Strong brands need strong magazines to drive demand at the top of the funnel, and magazines need awards to recognise great innovation. That's the view of MEC chief strategy officer James Hier, who takes up the mantle of chairman of the judges for the 2013 Australian Magazine Awards.
Hier says while everyone grapples with how to wring dollars out of digital, they shouldn't forget the original paywall: the magazine cover price. "This whole rush to following the consumer, the interesting thing is we're not necessarily following the purse of that consumer," he told AdNews.
"It all comes down to what people value. Online content is cheap and freely available and potentially not as worthwhile. When you pay for content, you hold it to greater account. If the magazine is not delivering, [the consumer] will not pay that cover price."
According to Hier, readers would not abandon magazines and newspapers – they would only fail if advertisers "go ahead of the consumer" and pull support prematurely. He said magazines should be viewed as any other FMCG good, and drops in circulation should be viewed in the broader context of the post-GFC downturn.
"Hence magazines need awards like these to hold themselves to account, to inspire each other to strive for more innovation, stronger content and stronger editorial. That's great for marketers, because we need help at the top of the funnel – it's crumbling. Google is amazing at the bottom of the funnel for demand fulfilment, but – despite what research Google et al put out – it's not good for creating demand for your brands."
The year of the mobile had been around "for about five years now", Hier said, because marketers were still struggling to figure out how to fit advertising into the platform. "Consumers have not grown accustomed to or ever accepted advertising online, really, whereas advertising in magazines has always been part and parcel of the experience."
The 2013 Australian Magazine Awards introduces two new categories: Cover of the Year and Editor of the Year. Call for Entry categories open on 24 July, with finalists confirmed on 18 September. The awards will be presented at a big long "lunch" at Ivy on George Street on 15 November.
The Call for Entry categories are: Custom Magazine of the Year; Magazine App of the Year; Website of the Year; Magazine Event of the Year; Cover of the Year; and Editor of the Year. Note the other 16 categories require no entry as they are based on circulation growth (ABC), readership (Roy Morgan), advertising volume (Nielsen), front cover, editorial content and design.
Also to be announced on the day is the 2013 Magazines Hall of Fame inductee. Previous inductees are John Southam, Bernard Leser, Matt Handbury and Ita Buttrose. See last year's AMA winners here.
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