Major Acid's E-Rag
What Else Is There?
Volume 1, Number 2.
The National Post
Since this is a column about magazines, let’s talk newspapers,
specifically The National Post, Canada’s ‘other’ national paper. More
specifically, let’s look at the 27 May 2003 edition.
There was a secret in the 27 May edition I picked up, a slim magazine
called the Post Men’s Quarterly. I took a copy to a local bar to peruse
over a Keith’s, and I discovered the existence of the magazine when I
flipped open the paper and watched the PMQ fly over the bar and strike
Wendy the bartender in an area sensitive to politically incorrect
commentary. Wendy was kind enough to return it with a smile and (I hope)
without spitting in my draft.
As magazines go, the PMQ isn’t much to brag about. It runs a shade over
40 pages and is pretty clearly no more than an excuse for upscale
advertisers to pitch their wares. The inside cover is Armani, the back
cover is Calvin Klein. Between them Tiger Woods flogs Tag Heuer watches
instead of golf balls, and The Bay donates a woman dressed (barely) in
men’s clothing and who gets unexpectedly friendly with a couple
different brands of over-priced men’s shoes. She also shows up to flog
Tag Heuer watches in case the Tiger spot is nullified by Michael
Schumacher flogging Omega watches.
Oh yes – there are articles, too. Sort of. They all front for
advertising, except one, “The Tomato Strategy” by Lillian Chan. On a two
page spread Chan gives the bare facts about prostate cancer in a few
columns of type flanking a photo of a naked man (with serious love
handles) who cradles two large, bright red tomatoes strategically
covering up his, er, tomatoes. Not a Calvin, Omega or Tag in sight.
Every article is short. The one I find most amusing is “The Not So
Wealthy Barber” (Dwarka Lakhan) because it runs above a pair of
sunglasses by Diesel. As I looked at the page it occurred to me that the
real reason the barber is no longer so wealthy is that he spends $265
for a pair of sunglasses that probably cost no more than $25 to make.
Still, the real mystery is not the magazine or its contents. The PMQ is
clearly an advertising vehicle. The mystery is this: why was it so well
hidden?
I examined every inch of the front page of the National Post looking for
something announcing the hidden gem. Nothing. Not a banner, not a blurb.
Not a mention in the “Index” or in the “Inside” box. Nothing.
Perhaps it’s me, but my idea of advertising doesn’t include hiding the
advertising vehicle. Splash it on the front page. Let the reader know
it’s there. This benefits both the advertiser and the paper. Who knows?
There might be people – potential newspaper buying people – silly enough
to be breathlessly waiting for the next edition of the PMQ.
For the National Post this was a missed opportunity at synergy – that
rare confluence of parts that produce an effect greater than the sum of
the individual parts. It’s not that hard a concept, so easy, in fact,
that synergy has become one of those annoying business buzzwords. But
apparently the business brain trust at the National Post hasn’t grasped
the concept.
By coincidence, the 26 May 2003 edition of Macleans magazine flirted
with its own synergy. Macleans is owned by Rogers which also owns
Sportsnet. This explains why, in the middle of Macleans, another
complete magazine appeared – on heavier, glossier paper, I might add, as
if to assert where in the empire the true corporate heart of Rogers
beats strongest: Rogers Sportsnet Magazine.
Unlike the Post’s game of hide the intruder, Macleans actually announced
the addition by placing the line “Special Sportsnet Magazine” on the
cover in readable type. It was in the wrong place, of course, on the
bottom right hand corner of the cover, but it was there. A corporate
conspiracy buff might suspect that the Macleans staff chose the location
as the least offensive way to handle the interloper without actually
hiding it, but one man’s paranoia is another art director’s dictate.
It would have been better across the top left so that on the newsstand
it stood a chance of being seen by a casual buyer, say a sports oriented
non-Macleans reader. Such a reader might well have picked up a copy to
investigate, thereby becoming a Macleans buyer. Since most magazines on
the rack only get about the top third of their covers visibly facing
out, this probably didn’t happen a lot. And I concede, if only to show I
am not paranoid, the inclusion of the sports magazine might well keep a
few Macleans subscribers on board.
It’s not a milestone in synergy, but at least Macleans made the effort.
As for the National Post, its PMQ remained, I am sure, successfully
hidden from anyone who wasn’t already a Post reader. Except Wendy.
