Branding your literature.

I actually find this subject very interesting. I take a magazine called Outside Magazine. The name alone virtually sells itself to its subscribers. This alone is the first wave of branding then next comes the cover. The images of vistas, rivers, waves and mountains mixed with the ruggedly good looking outdoors-man (not to be confused with the Cabela's version of an outdoors-man) all make for the idea that the content inside is going to be right down your alley and make you feel like you've accomplished the hike in Zion Canyon or the river rafting trip down the Salmon. I'll hand it to them, they really know how to get the reader in there.

The trick now is to match the content to the expectations. Magazines have been doing this for a long time now by putting the contents right on the cover. This too is all part of the branding for the magazine. Where it gets complicated is in the stories. While trying to toe the line of a liberal magazine without saying it, there is a very eclectic taste of stories from one month to the next in Outside. Ads from the Sierra Club mixed with 4wd expeditions seem to be contrasting in taste and goals. So how does the magazine avoid the appearance of being too far one way vs. the other? They let the target market determine it. The magazine has a very good idea of who is reading the magazine and then divulges that information to the would be advertisers. If the advertiser feels that they want to capture that target market that adheres to what the magazine writes about then they purchase space. This is typical and is likely not to change anytime soon. Why is this relevent? Because of the branding, the magazine has a desired image/feel that it wants to maintain and the advertising can sway that one way or another. The articles are the other determining factor in that image and ultimately there is a balancing act between articles and images to keep that delicate image that the magazine has established or wants to establish in tact.

One interesting story that I came across was from the website and more specifically their blog site. It talked about barefoot running and how it was the to one man the ultimate in running. The author (Christopher McDougall) of a book called "Born to Run" runs with some natives on the rim of Mexico's Copper Canyons. He tells of how these people run barefoot and are amazing distance runners and do it through inhospitable terrain and smile and laugh the whole way through.

This was an interesting point of view and probably could only be found in the blog section. The way the piece was written talked about being free to run whenever and wherever. 3-4 hr runs were normal for this group of followers... it kind of makes one think, where did they get all of their time? The point to this is that the article induced thoughts of freedom, exploration, liberation, breaking away from Corporate America etc... This was all part of the branding and the thoughts and feelings the magazine (or company in whole) was trying to induce. It's like heroine (although I've never touched the stuff, I can only imagine), when it gets in your veins that there is freedom out there and that adventure is available just outside the office doors, you want more so you read more... it takes a certain kind of person to want that and that's who the magazine wants.

At the end of the day with the cover, images, advertisements, articles a magazine can brand itself very effectively. Outside Magazine is just on of those that does a great job of it. Men's Journal, Men's Health, Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens all do it and do it well. Outside is just a unique example of branding itself with a slightly different angle compared to its competitors. I must say, I drink the juice, I believe that adventure is just outside my door and that running 3-4 hrs a day is normal (I would never do it though... where is the time?). My hats off to the editor and brand manager of the magazine, well done.