• Adweek, Thursday, December 15, 2011 3:54 PM

Can personalized ads help print mags gain advertisers again? Lucia Moses presents evidence for an affirmative answer to this question with two case studies.

For example, a location-based ad could mean "a little more to the consumer than just a generic ad," says JaneWladar,associatepublisher of Popular Mechanics, which has been using this technique. "Magazineshavehadtheabilitytoindividualizecopiesbefore,butneverthisinexpensivelyandwithaccountabilitymeasures," writes Lucia Moses, paraphrasing Wlader.

"While being able to customize ad messages to the individual may seem like the end-all, be-all for marketers, whether the advertiser can do it in a meaningful way without being intrusive is another matter," writes Moses. " People are used to Web ads being customized, but print ads, not so much.... 'You want to be helping the customer, not creeping them out,'" says Chris Morgan, senior vice president of HP Graphic Solutions Business, one of the companies using the technique.

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