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Transcript of Magazines digitaliq2011
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcomcopy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
MagazinesSCOTT GALLOWAYNYU Stern
J U LY 2 6 2 0 11A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
reg
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
2
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Magazines
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through the ether surpassed free content and several pay walls
appear to be gaining traction4 As experimentation with digital
edition format pricing and subscription models continues
analysts at PwC express confidence that annual digital circu-
lation revenues associated with magazines could grow from
about $4 million last year to $611 million by 20155
Digital iQ = Shareholder ValueThis study attempts to quantify and rank the digital competence
of 87 magazine brands A close look at the relationship between
Digital IQ and performance reveals a link between a titlersquos digital
competence and its advertising revenue per page Our aim is to
provide a robust tool to diagnose digital strengths and weak-
nesses and thereby help managers achieve greater return on
incremental investment in digital We hope you will reach out
with comments that improve our methodology investigation and
findings You can email me at scottsternnyuedu
Sincerely
While analysts and consultants bark about the urgency to
ldquoembrace digitalrdquo the web efforts of many leading magazines
wilt under even the most forgiving analytics In sum the online
revenue model for magazines remains opaque
Broken Technology did not get the memo regarding traditional me-
diarsquos business model Re-targeting coupled with a torrent of
supply resulted in online CPMs collapsing 30 percent in the
12-month period ending March 20112 The latest beacon the
iPad has not lived up to its hype and as of December 2010 all
magazines reporting data experienced declining digital edition
sales3 The Huffington Post arguably the most successful In-
ternet media property based on a traditional advertising model
posted 2010 revenues of $30 million In contrast Google will
register over $30 million in revenues in the next eight hours
HopeThere is nothing wrong with the magazine industry that canrsquot be
fixed with whatrsquos right with the industry Iconic brands differenti-
ated content deep talent and robust cash flows to fund experi-
mentation and acquisition should illuminate several paths to a
brave new model In 2011 the amount of paid content traveling
i n T R O D U C T i O n
SCOTT GALLOwAY
Founder L2 Clinical Professor of Marketing NYU Stern
Opaque There is no shortage of candlepower (ie smarts) or innovation in the magazine business However even with
total advertising revenue down more than 20 percent from its pre-financial crisis peak no company or individual has been
able to paint a cogent picture of what the industryrsquos next iteration will look smell or feel like1
1 Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) Full-Year Revenue amp Pages Data Updated January 10 2011
2 Efficient Frontier Global Digital Marketing Performance Report
Q1 2011
3 ldquoMemo Pad iPad Magazine Sales Droprdquo
John Koblin WWD Media December 29 2010
4 ldquoMurdochrsquos Leap Finds Converts in Cannes As Paywall
Use Growsrdquo Matthew Campbell and Amy Thomson
Bloomberg June 24 2011
5 Jeff Bercovici ldquoDigital Subscriptions Will Lift
Magazines But Not Newspapersrdquo Forbes Mixed Media
June 14 2011
3
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Magazines
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i n T R O D U C T i O n
MAGAZinE DiGiTAL iq SCORE vs
2010 ADVERTiSinG REVEnUE PER ADVERTiSinG PAGE
Dig
ital I
Q
2010 Advertising Revenue per Advertising Page(in thousands)
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
$200 $300 $400 $5000 $100
4
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METhODOLOGYA B O U T T h E R A n k i n G S
Site - 25 Effectiveness of brand site
FunCTiOnALiTY amp COnTenT - 75bull Technology Load Time Integration of Analytics amp Optimization Platforms Video Presence
bull navigation amp Search User Interface Site Search
bull home Page Social Media Integration RSS Customization Blog Presence amp Implementation
bull User Account Signup Process Interoperability Account Features
bull Content Shareability of Articles Photos amp Videos
bull Customer Service Subscription Promotion amp Support
bull interactivity amp innovation Unique Tools Web Applications Microsites
BRAnD TRAnSLATiOn - 25bull Aesthetics
bull Messaging
Digital Marketing - 25 Marketing efforts off-site brand presence and visibility on search engines
bull Search Traffic SEM SEO Web Authority
bull Email Frequency Content Social Media Integration Promotion
bull innovation Recent Brand Initiatives Presence on Tumblr
bull Blog Presence Mentions Sentiment
Social Media - 25 Brand presence community size content and influence on major social media platforms
bull Facebook Likes Growth Post Frequency Applications Responsiveness Content
bull Twitter Followers Growth Tweet Frequency Online Voice
bull YouTube Views Number of Uploads Subscriber Growth Content
Mobile - 25 Compatibility and marketing on smartphones and other mobile devices
bull Mobile Site Compatibility Functionality Ability to Transact
bull iOS Availability Popularity Functionality iPad Differentiation
bull Other Platforms Availability Popularity Functionality
bull innovation SMS Geolocal Recent Brand Initiatives
CATEGORiES
140+ Genius Digital competence is a point of differentiation for these brands Site content is searchable shareable and mobile-optimized Social media efforts complement wider digital strategy
110-139 GiftedBrands are experimenting and innovat-ing across site mobile and social platforms Digital presence is consis-tent with print product
90-109 AverageDigital presence is functional yet predictable Social media efforts are siloed across platforms
70-89 Challenged Inconsistent adoption of mobile and social media platforms Site lacks inspiration
lt70 Feeble Investment does not match opportunity
5
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Magazines
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Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
1 TiMe Time inc news amp Politics 140 Genius Strong presence across nearly every platform inspiring
2 PeOPLe Time inc entertainment amp TV 136 GiftedAccessible on nearly any screen launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook
3 SeLF Condeacute nast Health amp Fitness 134 Gifted Seamless integration of print and Facebook content
4 MenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 131 Gifted Cross-platform Workouts are intense
4 SPORTS iLLuSTRATeD Time inc Sports amp Recreation 131 Gifted A breadth of web content solid mobile offering and halo effect from CNNrsquos Sports tab
6 neW YORK MAGAzinenew York Media Holdings
Lifestyle 129 Gifted Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts
7 GQ Condeacute nast Menrsquos 128 Gifted Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle
8 GLAMOuR Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 127 Gifted Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible
9 enTeRTAinMenT WeeKLY Time inc entertainment amp TV 126 GiftedYouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain
10 COSMOPOLiTAn Hearst Womenrsquos 125 GiftedDigital marketing innovator turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square
11 THe eCOnOMiSTThe economist Group
news amp Politics 124 Gifted Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos
12 nATiOnAL GeOGRAPHiCnational Geographic Society
Science amp nature 123 Gifted YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views
12 neW YORKeR Condeacute nast news amp Politics 123 Gifted Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows
6
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Magazines
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Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
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Magazines
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Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
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Magazines
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Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
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Magazines
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DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
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Magazines
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iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
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L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
2
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
through the ether surpassed free content and several pay walls
appear to be gaining traction4 As experimentation with digital
edition format pricing and subscription models continues
analysts at PwC express confidence that annual digital circu-
lation revenues associated with magazines could grow from
about $4 million last year to $611 million by 20155
Digital iQ = Shareholder ValueThis study attempts to quantify and rank the digital competence
of 87 magazine brands A close look at the relationship between
Digital IQ and performance reveals a link between a titlersquos digital
competence and its advertising revenue per page Our aim is to
provide a robust tool to diagnose digital strengths and weak-
nesses and thereby help managers achieve greater return on
incremental investment in digital We hope you will reach out
with comments that improve our methodology investigation and
findings You can email me at scottsternnyuedu
Sincerely
While analysts and consultants bark about the urgency to
ldquoembrace digitalrdquo the web efforts of many leading magazines
wilt under even the most forgiving analytics In sum the online
revenue model for magazines remains opaque
Broken Technology did not get the memo regarding traditional me-
diarsquos business model Re-targeting coupled with a torrent of
supply resulted in online CPMs collapsing 30 percent in the
12-month period ending March 20112 The latest beacon the
iPad has not lived up to its hype and as of December 2010 all
magazines reporting data experienced declining digital edition
sales3 The Huffington Post arguably the most successful In-
ternet media property based on a traditional advertising model
posted 2010 revenues of $30 million In contrast Google will
register over $30 million in revenues in the next eight hours
HopeThere is nothing wrong with the magazine industry that canrsquot be
fixed with whatrsquos right with the industry Iconic brands differenti-
ated content deep talent and robust cash flows to fund experi-
mentation and acquisition should illuminate several paths to a
brave new model In 2011 the amount of paid content traveling
i n T R O D U C T i O n
SCOTT GALLOwAY
Founder L2 Clinical Professor of Marketing NYU Stern
Opaque There is no shortage of candlepower (ie smarts) or innovation in the magazine business However even with
total advertising revenue down more than 20 percent from its pre-financial crisis peak no company or individual has been
able to paint a cogent picture of what the industryrsquos next iteration will look smell or feel like1
1 Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) Full-Year Revenue amp Pages Data Updated January 10 2011
2 Efficient Frontier Global Digital Marketing Performance Report
Q1 2011
3 ldquoMemo Pad iPad Magazine Sales Droprdquo
John Koblin WWD Media December 29 2010
4 ldquoMurdochrsquos Leap Finds Converts in Cannes As Paywall
Use Growsrdquo Matthew Campbell and Amy Thomson
Bloomberg June 24 2011
5 Jeff Bercovici ldquoDigital Subscriptions Will Lift
Magazines But Not Newspapersrdquo Forbes Mixed Media
June 14 2011
3
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
i n T R O D U C T i O n
MAGAZinE DiGiTAL iq SCORE vs
2010 ADVERTiSinG REVEnUE PER ADVERTiSinG PAGE
Dig
ital I
Q
2010 Advertising Revenue per Advertising Page(in thousands)
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
$200 $300 $400 $5000 $100
4
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
METhODOLOGYA B O U T T h E R A n k i n G S
Site - 25 Effectiveness of brand site
FunCTiOnALiTY amp COnTenT - 75bull Technology Load Time Integration of Analytics amp Optimization Platforms Video Presence
