Advertising has to inform, notify and build awareness. It also has to inspire. In a world driven by commerce, art imitates life and advertising has evolved into an art form. Charlotte Bradley looks at the innovative campaigns and creatives that are pushing the boundaries of magazine advertising.

Something original and creative is a route to someone taking notice, reacting and believing in a product. It is also vital in assisting the overall brand objective, according to Duncan Bird, partner at Soul Advertising. Stand-out advertising needs to animate and move the reader, especially in an age in danger of media overload.

Moving images and sounds are the traditional haven for creativity, with print providing the information and logic behind brand building. Not so, as demonstrated by recent magazine ad campaigns. Magazines lend themselves to creativity in a number of unique ways. Sly Bailey, chief executive of IPC Media, claims: "As an industry, we are developing increasingly more creative ways of advertising in print which can appeal to all senses including sight, touch and smell. Exciting times for magazine advertising provide a backdrop for innovation and original thinking."

The magazine medium has a personal relationship with the reader, based on trust and intimacy, which paves the way for advertisers to appeal to the personal senses of its highly targeted market. Graham & Brown‘s latest campaign for textured wallpaper exemplifies use of this relationship. The campaign ran in a number of lifestyle titles such as Design Week, Living Etc, Blueprint and Attitude. Alan Kemp, marketing manager at Graham & Brown, explains that the campaign strategy sought to reach the style opinion formers in UK society: "The most important thing about the campaign was that it put the actual product in the reader‘s hands in a striking, simple and impactful way. The medium enabled the focus on texture, achieving something impossible in any other medium."

Advertisers are increasingly appealing to the senses. The launch campaign for Cif Mousse (formerly Jiff) included a unique creative solution in IPC Connect‘s titles. Micro-encapsulated pages were injected with ink so that when pages were touched, a smell of mint was released. Reported in the advertising trade press, the execution gained valuable publicity for Cif. A recent campaign for Charlie perfume injected the front and back cover of Mizz, with the smell of the perfume. Sharon Cristal, editor of Mizz, reported that this had very positive feedback from Mizz readers. She said: "This market needs instant impact, they are very easily bored and the gimic factor is imperative. Advertising like this enhances the package and maintains the important interactive relationship with the reader."

It‘s not just the physical senses that are appealed to through magazines, but also the thought processes of specific demographic groups, which, to a large extent, can be anticipated by the advertiser. Club 18-30s‘ recent ‘perspective‘ campaign ran three creative executions in Boys Toys. The campaign, which featured beachside, poolside and nightlife respectively, capitalised on the reader‘s sense of perspective creating advertising on two levels. One, which focused on the obvious holiday attractions, and another, which implied humorous sexual innuendo, only appropriate for the targeted readership.

Brian Case, ad-manager at Boys Toys, found the print format advertising to be more ‘thought provoking‘, an effect which the constant movement in TV would not have achieved. Said Case: "The objective was to summarise the product, sun, sea, sand and sex, but in a light-hearted way. The advertising was daring to break the rules, taking the cliché postcard scene and injecting originality in a professional and artistic way."

This reader relationship allows creativity to be more considered, and therefore more effective. Magazine Advertising Effectiveness, a PPA research report conducted by Guy Consterdine, claims that the strength of magazines lies in the way the product messages can be absorbed as a result of handling a printed ad. The readers‘ scanning and screening means that a higher proportion of memories are stored as information about the product, distinct from information about the advertisement.

The unique creativity of magazine advertising also extends the brand in a mixed media schedule. Magazine Advertising Effectiveness shows that print can affect and enrich what is understood from television advertising when it is seen after exposure to the print advertising. This synergy is at its best when the creative executions in both media are designed to work together. The recently launched clothing brand Uniqlo, used magazine advertising as part of a multi-schedule campaign. Bird says that the magazine campaign communicated the look and feel of the brand, establishing a set of ‘team colours‘ which when projected into other media creates a ‘higher re-call‘ of what the brand is about.

Bird says: "Magazines have special relationships with readers and advertising creative can be most effective when that relationship is disrupted with something unexpected. For Uniqlo, we created awareness of the brand through communicating a different point of view on the role clothes play in people‘s lives. This resulted in queues outside the store when it opened." Ken Hoggins of Banks Hoggins O‘Shea, draws upon the Waitrose mixed media campaign, claiming: "Without magazines, the campaign would not have had such depth, magazines lend stature in a mix of media."

The Levis‘ ‘twisted to fit‘ TV commercial featured people contorting their bodies in a ‘twisted manner‘, communicating the brand as hip and stylish, if slightly bizarre. The creative concept was furthered by magazine advertising, for as Annicka Locket, board account director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty says: "Advertising in 2000 for Levi‘s Vintage clothing also made use of an emerging niche magazine sector, where poster inserts and booklet tip-ons, designed specifically for titles like Smart and Frieze, communicated in an understated way to a visually literate audience."

FIPP research - Take a fresh look at print - refers to the use of television and magazines as ‘hearts and minds advertising‘, suggesting that use of print and television ensures delivery of messages corresponding to both left and right sides of the brain. And what could be more creative than advertising which achieves a ‘whole brain communication?‘

Image From:
Client: Club 18-30
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Product: Club 18-30
Title: Beach

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