Poll Shows BRIDES Newsstand Sales Slide Just a Sign of the Times

Posted on February 12, 2013 Written by 5 Comments

 

By Paul Pannone

The shocking release of declining newsstand sales at BRIDES magazine stunned print media experts who either worked for or against the Conde’ Nast property. An ongoing eWedNewz poll shows the magazine is just another victim of the general decline of print. The poll shows 61% of respondents so-far say Print will continue to decline while only 17% of replies say print and digital have finally found  a way to coexist in harmony.

 Available data suggests the damage inflicted on printed products by the internet.

eWedNewz coverage of how print and digital struggle to find a common ground tells of how all media is affected by the decline in marriage and formal weddings. With more places for brides to quickly search for what they’re looking for– for free– print has been hit the hardest, shown by declining newsstand sales; the barometer of how healthy a publication really is.

Finding the balance involves full-time effort, according to Sheryl Davies, who looks for the right mixture of print and digital. Davies gave her view of how websites are affected by Social Media, challenging digital the way DOT.COM challenged print.

“A good website still depends on good, reliable content and the ease of gathering the information a bride needs to host her wedding. Brides are tired of always being “advertised to.” They also want to research each service that they need to hire and for that they require information. Sometimes a company just needs to market. A wedding is an expensive proposition and not one of those brides wants to make a mistake and waste their hard earned money.

Cluttered websites make brides run away. They are busy people and more confusion makes them crazy. Keeping it simple, providing what they require and being real is what they want. Social media is fine if you are not looking for a target niche market,” according to Davies

Onlookers outside the wedding business reading the newZ, including O. Liam Wright, gave his view to the sinking numbers at BRIDES citing how digital moves faster than print. After reading the eWedNewz story about the changes at BRIDES involving their sinking newsstand sales Wright said:

“Interesting stats. While I am not an expert in your field. I certainly understand the sweeping effect of well positioned technology as see in the huge decline in use of I.E. (Internet Explorer) from 55% in 2008 to only 14% in just 4 years – with Google Chrome taking position as the dominant web browser used world-wide today (source: http://bit.ly/XvmibP ). Bruce Sterling in his book “Shaping Things” talks about the Line of Empire – which, once it’s crossed, certain positions can never be reclaimed.”

What do you think; will print ever return to where it once was?

eWedNewz

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Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, Data, facts and figures, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Poll, Social Media, The Internet, Uncategorized, wedding industry Tagged: , , , , , ,

BRIDES Newsstand Sales Continue to Slide

Posted on February 11, 2013 Written by 1 Comment

By Paul Pannone

BRIDES magazine newsstand sales continue to decline, according to Alliance for Audited Media. Sources familiar with the story claim the only true read to the health of any magazine is their newsstand sales figures.

 

 Newsstand sales figures are what’s most important to sources watching the story.

 

In an unprecedented move the competition, Bridal Guide Magazine,  called out Conde’ Nast property, BRIDES, last month citing what they called flawed information and questionable demographic facts about the magazine’s reach. Further allegations are still being investigated, including how  subscriptions rise at exactly the same rate as newsstand sales drop  at BRIDES.

39% of ongoing poll results so-far say BRIDES has fallen too far to survive.  27% feels BRIDES is sinking quickly, like all printed products. 21% says BRIDES is adjusting to the market and will survive. 10% says BRIDES is as healthy and relevant than ever.

What do you say?

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, bridal, Bridal Guide Magazine, Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, eWedNewz, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Paul Pannone, Poll, Uncategorized, wedding industry Tagged: , , , , ,

Jim Duhe Goes Public Against Conde’ Nast’s BRIDES Magazine on Facebook

Posted on January 16, 2013 Written by Leave a Comment

 

By Paul Pannone

The battle of the bridal books that made top Newz last week has suddenly turned lopsided. Since the Executive Director of Communication, Michelle Panzer and Lori Silver, Associate Publisher of BRIDES magazine, tag-teamed  Jim Duhe of Bridal Guide in a series of exchanges, the Conde’ Nast portion of the battle has fallen silent, while an unlikely Codger,Duhe, goes digital.

 

Big smiles from both Lori Silver representing BRIDES magazine and Jim Duhe, spokesperson for Bridal Guide. It’s Silver’s turn to respond, as Duhe campaigns on Facebook.

