any special articles that did not fit well into the other categories (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution).

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he editorial mission from the beginning was to promote a new, positive view of the Southern lifestyle. Clearly defined from the moment they launched, Southern Living would focus on the positive aspects of the region by showcasing the “South’s outstanding personalities, its economic and cultural growth, and its institutions, resorts, landmarks, art, music, architecture, and its cities” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). This mission was clearly defined 50 years ago and still holds true today. Eugene Butler, president of the Progressive Farmer at the time, once said that the purpose of the new magazine would be to “help Southern families make better use of their growing economies, their leisure, their mental and physical assets and the resources of the South- to the end that they may live more enjoyable and purposeful lives” (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). While staying true to their rural background, Southern Living was there to capture the minds of the new urban folk while not letting them forget their humble heritage.

In 1985, Southern Living’s parent company, Southern Progress Corporation, made the decision to sell out to Time Inc.. Time acquired the brand for $480 million in cash, making it the largest buyout of a publisher of a magazine at that time (Lazarus).

Southern Living’s rich history and heritage make it the trusted and nationrenowned magazine that it is today. It’s long tradition of bringing its readers the best of the South month after month has resulted in a trusted following and a credibility that only comes with decades of experience.

Southern Living Cover, August 1971

Southern Living Cover, August 1978

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SL today

oday, Southern Living celebrated its 50th anniversary in February of 2016 and still strives to celebrate the South throughout every edition printed. While the brand has stayed true to it’s mission, it has also evolved with the times. New themes like “busy family life” and “Southern Transplants” have become a part of every monthly issue.

However, “overall, pride in what makes the South unique remains supreme, but more emphasis has been placed recently on tweaking what that means for current readers” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

As a brand that has made it through several wars, social turmoil, and the great recession, the modern Southern Living brand is more innovative than ever. In October of 2009, the

then editor in chief stated:

“We’re opening the door on an exciting time for Southern Living. You love our region as much as I do. You’ve told me that you love how we showcase the South’s traditional values, good manners, warmth, and hospitality. But you’ve also said that your lives are busier than ever- and that while you cherish and uphold many of the South’s traditions, you want to cultivate your own Southern style, in a more updated way...Yes, Southern Living is evolving- but with respect for the past and an eye on the future. I promise you our singular mix of the trusted and timeless stories you love intermingled with fresh new options for the busy life you lead. And, always, “Keeping it Southern” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

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3.2

Meredith Corp purchased Time Inc for

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billion in November 2017.

he brand continues to release new projects year after year. Southern Living today has many active partnerships, collaborations, and brand expansions including the Southern Living Idea House each year, the Southern Living Home Collection at Dillard’s that includes more than 1,200 exclusive designs, Southern Living Books, Southern Living Hotel Collection, Southern Living Plant Collection, Southern Living Inspired Communities, and lastly Southern Living House Plans (“About Us”).

Most recently in November of 2017, Meredith Corporation bought out Time Inc., for $3.2 billion making Southern Living now a part of the Meredith magazine family (Meredith Form 10-4). Meredith Corporation “operates as a diversified media company that focuses primarily on the home and family marketplace in the United States” (“About Meredith Corporation”).

Meredith Corporation owns many other house and lifestyle magazines, many of which are Southern Living’s competitors, such as Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, and Better Homes & Garden (Meredith Form 10-4). The acquisition became formalized on January 31, 2018 and the two companies began operating as one on February 1, 2018 (Meredith Form 10-4). Currently the brand has over 16 million readers and publishes a new issue monthly.

The two main forms of revenue for the magazine continue to be through subscribers and advertising revenue. In 2018 Southern Living will make $325 million in ad revenue and in 2016 it was reported that the brand made $96 million in subscription revenue (Meredith Form 10-4). While the brand has room for significant growth, in May of 2017, Southern Living was recognized as the 8th largest monthly magazine (“Brand-At-A-Glance”). With a new parent company, more momentum than ever, Southern Living will continue to provide fresh, exciting, new content month after month that continues their promise of celebrating the South throughout every issue.

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1963 The Prgoressive Farmer renamed the Progressive Home section to Southern Living

1976 Southern Living reached 1.3 million in circulation

1960 The Prgoressive Farmer was struggling to resonate with new urban readers

1966

First edition of Southern Living hit the newsstand as a full publication

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2016 Southern Living celebrated their 50th anniversary

2018 Meredith Corporation bought out Time Inc. for $3.2 billion

1980 Southern Living ranked as one of the top 15 U.S. magazines in terms of ad revenue

2017

May 2017, Southern Living was recognized as the 8th largest monthly magazine

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3

mission

STATEMENT “

Our mission is to bring enjoyment, fulfillment, and inspiration to our readers by celebrating the best of the Southern lifestyle. We inspire creativity in their homes, their kitchens, their gardens, and their personal style. We are relentless champions of our region, and we set the standard for excellence in Southern content regardless of platform or medium.

�

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VARYING LEVELS OF CIRCULATION PENETRATION (HIGH TO LOW)

E

very month, Southern Living brings the best of the South to 23 million people spanning the globe through their various branded mediums (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). Their print audience is continually growing and currently reaches 16,756,000 people (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). Of that 16.8 million people reading the Southern Living print magazine, 79% are females, while 21% are males (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”).

The average Southern Living magazine consumer is 52 years old and has household income of $90,203 (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). While the magazine is popular around the country, the Southeast has the biggest audience as seen in the map below.

The largest audience and circulation numbers in terms of state comes from Texas, with an audience of 1,866,860 and

347,000 in circulation. These numbers are followed closely by North Carolina and Florida both with an audience of 1,318,100 and a circulation of 245,000 (“Brand-AtA-Glance”). Overall, the Southeastern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) makes up 66% of the brand’s circulation and 64 % of the brand’s audience (“Brand-At-A-Glance”).

While the Mid-Atlantic (Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) makes up 12% of the brand’s circulation and 12 % of the brand’s audience and the Midwest (Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) makes up 11% of the brand’s circulation and 10 % of the brand’s audience (“Brand-At-AGlance”).

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he digital consumer of Southern Living includes users that visit the website. In 2018 Southern Living reported 6,301,000 unique users visiting their website annually and 48 million total page views (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). The demographics of the digital consumer are 83% female and 17% male (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). The average age is slightly lower than that of the print consumer at 48 and an average household income of $90,257 (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). 40% of those digital consumers are college graduates and 31.4% have children in the household (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”).

Southern Living is also active on multiple different social media platforms to as another way to interact with brand.

The brand’s most popular platform is Facebook which they have 2.9 million people who have liked their page, followed

by 1.2 million followers on Instagram, 740,000 followers on Twitter, 440,000 followers on Pinterest, and lastly, 83,000 subscribers on YouTube (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”).

The Southern Living print and digital consumer numbers continue to grow as the brand reaches new people everyday through their wide range of mediums.

As Meredith Corporation’s annual report describes, it will be a goal of all their publications to increase the number of millennials they reach. And as the US 2016 census shows, a large percentage of millennials are migrating South which gives Southern Living a large opportunity to market to a younger, southern transplant reader in the coming future (Miller). As lifestyle magazines continue to flourish, Southern Living numbers are expected to continue to rise year after year.

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social media

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AUDIT

ocial Media has made it possible for audiences today to have a direct relationship with their favorite brands, and has given large brands the opportunity to hear directly from their consumers. These platforms break down barriers and in terms of Southern Living, gives readers the opportunity to see the brand outside of the glossy pages of the print magazine. Today, Facebook is Southern Living’s largest social media platform in terms of number of followers followed by Instagram. As the brand continues their efforts of targeting a younger audience, capitalizing off these social platforms will be an integral part of their strategy. While the number of followers on all of Southern Living’s social media accounts is impressive, the various different handles (or account names) for each individual platform make it difficult for consumers to find them. This inconsistency could potentially stunt future growth for the brand and prevent them from reaching goals. On the contrary, all of their accounts look very uniformed with the same profile and cover photo making them instantly recognizable. Much of Southern Living’s content shared across all accounts fits their mission of celebrating the South, however it becomes somewhat monotonous as a majority of the posts lead straight back to their website for the full story. Overall, the Southern Living accounts could use some added personality that truly tell the brand’s unique history. Adding a personal touch could encourage more engagement on their posts and increase their following. This social media audit will go through all of Southern Living’s social media platforms and present the most important statistics that define their activity on that account.

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YouTube 84,710 3,141

total subscribers total uploads

22,260,662

total video views

$2.3k-$37.1K

estimated yearly earnings

2,161

# of subscribers in the last 30 days

914.79 k

average views per month

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reated 10 years ago, the Southern Living YouTube channel provides an extension of the Southern Living brand through video content. The purpose of the platform is to diversify the brand’s content using engaging videos. These short videos allow readers to interact with the brand in a different way outside of the pages of print or a simple photo posted on Instagram.

With a total of 3,141 videos uploaded and 84,710 subscribers, their channel consists of a variety of videos that fall into the same categories used by the print magazine: Home & Garden, Beauty & Style, Travel & Culture, and Food. However, there is a slightly greater variation of content with videos also hitting on topics such as current events, celebrities, weddings, Southern Living history, and quick lifestyle tips and stories. A majority of videos on the channel are under 3 minutes making them a fast and easy video to watch.

In an attempt to reach a younger audience,

Southern Living has been increasing their efforts to produce more video content. In 2017 Southern Living produced over 1,200 videos, which was an impressive 80% yearover-year increase. As their video content improves and becomes more frequent, this channel will provide Southern Living with another source of revenue. Currently, SocialBlade, a website providing statistics on social media accounts, estimates the Southern Living YouTube channel generates between $2.3K and $37.1K a year. This number has the ability to grow as the brand puts more effort into producing a greater quantity and quality of videos in the coming years. Looking into the future, at the current rate of growth (average 73 new subscribers a day), it is estimated the channel will grow to by 25 k followers over the next year, reaching 208,997 subscribers in 3 years (2021) and totally 294,826 subscribers in five years (2023).

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nderstanding what videos have resonated most with YouTube users give insight into what kind of content Southern Living should be focused on producing. Based on the top five most viewed videos and the top five highest rated videos, it is clear that the food related videos perform well and resonate with the Southern Living audience.

in comparison to some of their competitor channels. Continuing to upload videos frequently, increasing the quality of the videos, and attracting more people to the channel will all help to raise this score and become more competitive with similar magazines. As evident from the graphs, the Southern Living YouTube channel saw a huge spike in views and subscribers in April after their video interview with Lauren Akins, Overall, the Southern Living YouTube country superstar Thomas Rhett’s wife, went channel has made great strives in the past viral. The short 2 minute video asked Lauren few years attempting to grow their video about how they picked out their daughters content through YouTube. When analyzing names and got more than 95k views. While in these statistics, social media statistic contrast, Southern Living’s videos typically website SocialBlade gives the channel a B- receive between 200 to 1,500 views.

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Instagram 7,384 1,247,011

290 .90%

total posts followers following engagement rate*

11,099.10

average # of likes per post

164.28

average # of comments per post

* based on the most recent 20 posts and looks at the engagement through users commenting and liking the photo.

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A

s the social media platform Instagram becomes increasingly more important, Southern Living’s presence on Instagram will become increasingly critical for their digital brand. Instagram’s main purpose for Southern Living is to provide readers with visual inspiration that could come right from the pages of the magazine.

Their profile shares a variety of photos of the South and occasionally advertises for a new edition of the magazine. With an impressive 1.2 million followers and over 7,000 total posts the brand has created a successful extension of the brand. Studying their profile through the social media statistic website SocialBlade, Southern Living received an overall grade of an A- in comparison to their competitor’s Instagram accounts. The brand posts an average of 3-5 photos a day. These posts all serve as an extension of the print

magazine and stay true to their mission of celebrating the South. Much of the content posted is surprisingly a repost or originally posted by other people. A majority of their regrammed posts include photos of traditional Southern homes, photos of iconic Southern landmarks, shots of Southern cities or towns, photos of food from popular restaurants in the South, and lastly a large amount of pet (mostly dog) photos that their owners have originally posted. It seems as though the Southern Living brand is lacking original content to post or receive more engagement when is photo is regrammed.

Despite the reason behind the pattern, a large majority of their posts are regrammed content from Southern Living readers who have tagged them in their posts.

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lthough the brand has largely types of posts will encourage users to get increased their video production involved with the brand and feel apart of and presence on YouTube they don’t the magazine. Simple Instagram stories frequently promote or post those videos on asking readers for opinions such as what their Instagram channel or on InstagramTV. they want to see in the next issue or having Lastly, another large percentage of their them vote will encourage participation and posts is humorous memes that mocks grow reader loyalty. As the platform grows the Southern lifestyle. As a brand that is in users, it will be important in the future for continuously trying to build their brand, the Southern Living to diversify their postings, Southern Living Instagram account didn’t post more original content, and tease more have any specific posts that encouraged print stories to entice their audience to buy participation or engagement such as a Q the print version of the magazine. & A or contest posts. These interactive 68

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Twitter

712,801 14,465

40,622 2,965 4

followers following tweets likes average # of retweets

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ctive on Twitter since 2009, Southern Living’s Twitter account currently has 712,801 followers. The purpose of Twitter is to elicit conversation and allow readers to easily interact and share their opinion with the brand. However, despite the fact that Southern Living tweets around 20 times a day, sharing a variety of content that links back to their website, they don’t often reply to the people tweeting at them.

All of their tweets include a photo or short video with the copy and on average only gets 4 retweets. Many of the tweets link to short stories about pop culture, include short recipe videos, and small lifestyle hacks. The account refrains from retweeting any other accounts and only seems to tweet when they are advertising their own content.

The account lacks a personality as it is continuously posting the same format of tweets over and over again. Studying the statistics of Southern Living’s account doesn’t give the brand a positive outlook. If trends continue, the brand in the next five years will continue to follow their previous pattern and loose followers year after year. The social media statistic website SocialBlade, predicts a year from now the account will drop to 705,781 followers, in 3 years to 696,601 followers, and in 5 years loose even more and have a total of 686,881 followers. Despite the undesirable outlook, the website did give an overall grade of a Bto Southern Living’s Twitter in comparison to similar accounts and competitors.

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Facebook 3,033,744

page likes

2,959,070

page followers

6.7 61

characters

average # of posts a day average length of post

5%

engagement rate*

157,872

# of people talking about this

* Calculate by dividing the page’s PTAT (People Talking About This) with the total number of likes ** Measures how many people have interacted with the page or it’s content, in any way, over the last 7 days

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ith the largest following out of any of Southern Living’s other social networks, Facebook has become a critical way for the brand to expand digitally and reach a more technology driven reader.

The purpose of Facebook is to have the ability to reach a large amount of people who can easily interact with content by liking, sharing, or commenting on posts. It also hosts group pages and fan pages that people who have interest in the same thing can be connected and easily share a discussion on that brand’s page.

Southern Living uses their Facebook page as a means to drive their large following to their online website. Posting on average 6.7 posts a day, the posts almost exclusively

tease a story from their website and link the story in the post to make it convenient for the readers to click through to the full article. Their content varies and is largely a direct result of what is currently on the Southern Living website. Occasionally, Southern Living will share a funny video or photo from an outside magazine such as People Magazine, who is owned by the same parent company. Many of those posts receive a higher engagement rate as people tend to tag friends in the comments or share the humorous post to their own page.

Southern Living’s Facebook page definitely succeeds in pushing content and driving their audience to their website, however there is room for improvement as the page could find a way to diversify their posts.

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Website 5.98m

total visits

00:01:59

average visit duration

5.34

pages per view

57.94

bounce rate

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lthough the website isn’t considered part of Southern Living’s social media platforms, one of the main goals of social media for any company is to drive traffic to their online website. Social media makes it easy for companies like Southern Living to share their online website content with their social media followers and encourage users to click through to the website. While this isn’t the sole purpose of social media, companies do want their audiences to be persuaded to click on their website to spend more time interacting with the brand. As of August of 2018, 9% of Southern Living’s traffic comes directly from social media platforms (“Southernliving.com Traffic…”). Having the

most followers on Facebook, it makes sense that the largest amount of traffic from social media originates there at 49%. Pinterest is surprisingly number two making up 31% of social media traffic to the website. With so many recipes on their website, many Pinterest users pin or repin Southern Living recipes and consequently a large amount of viewers click on the pin to read more about the recipe on the Southern Living website.

Social media serves an important role of getting users to the Southern Living website, and as the brand grows their digital presence, hopefully it was increase the percentage of traffic coming originating from social media.

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cont.

Percentage of Traffic

Traffic Sources on Desktop for Southernliving.com

Traffic Sources Graph 60.77%

19.61% 3.81%

Direct

Referrals

Search

9.03%

6.68%

0.10%

Social

Mail

Display

*Main sources of desktop traffic for southernliving.com based on August 2018 report

Traffic for southernliving.com from Social Media

9.03% of traffic is from social Traffic Coming From Social Graph

49.81% 31.11% 10.38% 5.04% 1.09%

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Total Social Visits: 820,000 (between Jun 2018 to Aug 2018) 9% of website traffic originating with social media is about average for magazines.

While there is always room to grow this number, Southern Living is very comparable to their competitors. With the exception of Garden & Gun magazine who is outpacing all competitors, Southern Living has a slightly higher percentage than most.

Traffic by Countries:

* Where southernliving.com visitors come from based off on August 2018

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design of A

s the magazine of the South, Southern Living continues to shine a light on many different aspects of the Southern culture through every edition. In every issue, Southern Living opens up with a warm letter from the editor, who is currently Sid Evans. Evans makes the letter personal, often telling stories from his childhood in the South or raising his own kids in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama. He ties his stories back to the particular issue giving context to the content in the magazine that month and why it’s important. The magazine today is broken down into four categories, themes that have been consistent since the magazine’s inception in 1966. Every issue printed is categorized into the 4 sections: Home & Garden, Beauty & Style, Travel & Culture, and lastly, The SL Kitchen. The magazine is organized into these categories in that order with all stories relating in some way to one of those

themes. There is also a secondary table of contents in the front of every issue breaking down all the recipes published inside the issue for easy reference. Throughout every issue, the color red is a constant theme. As the color of the logo, red is used in graphics, page accents, and typography in many of the issues. Hand drawn illustrations are often found on title pages of cover stories and on the reoccurring monthly columns such as the Grumpy Gardener and the Southern Journal. The Grumpy Gardener consistently answers reader’s gardening questions in every issue within the Home & Garden section.

While Rick Bragg’s Southern Journal column is on the last page of every issue. Bragg’s journal is a comical, southern, narrative and always has a light, playful mood making it the perfect way to end every Southern Living. Every issue is typically around 120-160 pages.

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ooking deeper into the magazine’s content, there has more recently been an emphasis on including stories that will attract a younger reader as well as transplants to the region (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). Much of this is done through visual aspects such as including more photographs as well as through larger emphasis on the Travel & Culture section. The travel portion of the magazine is typically made up of spotlights on different destinations to visit in the South during that specific time of year. Blending the original mission of Southern Living and modern day, “the magazine still heralds the place of the South with nods to its scenic beauty and great climate” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). Bringing together the old and new, Southern Living continues to emphasize this theme throughout all their categories and tries to illustrate how to bring history and heritage into modern

day life. Another new theme prevalent in the magazine today, is the busy family- especially the working mother as evidenced by these quotes from a variety of covers: “‘…six classic Southern dishes for quick weeknights suppers’ and ‘learn what our own Food Editors cook on their busy nights’” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”). While there are many themes from Southern Living’s inception that continue to be relevant in the magazine today, “other themes from the mid-1960s are absent in the more recent issues, such as business progress and community activism” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

Analyzing the Southern Living magazine makeup, one thing is evident, “the key element of Southern life that is still prevalent today is cherishing the past and holding onto tradition” (Lauder, “Southern Identity in Southern Living Magazine”).

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esides subscribers, advertisements are one of the main forms of revenue for any large magazine. Southern Living has had strong advertising revenue since their beginning in 1966. Within the first year on the newsstands the magazine had 350 advertisers who wanted to be apart of their publication (Lauder, The Southern Living Solution). While the magazine was initially financially supported by their parent company, Southern Living was able to support themselves within eighteen month, much that because of their high advertising sales. In 2018, Meredith Corporation, Southern Living’s current parent company, reported the brand had made $325 million on advertising revenue alone. In 2015, Southern Living sold 890 pages, a 1.3% from the year before (Trachtenberg). Within each magazine issue there are many different opportunities for brands and company’s, with a similar target audience, to purchase ad space inside the magazine.

Southern Living has multiple different kinds of ads that are integrated into all different parts of the magazines. As of 2018, cover advertisements range from $293,100 for a 3rd cover, $319,700 for a 2nd cover, and $346,400 for a back cover (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). While full run, 4-

color ads in 2018 range from $119,900 for 1/3 page, $166,500 for 1/2 page, $204,300 for 2/3 page, and $266,400 for a full page (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). Every edition of Southern Living also has a section titled “Travel Planner” in the travel section that is dedicated to advertisements of businesses, separated by locations. Many of them consistent of local activates, tour sites, or local restaurants. The price of these advertisements varies on the state, based on the circulation for each state.

The more popular Southern Living is in a specific state, the more expensive it is to advertise on these pages. The rates are broken down by region; Southwest, South Central, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic and each ad in the Travel Planner section are 1/6 of a page. The rate is also linked to the frequency of how many issues it will be published in, making it cheaper the more the business purchases a Travel Planner ad. These ads range between $6254 for a 1x ad up to $5650 for a 12x ad (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). Today, magazines are continually trying to find new creative ways to make advertisements apart of their pages. Advertising revenue continues to be an extremely important revenue stream for Southern Living as it helps sustain the business today.

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cont.

Full Run/ 4-Color Ad Rates:

Covers:

Travel Planner Rates:

84

Ratebases:

* Includes MO, OK, LA ** Includes VA, MD, DE, D.C. PA, NJ, NY *** Includes OH, IL, MI, WI, IN, KY, WV

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relations S

outhern Living is constantly testing out new and innovative ways for their consumers to interact with their brand. Allowing the Southern Living brand to grow and associate itself with other project besides their publication allows consumers to build a greater brand loyalty and provides the company with new forms of revenue. While Meredith Corporation serves as a advertiser through many of their magazines, the company also spend a total of $122.8 million advertising their magazines (“Ad Expenses of The Meredith…”). Southern Living specifically have used numerous different projects and collaborations as a way to expand upon their print reach and advertise for their magazine.

