The publication producers are just now gearing up to create new editorial content, sell advertising and find ways to distribute their magazines, supplements and inserts. Following SAM‘s cover story on this phenomenon in the March issue—which included some severe criticism of the publications—we thought it only fair to do a preview of what to expect next season.
Most of the publications are making changes and most of the producers said the reviews in SAM were helpful in planning these changes. Only one, Ski magazine, will not duplicate their efforts again this year.
USA Today will again produce a ski section during the week before Thanksgiving. In fact, if there is advertising support, they may produce three four-page sections during that week, according to Kathe Dillmann, NSAA’s communications director who works with the newspaper in producing the supplement. One section would be devoted to ski travel, another to apparel, equipment and accessories and a third to the world of ski racing.
“The thinking is that this will be more manageable from an editorial and advertising point of view,” said Dillmann. “This will allow us to tighten the editorial focus and aim at the dilettante market.”
Three separate publications on subsequent days would also help build excitement for skiing, she said. The editorial material, written by the USA Today staff, will be more how-to and informative than last season.
The Time magazine insert will also be in two parts: East and West regional sections. According to Brad Seaton, president of B.G. Seaton, the advertising firm that is producing the insert, this will allow ski areas and shops to advertise in their markets without going national. Each regional will carry ad listings by state and cities as well as regional display advertising, but with the same editorial material for both sections.
“The critiques in Ski Area Management influenced us, without question,” said Seaton. “This year our approach will be more how-to with practical advice. But we still think the Top Zip distribution is OK because, after all, skiing is not a cheap sport and that’s the market to reach.”
Time will also have a fulfillment piece to offer readers. According to Seaton, Skiing magazine will reprint its Directory issue and Ski magazine will reprint the beginner section from last January to distribute free to readers who write in. He said that NSAA and SIA will also have pieces to contribute to this mailing.
The World magazine—the Killington staff’s working title for its publication There is a world only alpine skiers know—will certainly be used again, but the exact format was not set at SAM‘s presstime. “The content is not dated at all,” said John Clifford, Killington’s vacation, marketing and sales manager, “and we may reprint the magazine as a whole or in parts. We may make the contents available for others to use, too. The program is not settled as yet, but we do want to get more books into circulation.”
One prominent idea in the Killington plan is to get the magazine into ski shops as giveaways or as premiums and, of course, the ski resort will send it to people making reservations to go skiing. Exactly who sponsors The World for next season has not been set.
First Tracks is going to be more of the same for next season, according to Randy Shilling, its publisher. He expects the magazine to have more pages—64 instead of 40 which was the number last year—and more advertisers. Most important, he has lined up more ski resorts to insert their brochures in it and distribute the magazine through their own outlets. A few of the seven resorts that carried First Tracks last year are dropping it, but this year a total of 10 areas, including Copper Mountain, Colo., and Snowbird, Utah, are carrying the magazine.
“The contents will be about the same, but the articles will be shortened up,” said Shilling. “Last year we tried to say too much. We will have more focus on how to get started in skiing as well as some of the same stories we ran last year.”
One of the real success stories last season was a publication that didn’t look as though it was aimed at beginners and didn’t even look like a magazine. The Book of Family Ski Vacations by Kathleen O’Dell-Thompson with Nancy Crowe, was printed and distributed by Smugglers’ Notch, Vt. It came in a 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch size and carried a cover price of $4.95, which made it look like a book rather than a casual publication. Its contents are certainly aimed at families, but they cover all the usual essential topics in a down-to-earth, condensed and zippy manner. Furthermore, other ski resorts besides Smugglers’ Notch that cater to families are described with address and phone numbers.
“Anyone who wrote in for the Family Ski Vacation book got one free,” said Coleen Kane, the public relations director of Smugglers’. “We distributed 5,000 and will probably stick with that approach for this season.”
Kane added that the booklet received a number of editorial mentions including one in Ski magazine and in USA Today and those generated lots of queries. This season she expects that it will be mentioned in the ski section published in the November issue of Better Homes and Gardens. That may produce a response that will necessitate a small charge for mailing and handling.
Not a bad track record.
