Marketing Masters — October 2008 - (Page 8)

❚❙ Custom publIshIng projeCt Custom Publishing Project Meredith Integrated Marketing – DirecTV ACCESS In the Beginning DirecTV wanted to extend its brand and make consumers aware of its premium services. It turned to Meredith Integrated Marketing (MIM), which sought to repackage DirecTV’s mundane listings guide, ACCESS, into a publication that would highlight DirecTV as a first-rate viewing experience, featuring exclusive interviews with A-list celebrities and athletes. Launched in February 2007, ACCESS is now a monthly. Kathy Bishop, editorial director of MIM, DirecTV ACCESS, put together an editorial team that had a strong entertainment background. This helped enormously, and so did the extra attention paid to crafting stunning covers. “Make them look great and [the celebrities] will come,” says Bishop. “When we were out there competing for story and access, we were able to convince people.” Good Show Combining winning editorial and design, DirecTV’s ACCESS has the look and feel of a consumer publication. As of December 2007, ACCESS had 788,528 paid subscribers, which represents a 57% growth in circulation versus the same period a year before. In a down market, this signifies a considerable achievement. ACCESS’s success has spurred DirecTV to consider taking the magazine global. “We always treated this as a consumer vehicle, which is not usually the case with our custom pieces,” notes Bishop. “One of the successes we do as a company is to get the right team for the project. When we were out there competing for story and access, we were able to convince people on the background of our group.” ■ Direct Contact Targeting men, ages 35 to 55, whose household incomes exceeded $75,000 and were sports, tech or entertainment enthusiasts, the MIM team developed content for the newly rebranded ACCESS magazine that would position DirecTV as a major presence in the entertainment industry and not just a delivery service. Fork in the Road For the MIM team, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. A big hurdle they had to overcome was convincing skeptical Hollywood and sports talent to appear in ACCESS. To penetrate that closed-off Hollywood community, Custom Publishing Project United Business Media, LLC – Smart Enterprise magazine The Plan United Business Media wanted to provide a thought leadership vehicle for CA (formerly Computer Associates), one of the world’s largest IT management software providers. It also wanted to expand CA’s sphere of influence by translating complex IT text into lively, reader-friendly language. Tackling the Hurdles “We saw a huge opportunity to differentiate our brand, our people and our go-to-market value proposition from other technology providers,” says Gabrielle Lukianchuk, CA’s vice president, corporate marketing. Get Smart With a budget of $1.5 million, UBM created a quarterly publication, Smart Enterprise (first issue was published November 2006), which would target IT and business executives at companies with 1,000 or more employees across many disciplines. The content would be chockfull of insight and information from renowned chief information officers and other senior IT leaders needed to drive business results. The Execution With 110,000 total distribution across 40 countries, copies of Smart Enterprise were shipped to CA customers, sales offices and specific events both nationally and globally. Although a quarterly, its content is disseminated via a monthly e-newsletter sent to 70,000 IT and business executives and a companion Web site (www. smartenterprise.com). The Results The ROI has been far-reaching. Smart Enterprise now spans several media platforms. Because of the highcaliber content developed from CIOs and business technology experts, the Smart Enterprise brand has become synonymous with new ideas and visionary leadership. ■ The Look To set itself apart from a saturated marketplace that targets the same executive audience, the UBM team incorporated into Smart Enterprise a striking design, top-notch photography and premium print quality. 8 min ❚ Marketing Masters Issue October 2008 ❚ minonline.com http://www.smartenterprise.com http://www.smartenterprise.com http://www.minonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing Masters — October 2008

Marketing Masters - October 2008 Customized Web Site/Microsite Retail/Merchandising Tie-in Top Integrated Marketer Top Integrated Marketing Teams Custom Publishing Project Multiple Magazine Title Program Sweepstakes/Contest New Event Program Online Event Special Advertorial Section Print/Online Bundle Print Bundles: TV/Video/Mobile Total Integrated Program: B2B Total Integrated Program: Consumer Event

Marketing Masters — October 2008

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