Brand extensions are one way to reach a new group of consumers, partner with other brands, expand revenues, and grow your brand loyalty. Southern Living continues to use brand extensions as an opportunity “to continue invest[ing] in and build[ing] out adjacencies and other extensions of our brand into non-print and non-advertising revenues” (“Time Inc. Annual Report 2016”).

Meredith Corporation, Southern Living’s parent company reports that through these “multiple long-term trademark licensing agreements” they successfully generate revenue and allow the brand to be seen in a new form by the consumer (Meredith Form 10-4).

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ome of Southern Living’s most recent brand extensions included a Southern Living collection at 1-800-Flowers. In December of 2017, the Southern Living and 1-800-Flowers.com collection was released to coincide with the popular holiday season.

The new collaboration featured 14 offerings of floral arrangements and special food gift sets that “celebrate the warmth of the Southern Lifestyle” (Guaglione). Southern Living also currently has a collection in the department store Dillard’s that has been extremely successful since it’s launch in 2014. The collection is held in more than 300 Dillard’s stores around the country and includes 1,200 exclusive designs (Pullen).

The top-selling home collection features a variety of bedding, bath, cookware, home décor, furniture, and more (Pullen). The Southern Living Hotel Collection is a series of carefully selected hotels and inns that embodies the Southern Living mission and brand. At Southernlivinghotelcollection. com you can see a handful of Southern Living approved hotels across the South that the magazine has chosen to highlight.

The Southern Living Store is another way the brand has chosen to interact with new customers. These five retail stores across the Southeast (2 in Myrtle Beach, SC, 1 in

Destin, FL, 1 in Huntsville, AL, and 1 in Mt. Pleasant, SC) are a physical representation of the brand. Inside the store you can find a variety of goods that would all fit into the pages of the magazine such as coffee table books, cook books, home décor, and gifts.

While, a Southern Living collaboration with Great American Cookie continues into 2018.

The two brands work together to publish “Southern Living test kitchen approved” cookie recipes onto both brand’s websites and digital platforms. Lastly, Southern Living also partnered up with Perfect Fit Meals to make personal-sized Southern Living approved healthy meals to their instore customers.

In the real estate sector, Southern Living together with Coastal Living has over 1,200 exclusive home plans, 100 custom home builders, 30 residential communities, and more than 80 interior design professionals that they give the Southern Living stamp of approval to (Meredith Form 10-4). In order to maintain healthy growth, these brand extensions and licensing collaborations are essential for consumers and serve as new marketing opportunities for Southern Living.

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future

OUTLOOK

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hile it is unclear what the future of the magazine industry will bring, Southern Living plans on staying innovative and delighting their customer through their consistent Southern-themed content. Meredith Corporation, Southern Living’s parent company has mapped out their future plans for their entire print portfolio. Overall, of course, Meredith Corporation’s goal is to help their print magazine’s continue to grow over the next decade. However, Meredith has broken this goal down into a few different initiatives that will help their magazines succeed in the coming years.

The of those first initiatives outline in Meredith’s 2017 Annual Report reads “continuing to create vibrant and relevant content and growing our reach to Millennials” (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”). This goal particularly pertains to Southern Living as the average age of their audience is well above the age of a millennial. In order to capture the minds of a younger reader Southern Living has continued to grow their online and digital presence. One aspect they have specifically been focusing on is their video content. In 2017 Southern Living produced over 1,200 videos, which was an impressive 80% year-over-year increase (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). These 1,200 videos lead to nearly 580 million views and successfully reached a younger audience (“Southern Living 2018 Media Kit”). As Millennials age “many of whom are getting married, starting families, and buying homes” the content inside a Southern Living magazine can specially be relevant to them (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”).

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second initiative Meredith Corporation introduced for their print magazines was to continue to grow advertising revenues as well as market share (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”). Advertising is a main form of revenue for many magazines, including Southern Living so it is critical that all print magazines continue to grow their advertising revenue. In order to do this, Meredith writes how important customer analytics and advertising data will be to ensure that the right advertisements are getting seen in front of the right customers at the right time. Meredith Corporation hopes to accumulate “rich and differentiated first-party data” (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”). Using this kind of data helps advertisers get a better result and provides an overall better experience for the customer, both of which results in loyal readers and the ability to charge premium rates to advertisers (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”).

The last initiative Meredith Corporation outlined for the future of their magazines is to generate more overall revenue straight from the customer (“Meredith 2017 Annual Report”).

As online advertising gets significantly easier and cheaper, it will be crucial that magazines start gaining more revenue from customers rather than advertisers. In order to do this, magazines must continue to provide new branded experiences for their customers through collaborations and brand extensions, continuously improve eCommerce initiatives, and engage with the customers through digital platforms.

While the future of magazines may still be unknown, Southern Living continues to grow and dedicate their time to innovation to ensure their brand’s legacy and protect their heritage.

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SL

oday

PRINT AUDIENCE:

2.8m

16.8m

21/79

rate base

print reach

male/female ratio

$90,203

52

12

mean hhi

mean age

editions annually

DIGITAL AUDIENCE:

6.3m unique users

$90,257 mean hhi

17/83

male/female ratio

48

mean age

FINANCES:

325 MILLION

96

MILLION

ad revenue subscription revenue

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S • High gross margins • Ability to have both digital and print media and sell ads in both • Highly visible website • Large social media following • Trusted heritage brand • Large target market

O • New brand extensions • Lots of room for innovation with the print industry

• Branded events to connect with readers • New, younger target market that Southern Living could reach • Introduce new content, such as new section on Southern weddings

W • Poorly designed magazine • Visuals don’t match the target customer • Poor use of Instagram • Ads don’t fit target market • Lack of events and experiences

T • Print sales decreasing • Decreasing interest in print advertisements

• Free content on the web similar to SL’s

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product Published monthly, Southern Living magazine publishes 12 issues a year that shares content in the categories of food, home and garden, travel and culture, beauty and style, weddings, holidays, and occasions, and news. With a reach of over 23 million between their digital channels and their print magazine, Southern Living aims to connect consumers to the region’s rich culture. The Southern Living print customer has a mean household income of $90,203 and an average age of 52. The mix of customers for the print magazine is 79% female and 21% male.

placement While the Southern Living magazine can be found at most retail locations that carry magazines, it’s more prevalent in stores the Southeast. Southern Living products however, can be found throughout the country as a result of the many past brand collaborations. In 2017 alone, their brand extensions included SL collection at 1-800 flowers, SL customer builder program, SL designer network, SL home collection at 300 Dillard’s department stores, SL hotel collection, SL stores, SL Kitchen Approved Recipes with Great American Cookie, and SL Kitchen Approved Recipes with Perfect Fit Meals.

price You can purchase a subscription for the print magazine on Southern Living’s website. For one year it’s $14.95 to receive a new magazine each month or you can buy a two-year subscription for $29.90. The print magazine is available in most places that carry magazines for $4.99/issue.

The magazine is not available online and digital content on their website is currently free.

promotion Despite Southern Living print origins they actively use a variety of digital channels to promote their brand. Southern Living is active on all forms of social media with 2.9 million followers on Facebook, 1.1 million followers on Instagram, 740,000 on Twitter, and 444,000 on Pinterest. However in 2017, the brand put a new emphasis on video content, producing over 1,200 videos. As a result of their new video promotions, Southern Living saw an 80% activity increase on their video content totally nearly 580 million video views.

However in 2017, the brand also collaborated with many different brands to expand their reach.

Their brand extensions included SL collection at 1-800 flowers, SL customer builder program, SL designernetwork, SLhome collection atDillards, SLhotel collection, SL stores, SL KitchenApproved Recipes with Great American Cookie, and SL Kitchen Approved Recipes with Perfect Fit Meals.

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Competitors

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Garden & Gun Started in 2007 in Charleston, SC and producing 6 issues a year, Garden & Gun magazine is a national title that “celebrates stories of the American South through powerful journalism, bold photography, exquisite design, and finely curated retail and experimental journeys” (“About Us- Garden & Gun”). Their content covers all elements of life in the South including the southern sports culture, food in the region, art, literature, and the people that make up this area of the country. With a total audience of 1,600,000, a rate base of 400,000, and an average household income of $370,000 their content is catered towards a high clientele. (“Garden & Gun- 2019 Print Media Kit”). Their readers are 54% male and 46% female and 90% are 35 and up. 4-color ads range between $23,106 for a 1/3 page to $60,298 for a full page (“Garden & Gun2019 Print Media Kit”).

Town & Country A heritage publication owned by Hearst Communications, Town & Country magazine “showcases this seductive world of exceptional people and exclusive places, examining how the activities of these names and faces, their tastes and family traditions, status symbols and private clubs, important ideas and celebrated accomplishments, shape the very world in which we live” (“About Us”, Town & Country). Covering the elite, Town & Country gives their consumer a look inside the high society through their 10 annual issues. With 639,000 total readers, with a median age of 50, and a median household income of $184,392 this magazine targets upper class America (“Town & Country Media Kit”). General advertising 4-color rates range between $62,010 for a 1/3 of page to $125,270 for a full page (“Town & Country Media Kit”).

Better Homes & Garden Owned by Meredith Corporation, Better Homes & Gardens is a print magazine that is produced monthly. With a focus on “decorating, building and remodeling, crafts, entertaining, cooking, and gardening” the majority of their content is home and food centered (“Meet the Staff of BHG. com”). Reaching nearly 40 million consumers through their media platforms the 12 annual themed editions empower “readers to live a more colorful life” (“Media Kit 2018,” Better Homes and Gardens). Currently the brand’s editorial 4-color advertising rates range between $315,900 for a 1/3 of a page up to $653,100 for a full page, guaranteeing a rate base of 7,600,000 (“Media Kit 2018,” Better Homes and Gardens).

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Real Simple Apart of the Meredith Corporation magazine family, Real Simple’s mission statement to their consumers is that they are “dedicated to making your life easier, more beautiful, and more meaningful- every single day. Real Simple creates a positive supportive community where modern women can connect and share inspiring ideas and practical solutions” (“Media Kit- Real Simple 2018”). The editorial publication is produced monthly reaching 6,868,000 consumers 90% of them female (“Media Kit- Real Simple 2018”). Their audience’s median age is 52 with an average household income of $94,714 (“Media Kit- Real Simple 2018”). With a rate base at 1,975,000 their 4-color ads range between $112,100 for a 1/3 of a page to $249,100 for a full-page ad (“Media Kit- Real Simple 2018”). Real Simple’s goal through all their content is to ensure that it “connects with real women of all life stages” (“Media Kit- Real Simple 2018”).

Martha Stewart Living Martha Stewart Living Magazine, a part of Meredith Corporation, features articles on a “wide range of topics that interest women including home improvement and decorating, beauty, entertaining and parties, holiday celebrations, food and cooking, DIY projects, crafting and more” (“Martha Stewart Living Magazine Subscription”). Published 10 times a year, with a total paid circulation of 2,066,644, the magazine has 1,991,559 print subscribers (“Martha Stewart Living Media Kit”). Ads range from a full-page 4-colr ad for $224,300 to a 1/3 page for $100,900 with a secured rate base of 2,050,000 ((“Martha Stewart Living Media Kit”).

