Mixmag has promoted Duncan Dick from clubs editor to features editor, replacing Gavin Herlihy.
Not particularly ground breaking news granted, but something just made us want to share this with our readers.
Tag Archives: consumer
Britney Spears new single ‘Gimme More’ – exclusive by Perez Hilton
This is “hot shit” according to King of celebrity gossip, Perez Hilton (notice the absence of the phrase ‘web gossip’).
Want to listen to Britney’s new track as a free mp3? Go on admit it – you’re curious.
Emap recruits Centaur Media’s digital publisher
Centaur’s digital publisher Stephen Brooks has joined Emap as digital director, lifestyle, Emap Communications.
Brand Republic (owned by Centaur peer Haymarket Publishing) suggests that the move is part of a recent drive to boost Emap’s digital ops – especially if the publisher is to meet its target of doubling digital revenues by the end of 2008.
It seems that things are moving a little faster in the digital department, at last. As per my recent post on print publisher’s God given right to survive online, Brand Republic referred to Emap chairman, Alun Cathcart’s previous comments that the company needs to speed up the execution of its strategy of adapting to audience consumption shifts from traditional to digital media platforms.
***UPDATE***
Stephen has left a comment to clarify that his position is digital director for EMAP Business, not Consumer. Note to self: triple check anything reported on Brand Republic…
User generated content drives offline retailer sales
I’m not normally one for posting washing powder like testimonials (‘I used this word in my SEO campaign and my traffic increased ten fold!!!’), but…this is a nice case study on how UGC can work nicely offline.
Ever been to Borders book shops and read the hand written reviews of books written by shop staff? Now take this nice touch and open it up to your entire customer base online.
Read the full article by Marketing Sherpa.
Adfero – contract publisher / while label news agency
Just been to blockbuster.co.uk to check out new DVDs and noticed their news content was provided by a company called Adfero. I’ve come across this site before – they run politics.co.uk.
Two things. Do they handle the ad sales and are they planning to offer video content? They should if not on both counts.
Conde Nast appoints Josa Young as exec editor across digital titles
Josa Young, who has had stints as acting features ed at Tatler and Vogue, has been given charge of Conde Nast sites including GQ.com, Glamour.com, Vogue.com and standalone fashion site Stylefinder.com.
According to Brand Republic, Josa has been assistant editor for She magazine, editor for the launch of iVillage, and a freelance reporter for The Times, Country Living, Elle Decoration and Marie Claire.
Visit Josa’s blog for a preview of the cover of ‘One Apple Tasted’, her self-publishing project…
Channel4’s Popworld Pulp pulled
Channel4’s Pulp magazine has been shelved after just two issues, resulting in the loss of 14 jobs at contract publisher Brooklands Group.
The magazine, which was described as being Brooklands biggest project to date in October last year, sold just 9,000 issues, despite very strong interest by readers and the industry before launch, according to the MediaGuardian. Popworld Pulp had a print run of 130,000 copies.
Brooklands was brave in bailing early rather than trying to battle on through and “prove the market wrong”, but it must now get more information on why it failed with readers.
I’m surpised I’ve not seen more comment on how Pulp’s closure reinforces the idea that web is now preferred over print among web savvy 16 to 24 year olds (the mag’s target audience).
Given the time and effort Brooklands spent on marketing , not to mention Channel4’s TV spots, does Pulp’s demise represent an important watershed? Or is this an example of how digital needs to play at least some part when targeting this age group? The likes of Dennis (Monkeymag) and Natmags (Jellyfish) seem to be focusing on digital only launches after all.
Was there a plan to launch a supporting website for Pulp? Was it planned for issue 3? Was a seeding MySpace profile proposed at all?
HMV bet on social networking to improve revenues
HMV is looking to explore social networking to boost digital revenues.
Its digital downloads store / business has been going for ages, but it looks like more is planned.
But will social networking work as a new channel for HMV? I’d be surprised if something branded is launched. Anything that remotely smells of a commerical exercise will turn off users, so will any obvious or overbearing content dedicated to partnerships or advertising (HMV’s said to have set up content partnerships with Universal Music and 20th Century Fox).
Video gaming and music are staple themes for online communities, but will a commercial entity with an obvious interest in selling its wares really be able to develop a community? The blogosphere has well documented the challenge now facing MySpace and YouTube in monetising user generated content.
That said, I can’t wait to see how it’s pitched. Will it be HMV branded or a standalone entity which avoids tainting its appeal with overly commercial content?
NatMags launches Jellyfish using Monkeymag format
Replicating the print magazine online is lazy. But it’s probably got a lot to do with maintaining advertising revenues. ‘Virtual paper’ magazines have been doing the rounds for years and have never really worked.
Publishers don’t really understand how the web works (or rather, how to make money on the web), so try to replicate the offline magazine experience online because print ads are the only approach they understand. It’s just a coincidence that the recipe seems to work for the likes of Monkeymag.co.uk or NatMags’ jellyfishmag.com – they’re essentially offering a print mag which has pages that come alive…and they get to run the same style of print ads.
Then there’s the linear surfing issue. Do users really prefer to be forced to read content in a left to right, magazine page way? This might be handy for older users who are familiar with old media ie print magazines, newspapers, but teens have grown up with content served up in ‘surf in any order’ web pages.
These virtual mags are popular, but they can be read in 10 mins. They don’t offer deep content. Users can get lost in an archive of web pages and read for hours. Search doesn’t seem to lend itself well to virtual magazines, each of which is ringfenced and positioned as a standalone package of content.
I’d love to see the results of any user testing…
SMD Publishing
Something odd’s happening. Each day, I’m getting a huge amount of Google referrals from people searching for ‘SMD Publishing’.
Many of the searches are from international users e.g. Spain. Are publishers circling SMD? The absence of a strong online presence for SMD Publishing has seen searches picking up on this contentcontent
post.
Does anyone have any ideas on what’s going on?