• by July 12, 2005

AN ENGAGING BALANCE SHEET - As far as metaphors go, the Magazine Publishers of America could have done worse than utilize the Olympics-esque sports imagery in its recently published 2004 annual report, but we're not sure we get the connection to magazine publishing per se, and certainly not to the organization's new promotional theme: "Magazines: The Medium of Engagement." Sure, sports are an engaging enough activity, especially at the high-level of competition depicted on the pages of the MPA report. But instead of competing to win a race, score a goal or take home the gold, the athletes shown here appear to be transfixed more by reading printed matter than mastering physical matter. So that must be it? These athletes are so engaged by the magazines sprawled in front of them at the starting gates, gliding on the ice rink or immersed in the swimming lane that they've completely forgotten about taking the lead, preferring instead to have a pretty good read. If you ask us, it feels like a few influential members - say Sports Illustrated, or ESPN - held a great deal of sway in the design of this year's report.

Or maybe it's just a metaphor that the magazine trade association is going for the gold - or accumulating more of it, anyway. At least that's what the annual introspection of the MPA's finances would suggest. It's not the association improved its balance sheet all that much, but though it did end 2004 with about $3 million more in net assets than it had in 2003. The interesting part is how the MPA managed its assets. For one thing, it got the Media Credit Association off its books, spinning the important, but money-losing division out into an outside enterprise that would help magazine publishers go after deadbeat and delinquent advertisers and agencies. It also made some money on some key operations. The American Society of Magazine Editors, which was only breakeven in 2003 turned in a nice profit in 2004, though the MPA's professional development and events operations, which were essentially breakeven in 2003, took a bigger loss in 2004.

Actually, the part of the MPA's balance sheet we're most interested in is its consumer marketing, which jumped 28 percent to $758,000 in 2004, even before the association embarked on its aggressive consumer advertising campaign. On top of that, MPA members participating in the Magazine Marketing Coalition effort contributed an additional $260,000 in 2004 to help prepare for the massive, three-year consumer marketing effort, which broke in 2005. But what we're really waiting for is the 2005, 2006, and 2007 annual reports, which will show exactly how the MPA went from $1 million in consumer marketing spending to $40 million. And we have a feeling a few other media trade associations will be waiting for that too.