Media As Creative Agency

At the PSFK Conference New York, we ran a panel that looked at whether magazines could provide brands with better creative solutions than agencies, as they were far closer to the audience than an agency could normally expect to go. George Parker discussed the opportunities with panelists from Flavorpill, Theme and Engadget (the video is here) and we always felt that the media owners spent much of their time biting their tongue and not letting on how much they work directly with brands.

Now the International Herald Tribune picks up on this idea with an article entitled ‘Magazine companies start doing the work of advertising agencies‘. They say:

Customarily, magazine companies have made money by selling ad space in their magazines or, more recently, on their Web sites. Now some of them have set up what amount to internal mini-agencies that work with clients to design campaigns for the media company’s pages. Sometimes this work spills out into other forums, like radio and television ads.

Like Condé Nast, Meredith, which publishes such titles as Family Circle, More and Ladies’ Home Journal, is now handling some creative work for its advertisers, and so is even Surface, a small, independent magazine dedicated to fashion and design. The trend poses a challenge to traditional agencies and has created some unusual partnerships (think of Vogue designing ads for Wal-Mart).

Condé Nast Media Group has been developing sweepstakes, television specials, radio ads, in-store events and, of course, magazine ads for companies like Dillard’s, Kohl’s, Grey Goose and Lexus.

Magazine companies start doing the work of advertising agencies - International Herald Tribune: