WSJ, USA Today planning...magazines

Two important U.S. daily newspapers have come up with a sure-fire marketing strategy -- both the Wall Street Journal and USA Today are preparing to launch (wait for it) magazines.

According to a story in Ad Age, USA Today is farther along, with glossy launch planned for October. The Wall Street Journal is more in the concept stage, looking at a magazine to augment its Saturday "Weekend Edition", which was launched in 2005.

If they succeed, the projects will point to one of magazines' advantages in the digital age: That a coterie of beauty, fashion and other lifestyle advertisers are happier to spend money if their ads appear on thick, glossy pages.

Of course a Rupert Murdoch deal for Dow Jones (owners of WSJ) might change things, but Murdoch has already told The New York Times he'd consider turning the Journal's Pursuits section into a glossy weekend competitor to the Times Magazine, said the Ad Age story.

Susan C. Lavington, USA Today's senior VP-marketing said "We felt like, given our brand, the fact that we have this broad appeal and are known for covering a lot of different things, it seemed like a good idea to try to launch a magazine that would target this approach."

Each magazine will try to find overlooked editorial space to occupy, but the reality is that living -- however luxurious or active -- is pretty well-represented already in magazines. The real play here is creating a lush reader experience that can't be matched with newsprint, not to mention media outside print.

Media consultant Peter Kreisky said "One of the fundamental rules of publishing is to envisage where people are when they read your publication, because that really determines what the design and look and feel should be."

That's beginning to look like one of the few fundamentals that hasn't changed with the rise of digital media.For certain marketers, particularly on the high end, quality paper and presentation is everything, so adding glossy magazines makes every bit of sense, said Andrew Swinand, president-chief client officer at Starcom USA. "It's sort of like the salads at McDonald's," he said. "It's removing the veto vote. From a distribution standpoint it can't cost much more. If you can further monetize your existing base, have at it.""