 

Duhe called out BRIDES on eWedNewz saying:

Dear Ms.Panzer –

“I’m calling you out. You are either dishonest or inexcusably uninformed. No effort was made to “cherry pick” data. Engaged readers are the lifeblood of bridal magazines. Engaged women purchase bridal gowns. Women who are not engaged don’t buy bridal gowns. It’s that simple. To divert attention away from this very basic fact is dishonest. To claim that a bridal magazine’s engaged audience is less important than its total audience is delusional.

No one at Bridal Guide is rattled by the constant changes or the revolving door of publishers and editors at Brides. To replace a respected and knowledgeable Editor-in-Chief with a person who has no bridal experience — to replace the replacement within a year — doesn’t document stability at Brides. It strengthens Bridal Guide’s position as a bridal industry authority.

Bi-polar changes in the Brides publication cycle — switching from bi-monthly to monthly and then back to bi-monthly publication within a couple of years — demonstrates as basic lack of understanding of the needs of the engaged women and the needs advertisers that sell bridal gowns.

Bridal Guides management and publication have been stable for many years. The Bridal Guide editorial staff has decades of bridal specific experience. The Bridal Guide editorial product always has been and will be targeted to our core audience: engaged women. Perhaps that explains why Bridal Guide’s pass along readership has been superior to Brides for the past twenty-five years.

There is no way for you or the Brides sales team to explain the dramatic difference between the Bridal Guide and Brides engaged audience without being dishonest on some level. It would be fascinating to read your public explanation of this phenomenon. Why is Bridal Guide’s honesty considered a breach of ethics?”

The he said, she said continued as Lori silver picked up the battle from Panzer. In direct response to Duhe, Silver cited her own set of  numbers saying:

 ”And now I am calling you out Jim… unless men are now buying and/or wearing wedding dresses your argument doesn’t hold water. BRIDES reaches MORE engaged WOMEN.

BRIDES engaged women:
913,000

Bridal Guide engaged women:
905,000

Source: GFK MRI
Fall 2012

If this isn’t clear, allow me to fascinate you and explain this phenomenon – the numbers pulled by Bridal Guide include men.

Lori Silver

Associate Publisher, BRIDES

According to Duhe a private message sent to Silver to discuss inclusion of men in her statement was left unanswered. Duhe told eWedNewz he doesn’t think there will be any more responses from either Panzer or Silver, claiming victory on all counts.

Additional allegations from the coverage by anonymous sources say the quality of paper used by BRIDES since announcing enhancements to the magazine nearly a year ago is not up to standards put forth by the magazine to its advertisers. No response was given to our communication with Silver and Panzer questioning the allegations about the paper. An automated reply says Panzer is on vacation.

In unprecedented fashion in the bridal business, eWedNewz learned Duhe took to Facebook writing the following statement to his friends on his wall:

 To My Friends In The Bridal Business . . .

If you missed the battle between Conde Nast/Brides and me in the eWedNewZ story, you missed an epic battle of biblical proportions. It’s a classic David vs Goliath confrontation. The folks at Conde Nast — the internationally renowned publishers of Vogue — probably are dumbfounded that Jimmy Duhe from LaPlace, LA had the audacity to not only challenge their ethics and authority but to win. Clearly, the God of Israelites is on my side.

There’s a lot that I wanted to say to Brides that wasn’t covered in the eWedNewZ story. For example, I’m curious about how Brides manages to sustain a consistent Total Circulation in spite of the fact that newsstand sales have plummeted to nearly 40% below Bridal Guide’s newsstand sales. It’s my opinion that their subscriptions couldn’t climb at the same rate as their newsstand failure without either divine intervention or very creative human manipulation. Since God is on my side, the latter seems far more plausible than the former.

The new MRI data proves that Brides subscriptions aren’t reaching the target audience of engaged readers. Can anyone tell me who in their right mind buys a bridal magazine without any intention of getting married. I can’t. Only Conde Nast can and I seriously doubt that the answer will be integrious.

Have I gone off the deep end? I’m sure that you guys have an opinion. I’d love to hear it — even (or especially) if it supports Brides. Sometimes I feel like a voice crying out in the wilderness.

 

eWedNewz watches the replies on Duhe’s Facebook accounts. We welcome any and all thoughts on this story.