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Primary Research Survey Industry Interview

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PRIMARY

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hile secondary research provided a strong base for overall industry and company information, primary research provided the opportunity to talk and listen directly to an industry employee as well as hear from a large group of women who are familiar with the magazine. Gathering information directly from a reliable source allowed for a better understanding of the current positioning of Southern Living and the magazine industry today. Combining these key insights gained from this primary research with the facts and statistics from secondary research will give the opportunity to create a strong strategy going forward for Southern Living. The primary research presented was designed to gain more information about industry insights through interviews, as well as consumer opinions on Southern Living through surveys with readers.

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sample of 145 women who identified themselves as Southern Living readers, participated in short survey powered by SurveyMonkey in order to learn more about what draws them to purchase the publication and keeps them as continuous customers. This survey allowed for direct communication with women who understand the brand best and have opinions about the future of the magazine. The women were made up of a diverse group living all over the southeast and were between the ages of 30-60. The survey was conducted through an online platform and was advertised strategically in 3 large Facebook groups: Auburn Class of 2022 Moms, Apex/ Cary Moms, and Raleigh Moms. The main goal of conducting this survey was to better understand what Southern Living readers love about the magazine and what they wish they could change. This information was critical to gather in order to create a strong future strategy. With 145 unique and individual responses, the survey provided insight into the reader’s perception of the brand and how to better it going forward.

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results survey

1. What is your favorite aspect of Southern Living magazine?

2. What would you change about Southern Living magazine?

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3. Would you go to Southern Living Events (parties, cooking classes, etc) if there was any held in your hometown?

4. Is there a section in Southern Living that you look forward to reading the most?

5. What is your favorite lifestyle magazine to read?

6. Do you currently have a Southern Living subscription?

7. What do you wish Southern Living would incorporate into their magazine in the future?

consumer survey

KEY FINDINGS W

ith a very large group of diverse responses from every question, the survey participants provided a range of ideas about what they love as well as what they wish would change about Southern Living magazine. Analyzing the results there were some reoccurring themes that were found throughout multiple responses. As a whole, all participants had a majority of positives things to say about the publication, however many did express some areas where there could be improvement. The 145 participants illustrated that they were loyal readers as they all had the ability to discuss the magazine in-depth, showcasing their knowledge for all of the recurring series such as Rick Bragg’s essay concluding every issue and Grumpy Gardener’s Q&A section.

42.7% of participants reported that the numerous recipes published in every publication were their favorite aspect of the magazine. However, many also mentioned that there should be a slightly bigger variety in the kinds of recipes shared, including healthier and easier options with less ingredients. Similarly, the interior design and home-related content placed second behind recipes, as 31.8% reported that this section was their favorite.

Nevertheless, many expressed their wish of the magazine showcasing more affordable renovations and products.

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ne of the key takeaways that readers candidly expressed was their desire for more lifestyle content. When asked for one aspect they would change about the magazine, 19.7% responded by saying more lifestyle stories. Southern Living readers are craving content that showcases real people and real stories happening in the South. Surprising, 14.8% of readers mentioned the overall look and feel of the magazine and how it could be improved. Many recalled Southern Living’s thin pages making it feel cheap compared to the thick, sturdy pages of some of the other lifestyle magazines. In comparison to some of their other lifestyle competitors, the design of the magazine could be upgraded to fit a more modern customer. Continuing to look at what the consumers would change about the magazine, 14.8% of respondents reported wanting to less ads on the pages of the magazine and more content.

Looking more at the statistics the survey

provided, it revealed that out of the 145 participants (who all considered themselves “Southern Living readers”), 50.71% were Southern Living subscribers. While the other 50% buy the publication from retail locations. The survey also discovered that these readers were anxious to experience the brand in another way, outside of the pages of the magazine. 83% of respondents replied that they possibly or would definitely love to take part in experiencing a Southern Living branded experience, such as a party or cooking class. This proves that readers would be willing to interact with the brand in other ways outside of just print or digital.

Overall, the survey provided an important angle and insight into the consumer’s mind that secondary research is unable to do.

Understanding what loyal Southern Living reader’s are looking for will help to create a sustainable strategy for the future of the magazine to ensure their legacy for years to come.

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n industry interview was conducted to add additional information that couldn’t be found through secondary research. This industry interview provided first hand information about one of the biggest magazine publishing companies today and what they are doing to stay innovative in a field with large amounts of competitors. The questions asked were based on the interviewee’s area of expertise and were constructed to understand more about the industry today. The main goal of the industry interview was to have the chance to gain first hand information about the magazine industry and learn more about the specific strategies publishing companies are initiating to ensure the future success of their titles.

answers interview questions &

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cKinna Pace is a Digital Media Advertising Sales Assistant at Hearst Publications working specifically with Women’s Health Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and Seventeen Magazine. Within her role, she analyzes social media and website analytics, manages key accounts, conducts brand research, and aids in organizing internal and external events for the magazines.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in Media Arts Design and Communication from James Madison University, she has extensive experience working on digital branding for both fashion companies and magazine titles. Her experience working in a fashion showroom, as well as a fashion brand, allowed her to understand the marketing and public relations side of magazines from an external point of view.

Now at Hearst, one of the top global magazine publishers, she is strategically aiding in creating a larger digital presence for their top women’s magazines internally.

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ace shared her thoughts on the industry and explained the reason she thinks digital is outpacing print is because of their “ability to adapt to readers quickly and timelessly, unlike print, where they have to take time to plan, produce, and distribute.” Despite digital’s ability to adjust their strategy and respond to requests almost instantly, Pace wasn’t ready to say print is dying just yet. She discussed Hearst’s numerous strategies their implementing into their magazines to ensure their magazines are resonating with consumers. One strategy Hearst has seen success with is incorporating influencers into their publications. Readers have responded positively to the new addition of influencers because, Pace says, they “are able to relate to influencers at a more personal level, opposed to seeing actors, singers, artists, and models, who are consistently in the limelight.” While using influencers is one small way to attract the attention of millennials, Pace also discussed the importance of brands (and magazines) introducing new and innovative experiences to interact with your consumers outside of print. Hearst who has recently expanded their events team by 30%, understand that when you have the opportunity to “teach or influence a reader in a face to face contact, like through an event, the reader is going to continue to come back for more,” Pace explains.

answers interview questions &

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aving the ability to learn from someone who works directly in the industry added key information about the specific strategies, such as influencers and events, being used in large magazines companies. This interview provided key information about how the digital and social media world is impacting magazines on a daily basis. As well as how magazines can in turn, use their websites and social media to drive traffic to their print edition and build a brand following rather than letting digital be the enemy of print.

Understanding how new experiences are changing the way magazines are conducting business and interacting with their readers on a daily basis provided primary examples of how physical events can impact a magazine title. Most importantly however, this industry interview filled in gaps and questions that secondary research was not able to answer.

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four part

Key Findings

Strategy Statement Objectives Initiatives

KEY FINDINGS

T

hrough in-depth primary and secondary research, 10 key findings were identified as the fundamental takeaways that were omnipresent throughout the research. These 10 specific findings help to better understand the future of the magazine industry and what publications should be implementing to secure their legacy.

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It’s not the end for print magazines

ontrary to popular belief, magazines aren’t dying, at least not yet. Despite some challenges the print industry faces today such as the increasingly popularity of digital, print is still surviving and some publications are even growing. With many magazines, comes a deep history and heritage that customers value more than fast, digital content. Despite the fact that digital platforms have the ability to create new content based on consumers wants and needs almost instantly, print still has the ability to provide the reader with the quality content they’re craving. Digital, similar to fast fashion, which has the opportunity to capitalize on the smallest of trends because of their unbelievably fast production capabilities, luxury brands, known for their history, heritage, and quality, are not going to go out of business because of their slower process. Their products will be valued in a different way, just as magazines will continued to be.

For the last 10 years, the number of magazines in the United States has stayed at a steady rate, varying between 7,100 and 7,300 and measuring at 7,216 in 2018 (Dossier: Magazine Industry).

200 new magazines were launched between October 2016 and December 2017 alone, giving the print industry hope that a large majority has not given up just yet (Henessy).

With both positive and negative statements floating around the media about the future of print it’s hard to get a full perspective on magazine industry today. The Association of Magazine Media (AMM) however, reports of magazines’ death are greatly exaggerated and the industry today, while still facing challenges, is still thriving. In AMM’s 2018-2019 Factbook, it is reported that in reality, the “top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 prime time shows. And despite generational differences, magazine consumption is strong” (Patterson). There is still a large niche magazine fill and consumers are continuing to purchase their favorite print publications in 2018. In fact, although the assumption is that millennials are more interested in digital content today, the total audience for all magazines actually rose 1.4% in 2017 over 2016’s 1.7 billion magazine readers, proving that there is still a large consumer demand for print magazines (Patterson). The print industry is certainly changing and innovating, just as all industry’s do, but with revenues still in the billions, it’s far to early to announce that the industry as a whole is not dead.

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Print magazines need to find new sources of revenue

lmost every print magazine has the same business strategy and two main forms of revenue, ads and subscribers. This age-old business strategy has worked for decades, however as digital ads become more affordable and more efficient, the original business plan may need to be reevaluated.

The Association of Magazine Media discovered in a recent study that advertising spending with the 50 largest magazine titles fell from $6.5 billion in 2016 to $6.1 billion in 2017 (Hays).

Predicted to fall an additional 13% in 2018, magazines must find new sources of revenue that can help make up for some of the lost revenue from the declining advertising sales (Ember). Digital ads are one of the main reasons that the value of magazine ads continues to decline. As ad giants Facebook and Google continue to take over the online advertising space, digital ads are becoming increasingly cheaper and with the help of new technology, easier to target your desired audience.

Understanding this, magazines continue to experiment with innovative ways to discover new sources of revenue. Many magazines have expanded their brands into physical stores where readers can purchase items that would belong in the pages of their magazine in the store. In contrast, some magazines have partnered with retailers to design a line of products, while others turn to paid reader experiences such as branded events, educational classes, and conferences. Many magazines have also found ways to monetize their social media accounts and pair up with brands to advertise through their posts. Magazines continue to experiment and innovate with new sources of revenue and have tried all kinds of out of the box ideas such as subscription boxes and partnerships with voice technology such as Amazon’s Echo.

Although many print magazines continue to fight for advertisers, consumers however, are actually attracted to the publications with fewer advertisements. When asking 145 Southern Living readers participating in a survey the top reported change in the publication was participants wanting to see fewer ads on the pages of the magazine. Readers buy the magazine for the content and stories inside, and although ads are large portion of any print magazine’s revenue, readers want to see ads more seamlessly integrated in the magazine rather than taking away from the content.

As magazine publishing companies continue to witness the decline of print advertising sales, it’s critical that magazines continue to test out new innovative ways to make up for this loss in revenue and expand their brand outside of simple the print world.

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Consumers still view magazines as trustworthy vessels of information

s the digital market becomes more and more saturated, print mediums such as newspapers and magazines appear more and more trustworthy. With almost anybody having the ability to publish anything online at anytime, readers are becoming more and more cautious with the information they consume online. With print, however, it takes significantly more time and effort to get something approved in a respected and largely circulated magazine or newspaper.

