Check out how two publishers handled covering the Christmas issues of the top two selling magazines with tip-ons is a lesson in merchandising. Whereas the production team for better Homes and Gardens team ensured that the cover of their bonus cookbook visually merged with the cover of the magazine, the production team at The Australian Women’s Weekly did not when handling the placement of their Christmas cookbook.
The other missed opportunity for The Australian Women’s Weekly is the placement of the cookbook on in such a way that the shopper can’t easily see that it’s Julie Goodman’s feast they are covering in the cookbook. If Julie Goodman has pulling power surely you’d place the cookbook so that you can leverage her name.
While I am no magazine publisher I would have thought that these issues were publishing 101. What is it that attracts a shopper to the title? How important is the cover shot versus the free gift stuck over the cover?
On the gifts themselves, they do not lend themselves to browsing. We have sock damaged by shoppers shoving the magazines back in to the racks.
I couldnt believe what ACP did to to the cover. Ridiculous.