Research - Magazine Production / Distribution Practices

PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION

    Magazine production is dominated by a few giants of production like People Inc. and Condè Nast. These include extremely popular magazines like People, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, and many more.

    Both of these production companies use multi-media advertising through social media, newsstands, web engines, and retailing. Prints can be found in supermarkets, bookstores, cafès, salons, and much more to diversify audiences. By having both digital and physical advertisement and print, companies keep a wide range of customers with many preferences.

CONDÈ NAST

    Many popular approaches to production practices include environmental and social concerns with deforestation for mass production of paper for magazines. It also includes low carbon materials for lower emissions from hotspots of production and fair business practices for laborers. 

    The production of Condè Nast magazines includes a lot of identity within these magazines. Establishing a "voice" of the magazine is a pivotal part for a message and representation of social groups and issues. These prints are also almost always integrated into digital and physical platforms. Magazines like "Vogue" print and public digitally 8 times a year, shifting from the standard of monthly issues from earlier trends.

    Distribution practices are very standard for these magazines, either through specific subscriptions to magazines or newsstands. Specific issues can also be bought through 3rd party sources, making these magazines extremely accessible.

PEOPLE INC. 

    People Inc. has multiple pet magazines, the focus of my product. By focusing on subscriptions, People Inc. distributes mainly to families or young adults with pets in varying regions. Special editions of these magazines are what is printed, while most publications only have digital forms. 

    

        While print magazines usually only have issues in months, DailyPaws and other issues from People Inc. publish multiple times per week, their websites updating with each article published. They follow conventions of traditional prints, but do not include things like covers. 

    Overall, People Inc. also uses subscriptions as a way to maintain long-term customer relationships. This is through the continued new releases of their magazines while also being completely transparent with customers. In their "Forced Labour Reports", People Inc. maintains their relationship with clients by informing them of their production chains, company policies, and ethic codes. This transparency is what makes People Inc. a media giant in the industry. 

Reflection

    For my product, this will help me greatly in understanding audience and how to effectively convey a message for a social group. It has also helped me realize magazines are more than just information, they create a voice and story for their message, tone becoming prevalent even in print stereotyped as mundane and design-focused.

Sources

https://www.people.inc/forced-labour-report

https://peopleinccontentlicensing.com/content-licensing/pets/

https://www.condenast.com/sustainability

https://fashionista.com/2016/02/dirk-standen-23-stories-branded-content