Custom publishing is undoubtedly emerging as one of the most effective ways to build brand affinity.
Research conducted by UK-based Millward Brown shows that a reader spends an average of 25 minutes reading a custom magazine. This increases sales by eight percent and brand loyalty by 32 percent, says Irna van Zyl, executive director of New Media Publishing in Cape Town.
The UK-based Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) in its Advantage Study published earlier this year, says 29 percent of readers visit the company’s website after reading a custom magazine, compared to 14 percent for consumer magazines. Another 13 percent request further information from the company.
The first research on custom publishing in South Africa, presented at the International Custom Publishing Seminar in Cape Town in February, estimated the local custom publishing industry to be worth R850-million per year.
“Once the ugly duckling of the magazine industry, custom publishing has developed into one of its most exciting and fastest-growing sectors,” says Van Zyl, whose company publishes several custom magazines, including Woolworths TASTE and PLASCON Colour which won the Pica publishing award for best custom magazine last year.
“In the UK estimates are that net turnover would increase to £531 million in three years, up by 36 percent once inflation is discounted,” Van Zyl wrote in an article published in Front Cover, a trade publication for marketing directors.
The South African study, commissioned by New Media Publishing and conducted by imagiNATION Alliance and Edgars Club Magazine research, found that brand affinity was one of the biggest advantages of custom publishing.
For example, it showed that Woolworths TASTE magazine readers who use its recipes, buy between 80 percent and 100 percent of the ingredients from Woolworths.
Edcon Group marketing executive Enzo Scarcello told the custom seminar that the Edgars Club Magazine had created a 12 percent increase in brand loyalty.
“Twelve percent may not sound like a lot but when you see that it is 120,000 people spending a few extra thousand rand, you’re looking at hundreds of millions of rands a year.”
The US-based Custom Publishing Council (CPC) which represents custom publishers in North America, says custom publishing is growing faster than traditional media. A 2007 study entitled, “Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Custom Publications in America”, conducted by the CPC, showed that the number of titles in North America has grown for the fifth year in a row. There are now 125,044 custom titles in the United States, up by 29 percent since 1999, reported the CPC website.
Custom publishing spending by Corporate America hit an all-time high of $55.6-billion this year. This is more than double the numbers first measured in 2000.
The CPC study also showed that magazines are replacing company newsletters. Magazines beat newsletters as the most common publication format for the first time in 2005. In 2006, magazines comprised 41 percent of the market share while newsletters dropped to 35 percent.
In South Africa, there are about 130 custom magazines compared to some 350 titles in the United Kingdom and the more than 125,000 in the United States.
According to the latest circulation figures, custom magazines in South Africa showed a real growth of four percent. In terms of circulation, the biggest custom magazines are Dish & Skottel (1.48-million), Edgars Club Magazine (916,473), Foschini Retail Group Club Magazine (848,819) and Lewis Stores Club Magazine (521,219).
The local industry has grown more than 40 percent in revenue between April last year and March this year, compared to the same previous corresponding period. In terms of advertising revenue, Jet Club Magazine, Edgars Club Magazine and Clicks Club Card are the largest (see box for details).
The big custom publishing houses in South Africa are New Highway Publishers.
New Media Publishing, Picasso Headline, Quantum Publishing, TCB Publishing and The Publishing Partnership.
Whereas the focus in South Africa’s magazine market has been on the launch of dozens of new consumer titles, the trend in the United Kingdom is to rather launch a custom magazine.
“I estimate about 50 or so more brands will launch a customer magazine this year. It means we are not all cannibalising each other’s business; there is plenty of new business in the market,” John Brown managing director Dean Fitzpatrick told Campaign magazine this year.
Ian Sewell, the commercial director of Redwood, publishers of international title Volvo Magazine, says the secret to success is not to try and camouflage the fact that the magazine is a marketing tool.
“Consumers know they are being marketed to. But they’ll go along with it if you give them something back.”
Judging by the financial success of custom titles on the international scene, South Africa is set to follow the trend. It will take a long time for our industry to become as big as that of the UK, but expect this sector to become busier and more profitable every year.
Custom publishing numbers
- Fourteen custom publications are read by AdEx – a growing sector that has experienced a 41.4 percent growth in revenue when comparing April 2006 – March 2007 to the previous corresponding period. This is also reflected in the latest ABC circulation numbers.
- Dish & Skottel has the highest circulation but only a 21 percent growth in revenue.
- First place in revenue for custom magazines went to Jet Club Magazine, posting a revenue of R17.8-million last year or 17.7 percent share of revenue of the AdEx measured sector. Edgars Club Magazine was a close second with R16.2-million (16.1 percent) and Clicks Club Card magazine third: R14.1-million (14.0 percent share of revenue).
- R3.5-million or 3.5 percent Share of Voice (adspend) was surprisingly low for Dish & Skottel, the biggest paid for custom magazine with 1.48-million ABC.
- Thirty-one percent of spend in this sector of print came from the Top 10 advertisers in the past year.
- No 1. was the Edcon group with a spend of R11.9-million and share of 38 percent of the Top 10 advertisers.
- Unilever was Number Two with R2.9-million. It increased its spend in custom publications by 234 percent between 2005 and 2006, compared to 2004 and 2005. Unilever increased its spend by 20 percent this past year. It is certainly seeing the value in these magazines.
- Third place went to MTN, which seems to be everywhere, with 128 percent increase this past year.
- Old Mutual took fourth place, while OutSurance came in at No.10.
The data was provided by AIS Nielsen, South Africa and was collected over a three-year period: April – March 2004/5, 2005/6, 2006/7.
International news
Volvo Magazine has shown how custom titles can be retooled for the international market. Published by Redwood, it has a circulation of 1.3-million and is distributed across 70 countries in 13 languages, reports Marketing magazine.
One of the UK’s largest custom publishing houses, John Brown, this year launched The Works, a title for the UK customers of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and business people who work with Volkswagen vans. The UK publishing house has also launched a title called Sense with the RBS Group to be distributed to the bank’s retail customer base, the John Brown website reported.
Sky multi-channel broadcaster is now publishing four custom titles. Two new titles – each with a circulation of four million – Sky Movies, published by Future, and Sky Sports, published by Haymarket Network, have been launched. Sky Sports is set to become one of the world’s highest circulating sports magazines. John Brown will continue to publish the existing titles Sky The Magazine and Sky Kids.
“Customer magazines are the highest value media for relationship building and they offer greater value for money than digital media for cross selling.” – extract from a report by UK media auditor Billets as quoted on the John Brown website.
Some 92 new custom titles have entered the UK market in the past year and publishing body APA predicts a 16 percent growth for the sector.
Definition of custom magazines
“Bespoke magazines specially produced for your customers or members. They talk to people who already buy into your brand to enhance the value of that relationship, or they let you start a dialogue with new customers.” – definition provided by the Association of Publishing Agencies, UK-based custom publishing umbrella body.
“Magazines produced specifically for or by an organisation for its customers/members/employees.” – definition provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa.