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in old school ties
Behind ad page boom at the Harvard Biz Review
By Jamie L. Jones
The Harvard Business Review has been around as long as the case method by which the top graduate business school analyzes companies. But being around for a long time also meant hardly being noticed.
Everyone knew of the Harvard Business Review, but few ever read it, and even fewer seemed interested in advertising in it.
That's changing, and at an odd time indeed for the magazine industry as a whole, as it suffers through one of the worst ad slumps in memory.
Ad pages in the Harvard Business Review have increased 22.2 percent year-to-date, from 299 to 365.5, and ad revenue has grown 48.2 percent.
Forgetting for a moment that the magazine is tiny next to such giants as Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek, those are incredible gains, making it the one great star performer among all business titles.
Why? you might ask.
There are several explanations.
Certainly the driving factor was that the magazine increased its frequency from six times a year to monthly, or nearly so, this year, when it will publish 11 issues.
The title, which has a circulation of 245,989, also introduced a redesign.
But if you ask the folks at the magazine what’s going on, they’ll tell you that the magazine is simply more relevant than ever.
What they are saying is that in tough economic times such as these, business leaders feel compelled to look beyond the news offered by the big magazines for ideas and insight, and for that they turn to magazines like the Harvard Business Review.
Moreover, these readers, being who they are, top corporate leaders, also make the ultimate advertising decisions, and when they do they put their ad dollars where there minds are.
"The difference between us and Forbes and Fortune is that we deal with ideas," says editor Suzy Wetlaufer.
"I think that this is a defining moment in the economy. Business people in this environment need good ideas.
"There’s a time that the rising tide lifts all ships. Now that the tide is not rising, people need to lift their own ships."
Most business category standbys have seen losses. Forbes has lost 30.6 percent of its ad pages and 20.8 percent of its revenue year-to-date, according to the PIB. Ad pages in Fortune have dropped 33.7 percent and ad revenue by 28.2 percent.
Harvard Business Review publisher Penelope Muse Abernathy says that her advertising strategy is simple: Look to your readers for your advertising.
"Our best readers are our best advertisers," says Abernathy.
Wetlaufer characterizes readers as senior level executives. According to a 2000 readership study, readers are 60 percent male, 83 percent college graduate, and of median age 47.3. The median household income is $161,800.
The Harvard Business Review is published by the Harvard Business School Publishing Company, a kind of laboratory-company founded by the school in which to practice its business theories.
The Business Review is the flagship of the publishing company, which also publishes books and several newsletters, and holds conferences.
The Harvard Business Review is a nonprofit corporation; all proceeds go to the Business School.
The Harvard Business Review holds no editorial obligations to the university.
In fact, editor Wetlaufer and publisher Abernathy point out that the Harvard Business Review does not have a controlled circulation, its content is not peer-reviewed, and articles are written not only by scholars and theorists but by professionals in the business world and consultants.
"Our roots are in the academy and many years ago most of HBR’s content came from the academy," says Wetlaufer.
"But we would not ever publish anything that could not play out in the business world."
In its academic origins and mainstream leanings, the Harvard Business Review resembles a handful of other publications, including the Technology Review, which is tied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for that matter Scientific American, traditionally an academic journal that in recent years has worked to develop a business readership.
Both the latter titles position themselves as publications that business readers look to in order to learn about developments that will become important in the coming years.
Abernathy says the Harvard Business Review is also making plans to launch foreign-language editions.
A Japanese edition published by Diamond Publishing is schedule to launch in Japan this October.
The Harvard Business Review is also looking into editions in Taiwan, Korea, Germany and Latin America.
As it is now, 30 percent of the English language readership is outside the United States.
Abernathy says that 90 percent of the magazine’s advertising runs worldwide.
The Harvard Business Review is a luxury product in the business category. It’s an expensive magazine; a single copy costs $16.95, and a one-year domestic subscription costs $118.
September 19, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jamie L. Jones is a staff writer for Media Life.
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