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Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, Bridal Guide Magazine, Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, Data, eWedNewz, eWedNewz Exclusive, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Paul Pannone, Publications, Uncategorized Tagged: , , , ,

Bridal Book Battle Heats Up

Posted on January 14, 2013 Written by 6 Comments

 

By Paul Pannone

A response to allegations made by Bridal Guide Magazine escalated the war of words between Bridal Guide and BRIDES magazines. Michelle Panzer, Senior Director of Communications at BRIDES addressed Bridal Guide allegations and announced the BRIDES audience is bigger than Bridal Guide’s.

An infuriated Jim Duhe, VP at Bridal Guide, was not smiling at the response given by his competition.

 

In the complete statement Panzer told eWedNewz:

“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.”

 

The reply set off another response by Duhe, infuriated by some of the points of the reply.

 

Dear Ms.Panzer –
I’m calling you out. You are either dishonest or inexcusably uninformed.

No effort was made to “cherry pick” data. Engaged readers are the lifeblood of bridal magazines. Engaged women purchase bridal gowns. Women who are not engaged don’t buy bridal gowns. It’s that simple. To divert attention away from this very basic fact is dishonest. To claim that a bridal magazine’s engaged audience is less important than its total audience is delusional.

No one at Bridal Guide is rattled by the constant changes or the revolving door of publishers and editors at Brides. To replace a respected and knowledgeable Editor-in-Chief with a person who has no bridal experience — to replace the replacement within a year — doesn’t document stability at Brides. It strengthens Bridal Guide’s position as a bridal industry authority.

Bi-polar changes in the Brides publication cycle — switching from bi-monthly
to monthly and then back to bi-monthly publication within a couple of years — demonstrates as basic lack of understanding of the needs of the engaged women and the needs advertisers that sell bridal gowns.

Bridal Guides management and publication have been stable for many years. The
Bridal Guide editorial staff has decades of bridal specific experience. The Bridal Guide editorial product always has been and will be targeted to our core audience: engaged women. Perhaps that explains why Bridal Guide’s pass along readership has been superior to Brides for the past twenty-five years.

There is no way for you or the Brides sales team to explain the dramatic difference between the Bridal Guide and Brides engaged audience without being dishonest on some level. It would be fascinating to read your public explanation of this
phenomenon. Why is Bridal Guide’s honesty considered a breach of ethics?

Jim Duhe
Vice President
Associate Publisher

 

Panzer is aware of Duhe’s response but did not comment further at the time of this story’s release.

 

eWedNewz

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Filed Under: Anti Fairy Dust, Bridal Guide Magazine, Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, eWedNewz, eWedNewz Exclusive, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Uncategorized, wedding industry Tagged: , , ,

eWedNewz Exclusive: Bridal Guide Calls Out BRIDES Magazine; BRIDES Responds

Posted on January 11, 2013 Written by 7 Comments

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?

eWedNewz

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Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, Breaking Newz, bridal, Bridal Dresses, Bridal Guide Magazine, Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, Current Events, eWedNewz, eWedNewz Exclusive, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Paul Pannone, Publications, Uncategorized, wedding industry Tagged: , , , ,

PRESS RELEASE: BRIDES KICKS OFF ENGAGEMENT SEASON WITH THE LAUNCH OF BRIDES LIVE WEDDING

Posted on November 15, 2012 Written by Leave a Comment
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Challenges in the Economy Cited for Pink Slips at Conde’ Nast

Posted on October 13, 2012 Written by 1 Comment

By Paul Pannone

Troubles at Conde” Nast continue to mount as the company prepares for a move into the new World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The publisher is expected to move about 5,000 employees to Floors 20 through 41 at 1 World Trade Center sometime in 2014– and not 2013 as first expected.

eWedNewz continues to watch the story and the delays at the World Trade Center and how the slowdown has impacted business at Conde’. According to sources near the story if the construction was on schedule the layoffs announce this week would have happened long ago.

Employees at Conde’ Nast were not given much notice or sign of the job losses.

Charles Townsend sent an internal memo attributing the layoffs to “the challenges of the U.S. economy.” He said no additional announcements related to next year’s budget are expected.  Susan Portnoy, a corporate VP, was among those affected. Conde’ shed about 55 employees after neglecting to talk about firings in a recent statement involving budget cuts. Budget cuts originally slated for a 10% decrease were upped to 15% after efforts to revive  sales that included hiring the first black woman Editor-in-Chief for their BRIDES publication. The move and other steps take by the publisher still have not given management cause for celebration.

