Long-sleepy car titles revving up their images

Long-sleepy car titles
revving up their images

As Detroit $s fade, new ventures to rebuild brands

By Jamie L. Jones

    The automotive magazine category has long seemed to hum along like a well-tuned motor—functional and quiet, drawing little attention.
    No sexy new titles, no superstar editors raking in media attention.
    But when carmakers began pulling back from print advertising, the leading titles in this long-sleepy category found themselves confronted with a sudden need to innovate.
   That's meant redesigns and expanding beyond print to other media venues, from online to branded television ventures.
   Their aims have been twofold--to build their brands among readers and to lure new categories of advertisers to offset the slide in Detroit ad dollars.
    "We no longer can have all our eggs in one basket," says Paul Sisia, vice president of the Motor Trend Group.
   "Automotive is cutting back on print, and if you only have print, you’re not going to have a good year."
    Neither this year nor last has been kind to the category.
    So far this year, ad pages are down 9.3 percent for the car titles, and this decline comes after a 6 percent decline in 2000, a record ad year for most categories.
    Category stalwarts Motor Trend and Car and Driver have led the way in efforts to reinvigorate and expand their franchises.
    In September, Motor Trend will come out with a re-tweak of a redesign it introduced last fall.
    The magazine will adopt a larger format and bulk up on opinion pieces and new-car research features. In the fall redesign, it went to a new paper stock and revamped its editorial features.
    The title, which is in the process of being purchased by Primedia from Emap, has also introduced a Spanish-language edition, expanded its web site, and developed branded radio and television properties.
   Sisia says building up the magazine's brand has enabled it to attract high-end European car advertisers like Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volvo. But he says it has also made the magazine more attractive to non-car luxury advertisers like Rolex.
      Meanwhile, Car and Driver, published by Hachette Filipacchi, has been expanding into internet and cable ventures. It has a branded show on TNN, and this fall it is debuting an interactive TV venture through AOL TV and WebTV.
    Car and Driver is also developing what executives call derivative programming, which includes the recently-debuted reality show "Cannonball Run."
    "This is a program that may not carry the Car and Driver name but is something that has the same sensibility as the magazine," says Ben Tatta, chief operating officer of Lagardere Active, North America, the multimedia division of Lagardere, parent company of Hachette Filipacchi.
    Viewers were invited to visit the Car and Driver web site, where one of the vehicles featured on the show was auctioned off.
    Car and Driver is also developing a show called "Stars and their Cars" for cable.
    The aim is to build on the franchise established by the print title.
    "The core of the brand is the magazine because of the unique relationship that editors have with the audience. The editors are the experts. We always try to harness the energy and sensibility of the magazine and its editorial staff in everything we do," says Tatta.
    "That’s where a lot of multi-platform efforts fail, because they have another center."

--Jamie L. Jones is a staff writer for Media Life.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us