bull navigation amp Search User Interface Site Search
bull home Page Social Media Integration RSS Customization Blog Presence amp Implementation
bull User Account Signup Process Interoperability Account Features
bull Content Shareability of Articles Photos amp Videos
bull Customer Service Subscription Promotion amp Support
bull interactivity amp innovation Unique Tools Web Applications Microsites
BRAnD TRAnSLATiOn - 25bull Aesthetics
bull Messaging
Digital Marketing - 25 Marketing efforts off-site brand presence and visibility on search engines
bull Search Traffic SEM SEO Web Authority
bull Email Frequency Content Social Media Integration Promotion
bull innovation Recent Brand Initiatives Presence on Tumblr
bull Blog Presence Mentions Sentiment
Social Media - 25 Brand presence community size content and influence on major social media platforms
bull Facebook Likes Growth Post Frequency Applications Responsiveness Content
bull Twitter Followers Growth Tweet Frequency Online Voice
bull YouTube Views Number of Uploads Subscriber Growth Content
Mobile - 25 Compatibility and marketing on smartphones and other mobile devices
bull Mobile Site Compatibility Functionality Ability to Transact
bull iOS Availability Popularity Functionality iPad Differentiation
bull Other Platforms Availability Popularity Functionality
bull innovation SMS Geolocal Recent Brand Initiatives
CATEGORiES
140+ Genius Digital competence is a point of differentiation for these brands Site content is searchable shareable and mobile-optimized Social media efforts complement wider digital strategy
110-139 GiftedBrands are experimenting and innovat-ing across site mobile and social platforms Digital presence is consis-tent with print product
90-109 AverageDigital presence is functional yet predictable Social media efforts are siloed across platforms
70-89 Challenged Inconsistent adoption of mobile and social media platforms Site lacks inspiration
lt70 Feeble Investment does not match opportunity
5
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
1 TiMe Time inc news amp Politics 140 Genius Strong presence across nearly every platform inspiring
2 PeOPLe Time inc entertainment amp TV 136 GiftedAccessible on nearly any screen launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook
3 SeLF Condeacute nast Health amp Fitness 134 Gifted Seamless integration of print and Facebook content
4 MenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 131 Gifted Cross-platform Workouts are intense
4 SPORTS iLLuSTRATeD Time inc Sports amp Recreation 131 Gifted A breadth of web content solid mobile offering and halo effect from CNNrsquos Sports tab
6 neW YORK MAGAzinenew York Media Holdings
Lifestyle 129 Gifted Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts
7 GQ Condeacute nast Menrsquos 128 Gifted Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle
8 GLAMOuR Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 127 Gifted Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible
9 enTeRTAinMenT WeeKLY Time inc entertainment amp TV 126 GiftedYouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain
10 COSMOPOLiTAn Hearst Womenrsquos 125 GiftedDigital marketing innovator turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square
11 THe eCOnOMiSTThe economist Group
news amp Politics 124 Gifted Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos
12 nATiOnAL GeOGRAPHiCnational Geographic Society
Science amp nature 123 Gifted YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views
12 neW YORKeR Condeacute nast news amp Politics 123 Gifted Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows
6
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
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Magazines
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TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
3
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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i n T R O D U C T i O n
MAGAZinE DiGiTAL iq SCORE vs
2010 ADVERTiSinG REVEnUE PER ADVERTiSinG PAGE
Dig
ital I
Q
2010 Advertising Revenue per Advertising Page(in thousands)
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
$200 $300 $400 $5000 $100
4
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
METhODOLOGYA B O U T T h E R A n k i n G S
Site - 25 Effectiveness of brand site
FunCTiOnALiTY amp COnTenT - 75bull Technology Load Time Integration of Analytics amp Optimization Platforms Video Presence
bull navigation amp Search User Interface Site Search
bull home Page Social Media Integration RSS Customization Blog Presence amp Implementation
bull User Account Signup Process Interoperability Account Features
bull Content Shareability of Articles Photos amp Videos
bull Customer Service Subscription Promotion amp Support
bull interactivity amp innovation Unique Tools Web Applications Microsites
BRAnD TRAnSLATiOn - 25bull Aesthetics
bull Messaging
Digital Marketing - 25 Marketing efforts off-site brand presence and visibility on search engines
bull Search Traffic SEM SEO Web Authority
bull Email Frequency Content Social Media Integration Promotion
bull innovation Recent Brand Initiatives Presence on Tumblr
bull Blog Presence Mentions Sentiment
Social Media - 25 Brand presence community size content and influence on major social media platforms
bull Facebook Likes Growth Post Frequency Applications Responsiveness Content
bull Twitter Followers Growth Tweet Frequency Online Voice
bull YouTube Views Number of Uploads Subscriber Growth Content
Mobile - 25 Compatibility and marketing on smartphones and other mobile devices
bull Mobile Site Compatibility Functionality Ability to Transact
bull iOS Availability Popularity Functionality iPad Differentiation
bull Other Platforms Availability Popularity Functionality
bull innovation SMS Geolocal Recent Brand Initiatives
CATEGORiES
140+ Genius Digital competence is a point of differentiation for these brands Site content is searchable shareable and mobile-optimized Social media efforts complement wider digital strategy
110-139 GiftedBrands are experimenting and innovat-ing across site mobile and social platforms Digital presence is consis-tent with print product
90-109 AverageDigital presence is functional yet predictable Social media efforts are siloed across platforms
70-89 Challenged Inconsistent adoption of mobile and social media platforms Site lacks inspiration
lt70 Feeble Investment does not match opportunity
5
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
1 TiMe Time inc news amp Politics 140 Genius Strong presence across nearly every platform inspiring
2 PeOPLe Time inc entertainment amp TV 136 GiftedAccessible on nearly any screen launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook
3 SeLF Condeacute nast Health amp Fitness 134 Gifted Seamless integration of print and Facebook content
4 MenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 131 Gifted Cross-platform Workouts are intense
4 SPORTS iLLuSTRATeD Time inc Sports amp Recreation 131 Gifted A breadth of web content solid mobile offering and halo effect from CNNrsquos Sports tab
6 neW YORK MAGAzinenew York Media Holdings
Lifestyle 129 Gifted Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts
7 GQ Condeacute nast Menrsquos 128 Gifted Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle
8 GLAMOuR Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 127 Gifted Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible
9 enTeRTAinMenT WeeKLY Time inc entertainment amp TV 126 GiftedYouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain
10 COSMOPOLiTAn Hearst Womenrsquos 125 GiftedDigital marketing innovator turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square
11 THe eCOnOMiSTThe economist Group
news amp Politics 124 Gifted Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos
12 nATiOnAL GeOGRAPHiCnational Geographic Society
Science amp nature 123 Gifted YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views
12 neW YORKeR Condeacute nast news amp Politics 123 Gifted Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows
6
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
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TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
4
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
METhODOLOGYA B O U T T h E R A n k i n G S
Site - 25 Effectiveness of brand site
FunCTiOnALiTY amp COnTenT - 75bull Technology Load Time Integration of Analytics amp Optimization Platforms Video Presence
bull navigation amp Search User Interface Site Search
bull home Page Social Media Integration RSS Customization Blog Presence amp Implementation
bull User Account Signup Process Interoperability Account Features
bull Content Shareability of Articles Photos amp Videos
bull Customer Service Subscription Promotion amp Support
bull interactivity amp innovation Unique Tools Web Applications Microsites
BRAnD TRAnSLATiOn - 25bull Aesthetics
bull Messaging
Digital Marketing - 25 Marketing efforts off-site brand presence and visibility on search engines
bull Search Traffic SEM SEO Web Authority
bull Email Frequency Content Social Media Integration Promotion
bull innovation Recent Brand Initiatives Presence on Tumblr
bull Blog Presence Mentions Sentiment
Social Media - 25 Brand presence community size content and influence on major social media platforms
bull Facebook Likes Growth Post Frequency Applications Responsiveness Content
bull Twitter Followers Growth Tweet Frequency Online Voice
bull YouTube Views Number of Uploads Subscriber Growth Content
Mobile - 25 Compatibility and marketing on smartphones and other mobile devices
bull Mobile Site Compatibility Functionality Ability to Transact
bull iOS Availability Popularity Functionality iPad Differentiation
bull Other Platforms Availability Popularity Functionality
bull innovation SMS Geolocal Recent Brand Initiatives
CATEGORiES
140+ Genius Digital competence is a point of differentiation for these brands Site content is searchable shareable and mobile-optimized Social media efforts complement wider digital strategy
110-139 GiftedBrands are experimenting and innovat-ing across site mobile and social platforms Digital presence is consis-tent with print product
90-109 AverageDigital presence is functional yet predictable Social media efforts are siloed across platforms
70-89 Challenged Inconsistent adoption of mobile and social media platforms Site lacks inspiration
lt70 Feeble Investment does not match opportunity
5
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
1 TiMe Time inc news amp Politics 140 Genius Strong presence across nearly every platform inspiring
2 PeOPLe Time inc entertainment amp TV 136 GiftedAccessible on nearly any screen launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook
3 SeLF Condeacute nast Health amp Fitness 134 Gifted Seamless integration of print and Facebook content
4 MenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 131 Gifted Cross-platform Workouts are intense
4 SPORTS iLLuSTRATeD Time inc Sports amp Recreation 131 Gifted A breadth of web content solid mobile offering and halo effect from CNNrsquos Sports tab
6 neW YORK MAGAzinenew York Media Holdings
Lifestyle 129 Gifted Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts
7 GQ Condeacute nast Menrsquos 128 Gifted Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle
8 GLAMOuR Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 127 Gifted Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible
9 enTeRTAinMenT WeeKLY Time inc entertainment amp TV 126 GiftedYouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain
10 COSMOPOLiTAn Hearst Womenrsquos 125 GiftedDigital marketing innovator turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square
11 THe eCOnOMiSTThe economist Group
news amp Politics 124 Gifted Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos
12 nATiOnAL GeOGRAPHiCnational Geographic Society
Science amp nature 123 Gifted YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views
12 neW YORKeR Condeacute nast news amp Politics 123 Gifted Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows
6
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
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SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
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5
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
1 TiMe Time inc news amp Politics 140 Genius Strong presence across nearly every platform inspiring
2 PeOPLe Time inc entertainment amp TV 136 GiftedAccessible on nearly any screen launched voting last fall for 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook
3 SeLF Condeacute nast Health amp Fitness 134 Gifted Seamless integration of print and Facebook content
4 MenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 131 Gifted Cross-platform Workouts are intense
4 SPORTS iLLuSTRATeD Time inc Sports amp Recreation 131 Gifted A breadth of web content solid mobile offering and halo effect from CNNrsquos Sports tab
6 neW YORK MAGAzinenew York Media Holdings
Lifestyle 129 Gifted Culture Vulture and Shop-A-Matic sub-brands are standouts
7 GQ Condeacute nast Menrsquos 128 Gifted Sharp customer service and irreverent Twitter handle
8 GLAMOuR Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 127 Gifted Impressive social media properties and blogs make fashion accessible
9 enTeRTAinMenT WeeKLY Time inc entertainment amp TV 126 GiftedYouTube promotion to launch fall TV lineup and partnership with check-in upstart GetGlue entertain
10 COSMOPOLiTAn Hearst Womenrsquos 125 GiftedDigital marketing innovator turned users into stars in first global digital campaign live in Times Square
11 THe eCOnOMiSTThe economist Group
news amp Politics 124 Gifted Smashing infographics and adroit YouTube videos
12 nATiOnAL GeOGRAPHiCnational Geographic Society
Science amp nature 123 Gifted YouTube channel boasts nearly 600 million upload views
12 neW YORKeR Condeacute nast news amp Politics 123 Gifted Impressive issue archive and narrated slide shows
6
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
6
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
12 RunneRrsquoS WORLD Rodale Health amp Fitness 123 Gifted Social media marathoner
15 O THe OPRAH MAGAzine Hearst Womenrsquos 121 Gifted74 percent Facebook fan growth during TV farewell demonstrates power of integrated platforms
16 SeVenTeen Hearst Womenrsquos 120 Gifted Social (media) butterfly Mstylelab showcases digital efforts with leading retailers
16 WiReD Condeacute nast Science amp nature 120 Gifted iPad pioneer underwhelms with otherwise analog showing
18 eSQuiRe Hearst Menrsquos 119 GiftedDebonair mobile site and clever viral video divert attention from a disheveled Facebook page
19 Teen VOGue Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 118 Gifted Stellar Twitter handle and Fashion Click blog
20 eLLe Hachette Filipacchi Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted Impressive YouTube and Twitter properties
20 FORBeS Forbes Business amp Finance 117 Gifted A rich site
20 inSTYLe Time inc Fashion amp Style 117 Gifted A sleek Facebook page and StyleFind e-commerce
23BeTTeR HOMeS AnD GARDenS
Meredith Home amp Gardening 115 Gifted Mobile site and how-to tools bloom
23 FOOD amp WineAmerican express Publishing
Cooking Food amp Beverage 115 Gifted Smooth digital presence overpowers an undercooked mobile site
25 GOLF DiGeST Condeacute nast Sports amp Recreation 114 GiftedScores with Fansrsquo Choice 2011 an online bracket where Facebook fans select Americarsquos greatest public golf course
26 FiTneSS Meredith Health amp Fitness 113 Gifted Strong mobile site and apps
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
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L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
7
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
26 PARenTS Meredith Family 113 Gifted Facebook fans thicker than water
26 VOGue Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 113 Gifted At times geek can be chic and at others itrsquos passeacute to be gifted
29 MARie CLAiRe Hearst Fashion amp Style 112 Gifted iPad e-commerce standout
30FOOD neTWORK MAGAzine
HearstCooking Food amp Beverage 111 Gifted Foursquare and Facebook Places check-in campaigns offer unique flavor
30 LuCKY Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 111 GiftedFaces of 5F FacebookTumblr collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman shows social prowess
30 PLAYBOY Playboy enterprises Menrsquos 111 Gifted Nearly six million Facebook fans
33 ALLuRe Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 110 GiftedTempting site and QR-code giveaways but bookmarking canrsquot possibly be Readerrsquos Choice
34 ReAL SiMPLe Time inc Lifestyle 109 Average Simply average
34 ROLLinG STOne Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 AverageSite has good cadence but other digital properties lack rhythm turned over cover choice for August 18 2011 issue to site users
34 uS WeeKLY Wenner Media entertainment amp TV 109 Average Robust mobile site
37 MOTOR TRenDSource interlink Media
Auto amp Cycles 108 Average Apps and mobile site are head-turners but site is middle of the road
37 neWSWeeKThe newsweek Daily Beast Company
news amp Politics 108 Average Daily Beast integration is a disappointment
37 WOMenrsquoS HeALTH Rodale Health amp Fitness 108 Average Apps and Twitter look good but YouTube absence damages overall physique
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
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L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
8
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
40 FAST COMPAnY Mansueto Ventures Business amp Finance 106 Average High octane iPad app sluggish Facebook page
41BLOOMBeRG BuSineSSWeeK
Bloomberg Business amp Finance 105 Average iPad app is a victory Business Exchange attempts micro-social effort
41 VAniTY FAiR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 105 Average VF Agenda microsite attempts to add spark to otherwise stale site
43 CAR AnD DRiVeR Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 104 Average Mobile site has more horsepower than full-sized web presence
43MARTHA STeWART LiVinG
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Home amp Gardening 104 AverageRich site and multiple appsmdashbut brand canrsquot replicate namesakersquos success on Twitter
45 eSSenCe Time inc Womenrsquos 99 Average Recent site redesign works
45 POPuLAR SCienCe Bonnier Science amp nature 99 Average iPad early adopter has made 139 years of the publication available via Google Books
47 BOn APPEacuteTiT Condeacute nastCooking Food amp Beverage 98 Average
AndroidiOS ebooks and Foursquare presence satisfy but leaves us craving mobile apps for the main course
48 BRiDeS Condeacute nast Womenrsquos 97 Average Best-in-class site and efforts on other platforms need to tie the knot
48 FORTune Time inc Business amp Finance 97 AverageFortune trumps sister brand Money but both are hindered by slow consolidation under CNNMoney umbrella
48 MAXiM Alpha Media Group Menrsquos 97 Average Social media that proves sexier than aging site
51 SHAPe American Media Health amp Fitness 95 Average Vigorous social media and innovative mobile apps but a weak site
52 COunTRY LiVinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 AverageMentions of ETSY designers aim to be hip but brand canrsquot pull away from Hearst boilerplate
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
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L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
9
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
52 enTRePReneuRentrepreneur Media inc
Business amp Finance 93 Average Needs to take more risks
52 GOLF MAGAzine Time inc Sports amp Recreation 93 Average Will Ferrell promo helps users select their Celebrity Fab Foursome on Facebook
52 GOOD HOuSeKeePinG Hearst Home amp Gardening 93 Average Home app provides DIY resource to complement print content
52 POPuLAR MeCHAniCS Hearst Science amp nature 93 Average In-app subscription functionality is a start
57 ReDBOOK Hearst Womenrsquos 92 Average Impressive mobile site but main site is still underwhelming
57 W Condeacute nast Fashion amp Style 92 Average Why no apps
59 WOMAnrsquoS DAY Hachette Filipacchi Womenrsquos 91 Average Live well every dayhellip by engaging more with your Twitter followers
60 HOuSe BeAuTiFuL Hearst Home amp Gardening 89 Challenged House Beautiful PaintBrush begins to showcase digital DIY
61 COOKinG LiGHT Time incCooking Food amp Beverage 88 Challenged Hungry for more mobile investment
61 HARPeRrsquoS BAzAAR Hearst Fashion amp Style 88 Challenged Unremarkable
61 PARenTinG Bonnier Family 88 Challenged Functional website is the glue holding together otherwise dysfunctional digital presence
64 ReADeRrsquoS DiGeSTReaderrsquos Digest Association
Lifestyle 87 Challenged 100 Towns in 100 Days YouTube tour proved hard to sustain acquisition rumors persist
64 ROAD amp TRACK Hachette Filipacchi Auto amp Cycles 87 Challenged Good-looking site but not much under the hood
10
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
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60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
10
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
66 COnDEacute nAST TRAVeLeR Condeacute nast Lifestyle 85 Challenged Integration with Conciergecom is confusing and dilutive
66 PReVenTiOn Rodale Health amp Fitness 85 Challenged Sclerotic site navigation
68 FAMiLY CiRCLe Meredith Family 84 Challenged Momster social network partnership should just move to Facebook
69 FieLD amp STReAM Bonnier Sports amp Recreation 83 Challenged Therersquos plenty of game left on other platforms
69 MORe Meredith Womens 83 Challenged More mobile please
71 MOneY Time inc Business amp Finance 82 Challenged In recession
71 SOuTHeRn LiVinG Time inc Home amp Gardening 82 Challenged They donrsquot use mobile phones in the South
73 ARCHiTeCTuRAL DiGeST Condeacute nast Home amp Gardening 81 Challenged Impressive aesthetics should reach across multiple platforms
73eVeRY DAY WiTH RACHAeL RAY
Readerrsquos Digest Association
Cooking Food amp Beverage 81 Challenged Mobile campaigns for a magazine with no mobile site
73 TRAVeL+LeiSuReAmerican express Publishing
Lifestyle 81 Challenged Digital has never been abroad
76 SMiTHSOniAnSmithsonian institution
Science amp nature 79 Challenged Museum-quality mobile site canrsquot make up for underwhelming social media
77 eSPn THe MAGAzine Walt DisneyHearst Sports amp Recreation 78 Challenged No dedicated URL (anymore) thatrsquos gotta hurthellip
77 HeALTH Time inc Health amp Fitness 78 Challenged Infirmed
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
11
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
D i G i TA L i q R A n k i n G
Rank Brand Parent Category Digital iQ Class Description
79 SMARTMOneYDow Jones amp Company inc
Business amp Finance 77 Challenged Answer Engine registers but no mobile presence
80 LADieSrsquo HOMe JOuRnAL Meredith Womenrsquos 75 Challenged Dear Journal Create a mobile site andor apps
81 TRADiTiOnAL HOMe Meredith Home amp Gardening 69 Feeble Uploaded ad images are not traditional just outdated
82 MuSCLeS amp FiTneSS American Media Health amp Fitness 64 Feeble Ninety-pound weakling
83 eLLe DeCOR Hachette Filipacchi Home amp Gardening 59 FeebleDesigner Registry mentions drive Facebook wall conversation away from core readership
84 STAR American Media entertainment amp TV 55 Feeble The last to know
85 MenrsquoS JOuRnAL Wenner Media Menrsquos 52 Feeble No daily blog and spotty incorporation of video content
86 TOWn amp COunTRY Hearst Lifestyle 43 Feeble Is anyone home
87 in TOuCH WeeKLY Bauer Publishing entertainment amp TV 32 Feeble A lot of opportunity to improve
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
12
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
DiGiTAL iQ
110-139
DiGiTAL iQ
70-89
DiGiTAL iQ
gt140
DiGiTAL iQ
90-109
DiGiTAL iQ
lt70
FeeBLe
DiGiTAL iq DiSPERSiOn
of Brands per Digital iq Class
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Many Are Gifted But Only One is GeniuSThe distribution of brands per Digital IQ class is heavily skewed
towards the Gifted classification Less than one-third of brands
surveyed were categorized as Challenged or Feeble high-
lighting adoption of digital best practices across the sample
However only one Genius brand emerged from this study
TIME Magazine
Although most brands achieve adequate digital competence
few invest in additional tools and features that could distinguish
them from a crowd of above-average performers
Magazines that appear poised to enter the Genius class
share two features
1
2
People
Self
Menrsquos Health
Sports Illustrated
New York Magazine
GQ
Glamour
Entertainment Weekly
Cosmopolitan
The Economist
National Geographic
New Yorker
Runnerrsquos World
O The Oprah Magazine
Seventeen
Wired
Esquire
Teen Vogue
ELLE
Forbes
InStyle
Better Homes and Gardens
Food amp Wine
Golf Digest
Fitness
Parents
