traditional home — judge this book by its cover.

the brand

traditional home magazine is a design and decorating publication that celebrates the pleasures of modern life through the prism of classic taste. it has been the best-selling shelter magazine at newsstands for nine consecutive years.

the question

how does a magazine with the most consistent growth in revenue and second highest hhi in the shelter category (2nd only to architectural digest) combat a misconception aka. fear among some advertisers that the word “traditional” means stodgy and old fashioned?

the target

media planners, brand managers, ad agency folk.

the answer

interrupt their expectations, confront them with their misconceptions, educate them about the truth and make all concerned have a darn good time along the way.

the thinking

focus groups with a spectrum of planners revealed that some clients were afraid to align their brands with any medium containing the word “traditional.” additionally, of those brands concerned, none had explored the magazine in a thorough fashion. in other words, they couldn’t get past the title on the cover.
where there is fear, there is treatment. the watsons endeavored to partner with traditional home in order to put an end to: “traditionalphobia.” and since traditional home was being judged by the name on its cover, the watsons’ solution was simple: cover the cover up.

the tools

cover wraps -- in order to simultaneously educate and interrupt their expectations, the watsons created cover-wraps that call the audiences on their misconceptions of what “traditional” is all about. the wraps’ interiors define the audiences’ “issues” and offer a number of helpful treatments, including a url to a microsite that contains everything from demos to a contest.

post-its -- to entice the audience to explore the book, key sections and advertisers were highlighted with printed post-it notes. this gave prospects an abbreviated tour of the magazine ensuring they were exposed to the most relevant selling points.

miscrosite -- since combating misconceptions requires a fair amount of education, a microsite was created that featured:

• demos, hhi, circ, etc.
• advertiser testimonials
• “one sheet” selling points
• fun with phobias
• contest to win an hdtv

city postering -- we took the message to the street in key areas where agency and coveted brands live, work and play.

mailers -- postcards that kept the message alive were sent in between wrap distributions.

the results

in addiition to a write-up in the new york times, traditional home has generated substantial buzz. of course, we’re just out of the gate.