Large magazines and newspapers repeatedly check over their work to ensure their accuracy before sending something to print. In order to maintain their reputation and readers, it’s critical that highly respected magazines and newspapers publish nothing but the truth. As a result of all of this, consumers have become trained to trust print.

According to a study done by Magnetic, after looking at a variety of media and magazines, they concluded that 73% of all consumers considered print magazines to be the most reliable news source trust by the public, as opposed to digital websites or social media (Cranson).

It’s vital for these magazine brands to keep their consumer’s trust by repeatedly reporting honest and true stories. Trust in the magazine industry by consumers translates to trust for the entire print industry. While printed content may not be as instantaneous as digital content, readers know that that extra time was spent fact checking; ensuring that what was being published is nothing but the truth. This respect for print magazines, adds value to the medium that digital can’t recreate.

As fake news becomes more rapid through all forms of content, the Association of Magazine Media recently launched a campaign in opposition to remind consumers of the trustworthiness of print (Bloomgarden-Smoke). Using the tagline “Magazine Media. Better. Believe it.,” their goal is to remind audiences of the inherit value of the print medium (Bloomgarden-Smoke).

Print publications have proven their credibility over decades of history through loyal relationships with readers, something digital can’t recreate instantaneously. So despite the general population’s belief that magazines are no longer valuable, they may actually be the best place to read the most recent information.

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Magazines need to find a way to incorporate technology into print publications; converting print magazines to digital magazines is not the answer

he magazine industry faces many obstacles ahead as they try to navigate the future of print with the increasing popularity of digital technology. Jumping to the conclusion that the resolution for print magazines is to convert all publications to digital however, might not be the best solution. In reality, digital magazines do not currently have the reach or popularity to make up for the loss of print sales, as consumers are far more hesitant to spend their money on digital subscriptions. This means that magazine publications need to find a way to introduce technology into print publications without simply converting the whole magazine to a digital platform.

Part of the slow industry transition to digital magazines could be a result of the modern digital consumer so accustomed to free digital content. When readers are used to getting everything digital for free, they are often unmotivated to spend money on a digital subscription when they can find the content in other places for free. Another factor can be traced to the habit of receiving a physical item when you purchase something. When purchasing a digital magazine the consumer has nothing to touch or hold, making it slightly harder to justify spending money on.

Although being known as the digital-obsessed generation, Millennials today still prefer print to digital for any reading. According to a survey of college students, Forbes reported, “92% prefer reading print material to digital material� (Howe). Despite the generation, print is still the preferred method of consuming a magazine. 45% of all magazine readers in 2017 reported they have never read a digital version of a magazine and stick to the physical copy of the publication (Dossier: Magazine Industry). This is why it’s not best to convert the publication to fully digital. Instead, magazines need to find a way to incorporate new technologies into the pages of print, perhaps through an interactive app or experiential ads.

With not as many consumers interacting with digital magazines, the revenue produced from digital magazines cannot compare a printed issue. Digital magazines only will only make up for 30% of total consumer magazine revenue by 2020 proving that the printed medium still has many years of successful life ahead (Bothum).

While digital magazines can serve as a great supplement or special issue, the statistics and consumer preference prove that print is still the preferred method. Integrating portions of technology into a print publication will marry the modern customer with the physical product, allowing readers to have a digital and print experience.

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Lifestyle magazines continue to be quite popular

hile some magazine categories are struggling today, secondary research proves that lifestyle magazines aren’t one of those categories. Consumers are shifting towards lifestyle magazines with an emphasis on home and food rather than away. The increasingly popularity of home and food related publications can be seen through out the industry and can additionally be proven with statistics by looking at new and existing lifestyle magazines.

Respected lifestyle magazines Town & Country and Elle Décor are growing in recent years, as both magazines’ audience numbers rise. Meredith Corporation, one of the largest magazine publishing companies globally, focuses almost exclusively on home and lifestyle magazines targeted towards women. Their big competitors Hearst and Condé Nast who focus on a larger variety of topics, reported a larger decline in print revenue in recent years in comparison to lifestyle-focused Meredith (Ember).

All of the large magazine publishing companies have recognized this trend and are attempting to capitalize off of the lifestyle interest shift. Hearst, in partnership with Food Network, launched the extremely successful The Pioneer Woman Magazine, in June 2017 (Ember). The lifestyle magazine takes the readers inside Ree Drummond’s life on her ranch through stories, pictures, and recipes. The magazine sold out almost immediately and Hearst had to print an additional 100,000 issues in the first month of business ( Jarvis). Meredith Corporation also launched a similar lifestyle magazine in partnership with HGTV stars; Chip and Joanna Gaines titled The Magnolia Journal. The Magnolia Journal is also proving to be a huge success and was awarded the “2017 Magazine Launch of the Year” by the Association of Magazine Media (AMM) and also sold out immediately upon release (Meredith Corporation).

These statistics and successful new magazine launches prove the possible reader shift towards lifestyle related publications. As many magazines are facing hardships, Hays explains that it’s possible readers are now “coming to the magazine for inspiration and news on trends” proving that lifestyle focused magazines, may not have as much to worry about.

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Social media will continue to be an integral way for print magazines to grow and connect with readers

lthough many magazines industry experts today see social media as part of print magazine’s demise, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, can be used by magazines as an additional way to interact with current readers and connect with new ones. Social media is not fading away in the near future so magazines need to create a strategy that uses many of these platforms to their advantage rather than their disadvantage. Social media allows for magazines to expand the brand out side of the pages of print to showcase other aspects of the company. In order to attract a younger audience, social media will be a key aspect of their future strategy. Reevaluating what is posted on their accounts will be critical. Continuing to expand the Southern Living YouTube channel and creating engaging and visually pleasing Instagram posts will help to reach some of their younger consumers active on social media.

Although many magazines are printed only monthly, social media allows for magazine brands to interact with the consumer on a daily basis. Whether it’s through a simple Facebook post, tweeting out a picture of the newest magazine cover, or sharing behind the scenes photos and videos on Instagram, users can feel connected to the magazine’s brand daily, despite not having a printed copy in hand. These social media accounts allow brand audiences to grow more connected and loyal, eventually turning into paid customers.

While it’s a huge benefit for the consumers, social media can also serve as a beneficial resource for the magazines. Social media platforms give consumers a space to directly share their feedback with the brand. Many social media users don’t feel the need to hold back and will often directly comment on any posts or pictures and articulate their honest thoughts. This feedback is valuable to a magazine as it’s important to always be in tune with what the consumer is looking for. Facebook and Instagram also make it easy to directly create conversation with readers by creating polls and allowing them to vote. This allows for instant opinion on a topic, which can possibly, as a result, turn into profit if the magazine is questioning future decisions. As more and more magazines make it a goal to reach new millennial customers, social media could a direct tool to converse with that digital-savvy, younger group. Instagram alone claims that 59% of US 18-24 year olds are active users on the app, making it an simple way to specifically target the millennial generation (Napoli).

As social media platforms continue to grow, large accounts are seeing bigger and bigger opportunities to monetize their posts. While social media isn’t big enough quite yet to rely on as a source of revenue, it is a possibility in the future that social media could be considered a large medium for revenue. Social media is far from a trend, and rather than declining, the influence of these platforms is only going to expand, making them a prime opportunity for magazines to strategically capitalize on them.

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Southern Living needs to integrate ads more seamlessly into their publication

he large survey conducted with 145 Southern Living readers provided key insights into the magazine’s strengths as well as shined a light on some of the brand’s weaknesses.

These loyal readers knew the magazine well and highlighted many key reasons why they continue to subscribe or buy the magazine over and over again. However, they also were upfront with the flaws in the publication and expressed how it could be improved in the future.

When asking survey participants what they would change about Southern Living magazine, second most popular response, behind including more lifestyle stories, was decreasing the number ads per issue. 14.8% of all survey respondents said that less ads on the pages of the magazines is the one thing they would want to see changed within the publication. While ads are pertinent for any magazine to survive, Southern Living needs to figure out a new strategy to make them feel less overwhelming and more apart of the magazine.

Although Southern Living has mastered so many aspects of their traditional Southern themed magazine, there is always room for improvement. Flipping through the magazine it can often feel as though there are more ads than content. The ads stick out and are frequently unrelated to the Southern Living reader. As a magazine, the brand could decide to integrate the ads more into the content by creating sponsored content, being more selective on the type of ads allowed on the pages, or including less ads.

Competitor Garden & Gun integrates their ad seamlessly as many of them are designed to fit into the pages of the magazine and are perfectly targeted towards their specific reader.

As advertising sales in print publications decrease because of the increasingly popularity of digital ads, Southern Living needs to strategically find ways to integrate ads so consumers feel as though they are useful to them, which could result in advertisers being happier with the result of their ad in the publication.

Although new strategies like this would take trial and error, testing out new ways to integrate ads would be a beneficial investment for the future of the magazine. The last thing you want is your reader feeling as though half of your content is ads. Integrating ads seamlessly into the pages of the magazine will result in happier consumers and advertisers.

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Southern Living consumers want to read real stories about real things happening in the south

s Meredith Corporation explained in their future strategy, targeting more millennials will continue to be a large part of all of their publications. As Southern Living creates a custom strategy for their brand to attract millennials, a key part of that strategy must be modernizing the content and pulling in more current stories.

Within the survey conducted, one strong theme was present throughout all the questions.

Readers expressed their want for more real stories spotlighting real people in the South.

When surveying 145 Southern Living readers inquiring what they wish the would see incorporated into future publications, 21.3% of them responded saying they want to see more lifestyle stories. Incorporating and freshening up the content inside the magazine will lead to greater interest and possibly more print buyers.

More and more magazines are making an effort to address “timely social issues in a culturally relevant manner” (Napoli, “Instagram Trends…”). Consumers pushing the trend are hoping to see their favorite magazines report on real stories that have a need to be shared with the world. As a magazine that focuses on a specific region of the country, it would be fitting to share more stories about the people that make the South what it is today.

Rick Bragg’s essay at the end of every Southern Living issue was mentioned repeatedly as a favorite element and when asked their favorite part of the magazine to read, 5% said that “the Rick Braggs essay concluding every issue.” This short essay included every month spotlights a fun short story about a Southern tradition, what makes the region so special, a simple lesson, or merely highlights of a funny story Rick observed. His pieces bring humor, personality, and character to the magazine that the rest of the pages could use more of.

This short article that concludes every issue is just a small taste of the lifestyle stories consumers want to read more of.

Magazine readers today are looking for publications to move beyond shallow content and address the current events and happenings of the time. Southern Living needs to find a balance by providing an escape and inspiration while still highlighting the people and events happening in the South. Overall, finding a way to keep the content modern while still preserving the heritage and history of the Southern way of life will help Southern Living uphold their prestigious reputation as the South’s magazine.

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Southern Living needs to rethink the design and presentation of the magazine

hen looking at a newsstand debating what magazine to purchase, the first thing any reader is going to judge is the cover and the cover design. Once they pick up that magazine, the first thing a reader will subconsciously take note of is the quality and feel of the magazine. With a flimsy cover and thin interior pages, Southern Living automatically gives the impression of a lower quality magazine. With an average household income of over $90,000, the typical Southern Living reader is typically attracted to higher quality products. With a thicker paperweight for the cover and interior pages readers will automatically assume that the content inside the magazine is higher quality. This simple modification can change an entire audience’s perception about the publication.

