Traditional media looms large in the publisher’s bold and innovative fall season promotions.
In case anyone has lingering doubts that the fashion industry knows its bread is buttered in print, they just need to look to Hearst’s innovative fall campaign.
Last week, the publisher launched its six-week campaign for their critical September issues of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire, and Town & Country.
“The campaign, entitled ‘We Are Fashion,’ promotes the four brands not as competitors, but as unified products that can provide the most fashion content to its readers,” writes Ellen Cools in Folio:.
Cools reports that the campaign included heavy use of traditional media in and around NYC, including billboards, transportation signage, urban panels, taxi toppers, phone kiosks…if it’s standing still in NYC leading up to and during Fashion Week, it’s going to be plastered with “We Are Fashion” imagery.
The publisher is also taking the campaign directly to their readers with live events and meets & greets with the titles’ editors.
“Offering readers the chance to meet the magazines’ editors highlights the value Hearst believes readers place on the print product,” Cools notes.
“Reading a magazine in print is a lean-back experience, and readers really get to know our editors through the pages. This is a fun way to strengthen that relationship even more,” Michael Clinton, president of Hearst Magazines, told Folio.
And they are focusing their campaign on traditional media for one vital reason:
“We want to be where consumers are when they can buy our products — airports, retailers, etc.,” Clinton continued.
Yes, they’ll be tying the campaign into their social media channels, but the publisher knows fashion is about print and has been revamping its titles to embrace the trend toward luxury in magazines.
“In March of this year, we upsized Elle and Marie Claire, which now are the same lush, oversized experience as Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country, so all of our fashion/beauty/luxury brands have a high-touch value for readers and provide a big, beautiful canvas for marketers,” Clinton says.
Hearst went big with Elle two years ago, launching its biggest issue ever, and other titles like Vogue are doing the same. Clearly, fashion magazines matter and publishers that can innovate like this will continue to surprise, engage and expand their audience.