Vogue
Marie Claire
Food Network Magazine
Lucky
Playboy
Allure
House Beautiful
Cooking Light
Harperrsquos Bazaar
Parenting
Readerrsquos Digest
Road amp Track
Condeacute Nast Traveler
Prevention
Family Circle
Field amp Stream
More
Money
Southern Living
Architectural Digest
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Travel+Leisure
Smithsonian
ESPN The Magazine
Health
Smart Money
Ladiesrsquo Home Journal
TIME
Real Simple
Rolling Stone
Us Weekly
Motor Trend
Newsweek
Womenrsquos Health
Fast Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
Vanity Fair
Car and Driver
Martha Stewart Living
Essence
Popular Science
Bon Appeacutetit
Brides
Fortune
Maxim
Shape
Country Living
Entrepreneur
Golf Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Popular Mechanics
Redbook
W
Womanrsquos Day
Traditional Home
Muscles amp Fitness
ELLE DECOR
Star
Menrsquos Journal
Town amp Country
In Touch Weekly
GeniuS
37
1
30
24
8
GiFTeD
AVeRAGe
CHALLenGeD
Balanced sustained investment across social media platforms
Recognition that a successful mobile strategy extends beyond the iOS platform
13
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
13
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
well-Managed Digital Footprint
One-stop access to TIMErsquos expanded digital footprint
Diverse investment Across Mobile Platforms
TIME is one of a handful of publications that develops across nearly every platform including Android iPad iPhone BlackBerry Nook and Kindle
Lightbox
Despite its demonstrable success TIME is not afraid to innovatemdash it recently launched a best-in-class photo blog in March
TIME Mobile App
One of the rare mobile offerings that brings Facebook and Twitter buttons into the app Proves distinct from both mobi-lize-optimized site and tablet offerings
A TIMe-ly Victory
14
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
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TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
14
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
A TIMe-ly Victory (continued)
never Pay Twice for the Same Content
Adopted ldquoAll Accessrdquo sub-scription plan on July 19 granting current print sub-scribers unrestricted use of the titlersquos content across ALL its digital versions
Facebook Page
Dedicated Twitter tab integrated video library and direct subscription signupmdashall implemented without redirects
Allie Townsend
TIME gives personality to its TIME Twitter account by hand-ing over the reins to the brandrsquos resident geek
The Page iPad App
Instead of introducing feature creep into the well conceived iPad edition of the magazine TIME has begun to create complementary tablet apps that feature separate content driven by its commentators and analysts
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
15
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Size MattersIn aggregate brands that belong to a larger parent company
perform better than those associated with a smaller publica-
tion house or independent venture Companies that manage
ten or more brands register an average Digital IQ 11 percent
higher than their smaller counterparts The one exception
Rodale which garnered the highest organizational IQ at 112
has tapped into a Health amp Fitness category-specific formula
that translates across its four titles Condeacute Nast nabbed the top
spot of the large conglomerates registering an average Digital
IQ of 110 across the 16 magazines scored
The higher Digital IQ scores associated with larger companies
suggest these organizations have leveraged economies of
scalemdashemploying common site templates and mobile app
architecture across their titles
The five Hachette Filipacchi brands (ELLE ELLE DECOR
Car and Driver Road amp Track and Womanrsquos Day) perform
below those of Hearst which completed its acquisition of the
company on May 31 This merger will provide a valuable case
study for the export andor exchange of digital best practices
As a group hearst magazine brands outperform hachette Filipacchi Media brands online
Three of these five titles stand to gain from their new parent companyrsquos digital best practices
16
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
16
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Menrsquos News amp Politics
Fashionamp Style
Lifestyle Scienceamp Nature
FamilyEntertainmentamp TV
Sportsamp Recreation
Businessamp Finance
Autoamp Cycles
Health amp Fitness
Home amp Gardening
WomenrsquosCooking Food amp Beverage
k E Y F i n D i n G S
AVERAGE DiGiTAL iq BY PAREnT COMPAnY
Organizations with More than One Brand in the index
Feeb
leCh
alle
nged
Aver
age
Gift
edG
eniu
s
70
30
90
110
140
170
Rodalen=
4
Condeacute
Nas
t
n=16
Time I
nc
n=13
Hearst
n=13
America
n Exp
ress
Publis
hing
n=2
Mered
ithn=
7
Hache
tte Fi
lipac
chi
n=5
Bonnie
r
n=3
Wenne
r Med
ian=
3
Reade
rrsquos D
igest
Assoc
iationn=
2
America
n Med
ian=
3
AVG IQ
112 AVG IQ
110 AVG IQ
106 AVG IQ
100 AVG IQ
93 AVG IQ
92 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
90 AVG IQ
84
AVG IQ
71
AVG IQ
98
Disparity
46Disparity
53
Disparity
62
Disparity
82Disparity
34Disparity
46Disparity
58
Disparity
16
Disparity
57
Disparity
6
Disparity
40
17
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
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Magazines
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TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
17
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Button vs FeatureEnsuring content is distributed across social networks is critical
for brands seeking to enhance referral traffic However the
relative gains from implementing additional sharing features
beyond the dominant platforms is modest
Why First upstream traffic from social media sites is over-
whelmingly driven by Facebook which represents more than
15 percent of such traffic across the top eight referral sites (and
three fourths of the upstream traffic originating from social me-
dia sites) Second our data demonstrates no detrimental effect
on annual traffic growth when brands exclude additional social
bookmarking buttons despite recent reports that Stumble-
Upon is becoming a major driver of upstream traffic across all
industries6
Instead basic improvements to the accessibility diversity and