In an ongoing poll 28% of respondents so far say BRIDES is just a victim of the general decline of print magazines. 40% said BRIDES printed format has fallen too far to recover. Onlookers that say they know how Conde’ operates are amazed the publication has lasted this long.

Morale at Conde’ and a growing number of printed publications is said to be at an all-time low, as print publications continue to lose advertising dollars to digital and in-house Social Media advertising. eWedNewz received several statements from niche’ magazines that claim their numbers are up but have not yet commented officially.

 

eWedNewz continues our investigation and will report the findings, as they happen.

 

eWedNewz

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Filed Under: Bridal Magazines, BRIDES Magazine, Current Events, eWedNewz, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Publications, Social Media, The Groom, Uncategorized, wedding industry Tagged: , , , , , ,

The Week of September 17th in Review

Posted on September 23, 2012 Written by Leave a Comment

 

By Paul Pannone

Wedding Wire was back on top of the newZ, as another flood of vendors complain about their rating and review system. The rise is linked to peak season/summer weddings that are now settling into married life and look back on their wedding day.

A statement written by Samantha Goldberg in reply to the story written by her, in her own style, also made top newZ for citing wedding industry professionals and vendors that lack passion. According to Goldberg “90%” are guilty. But an eWedNewz ongoing poll says 47% lack passion– closer to what this newZ source predicted (50%).

A trending story involving BRIDES magazine’s move in appointing the first black Editor in Chief continues to rise, as eWedNewz investigates other publications that do not have a balanced representation of all races in executive positions.

In other newZ the Tie a Yellow Bow Tie campaign to help military family victims continues to grow. FLOW Formal plans to add other items to the campaign for 2013.

 

 

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Filed Under: bridal, Bridal Magazines, eWedNewz, General News, Men's formal wear, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Poll, The Week in Review, Wedding Charities, wedding industry, Wedding Wire Tagged: , , , , , , ,

BRIDES Magazine Shifts Gears; Names First Woman of Color as Editor in Chief

Posted on September 21, 2012 Written by 3 Comments

 

By Paul Pannone

Things just got brighter at BRIDES magazine naming their first woman of color to get a feel of reality and what’s relevant in the wedding world today. Keija Minor, named editor in chief, succeeds Anne Fulenwider who took flight before her first anniversary at the helm of the broken BRIDE ship. Minor was hired by Fulenwider as executive editor during her brief stay.

 

 

 Keija Minor becomes the first woman of color at BRIDES to give a clearer view of the changes that have taken place since the 70′s when Conde’ Nast reigned supreme.

 

Minor’s impressive career includes Niche Media, Los Angeles Confidential & Aspen Park and Uptown Magazine and BRIDES, all in  executive positions.

According to sources that did not want to be quoted BRIDES needed to shake things up beyond a new cover designs and a better grade of paper. Sources told eWedNewz;

“They finally figured out that it’s going to take a major overhaul of  the way they’ve done business for decades. They found the cosmetic changes they tried simply doesn’t work or fool today’s smarter advertisers.”

BRIDES sources feel the recent decision to return to a bi-monthly format is a step in the right direction but much more still needs to be done.

According to sources there are employees assigned to read what this newZ source reports and pass the information along to decision makers.

“They read every word you write including the public criticisms  by major advertisers.”

In a recent email obtained by eWedNewz Lori Silver tries to set the record straight saying;

“We wanted to update you on the most recent performance of BRIDES.  My understanding is there has been some misinformation circulating.

BRIDES is the go to source for all things engagement/wedding related.  We guide young affluent women through the planning process with expert advice every step of the way: from helping her select her engagement ring to finding the dream dress to inspiring her wedding style.  BRIDES delivers more than 8 million brides & their friends across all our platforms – more than any other bridal brand.  We reach 5.1 million consumers with every issue – 20% more than Bridal Guide (the only other MRI measured bridal publication) – and our expanded footprint across platforms, including online, social, tablet, mobile and events, helps to surround these women at every touch point. (SOURCE:  MRI DOUBLEBASE 2012.  COMSCORE JUNE 2012, ONLINE AUDIENCE BASED ON BRIDES NETWORK. APP FIGURES APRIL 2011-AUGUST 2012. ABC DIGITAL CIRCULATION MAY 2012.  SOCIAL AND EVENT ESTIMATES.)

