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[GWL]: Country Living Magazine

I know Country Living magazine is not the greatest source for garden 
information but I thought readers of this list might be interested in 
this report on Country Living magazine's new ad campaign/strategy.

This is extracted from Stuart Elliott's - no relation ;-) - In 
Advertising newsletter (out of the NY Times)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stuart Elliott is on vacation. Jane L. Levere writes this 
week's Campaign Spotlight.

Country Living magazine believes two-thirds of adult 
American women are potential readers, and it has created a 
new ad campaign to convey this message to media buyers.

One of the oldest country-oriented titles in the highly 
competitive shelter magazine category, Country Living has 
been published by Hearst since 1978; ironically, Martha 
Stewart, founder of arch-rival Martha Stewart Living, was 
featured in Country Living's first cover story.

>From the outset, Country Living has had a broad reach in 
both its editorial content and advertising; both cover not 
only building, home furnishing, entertaining and 
gardening, but also lifestyle issues, health and beauty 
and travel.

In addition, its 1.63 million readers are diverse and 
certainly not rural: almost half reside in the top 25 
American markets.

Facing increased competition from titles like Martha 
Stewart Living and Better Homes & Gardens, as well as the 
current general malaise among advertisers, Country Living 
recently asked Yankelovich Custom Research to determine 
how big the "country" marketplace is and what country 
means to those who embrace it as a lifestyle.

Yankelovich found that 66 percent of American women age 22 
to 70 live what it called the "casual, country lifestyle."

The research found that "the country mind-set is 
characterized by a heartfelt attachment to the idea of 
country, regardless of where one lives."

"Country is an attitude, not a place," it found. "Country 
is a lifestyle, not just a way of decorating."

And it discovered that "the country attitude is about a 
more comfortable and simpler approach to life, respecting 
nature and the environment, a more casual style of 
decorating, mixing old and new in many aspects of one's 
life, an appreciation for handicrafted items and for our 
history and connections to the past."

Steven B. Grune, publisher of Country Living, said that 
before the magazine commissioned the research, "We knew 
the power of the franchise and how well consumers 
respond."

But the overall size of the market was even larger than 
expected, he said.

To spread the word of its potential reach, Hearst has 
created an ad campaign that will run through the end of 
the year in Advertising Age and AdWeek; ads will also run 
in September on telephone kiosks in midtown Manhattan and 
at newsstands in Grand Central Station. In October, Hearst 
will advertise on Mediaweek.com and promote the campaign 
via direct mail to current advertisers and advertising 
executives.

All ads are based on the theme of comfort, something Nancy 
Mernit Soriano, Country Living's editor in chief, said 
"has always been part of the DNA of the magazine."

"Although it wasn't necessarily articulated," she added, 
"our readers are always looking for comfort."

Thus, ads carry a tagline that says "Come home to 
comfort," featuring quotations from readers. One quotes a 
45-year-old mother, lawyer and perennial gardener who 
said: "I live in a big city but I still enjoy country 
living. My window box is my garden. My wheelbarrow is a 
taxi.  Being able to bring country into the city is what 
keeps me coming home to the comfort of Country Living."

Whether this campaign bolsters Country Living's 
advertising remains to be seen; advertising pages are down 
4 percent so far this year, though revenue is up 4 
percent. In 2000, pages were up only 1 percent year over 
year and revenue increased 2.4 percent.

One skeptic was Martin S. Walker, chairman of Walker 
Communications, a consulting firm in New York. He said the 
new ads "tried to make Country Living all things to all 
people: a country magazine for city people and a city 
magazine for country people."

"You can't be both," he added. "If you try to be too many 
things, you're nothing."

Samir Husni, who heads the magazine program at the 
University of Mississippi in Oxford, said he thought 
Hearst was trying to show that "living in the country is a 
doable fantasy, that readers can try to live the country 
life without moving to the country."

"It's a smart move," he said.  "It will let them keep 
their roots and also give them a little more momentum. 
It's a serviceable fantasy that can get them the attention 
of media buyers.

"And if you can get the attention of media buyers in an 
economic downturn, that's all you need."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Regards to all,

Michael Elliott


Ps Thanks to all those readers of GWL who have 
subscribed to ClippingZ

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