Next month? Scratch and sniff pop-ups

Half the ads and many of the photos in the Sports Illustrated Kids November issue are in 3-D, demonstrating that gimmicks sometimes work. According to an article in Mediaweek, the number of ad pages for the issue increased 26%.

Yet whether the stunt delivers a longterm benefit for SI Kids remains to be seen. In general, kids' magazines have fought a tough battle for ad pages as packaged foods, their bread and butter, have shifted spending out of the category to avoid controversy over childhood obesity. Year to date through November, SI Kids' ad pages fell 14.3 percent to 175, per the Monitor. VP ad sales, marketing Scott Hendrickson said the title is trying to grow its videogame business to offset the packaged goods ad decline, pointing out that the last three issues of the year are charting double-digit page gains.