The inside presentation of the magazine is almost as important as the outside. The interior design of the Southern Living often looks generic and lacks visuals and personality. While it’s beneficial to use similar layouts, colors, and typography to brand your magazine, it has moved past that point and become underwhelming. Many of the layouts seem outdated and overused. While conducting primary research, it was found that when asked the one-thing readers would change about the publication, almost 10% reported the overall design. Southern Living’s overdue for a much-needed makeover, especially if the readers are starting to notice and take note of the outdated design as well.

New, innovative magazines have even started designing their magazines to resemble coffee table books. Not only does an elevated design encourage customers to keep a magazine on their coffee table as opposed to throwing it out, it also gives the perception that it’s a higher quality magazine. As presentation becomes increasingly important in every industry, publishers are attempting to make each page a work of art that readers will spend time admiring and reading.

Millennials, the new target market for many magazines including Southern Living, have prioritized this trend so much, that good design is almost a requirement for future success.

Millennials are constantly on the hunt for the next best thing to photograph to include on their social media feed. As the world increasingly puts a higher importance on aesthetics, the design of every product will be expected to do the same. Upgrading Southern Living’s design aesthesis and quality of the magazine to fit the quality of contents will help to retain current customers and impressive new ones.

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In order to gain the attraction of a younger market, Southern Living needs to create opportunities for readers to connect and experience the brand in a physical way

agazines must exist beyond the pages of print today in order to resonate with readers. Magazines must be active on social media platforms, have a website that serves as an extension of their publication, and lastly, must provide memorable experiences with loyal readers to keep them coming back. Interactions with consumers remind them why they love the brand and strengthen their connection with the magazine.

Social media does this to an extent, allowing the consumers to comment, direct message, and like a brand’s posts, however moving outside of the digital screen and providing physical experiences with a consumer is invaluable.

Hearst Publications is already working to capitalize on this new opportunity by expanding their events team by 30% to benefit their large portfolio of magazines (Cranston). For magazines, events not only benefit the consumer, but also provide invaluable information about the reader to the magazine. Magazines are then able to better understand what their readers are looking for and how to provide them with that.

For Southern Living specifically, since much of their target audience is in a very confined space geographically (the Southeast), it would make it easier to put on branded events in different towns and cities across the region. Experiences such as cooking classes, sponsored food festivals, or summer soirees would be the perfect opportunity to partner with other brands and create a positive memory associated with Southern Living. Out of the 145 Southern Living readers that participated in the survey, 83% responded saying they would definitely or possibly consider going to a branded Southern Living event. Knowing this many readers are interested reaffirms the need for Southern Living to brand out and test out events.

While these events would primarily be put on to establish a better relationship with readers, they could also serve as another small source of revenue for the magazine. Although it would be a small source of revenue in the beginning, growing events and making them annual occasions could bring about more people, which would result in more money, and more loyal readers.

Overall, moving beyond the written word and creating a connection with readers through unique, branded experiences will keep the Southern Living brand relevant among their target audience and help to expand their readers.

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goal Transform Southern Living by weaving together the heritage and history of the magazine with modern elements to create more revenue and attract more millennials.

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Gain a larger millennial basis Create new sources of revenue Upgrade the reputation of Southern Living Incorporate more lifestyle and current events Continue to grow social media following Integrate ads more seamlessly into the publication

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design & quality

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s the importance of design and quality becoming increasingly important with the millennial generation, Southern Living needs to stay competitive and ensure the design and quality of their magazine is top of the line.

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Quality

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n order give the first impression to readers that Southern Living is high quality and produces credible content, the magazine will increase their interior paperweight from 30 lbs to 60 lbs and increase their cover weight from 70 lbs to a thicker 100 lbs cover. This sturdier paper will immediately give the impression that the publication is a valued magazine while instilling a sense of trust in all readers. The higher quality of paper also gives Southern Living an elevated level of luxury.

of consumers report that the top reason they stop buying a brand is due to poor product quality thrown together the less any consumer is willing to spend on the issue and the lower the chance of them following through on the purchase. Before Southern Living attempts to expand their brand loyalty, the magazine needs to illustrate it’s value and worth to paying readers. Southern Living doesn’t have the ability to have full control over the presentation of distribution in newsstands or grocery stores across the country, however, increasing the quality can help solidify that the first touchpoint with a customer will be positive.

While this change may seem simple, it is crucial as a magazine to give potential Garden & Gun, a competitor and fellow customers a high perceived quality the southern-focused magazine is known for moment they pick it up off a magazine their utilization of high quality of paper they stand. Feeling thick, sturdy paper in your use consistently throughout their issues. hands when a customer picks up a magazine “Uncompromising quality leads to success,” will foster the thought of quality. A higher and Garden & Gun has illustrated this perceived quality will help customers to through their quality paper and large brand assume that the magazine is filled with loyalty (“High Quality Print…”). To further trustworthy, interesting content they is support this new initiative, a survey done worth the cost. Customers buy a product by Marketing Charts was conducted among “when they believe in the value of what 1,162 US adults to ask why they would stop they are getting” and thicker paper is an buying from a specific brand (“Consumers easy way to increase that value (Di Somma). Say Product Quality…”). 45% of participant When attempting to convert a potential and the most common reason recorded customer into a paying customer, the was poor product quality (“Consumers higher perceived quality of the magazine, Say Product Quality…”). Leading to the the higher the chance of the purchase (Yu). conclusion that research suggest there is Increasing the weight of the paper will a direct correlation between perceived ensure that the feel of the magazine brand quality and customer purchases. accurately reflects the quality of the content This information solidifies the decision to inside the magazine. The content inside increase the quality of paper used for the Southern Living is trustworthy, exciting, and cover and interior pages of the magazine capturing stories, however, if the consumers which will as a result lead to more revenue. assume based on the cheap quality of paper that it is just another low-quality magazine 132

Design

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he interior design of the magazine will updated with a fresh look as well. While certain elements will remain constant to give readers a sense of familiarity, many aspects will be modernized. Mixing modern elements with more historic photos and fonts will bring together Southern Living’s rich heritage and modern business. As discussed previously, the importance of design is becoming increasingly important as millennials place a greater priority on visual. In order to ensure the magazine meets the high design standards of the millennial generation, the current design of the magazine will be revised.

magazines. In order to incorporate this trend within Southern Living titles and headlines will make a statement on the pages by using large bold fonts and unique typography arrangements. Another prominent 2018 design trend is the increasing importance of skimmable pages and improving the ability for magazines to communicate the content visually (Brown). This will be done using many visual representations such as infographics in addition to the story so consumers can easily skim the infographic to understand the content and dedicating extra space to include more photos.

Hand drawn illustrations and elements continue to be a design trend in 2018 so the reoccurring illustrations included on the Grumpy Gardener’s page and on the Southern Journal column will remain (May). Lastly, it’s becoming increasingly important that print designs are also digital friendly if they end up on the company website or in Southern Living’s case, with their new app (Brown). Simplifying designs and taking about unnecessary clutter will make it easier for the app to scan the pages of the magazine.

Specifically, a variety of new fonts will be used throughout and the logo will remain the same. However, versions of the Playfair font will be the main font used consistently throughout the magazine. Part of staying relevant and modern is following trends.

A number of current design trends will be utilized to keep the magazine competitive.

Title typography in 2018 graphic design is following the rule of the “bigger and bolder, the better” (Cann). Bold traditional typefaces are becoming increasingly popular in print

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content strategy

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hile elements such as the design, visuals, and advertisers certainly make a difference in a magazine reader’s experience, the heart of the magazine is the content. The stories and tips inside every Southern Living is what makes it the magazine it is today. After 50 years of providing content that celebrates the South, Southern Living have kept readers intrigued and charmed by the southern lifestyle.

When interviewing 145 Southern Living readers, the top response to the one thing they wish would change in the magazine was adding more lifestyle stories. Some respondents described this by saying they wish Southern Living included more stories on real people in the South while others said they hoped to see more stories the combines both the modern and historic aspects of the South.

Introducing new columns and content over the course of a year will give the magazine a fresh feel and allow the content to reach new consumers as well as keep the old. To ensure it’s success focus groups will be utilized to get honest reader feedback.

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Weddings

hile the website occasionally shares wedding related-content, the magazine sticks to it’s 4 traditional categories (Home & Garden, Beauty & Style, Travel & Culture, and The SL Kitchen) and doesn’t stray much outside of those topics. However, as the Southern Living attempts to draw in more younger readers it’s important to think about where they are in their life and what kind of content they would interested in.

Spotlighting one real wedding that took place in the South in every issue would also bring in those lifestyle stories readers are looking for. The story would consist of photos, an interview with the couple about their Southern wedding celebration, and a list of vendors that helped make the special day a reality.

Incorporating just one Southern wedding in each issue will provide a taste of Southern weddings without making the whole magazines seem wedding related. The story would display a small collage of pictures from the day and the interview however, using the interactive Southern Living app readers could see more pictures from the big day on the Southern Living website.

The popular magazine, Southern Wedding recently announced that after 10 years in business they are going to shift their focus on another aspect of their company and stop the production of the magazine and blog. This provides the opportunity for Southern Living to showcase some southern wedding themed content since there is now an opportunity in the market for that content.

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what’s

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Happening?

ather than staying away from current events, more and more magazines are weaving what’s going in the world into the content of the magazine. Readers are interested in what’s going on in the world and the latest news (whether that relates to pop culture or politics). Lacing current events strategically into the pages of Southern Living will provide readers will a mixture of fun and serious current events happening in the South that they would want to know about.

The reoccurring column would be placed in the front of the magazine so it’s one of the first things readers see when they open the magazine. It would list 5 things that are relevant in today’s modern South and provide a brief explanation of each. Pulling in a mix of fun and serious happenings in the South.

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Boss business

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he “Southern Business Boss” column will become a monthly addition to every Southern Living issue. The column will interview a different Southern business owner every month and include the interview in the column. The column will explore how they started the business, and learn about what helped them get to the place they are today.

Featuring business men and women in the South will incorporate a new category of content that is currently missing from the magazine. This lifestyle section, that interviews real people with a real story will not only resonate with current readers but will also resonate with younger generations focused on their career.

The column will be a fun way to discover the fun and interesting stories behind business owners in the South and will also help readers discover new businesses that call the South home. Spotlighting brands such as Society Social, a company that manufacturers bright, colorful, and classic furniture in central North Carolina will add a level of realness to every publication. Other brand interview ideas include Terra Ceia Farms, a North Carolina flower farm that grows tulips and Peonies, Camilyn Beth, a formal dress designer in central Florida, and Mi Golondrina, a Mexican inspired clothing brand that’s based in Dallas.

Showcasing thriving businesses that call the South home will bring in real stories about real people succeeding in the South.

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eminding Southern Living readers of the rich 50-year history the brand has instills a sense of credibility in the reader. It gives consumers a sense of trust and illustrates how successful the brand continues to be.

A fun way to incorporate this history into every issue is to spotlight an old story, recipe, or iconic cover from a past issue. Whether it’s an old photoshoot or recipe, it’s fun for readers to look back and see what was popular many decades ago. This column would be apart of every issue and would be placed towards the front of the magazine near the letter from the editor and table of contents.

