Hachette switches focus to brand advertising
Hachette Fillipachi, publisher of women’s glossies Red, Elle and Psychologies, is to switch to above-the-line advertising to maintain the long-term health of its brands.
The publisher is launching a campaign to promote its Psychologies title next week. The press and outdoor activity is based around the magazine’s “Life Curiosity” positioning and aims to boost readership by communicating what the brand stands for.
Psychologies’ circulation fell 9% year on year to 119,025 in the first half of the year, according to ABC data, but Hachette aims to increase this to 150,000.
Marketing director Reid Holland says the activity for Psychologies is indicative of Hachette’s new strategy to invest in above-the-line campaigns and brand advertising.
“Advertising has been neglected by publishers because it’s expensive.” He adds that covermounts and retail promotions are not enough to drive the long-term health of magazine brands and Hachette’s future marketing will be about communicating the brands.
“We have to tell people what our brands are about if we want to recruit readers,” he says.
Hachette is planning above-the-line campaigns for each of its brands over the next two years. It is running the first advertising campaign for Elle to celebrate the magazine’s 25th anniversary.
