• by Nina Link , November 2, 2010

When you think about "rebranding," it's typically in the context of products, services or companies seeking to change the way customers and stakeholders think about them. But what about an entire industry that wants to express the growing, innovative ways it reaches its many audiences? That was the challenge facing magazine publishers and the trade association that has represented them for more than 90 years.

This fall, the Magazine Publishers of America rebranded itself with a new name, tagline and logo: MPA - The Association of Magazine Media. By adopting the well-established initials -- MPA -- as our formal name, dropping "publishers" from our tagline and redefining our industry as "magazine media," we are underscoring a changing world. Today, magazine content engages consumers across multiple online and offline platforms; we have an instantaneous global footprint. 

But we changed more than our name. 

We are reshaping our marketing focus to better understand consumer engagement and interactivity with magazine media as more of our industry expands to digital platforms. We are in conversations with media agencies to better assess new and emerging metrics that will allow greater insight into audience measurement in a multiplatform world. And we are meeting with agencies and their brand clients to help them more fully understand the power and evolution of magazine media. 

Since early this year, the outlook for magazines has brightened considerably. It can be attributed to many factors. Ad pages and revenues for magazines have increased, bolstering the belief that paper remains part of the magazine industry's DNA. Apple's introduction of the iPad has created a powerful new way for magazines to reach consumers and engage advertisers. A Next Issue Media study projects $1.3 billion of incremental subscription revenue for magazine media companies from interactive periodicals by 2014.

Our talented editors, writers, photographers and graphic designers are already building upon the core, enduring qualities of the magazine experience: curated content, sense of community, award-winning photography and design. The content is being creatively re-imagined in new and deeper ways through Web sites, tablets, smartphones, books, live events and more. It's the full magazine media experience for audiences. 

We've showcased some of the more notable efforts in a series of 90-second videos called "The Magazine Media Minute." In October, we packaged them together and created a special YouTube channel (www.magazine.org/mmm).  

Here are just a few tidbits learned by watching these videos: 

· How Natural Home sold more than $2 million worth of sustainable branded merchandise at Target.

· How articles and sections in Men's Health spun off into profitable books, Web sites, newsletters and apps.

· How Glamour's Women of the Year event has grown into a global phenomenon and connects with its 12 million readers far beyond the page.

· How content on People's iPad editions are enhanced with video, music and mobile commerce.

As these examples demonstrate, technological developments and a stronger focus on using additional platforms to develop more meaningful relationships with advertisers and consumers have created an extraordinary turning point for our industry. Thanks to the introduction of tablet computers and other digital devices, we are on the cusp of a creative revolution.

This is clearly a time of opportunity and reinvention for all magazine media brands. It's fitting that the industry trade association has a name that is more accurately aligned with the exciting developments in the marketplace.