BRIDES circulation vitality continues to grow as well with a 1.3% increase in total circulation, the only bridal title with an increase in total circulation over 2011.  However, like all bridal titles, BRIDES did experience a small loss in single copy sales.  With that said, BRIDES still sells more copies on the newsstand on a per month basis – the below chart shows the average issues sold per month on newsstands for all bridal titles. (Source:  ABC JUNE 2012)

As we move towards our bi-monthly schedule, it is important to remember that BRIDES’ goal is to consistently deliver over 300,000 copies per issue.  This number is nearly double that of Bridal Guide’s average circulation and 59% more than Martha Stewart Weddings.   (Source:  ABC JUNE 2012)

For the woman who puts style first, BRIDES delivers fresh ideas and innovative tools, expert advice and visually inspiring fashion, beauty, travel and lifestyle features to help her tackle the biggest spending period of her life. While editorial leadership has changed, the essential DNA of the brand has been powerfully steadfast. Great brands and great businesses aren’t about one individual and Brides truly is a great, iconic brand.  We are confident that the future of the Brides franchise will remain bright and look forward to welcoming a new editor in chief in the coming weeks.

Be everywhere she is – BRIDES.

Further reports from sources near the story say the move to include a woman of color as the head of BRIDES is a way to attract another segment of the wedding market that not interested in an all-white format. One source told eWedNewz they’ve looked at the recent success of publications like Munaluchi Bride.

According to eWedNewz sources there is not enough of a market in the black segment to sustain a publication that would attract a huge organization like Conde’ Nast for its bridal publication. But because of Keija Minor’s perspective a new market, including women of color, can be better explored, serviced and may become part of  BRIDE’s existing base of readers.

An ongoing eWedNewz poll shows 42% of responding readers feel BRIDES has fallen too far to ever recover. 28% say BRIDES is a victim of a trend, sinking quickly, like all printed products are. 17% of responding readers say BRIDES is adjusting to the market but will survive. 9% of respondents so far feel that BRIDES is as healthy and relevant in the market as ever.

What do you say?

 

 

eWedNewz continues our investigation and welcomes your opinion.

eWedNewz

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Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, Anti Fairy Dust, Breaking Newz, bridal, Bridal Magazines, eWedNewz, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Ongoing Story Investigation, Publications, wedding industry Tagged: , , , , , , ,

POLL says Conde’s BRIDES is Broken; Fulenwider Goes Back To Hearst

Posted on September 6, 2012 Written by 2 Comments

 

By Paul Pannone

It’s just shy of the one-year anniversary when Conde’ Nast booted Mille Martini Bratten and replaced her with Anne Fulenwider trying to stem losses at  the newsstand and boost sagging advertising revenue. But after attempts to jump-start Brides Fulenwider jumps ship and returns to her post at Marie Claire, a Hearst publication, where she had previously been the executive editor, from 2009 to 2011.

 

It’s back to familiar surroundings for Anne Fulenwider, as she jumps ship at Conde’s BRIDES.

 

Members of the Wedding Water Cooler discussed the event;

Editors often get blamed for readership losses.  Conde probably looked to Anne to reverse their losses.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a magic wand.  The magazine is broken in ways that she couldn’t possibly fix — even if she had an in-depth knowledge of the category.

I think that Anne came to Brides with the belief that she could change tradition only to discover that real brides don’t want to change tradition.  In real life, many consumers like the idea of a formal wedding with all the trimmings.  They like traditional honeymoons.  The “average” consumer is highly predictable.  She won’t wear a $10,000 gown.  She won’t have a $14,000 honeymoon.

Senior members of the wedding industry and competing publications originally criticized Fulenwider’s lack of knowledge in the wedding category when she first replaced Bratten a year ago but jumped all over her in recent statements she made.

46% of an ongoing poll says BRIDES has fallen to an irrecoverable level and won’t make it, as attempts to stem the decline at newsstands simply haven’t worked.  27% say the magazine is just another victim of the general plight of all printed formats. 16% feel BRIDES is making the necessary adjustments and will survive. 7% say that BRIDES magazine is as healthy and relevant as ever.

What do you say?

 

 

 

eWedNewz

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2012

Filed Under: Advertising and Marketing, bridal, Bridal Magazines, General News, Ongoing Story Coverage, Poll, Publications, The Internet, wedding industry, Wedding Water Cooler Tagged: , , , , ,
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