Here's a Newsweek cover from 100 years into the future: an aerial view of the United States with California split off from the mainland and floating in the Pacific. The headline: "California Island: More popular than ever 62 years after the Big Quake."
And here's Sports Illustrated 100 years hence: "Hell Freezes Over! Cubs Win 2105 World Series."
These faux futuristic covers are part of a $40-million, three-year campaign by the magazine industry to win advertisers and try to convince them that magazines, which have existed in the United States for nearly 250 years, are likely to be here for the next 250, come what may. At the same time, the newspaper industry has begun a multimillion-dollar, three-year campaign to make over its image in the eyes of advertisers.
The Newspaper Association of America has hired the Martin Agency of Richmond, Va. - whose clients include United Parcel Service, Geico and Miller beer - to help change the perception of newspapers from stodgy to contemporary.
The Magazine Publishers of America hired HotSpring, a brand development company in New York, for ideas on how the industry could reposition itself and the ad agency Fallon New York to reach the advertising industry. This is the first time that magazines have joined together in a large-scale marketing effort.
It is no secret: Print feels threatened as never before. Newspapers and magazines may have complained when radio and television came along. But they seem to be in full panic mode now as readers and advertisers flock to the Internet.
With their advertising campaigns, poor old print is declaring that it's not going to take it anymore.
"Enough!" John Kimball, chief marketing officer for the Newspaper Association of America, said in an interview. "You read things that the industry is dead, that the Internet is eating our lunch, that everyone is watching television, that national advertising is declining in the major metros."
"But the medium is very strong," Mr. Kimball said. "There are lots of ads in the papers, and not because those people think they're making a charitable contribution. They're investing in the medium because it's delivering results."
With more and more attention being given to TV (which I think is partly not right, since in TV people seldom watch a complete ad, they just flip teh channel) and New Media, Print is feeling the pinch. This is also see in eh general decline in the quality of print ads, and teh lack of 'glamour' and importance given to print. How often have you walked into an agency with your portfolio and have been asked 'what do you have on TV?', interestingly no one has asked me questions about the very basics of advertising per se.
Maybe we are becomning too shallow and lack focus in this age, which is why our business is being divided and given away to 'dedicated design shops', 'creative sonsultancies', 'brand consultancies', 'film and tv consultancies', 'new media consultancies' and what not!
Have we re-invented ourselves? I dare say, no!
