Many of us at Bond have written for or edited newsstand favorites like Real Simple, Men's Health, and Travel + Leisure. And our Founder & CEO spent nearly a decade leading the mastheads of various glossies. Which is to say: We love magazines. Always have, always will.
And we're SO excited to see the medium return in 2024 with a roar.
The rebirth of print isn't exactly new, though. There were 122 print launches in the U.S. in 2022, more than double the number in 2020. And though '23 saw fewer new titles come to market, the momentum continues today thanks to buzz-worthy (re)launches and Gen Z discovering the medium – and subscriptions! – after becoming physically and emotionally exhausted by a 24/7/365 screen-only experience.
So, which imprints are leading the way for magazines in 2024? Perhaps surprisingly, old titles that many thought were long dead.
New music bible NME Magazine relaunched last summer after ceasing its print run in 2018. Karlie Kloss and her husband announced plans last week to relaunch the iconic LIFE magazine. In January, country music stars Eric Church and Morgan Wallen bought legacy outdoor mag Field & Stream. And, our favorite news: Saveur relaunched this month to the glee of food fans and the culturally curious worldwide.
(A recent episode of Magazeum's "Full Bleed" podcast dives deep into Saveur's return to print. The long and short: Enterprising Editor-in-Chief Kat Craddock bought the title to invest in a print publication she adored and believed in infinitely. She's among a visionary group leading a movement to reinvigorate magazines as a contemporary, sustainable medium. Hooray! Go, Kat. Renaissance Woman of 2024.)
Okay, so magazines are making a big comeback. Great! What's that got to do with content marketing? A LOT.
Brands can and should learn from the entrepreneurs and journalists rebuilding magazines because today's media mavens are acting like the smartest, most visionary brands.
Here are four lessons to consider:
1 - Think about end-to-end experiences for the bona fide enthusiast (i.e, people who are ALL about their thing - whether it's French cooking for stream fishing). Church and Wallen plan to relaunch Field & Stream across print, digital, apparel and live music events to give superfans the chance to immerse themselves in the brand through the pages, in pixels, and IRL.
2 - Invest in quality over quantity. NME and Saveur are low-frequency, and subscription-based – publishing bimonthly to give people just enough time to luxuriate with each issue before eagerly awaiting a new one in the mail. (Huge Bonus Points: They're paying their freelancers, shooting original photography and not relying upon Chat GPT to craft copy.)
3 - Pay close attention to how consumers with the longest span of spending power ahead of them (Gen Z) are flocking to print because digital is just so 2017. Kloss knows better than anyone that Gen Z will pay attention and spend on a brand when they feel like it gives them (intangible) value. It's not about product specs or technology. It's about a new or different feeling. Tactile experiences like holding a print magazine? That's new and exciting for those under the age of 30. 4 - Embrace this new rule: Scarcity is the new exclusivity. Many of these relaunches won't be available for anyone to grab at the supermarket checkout. Indeed they're much harder to find, yet anyone can attain them with a little effort, like signing up for a subscription. In our opinion, that's what makes them feel like everyday treasures.
Magazines FOREVER. We had a hunch.
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