• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 12, 2005

An unusual collaboration between a leading media agency and a major publisher of consumer magazines is taking shape, and is set to manifest in a day-long symposium by the end of the first quarter, or in April at the latest. The initiative, sparked during a panel at the Association of National Advertisers' Print Advertising Forum in June, is being championed by Carat Americas CEO David Verklin and Meredith Publishing President Jack Griffin, who have assigned top executives in each organization to recruit speakers in a presentation designed to move the consumer magazine ad business forward.

The initiative comes at a time when consumer magazines are facing new pressures from advertisers and agencies to hold the line on advertising rate inflation. Consumer magazine ad pages are essentially flat through the first 11 months of 2005, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, and media buyers at big agencies say they are holding out for flat ad rate increases in their 2006 calendar year deals.

"A lot of people think magazines are just waiting there for print to die, but they're not. They're actually quite vibrant," contends Rob Frydlewicz, vice president-research director at Carat Insight, one of the executives organizing the event, which started as banter between Carat's Verklin and Meredith's Griffin during the ANA's summit.

Although there already are some annual magazine focused ad industry summits such as the ANA's forum, the Advertising Club of New York's "Magazine Day," as well as agency-specific forum's such as Starcom's "Magazine Day," Carat's Verklin says the joint Carat/Meredith initiative is designed to focus on key marketplace pressures that are undermining the perception of the vitality of consumer magazines. "When I talk to people in the magazine industry there seems to be a lot of hand-wringing, sweaty brows, and angst about their future," explains Verklin, adding, "That's understandable. Business is tough."

Verklin cites three major setbacks for consumer magazine publishers including the circulation audit scandals that have impacted both magazines and newspapers, the shift toward a "buyer's marketplace," and the consolidation among big advertisers and agencies that are putting pressure on magazine advertising rates.

"There's a really empowered buying community out there. Today, some magazines are getting 80 percent of their business from the top ten agencies. If you're a non-fashion publisher, almost all your business is coming from the top ten," says Verklin, adding that client consolidation such as Procter & Gamble's recent acquisition of Gillette, is creating even more pressure on all media owners, particularly consumer magazine publishers.

"When you add it all up, a lot of magazine publishers are nervous now, and the focus is on all the negative things that are going on," he explains. "But from where I sit now, there is a lot of very interesting work going on in the magazine industry that people are not focusing on, particularly in the area of research."

While the speaker invitation list is not set yet, companies such as Tom Robinson's Affinity Inc., and Rebecca McPheters' McPheters & Co., are expected to participate. Carat's Frydlewicz and Meredith Executive Director of Corporate Research Britta Ware are coordinating the agenda, but Verklin says the event will not simply be for research wonks, but will also address new developments in magazine sales, marketing and distribution, especially digital publishing technologies that appear to be transforming printed media and blurring the lines with TV and online media.