In The Neighbours Backyard

Julia Hutchison is COO of APA, the Association of Publishing Agencies in the UK. She is the ideal person to give an overview of the flourishing situation in her country. Julia will be one of the guest speakers at ‘25 minutes’, the seminar of Het Salon on custom publishing, on November 6th.

‘60 percent of consumers believe that customer magazines are relevant to their lives’

The UK custom publishing market is booming! Last year the industry experienced a custom publishing initiative launch for every working day and trends for 2008 show that despite the economic downturn the industry is holding strong. 

Overwhelming figures

The last Mintel Report, investigating the UK market, revealed that the industry is worth 993 million euro. Custom publishing is the fastest growing marketing medium after Internet advertising in the UK. The good news doesn’t just stop there. In a recent study, customer magazines were named consumers’ preferred form of marketing communications. They generate the most positive reaction from recipients and 60 percent of consumers believed that customer magazines were relevant to their lives. 

Looking for accountability

Clearly in the UK both marketers, and importantly, consumers are responding well to customer magazines. So why is the editorialisation of a brand proving so successful? Marketers are increasingly realising the benefits of customer magazines: they create loyalty, encourage spend and engage. Custom publishing in the UK is to date the only marketing medium with an effectiveness measurement, creating a compelling argument for marketing directors who are increasingly looking for accountability.

Findings from the research continue to provide our members with invaluable ammunition to take to existing and potential clients – for example the fact that people spend 25 minutes reading customer magazines. No other channel engages for so long. Internet advertising maintains consumer attention for 0.5 seconds, posters 8 seconds, TV 30 seconds and radio 20 seconds. 

Going digital 

This year we added APA@ to our portfolio, a digital audit of our members which included in-depth interviews with digital agencies, brands and custom publishers. It revealed that 10 percent of custom publishing revenue is now attributed to digital activity including podcasts, RSS feeds, ezines, microsites, hosting and transactional sites. It was designed to demonstrate to clients the expertise and versatility of both custom publishers and the medium. This represents a growth of 114 percent since 2005. To reflect this increase currently one in seven custom publishing employees has specialist digital skills.

Customers decide

Ultimately however, custom publishing will continue to grow, as the industry understands consumers, the current media landscape and how both are changing. It is manifest that the power has shifted into the hands of the consumer, they decide what media they consume and when. Therefore for any marketing channel to be successful it is essential they build strong and honest ties with the consumer, offer a sense of community, entertain and engage through relevance and offer a soft sell or response mechanism. Custom publishing initiatives offer all four, how many other mediums can say the same thing?

CASE – APA’s Custom Publishing Award 2007

Land Rover Onelife: Gutsy and adventurous.

There’s no better testament to a magazine’s appeal than its success across a number of international markets. Brand communication, reader engagement and, of course, highly entertaining content are key for any pan-global publication, and Land Rover Onelife has all of these in abundance. With 450,000 issues translated, adapted and delivered to over 60 international markets, it occupies a central role in Land Rover’s global CRM programme. Editor Zac Asemakis was chosen Editor of the Year. One of the most exciting developments in custom publishing has been the increasing use of content across several different media platforms. And nowhere is this more expertly demonstrated than with Land Rover Onelife.

The magazine generates content used not just within its own glossy pages, but also on their own web-based TV channel – Go Beyond TV. Zac is ensuring that Land Rover Onelife remains a stunning showcase of what the Land Rover is capable of, whether it’s travelling through the Sahara to experience a solar eclipse or scaling the heights of the Himalayas in search of Shangri La. “Land Rover Onelife is both gutsy and adventurous,” said the judges.