While this column would attract all Southern Living readers, millennials are often described as one of the “most nostalgic generations ever” so it would especially appeal to that older population. This one page reoccurring section is a way to combine modern day with historic aspects of the magazine.

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tech phone app

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lthough statistics show that it’s not financially the best idea to switch over a print magazine to digital, there are still ways magazines can implement technology and digital features into the pages of their print to stay on the cutting edge of innovation. Incorporating more technology will also attract a younger, more tech-savvy audience.

In efforts to combine print and digital, Southern Living will roll out a new app that is specific to the print magazine and allows readers to interact with the pages of the magazine in a whole new way. Holding the app over the pages of the print magazine will allow readers to click directly on a specific element featured on the page. Once selecting something on the page, the app can direct the consumer to a website where they can purchase the product, connect them with more information about the specific story on the page, or provide additional content. These features will allow Southern Living to gain better data on what the customer is interested in and their digital behavior. This will also help Southern Living to track which products customers are most frequently buying.

The app will also allow readers save a recipe or story to their account so they can easily go back to their book marked page for later reference. Specifically for recipes, the app, when held over any recipe page, will link to a Southern Living videos with tips on how to make that specific dish. Lastly, the app will also allow users to easily share the Southern Living content on their social media, which would ultimately create more traffic to the website.

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Incorporating augmented reality will bring a whole new element to the app and allow for even more digital features. Augmented reality will be used to help bring the pages to life. Using the app, you will be able to hold your phone over a page of the print magazine and through the phone you will be able to see the page move, similar to a gif or boomerang. The goal would be to make every page interactive in some way with the app, even if it’s just links to story on the website or allows the user to share the article.

In order measure how successful the app is,

Southern Living will track it’s engagement, downloads, uses, and views. The app will be available on the Apple and Android stores so make it accessible to a large number of readers who have smart phones.

The app will help to appeal to a younger demographic who is anxious to try out new technology and who is always on their phone.

This app will bring technology and print together seamlessly and allow readers to use their phone to interact with the magazine in a very interactive way.

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ads strategy

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s a huge portion of Southern Living’s revenue, advertisements are a crucial part of any publication. While the magazine couldn’t exist without advertisements, it’s also important that Southern Living is strategic about which ads they allow in the magazine. Advertisements become a part of any magazine they are placed into and are apart of the overall experience and association the consumer has with the magazine.

When asking 145 Southern Living readers what they would change about the magazine, the second most popular answer was the number of ads. Currently the ads are often unrelated to the reader’s interests and clearly stick out as advertisements. With ads that don’t fit the magazine’s current ascetics and clientele, consumers get annoyed because they feel as those they are taking away from the content of the magazine.

Going forward in order to resolve this situation Southern Living’s will make print ads more interactive and seamless inside every issue. Being more selective about which ads the company agrees to and more strategic as to where they place the ads, will help alleviate some of the annoyance consumers are feeling.

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Southern Living can do this by physically reaching out large brands or companies they feel would fit their target audience to ensure more ads fit their readers. Aligning the ads near similar content will also help to integrate the ads into the pages and seem like they fit. Competitors often help ads feel more apart of the magazine by making sure the design of the ad fits the ascetics of the magazine. Adding Southern Living copy to some ads (such as travel ads) or making them into Southern Living content will make the ads stick out less. To ensure ads meet the design standards of Southern Living,

the brand will also help to design specific ads to avoid cheapening the magazine with a poorly designed ad.

With around 50 full-page ads in every issue, it’s essential that the ads feel natural and flow into the rest of the content. Readers bought the magazine for the content and get frustrated when they feel as though the ads are getting in the way of seeing the content.

Improving the advertising strategy will raise the brand perception and will give readers a sense that the magazine is high quality.

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social media

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outhern Living’s core social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram.

The brand however, is putting a lot of new effort into growing their YouTube channel and are also active on Pinterest and Twitter. Moving forward, all of these social media platforms will be used for different purposes to strengthen reader relationships and brand loyalty. Social media as a whole will also strategically be used to reach a younger demographic. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are home to large amounts of the millennial population assisting Southern Living to reach a younger audience.

To ensure maximum growth, Southern Living will first secure “SouthernLiving” as the account handle/name for every social media account. This will provide consistency across all platforms and allow for consumers to find their accounts easier. More original content such as photos from Southern Living events, photoshoots, and city spotlights from the magazine will be posted on all platforms as opposed to simply regramming other accounts or users. Twitter will be used as a conversational platform where readers can tweet @southernliving with a question and will be answered to foster consumer relationships and customer service. The successfulness of these initiatives will be based on follower growth, engagement level, percentage of audience that visits the website, and number of participants. The specific initiatives that will be put in place during Southern Living’s strategic shift are explained below.

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nce a week, Southern Living will host a live Q&A session that will be streamed through their Facebook and Instagram accounts. According to Social Sprout, a social media analytics company, one of the most popular times on social media is Thursday at 4pm, which is when these live discussions will take place to reach the maxim amount of people (York). Each session will be 20- 30 minutes long with an “expert” answering reader questions on the specific topic and then moderated by another Southern Living staff member who will be reading the questions from the audience in real time. Each live session will have a topic that will rotate every week. Two sessions every month will be dedicated to cooking/ recipe questions and advice, since that is 42.7% of Southern Living reader’s favorite section of the magazine. The other two topics will be gardening and home/ interior design related. The hosts of these live sessions will be Southern Living staff and experts on topics. The chefs and bakers who work in the well-respected Southern Living Test Kitchen will host recipe and cooking sessions. This will allow readers to ask live questions about specific Southern Living recipes or simple ask for advice from professional chefs and bakers. The live gardening sessions will be hosted by “grumpy gardener” who answers reader’s questions monthly in every issue. However, these sessions will give Southern Living readers the opportunity to ask him their questions directly and hear a response instantly. Lastly, the home and interior themed live sessions, will be hosted by Southern Living Interior Design editors.

The weekly “Ask The SL Experts” sessions will be advertised on all social media platforms so readers know exactly when to tune in. The sessions will be live through Facebook and Instagram simultaneously and will also be recorded so they can be posted on their YouTube following the chat.

This chance to ask Southern Living experts questions through live Q&A sessions has many benefits. First, this allows readers to interact with the brand through a new way and grow reader trust. Proving that Southern Living experts can answer reader questions live will illustrate to readers how trustworthy the magazine is. This new initiative will also will give Southern Living a new way to gain more digital followers and reach a younger audience. Most importantly though, these chats allow the readers to feel connected to the people behind the magazine in a new way Southern Living hasn’t discovered before.

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ncorporating readers and ensuring that they feel like their opinions impact the magazine content is crucial for Southern Living. An easy way to do this is through simple Instagram story polls. As Instagram grows in popularity, it’s increasingly popular to have a large presence on the app. Instagram Stories is a feature on the platform that allows users to photo a photo or video that vanish after 24 if the account doesn’t save it to their highlights. Currently Southern Living posts multiple times a day but doesn’t use the story feature as frequently as they should. With stories at the top of the app as soon as users open it, they are often the first thing Instagram users look at. Which explains why it is so necessary for Southern Living to be utilizing this feature.

Creating polls and using the reply tool on Instagram stories asking readers what kind of content they are wanting to see in an upcoming issue will give honest feedback to the magazine and allow Southern Living to create content they are confident readers are going to love. While it’s beneficial for the magazine, it also helps readers feel apart the publication and feel like they are providing input. Creating simple stories such asking followers questions such as, “Would you rather see a story in the April edition on the 50 best barbeque joints in the South or the 50 best biscuits in the South” and then allowing them to vote automatically. This simple tactic will create excitement for the upcoming issue, especially when they see that story in the publication and feel like they were apart of that decision.

Overall this simple initiative creates more opportunity for Southern Living to grow on social media and reach a younger audience that is often present on social media platforms.

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events & experiences

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osting a variety of different events and activities will allow Southern Living to connect and interact with readers in a new way. It allows the brand to exist outside of the pages of the magazine and incorporate many of the vendors and places they talk so frequently inside the magazine. This will create an experiential element to the magazine that is currently missing. These events will also invite new readers and show them the mission and purpose of the brand. As we see more and more magazines use experiences as a way to advertise their brand, it will become increasingly important that Southern Living takes part in that trend. The main goal of these events and experiences is to interact with readers in a new way while learning more about Southern Living’s most loyal readers and what they are looking for in the magazine. The successfulness of the events and classes will be measured in the number of participants who purchase tickets and attend, and follow-up surveys will be used to see how the attendees enjoyed the events. Overall, these events will provide readers with a positive experience associated with the brand and ensure that they stay loyal readers.

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Soiree

ecause what Southern Living reader doesn’t enjoy a big southern soiree every once a while? Hosting a large, branded event every year will help to give readers another exciting experience to associate with the Southern Living brand. The Southern Soiree will be an annual celebration hosted every May by Southern Living in different cities across the Southeast.

Creating excitement surrounding the event, Southern Living will announce where the event will be held every February and tickets will then go on sale in March. Building up the announcement in a big way creates buzz and hype about the event and gives readers a larger purpose to attend. Social media will be used to tease the event out and even provide clues to readers where the event will be that year before it is announced.

Allowing customers to purchase tickets will create a form of revenue for the brand and help to offset the cost of the event. The event will be open to the public and will last one evening. This new tradition will allow Southern Living to create a presence in cities across the Southeast and help spread awareness about the brand.

Southern Living will use the event to partner with many of the local vendors and restaurants that they so frequently talk about on the pages of the magazine. The number of guests will vary based on location and the venue. Incorporating great food and live music, it will be a festive Southern summer night that perfectly encompasses the brand.

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uilt on a history of reader recipes and having one of the first magazine test kitchens, it makes sense that Southern Living’s most popular section of the magazine is the recipe and food portion. Readers are interested in easy, homemade dishes to entertain and feed their family with. With such a large test kitchen, extremely talented chefs and bakers that create the recipes, and readers who are so interested in food, it only makes sense to create an event where Southern Living can bring the three together.

Southern Living will send one or two chefs, who work in their test kitchen, every month for a cooking class that takes place in a Southeastern city. Using Southern Living employees will allow for lower costs, as it would prevent Southern Living from having to outsource chefs. Rotating which southern cities the class is hosted in will ensure a maximum amount of readers around the region are getting the opportunity to interact with the brand. The classes will be planned based on the chef’s skills and techniques but will have fun themes such as “how to make the perfect biscuit” or “tailgating essentials.”

Southern Living will partner with a previously featured local restaurant and host the class at their location. This will foster a relationship with a restaurant and also hopefully create new advertising relationships. Hosting the classes in a local restaurant’s kitchen will also make it easier as they will already have all the cooking appliances needed.

The classes will be marketed on all social media accounts and participants will sign up through a specific page on the Southern Living website. The partnered restaurant will also be able to market towards local clients and the number of participants will be dependent on how large the restaurant space is. Depending on the food supplies needed for each class the price will vary, however most will cost between $30-$45 per person.

These cooking classes with Southern Living test kitchen chefs will appeal to the 42.7% of readers whose favorite part of the magazine is the recipe and food section. It will provide a positive memory with the brand and allow Southern Living to interact with readers on a one on one basis.

