Motor Trend Revs Up Non-Endemics

Auto-enthusiast publications have always been taken for granted somewhat by the ad community. On one hand, endemic advertisers (car manufacturers, after-market products like Armor All) have fueled the evolution of Motor Trend, Road & Track and Car and Driver into publishing institutions. On the other hand, other ad categories have historically dipped into the mags mostly when times are flush.

If PRIMEDIA's Steve Rousseau has his way, however, this will soon change. Rousseau, recently promoted to group publisher of the company's consumer automotive titles, is hoping to cement Motor Trend's standing as perhaps the category's premiere gearhead title while at the same time reorienting Automobile to a more upscale audience that includes - gasp! - women.

"We're always going to do well among the car companies, because we move metal," he says. "But the way we're positioning the magazines in the marketplace, I think there's a lot of opportunity in other areas."

His plans for Motor Trend seem realistic. While the title lags slightly behind Car and Driver and Road & Track in 2003 ad pages (through July, MT has run 619, while C&D has run 657 and R&T 700, according to the Publishers Information Bureau), Motor Trend has done the best job of generating revenue from those pages (nearly $76 million, compared with C&D's $71.4 million and R&T's $46.8 million). Too, Motor Trend has grown more on a percentage basis than the two other titles in both ad pages (27.3% versus C&D's 12.8% and R&T's 10.7%) and revenue (32.5%/15.6%/22.1%) in 2003.

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"There's enough business out there for all of us," Rousseau says. "But when we have to sell head-to-head, I think it's easy for us to articulate what we're doing differently and better." In such situations, Rousseau can point to Motor Trend's editorial legacy (2003 marks the mag's 54th year) as well as its numerous brand extensions (a Spanish-language edition, a radio show that airs in 100 U.S. markets, a Speed Channel TV show, even the "Rockin' Down the Highway" and "Pedal to the Metal" MT-branded compact discs).

But while Automobile is enjoying a solid 2003 (PIB reports an 8.1% jump in ad pages and a 9.3% surge in ad revenue through July), it's questionable whether any auto title, even one with a lifestyle focus, will ever expand much beyond the genre's core male audience. Not surprisingly, Rousseau doesn't accept this line of reasoning. "A woman [highly regarded auto-mag veteran Jean Jennings] is the editor of the magazine," he argues. "Maybe from women readers we get a little of 'I'll read that book because it's edited by a woman. It might be more geared towards my lifestyle.'"

Rousseau is understandably eager to articulate the differences between Motor Trend (1.27 million circulation) and Automobile (645,000). The former, he says, is designed to be the new-vehicle authority, with an emphasis on road tests and technical data. The latter is "less about testing, more about driving impressions - what the vehicles are like to live with and drive." He refers repeatedly to research indicating that there is minimal audience duplication between the two titles (10%) and stresses the tonal differences as well. "Motor Trend has always been authoritative in its approach," he explains. "Automobile has more of an edge to its writing, some humor."

Despite this, Rousseau concedes that most publications in the auto-enthusiast category look about the same demographically: 85 to 90% male, household income in the $65,000 range. For auto advertisers, of course, these readers are a godsend: they own four or more automobiles, influence purchases among friends and family 10 to 12 times per year and are "almost always in the market [for another car]," Rousseau says. Like most readers of enthusiast publications, they rank high in involvement studies and usually pass along their dog-eared copies to others.

Not surprisingly, Rousseau is hoping to grow the non-endemic ad base of his titles in the months ahead ("Everybody wants what's non-endemic, because that's where your growth comes from"). To this end, Motor Trend has recently been bolstered by a handful of mainstream companies and brands (John Deere, Sears Craftsman, Wolverine Boots) as well as the Viagras and Levitras of the world. While Automobile has done well with these and similar advertisers, Rousseau has set his sights on the luxury-goods category. "We're looking at Coach and Tiffany and DeBeers," he says. "I think we provide the high-end environment they want. We can compete with an Esquire or a GQ."

With what he calls a "ridiculous" number of new car launches expected in 2004 and 2005, Rousseau also wants to help advertisers more effectively tap into the mindset of PRIMEDIA's auto enthusiasts. "Consumers want almost personalized vehicles nowadays, and manufacturers are struggling to address that," he explains. "I think that helps us. There's 320 models available in the U.S. in more than 1,100 trim packages. People do a ton of research on their own, but at the end of the day they want to be told what to buy. The credibility our magazines have isn't something that can be found in too many other places."

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