By Paul Pannone

In an eWedNewz Exclusive we’ve obtained information that was to be distributed to wedding industry advertisers citing information from magazine measurement sources that watch over distribution and newsstand sales. The information complied by Bridal Guide Magazine claims  superiority in some areas, backed by the data they reference.

Did you know? A recent issue of Bridal Guide featured David Tutera as the first male on the cover. Tutera sported what appears to be a tuxedo; something Bridal Guide passionately supports. Yet eWedNewz learned Tutera refused to wear a tie– either bow or long-tie. The result is the creative (but disappointing) picture blocking the area where appropriate neck-wear should have appeared.

In this exclusive eWedNewz story you’re now reading Bridal Guide leverages what they feel are important facts to show the world why they think they’re a better value than their competitor, BRIDES.

The “tie-in” raises questions on both sides. Bridal Guide often slams BRIDES for not showing tuxedos in their ads. Yet they were not able to get Tutera to wear a simple bow tie, proving you can’t always get what you want. But in the end, are advertisers getting what they pay for?

According to Bridal Guide:

GfK MRI reports that Bridal Guide reaches far more engaged women than Brides—nearly 80,000 more engaged women— even though Brides ‘total circulation’ is nearly (twice) that of Bridal Guide.

-Bridal Guide Engaged Audience: 1,127,000
- Brides Engaged Audience: 1,048,000

MRI also documents that the Median Household Income (HHI) of Bridal Guide’s engaged audience is significantly higher than that of Brides—more than $8,500 higher.

- Bridal Guide’s Median HHI: $57,821

- Brides Median HHI: $49,149

Gfk MRI is the leading producer of media and consumer research in the United States. Its reports are unbiased and straightforward. This means that your Brides sales rep has been dishonest with you. Ask her these three questions:

1. Why does Bridal Guide reach so many more engaged women than Brides in spite of a lower total circulation?

2. Why is the Median HHI for engaged women so much higher for Bridal Guide than for Brides?

3. Since Brides reaches fewer engaged women than Bridal Guide, shouldn’t the Brides rates be lower than Bridal Guide rates? It’s up to you. You can believe the hype that Brides is pushing or you can rely on the facts. Either way, you owe it to yourself to ask your Brides sales rep for answers.

Source: ABC June 2012; GfK MRI Fall 2012, Engaged GfK MRI reports that Bridal Guide reaches far more engaged women than Brides—nearly 80,000 more engaged women— even though Brides ‘total circulation’ is nearly 2x that of Bridal Guide.

• Bridal Guide Engaged Audience: 1,127,000

• Brides Engaged Audience: 1,048,000

The information is released at the heel of several moves and a successful campaign by BRIDES to entice lost advertisers who departed when the magazine went monthly several years ago.  The move was disastrous and cost BRIDES advertising support who shifted over to Bridal Guide. In their current issue, BRIDES fought back with major incentives to return and filled pages with paid advertisement rather than editorial and more creative ads. In addition BRIDES enhanced paper quality giving their book a better feel than its competitor and added the first woman of color to Editor In Chief position.

In an unprecedented move BRIDES responded to the eWedNewz story giving the following statement:

 ”To claim that Brides sales reps have been dishonest is untrue, unethical and a clear sign that our competition is rattled. Bridal Guide cherry picked information that doesn’t tell the whole story. Advertisers buy based on total audience, not one segment of that audience.

Brides vs Bridal Guide (based on GFK MRI Double-base 2012 total audience)

Total Audience – Brides is Bigger

Brides – 5,137,000

Bridal Guide – 4,291,000 

Medium Household Income Is Brides Is More Affluent
Brides – $59,795

Bridal Guide – $56,850

The total circulation for Brides is nearly twice that of Bridal Guide. ALL of our readers matter to us, as they do to our advertisers, and our sales reps welcome the calls and the questions.  Our lines are open,” according to Senior Communications Director Michelle Panzer.

According to sources familiar with both sides these are new times where one competitor would openly disparage another. According to the same sources it’s highly out of character for any Conde’ Nast property to acknowledge such information, much less respond to it as they did.  Technically this is the first time there’s been a response to print. However, Michelle Panzer did respond to eWedNewz when we ran a story about their digital division, www.brides.com, in August of 2011.

43% of an ongoing eWedNewz poll says print is dying and will never recover. A similar number says print is fine and will continue as is. Where do you stand?

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