38th FIPP World Magazine Congress : Day 3 at a glance

Advertisers are exploring the edges of technology to innovate and engage their target audiences in the most entertaining and effective manner. The question arises how advertisers will expect magazine publishers to be partners during these extraordinary changes.

The next session, B2b publishing: Keeping the community engaged in a 360° environment threw light on significant changes in the B2B space as digital media is growing in reach and acceptance and many of the traditional areas of engagement, such as classified and recruitment advertising, have undergone transformation. It also discussed the point of how are B2B publishers taking advantage of changes in technology to inform, educate and engage their audiences' profitability. David Hill, President and CEO, International publishing services, IDG, UK took the audience through the digital transition that his company gone trough. He stated that in 2001 his company's revenue slanted towards print with 83% of contribution through publishing business. Print is expected to contribute around 44%.

The following session took the audience through the Successful business models for Multi Platform Publishing. The traditional business model of magazine publishing is undergoing a fundamental challenge. Finding new and profitable revenue streams is the prime objective of today's magazine media group, and this session highlighted some of the imaginative and exciting case studies taking place.

The session on Editorial Challenges and Opportunities in a 360° environment showcased how traditional magazine publishing used to be simple; there was a publishing date and a publishing schedule. In the new environment a magazine needs multiple editors across different platforms and multiple editorial teams and also will an integrated newsrooms or editorial team work with all platforms will required and how does one ensure that the positioning and messaging of editorial are consistent. Chris Johns, Editor in Chief, National Geographic, USA said, "for a magazine like National Geographic the core value is that of strong sense of designs and holding high aesthetic values. We look at higher level of integrations between the photographers and writers." Mathias Plica, Managing Director, CHIP Xonio Online, Germany said, "our brand compiles of both Print and Online media. The print medium is paid and about premium content; Chiponline provides free content, but driven by advertisers."

The breakout sessions comprised of three different sessions, Paper's Dynamic Future, the magazine experience is much more than simply the content. The look, feel, smell, even taste and sound can be combined making magazines an even more engaging medium, Distribution and the Digital Newsstand and Engagement and the Magazine Media : Depth of engagement is a key characteristic of magazines compared with other media. It discussed on the points like; what is the nature of "engagement', and how can it be measured, Does this engagement transfer to magazine publishers' digital platforms. At this session of Engagement and the Magazine Media, Tarun Rai, said, "Today media is engaging in all forms. From radio channels to television, the phenomenal forms of media like, IPads, You Tube, online gaming, Facebook, twitter etc. "Always on' as a concept will indicate to media leading to unconscious filtering, paradox of choice, distracted consumers and noise in the media space and the consumers."

Then the sessions took tilt towards the 360° Opportunity: View from the Top wherein a panel of leading industry CEO's addressed how their companies are responding to the issues and opportunities facing magazine media companies today.

Key Announcements:

Maurizio Costa, Deputy Chairman and CEO, Arnoldo Mondadori, Italy, announced that the next magazine congress shall be held in Rome, Italy. | By Ankita Tanna [ankita(at)adgully.com]