On The Unimportance Of Branding

Even the glossy magazines now “get” it.

People don’t buy magazines because of their "brand". They buy them only for what these magazines promise them on the cover.

How about this for a magazine name: S H - - E? Apparently, by thoroughly examining the cover you can deduce that the magazine’s name is SHAPE, but the full 2 letters (!) of a 5-letter brand are hidden by a huge photo of a girl in a bikini.

THE BRAND IS NOT IMPORTANT! Even if you are a magazine.

Or how about P E - - L E. Or C O S M - - - L I T A N.

These are all magazines that are predominantly sold at the cash counter at a grocery store. They do offer subscriptions but to a much smaller extent than other magazines.

In those few minutes that you are staying in line at the cash counter, these magazines need to do the following:

1. interrupt you with a picture,
2. engage with the headlines,
3. promise a type of content that would be useful and interesting to you, and
4. make you reach out with your hand, take a copy and put it on the conveyor belt.

And "brand" won't be of much help there.

So study the covers and steal as many ideas for your business as you can. (And no I don't mean the bikini girl, I mean headlines).