Glamour concludes a series of five postcard mailings this week to commemorate recent advertising, circulation and editorial milestones for the beauty and fashion magazine.
Sent weekly starting June 21, the postcards also introduced a new tagline — “Who else but Glamour” — replacing “Pretty-Smart-Glamour.” Among the 10,000 recipients were decision makers in ad agencies, current and prospective advertisers and the media.
“It seems like an efficient way of delivering our new platform, and it seemed like a great way for these images to break through and make the class and mass statement,” said Jodi Marchisotta, Glamour's director of marketing and strategic development. “We really wanted the images to pop through, and the postcards are the best way to do that.”
The 6-by-8.5-inch postcards on 130-pound smart white cover paper stock feature images from recent Glamour issues alongside magazine claims.
One card uses an image of softball Olympic hopeful Jennie Finch in the motion of throwing a softball. The headline states, “Glamour, the most celebrated women's magazine, combines award-winning editorial with extraordinary reach.” Copy below offers supporting evidence: 77 editorial awards and 12.6 million readers.
Another card shows volleyball Olympic hopefuls Misty May and Kerri Walsh in a mock game. The headline says, “We're up — in total circulation, newsstand sales and subscriptions.” Copy states that Glamour sells 2.3 million copies monthly with national coverage.
Similarly, the other three cards have images and headlines that convey Glamour's attributes. One headline refers to the list of editorial contributors. Another says readers “can be both powerful and beautiful,” with the claim that Glamour readers spent $11.6 billion on beauty, fashion, health and fragrance last year. Yet another card shows a woman at the opera looking through opera glasses. The headline is apt: “Looking for affluent readers?”
“We've got positive feedback from the ad community so far,” Marchisotta said, without specifying whether that translated into more ads from current or prospective clients.
Glamour's new tagline and the postcards come after Bill Wackermann in April replaced Suzanne Grimes as publisher in New York. Leslie Russo was named associate publisher this month. In keeping with common practice, Wackermann is establishing his own stamp on a magazine that competes in its niche with InStyle, Vogue, Marie Claire, Allure, Harper's Bazaar and Elle.
Wackermann estimates that Glamour is up 9.5 percent on newsstands for the first half of the year, in filings with the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Also, the spring report from market researcher MRI says the title's adult audience grew 5 percent, or 592,000 readers, to 12.3 million versus 11.7 million in the year-ago period. Glamour claims it is one of only two in its competitive set to experience this growth in adult readership.
According to PIB reporting, ad pages rose 21.2 percent in July, 9.1 percent in August and 2.5 percent in September from the year before. July's 123 ad pages made it the largest July issue in 10 years. But for the year through September, ad pages are down 2.3 percent, or 26.35 pages.
Conde Nast does not disclose revenue for its titles. But DaimlerChrysler's Jeep and Swedish vodka giant Absolut joined Glamour's client roster this year. Major advertisers like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble Co., L'Oreal Paris, Gap Inc.'s Gap and Banana Republic and Anne Klein continue to support.
Editorially, Glamour this year is using more fiction articles and has added photographer Patrick Demarchelier, who also shoots for Conde Nast-owned Vogue and Vanity Fair. The August issue features his first cover. Cindi Leive is editor in chief.
Like many publications, Glamour cannot afford to rest on its laurels, though it does not hurt to blow the horn a bit.
“It's the ongoing challenge of every magazine, which is to continue to generate as many ad pages as possible and demonstrate what we uniquely offer to our advertisers so that they can increase their sales,” Marchisotta said.