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artnering with local talents who Southern Living has previously featured on the pages of their magazine, these educational classes will take place all over the Southeast every other month. These classes will give the opportunity to reach new readers in Southern Living’s target market as many class attendees will invite friends to attend the class with them.

Southern Living will partner with professionals who don’t typically teach classes to give class participants the chance to learn from a skilled expert. Some examples of classes would include “Make Your Own Terrarium Class,” “Hand lettering for beginners,” and “Floral Arranging Basics”. The cost of the classes will depend on the supplies needed for the class and the negotiated cost of the venue and professional.

Similar to the cooking classes, the classes will be advertised through Southern Living’s social media to spread the word about the class and the details. Class participants will be able to book their slot on the Southern Living website up to 2 months in advance.

As the importance of branded experiences grow, these educational classes will provide a new, and fun way, way for readers to feel involved with the brand.

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n more casual efforts, the SL On-The-Go Flower Truck will travel around the Southeast promoting the brand and while interacting one on one with readers.

The custom made, Southern Living, flower truck will travel around the region visiting different local outdoor shopping centers, high end malls, farmers markets, and festivals throughout the year. The truck will be stocked with a variety of fresh flowers and people will be able to stop by, make a small bouquet to bring home, and pick up a copy of the newest Southern Living. This will be a promotional activity so it will be free to anyone who comes up. The flower truck will be decorated to look like a quant little flower cart and will have the Southern Living logo large on the side. Once the participant creates their small bouquet, an employee working the cart will help to wrap the bouquet with brown kraft paper and tie a small bow around it, adding a small Southern Living sticker to it. This will create an adorable little flower bouquet that many participants will hopefully feel the need to share on social media, creating great PR for Southern Living.

This small promotional activity gives Southern Living readers and fans a chance to talk to a employee, make a bouquet, receive the latest issue for free, and have a positive, fun association to the brand. While readers participate in the activity, it will give the Southern Living employee a chance to interact with them and talk to them about the latest issue. As other people around pass by watching participants making their own small bouquets, it will intrigue more people to come up and discover the small flower truck. There will also be a small stand up sign with “Free Flowers” painted on it so people passing by will want to stop. Giving out the latest issue of the magazine with the flowers will hopefully entice readers to sign up for a subscription or purchase the next issue as well.

With the gardening sectioning as a fan favorite this small activity will resonate with a large number of readers. Creating a fun memory with the brand and getting to take something home (a small little bouquet they got to make) will increase reader’s perception of the brand and hopefully pull in new readers.

The traveling flower truck will be promoted through social media, especially through a Facebook post as well as through Instagram stories to spread the word where the cart is that day and encourage readers to come and pick up free flowers.

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he heritage of Southern Living is one of their key success factors. Their 50-year history spans many different generations and throughout the years have stayed true to celebrating the South. In order to remember their heritage every year and share that history with their readers, Southern Living will host a dinner party to celebrate annually. Southern Living was born out of The Progressive Farmer Magazine, a southern magazine for farmers of the 1900s. To get back to those roots, the dinner party will be hosted on a different farm every October across the Southeast. The chefs from the test kitchen will cater the meal using only local produce. The dinner will take place in the middle of a field on beautiful long farm tables decorated with fresh floral arrangements and mason jars.

The event will be more intimate than the Southern Soiree, however, readers will still have the ability to purchase tickets through the Southern Living website. This dinner party will be a culinary experience not only because of the amazing food that will be served, but also because of the atmosphere. Groups of readers are welcome to attend and local people who have been featured in the magazine will also be invited.

Sid Evans, the CEO of Southern Living will give a short speech making the event feel very intimate and personal. Attendees will go home with a gift basket with a variety of fresh produce from local farms as well as the latest Southern Living issue.

The number of tickets will be limited based on the venue and Southern Living will work every year to partner will a local farm to support farmers in the South. As a thank you to the farm, the event will be featured in every November issue with complimentary photos of the event and an interview with the farm owners. This event will be Southern Living’s chance to pay homage to their roots and to support local farmers.

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urrently the largest meal-kit provider in the United States with operations also in Canada and Europe, Hello Fresh sells “wholesome, home-made, meals with no preparing, no shopping and no hassle” (“Who We Are”). Celebrating fresh ingredients and making magic in the kitchen, Hello Fresh provides meals for people all over the world.

With such a big emphasis on food and recipes, and food the number one interest of Southern Living readers, a collaboration with Hello Fresh would allow Southern Living readers to get some of SL’s most popular recipes delivered to their door. As the largest meal-kit provider in the United States, many Southern Living readers are already using the service. Providing a line of Southern Living meals based on the magazine’s recipes will advertise to Hello Fresh’s large group of audience and allow more people to experience the Southern Living brand.

The collaboration would feature 10 Southern Living inspired meals using the magazine’s most infamous recipes and additionally would also offer 5 vegetarian options and 3 vegan options. Since Hello Fresh has the production and shipping capabilities, Hello Fresh would be the ones offering the meals on their site. There will be a tab on the Hello Fresh website that features just the collaboration meals, however users will also be able to see the meals on the regular page where they choose their weekly meals. All the meals will be branded with Southern Living’s logo and Southern Living will receive a portion of the sales. Despite Hello Fresh’s international presence, the collection will be available exclusively in the United States.

Hello Fresh’s clients are diverse in demographics from families to senior citizens, however meal kits are becoming increasingly popular with young professionals.

As Southern Living attempts to expand their brand to more millennials, this will be one way to expose the millennial population to the Southern Living brand. The success of the collaboration will be measured by the number of orders and how much revenue it produces for Southern Living.

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promotional campaigns

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o inform readers about the exciting changes Southern Living is introducing, social media will be used strategically to relay some of the new changes. Every time a new element is introduced on social media the post will be hashtaged #SouthernLivingShift to allow people to recognize some of the positive changes happening internally. However, Southern Living instead of informing all followers that they are changing many aspects of the magazine at once, the magazine will instead post individual announcements for the addition of each new change.

By only announcing the changes as they are released, it will prevent customers from freaking out about one big change without knowing what those changes will be yet. The company will avoid customers worrying that it will be a whole new magazine.

Announcing changes one by one will create more excitement so consumers can focus just on just one aspect at a time. While some aspects of the shift will be announced on social media and explained to readers, other would be irrelevant to post. Aspects such as a change in paper quality and a new advertising strategy will be kept internally since readers wouldn’t necessarily care to hear those announcements. However, changes such as new columns being added, new collaborations, and a new app will be heavily advertised.

Using social media, Southern Living will promote all of these changes by giving sneak peeks and behind the scenes photos and videos to raise the excitement level before the issue is released.

This promotional strategy is designed to allow for excitement for new elements but prevent loyal readers freaking out over a big transition. All of the specific strategies will be rolled out over a year time period to give readers time to appreciate all of the changes.

To continue to generally promote the publication, Southern Living will partner up with ABC’s morning show, Good Morning America, and be featured during Thanksgiving as the best original dishes to serve for the holiday. The chefs from the test kitchen will be on the show to show off the dishes, explain how they were made, and advertise that the recipes will be in the Thanksgiving issue of Southern Living as well as on SL’s website.

This large exposure will generate more website traffic and illustrate what Southern Living is all about.

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Another relevant talk show that Southern Living will appear on is Pickler and Ben. Based in Nashville, their audience is largely Southern-based which will provide a great opportunity to advertise the brand.

On Pickler and Ben, Southern Living will spotlight 5 Southern cities to visit during the summer. This will give watchers a taste of what Southern Living’s content is all about and hopefully generate traffic and increase their overall brand perceptions.

magazine that is focused on technology, business, and design. The magazine reports cutting technology and innovations every month. Through this partnership, Fast Company will help to design and ad for Southern Living that is outside of the box and different than every other ad you see in magazine. The ad will then be displayed in other Meredith owned magazines.

This will reduce advertising costs since Meredith owns many magazines with similar target audiences. The ad will Another specific strategy Southern Living incorporate Southern Living’s new app will employ to promote their magazine is and create a memorable association to the to partner with Fast Company, a business brand for readers.

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five part

Timeline Costing

Conclusion Works Cited

timeline

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185

$

COST of

trategy

Current Southern Living Revenue:

Subscription Revenue: $96 million Advertising Revenue: $325 million Total Revenue: $421 million

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Expenses of Immediate Initiatives:

Total Expense of New Initiatives: $1,415,000 Estimated Growth: Revenue growth: 10% Subscription revenue growth: 5% Ad revenue growth: 5% Total Growth: $42,100,000 New Total Revenue: $463,100,000

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conclusion W

ith the press telling two very different stories about the future of print, statistics trump opinion and tell the real story. With conflicting information and research it’s difficult to come to a final predication. However, as outlined in the secondary research, there’s very strong evidence to prove that print still has a long life ahead. Print is valued differently than digital mediums and has the ability to “evolve with changing times while holding tight to the unique characteristics that make it oh so special” (Sojka). Magazines have the ability today to serve consumers with trustworthy content and bring modern and traditional elements together. While technology is always changing, there is a comfort in print that makes the medium feel familiar and dependable, characteristics that only come with decades of experience.

Southern Living, a 50-year-old publication focused on celebrating the Southern United States through every issue printed, continues to grow its brand outside of just print.

Southern Living has the ability to bring the modern and traditional elements together by remembering the historical events of the region and shining a light on the positive aspects today.

Through an in-depth analysis of the magazine industry today, an evaluation of the current status of Southern Living, and intentionally conducted primary research, a future strategy was developed to ensure the legacy of the Southern Living brand.

The future strategy was created intentionally to fulfill 6 main goals of gaining a larger millennial audience, creating new sources of revenue, upgrading Southern Living’s public perception, incorporating more lifestyle and current event content, continuing to grow digital presence, and integrating ads more seamlessly in the publication. These goals will be achieved through corresponding initiatives, which will be rolled out over the course of a year. The initiatives include using social media strategically through Instagram stories and consumer conversation, integrating a variety of events and experiences to interact with readers, improving the design and quality of the publication, incorporating new technologies such as a Southern Living app, strategically placing and working with advertisers, introducing new, relevant content that readers are looking for, and collaborating with new brands.

Through these actions, Southern Living will solidify their future success and ensure their legacy for decades to come. This M.A. final thesis demonstrates the power of print, it’s unwavering ability to stay relevant through changing times, and how Southern Living, a publication that has been a symbol of the south for decades, can fight the not so glossy future of magazines and solidify their mark in history.

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hSannon meet shannon

G

rowing up in a world of uniformity, surrounded by camo and shades of green on military bases around world, I knew I wanted to do something that number one included more color and number 2 differentiated myself. As an over involved undergrad at Furman University I found myself in the communications department mixing in a variety of marketing and graphic design classes. I loved communications studies and thought of it as the creative business major. Knowing that I wanted to one day use my digital communications and marketing skills in the fashion industry, I spent my summers doing internships in the fashion world. I interned at Conde Nast International in Paris and spent two summers in New York working at a fashion public relations firm and a fashion showroom. Coming to SCAD was an easy decision as I knew it was the perfect place for me to expand my industry knowledge as well as gain a better understanding of how to better market and brand a fashion company. Although I’m not entirely sure where I’ll end up in the industry, I know that this program will ensure that I have the skills to excel wherever that may be.

thanks y’all

Shannon Hessen Savannah College of Art & Design M.A. Luxury and Fashion Managment Final Project