In a recent interview, Vogue Chief Anna Wintour stated that she doesn’t really follow market research. Wintour relies on instinct and picture ads for advertising success. This goes against common industry practices but it has worked well for winter so far. In a recent move, Vogue has offered access to its archives through a subscription priced at $1575 dollars. According to the Wall Street Journal the archive will contain roughly 300,000 ads and thousands of images. This will force many people to view print ads in a different light.
Print ads have an advantage of permanence that other channels, such as radio, do not. The ads and the images contained in them can be viewed repeatedly by the reader. Print ads reach beyond the subscriber to include family members, guests, customers and friends. When these publications are digitized the ads can be shared easily with a greater number of people. The real question is how many people see the ad after the initial purchaser and how does this translate into revenue for product makers and advertisers? Wintour’s success would seem to indicate some added value for advertisers who place ads with magazines using archive subscriptions. The key to problem will be quantifying this added value.
I would love to be able to see the archive of print advertisements! I am wanting to help in the creative process of print ads so to look at what was done in the past of a high fashion magazine would be interesting to me. I don't think I would be able to swing the large subscription amount but maybe I will work for a large advertising firm that will purchase a subscription. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour post brings up a great point – analytical data isn’t everything in the realm of marketing. While Wintour seems to have a method that works for her, I wonder what benefits the companies who adverstise through Vogue would receive if a integrated metrics system were applied to Vogue’s print ads (if such a think is possible.)
ReplyDeleteI agree that print ads have a certain near-immortality that works incredibly well for Vogue and similar businesses. I wonder, will the companies that advertise through Vogue benefit from the subscription Wintour is offering?