BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On Tina Brown, Time Inc., Woman's Mags

RE: I'm done with the 'death of print' thing

Our long national nightmare is over

(Submitted by a Print Salesman)

Re: The New Yorker Goes Native  

I wonder if "native" is the correct word to describe what's happening? Certainly "naive" comes to mind as one option....another might be "whatever it takes" might be another...It certainly isn't the old separation of "church and state..."

(Submitted by an Unknown)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Tina Brown to Leave Publishing 

Bo, I have to respectfully disagree with you regarding Ms. Brown and her career.  As a publisher during her era, her talent is unquestioned ... BUT. her magazines

never make money ... ever. at least in the US. sort of like a restaurateur who delivers great food in a beautiful place, but goes out of business in a year. 

Great restaurant if it closes due to lack of profit?  maybe. Vanity Fair never made money until Graydon Cater, New Yorker till David Remnick ... Talk never,

Newsweek, never, Daily Beast never.  When my fellow publishers gossip about the business and the greats, she is never mentioned.   it is well known and often

spoken that she spends rich men's money well ... but not profitably.  And on our side of the aisle, that's all that matters.

(Submitted by a Publisher)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Tina Brown to Leave Publishing 

Bo, I thought you were uncharacteristically and overly kind to Ms. Brown. Her titles never made anyone any money and her media-self-hype was deplorable. There have always been editors who live proudly in the limelight, but most of those had successful titles to stand upon.  Tell me what she ever did, that was worthy of the Tina made laurels? Nothing that I am aware of.

(submitted by a publisher)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Tina Brown to Leave Publishing 

It is not in my nature to criticize so I didn't want to do this ... but Tina to me is a polarizing figure ... very much the emperor with no clothes.  Or like someone mentioning Madonna when the discussion is on great female rock singers ... she is no Tina turner, no Janis!

She spent money like there is no tomorrow and I knew well the business side guys who worked with her.  They complained all the time of their lack of a chance at

profitability.  The greats to me are in my lifetime are Art Cooper, Jann, Don Logan, Helen Gurley Brown, Bonnie Fuller, many more.  but Tina?  nope.  thanks

Bo ... it's not morning without your three emails!!

(Submitted by a Publisher)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Tina Brown to Leave Publishing 

I completely agree Bo.  I've been saying this for some time.  She's another example of people who become prisoners of their own success.  Her prominence came as the result of her bold and innovative approach but bold an innovative kept changing and I suspect she couldn't or wasn't allowed to.

Re: Publishers Enlisting Editorial Staffers On Behalf Of Advertisers

Oh boy, I can just hear the old school editors (all of whom are retired, or unemployed in today's world) screaming bloody murder about the blurring of the "boundaries" between the church of edit, and state of business.  Funny how reality changes perception.  I remember years ago one finance type saying editors never were good at numbers or liked to be involved in business matters....until their paycheck was wrong.  Those were the old days!

RE: Details - Blurring the Line Between Advertising and Editorial

Companies didn't pay to have product included; they just had to buy ads. And the content doesn't count as sponsored because it wasn't physically written by the companies. Wait, what's that snapping sound I hear? Could it be what was left of their backbones finally giving way? Or was it the popping of their last few synapses that couldn't handle the rationalization?

(Submitted by a Writer)

RE: Time Inc. Tries Drawing on Reader Data To Lure Marketers

Leave it to the flak-masters at Time Inc. to make a big deal out of doing something that's been common practice for more than two decades. I don't see

anything here that Time Inc. and other major consumer publishers have not been doing since the 1990s and perhaps earlier. You mark your subscriber file for

demographic and psychographic data -- from your own records if you have it but mostly from paying others to match your list to their data -- and then use selective binding (also known as demographic binding, for good reason) to deliver targeted ads and sometimes editorial content to a specific group. I remember an advertising proposal for Corvette from more than a decade ago that

targeted "Affluent Men Behaving Badly." There have even been ads that included personalized information, such as a map showing which car dealership is closest

to the subscriber's home. Some of the magazines put out by car companies for their current customers make amazing use of "subscriber" data, such as providing

coupons customized for the recipient's model, year, and local dealership.

(Submitted by a Director of MFG & Dist)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Consumers Killed the Funnel - Now What?

Right. But when you mistake the mechanism for the principle, you get things like the late 1990s and so many supposedly intelligent people claiming that business was different and revenue wasn't so important. (They substituted the greater fool theory for common business principles.) And when people get too fixated on the technical wonders today, they will eventually do the most stupid things because they will get as stuck in their practices as many old line media types got stuck in theirs.

(Submitted by a Writer)

Re: In the Battle of the Sexes, Men's Magazines Win [For This Female Reader]

I agree with the author' view about women's magazines although I haven't tried the men's titles.  I'm almost ashamed to admit to this audience that I read almost no magazines because the women's magazines don't speak to me.  The ones I do read are titles like Cat Fancy or Trade magazines which are much more focused on something that interests me. -- Not interested in high fashion, the latest eye shadow colors that look a lot like the last ones, or the best way to fold sheets -- (I do like to cook but a few recipes isn't enough-internet or books better more reliable sources.)

(Submitted by a Female Director of Planning, Budgeting, and Analysis.)

Re: In the Battle of the Sexes, Men's Magazines Win [For This Female Reader]

Love it! When the toxic shock issue raged in the early 80s, I was flying (on business) and engaged in conversation with the man in the seat next to me. He worked for the company that manufactures Tampax and was surprised that I was unaware of the effort Tampax had done to promote its product safety and responsiveness to preventing this disorder. After all, they advertise in all the women's magazines"! Aha! I do not read "women's magazines as, being career-minded, I had no interest in gender relationships, housekeeping and, most of all, traditional; women's roles.

(Submitted by a long-time reader, friend and Dentist)

Re: Why Has Magazine Circulation Declined? Blame Advertising

Bob and Dead:  Our late friend Dan Capell used to say (write), "Most bad circulation decisions can be blamed on rate base."

(Submitted by an Industry Consultant)

RE: Act 4

Bob: Unfortunate that women have almost no voice in the upcoming Act4.  What's up with that????

(Submitted by a Consultant Business Development)

BoSacks Responded thusly - I don't make the invite list, but I don't agree with your analysis. There have always been woman fairly represented in the ACT events. This year there are at least 3 and it does seem overly weighted towards men at first appearance, but in other years there were more, in fact if memory serves me well, last year there were more woman speakers than men on the stage.  

You will have to hear from Samir about the whys and wherefores of this year's event, but averages are like that. Sometimes there are more kings on the board then queens, but that is just how the law of statistics work. In the end poker is a fair game.