interactivity of content as well as the incentives provided to
recurring site visitors (or lack thereof) appear to have the most
demonstrable impact on traffic
40
20
80
60
100
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source
of upstream traffic
of Upstream Trafficto brand sites
originating from thefollowing sources
of Brandsfor whom the followingare a top eight source of downstream traffic
of Downstream Trafficfrom brand sitesto the following
destinations
To Brand SiteUpstream Traffic Downstream Traffic
99
51
32
14
99
62
52
1415
31 1
16
3 2 1
From Brand Site
0
= YOUTUBE
= SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
TOP EiGhT REFERRAL amp DESTinATiOn SiTES FOR MAGAZinE BRAnDS
Upstream and Downstream Traffic to and from Social Media Sites
6 ldquoStumbleUpon sends more traffic to US websites than Facebookrdquo Colleen Taylor GigaOM July 5 2011
18
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
18
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
iMPACT OF SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
InteractivePolls amp Quizzes
Commentingon Content
-4
5 4
1
-3
13
Original BlogContent
Video
-27
6
Sweepstakesamp Giveaways
34
0
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiTE COnTEnT amp TOOLS
of Brands with and without the Following Features
Video
Comments
BrandEditor Blogs
Interactive Polls amp Quizzes
Sweepstakes amp Giveaways
Facebook Open Graph
Sharing Widget (eg ShareThis)
Social Bookmarking
928
8515
8416
4159
1684
973
9010
6238
4060
Content
Tools
= WITH
= WITH
= WITH
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
= WITHOUT
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
19
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Blog DiversityBlogs are becoming a standard feature of magazine sites as
readers demand original content between print cycles Eighty-
four percent of the brands in the Index maintain at least one
blog However unlike other site features that demonstrate a
high degree of conformity across the industry (eg subscrip-
tion sign-up) blog implementation is diverse
Only 70 percent of the brands with a blog integrate content on
the home page This figure is surprising low as blogs typically
generate some of the timeliest content and provide some of
the best opportunities for community engagement More than
90 percent of brands that maintain a blog allow users to submit
comments in response to a post On average users spend 30
percent more time on sites that allow commenting
iMPACT OF BLOG iMPLEMEnTATiOn On TRAFFiC GROwTh
Year-on-Year Growth for Brand Sites with and without the Following Features
0
0
Incr
easi
ngDe
crea
sing
Traf
fic G
row
th
Blog ContentViewable onHome Page
Blog PermitsUser CommentsWithout Sign-in
Blog PermitsUser Comments
-15
55
0
-1
18
Blog PromotesAuthor of Post
(Follow Contact etc)
-4
8
= WITH
= WITHOUT
New York Magazinersquos home Page integrated feeds from Vulture
its popular culture blog as well as foodie-based Grub Street and
fashion-oriented The Cut
20
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
20
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Subscription Offer Link(Any Link in Any Tab)
Dedicated Subscribe Tab F-Commerce Subscription Signup
49
92
68
32
8
51
Facebook The new OSAll 87 brands in the Index are present on Facebook The average magazine has 250000 ldquolikesrdquo and posts 26 times per week The most active post upwards of 10 times per day Both Family and Health amp Fitness brands tend to perform better on Facebook pro-viding a diverse mix of wall content including tips-of-the-day recom-mended workout routines daily recipes and community questions
Playboy leads the Facebook arms race focusing on branded and co-branded content exclusives delivered by rich media interactive applications and custom social media integration O The Oprah Magazine leads all titles in Facebook growth utilizing competitions and event promotion offers coinciding with the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May to grow its page 74 percent during the data collection period
More than 38 percent of all online referral traffic now originates from Facebook and 49 percent of brands in the Index register Facebook as their number two source of upstream traffic (after Google)7 Publishers have been using the platform to grow brand awareness and drive traffic but most have neglected to leverage their page to drive subscription services
Today nearly a quarter of new magazine subscriptions are se-cured through Internet promotions8 Although 100 percent of the brands in the Index maintain a link to a subscription page on their home page only 49 percent of the brands provide such a link on their Facebook page and just 32 percent provide a dedicated Facebook tab outlining the current subscription offer Only seven brands maintain a Facebook app that allows visitors to sign up for a subscription without leaving the Facebook domain (ie F-commerce)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
MAGAZinE SUBSCRiPTiOn inTEGRATiOn On FACEBOOk
of Brand Facebook Pages with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
7 ldquoShareThis Study Facebook Accounts for 38 Percent of Sharing Traffic on the Webrdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 6 2011
8 Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Internet Subscription Survey 2010
21
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
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Magazines
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TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
21
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
TOP 10 BRAnDS FACEBOOk LikES
(June 2011)
TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG FACEBOOk ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
0 20 40 60 80
74O The OprahMagazine
37Parents
33Better Homesand Gardens
28Shape
28Self
26National Geographic
25Town amp Country
23Bon Appeacutetit
23Golf Digest
20Parenting
Playboy
Vogue
People
Cosmopolitan
Seventeen
The Economist
Teen Vogue
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
000
1500
000
5000
00
2000
000
5828349
1456537
1269243
987306
856783
790451
783347
472893
375520
345214
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
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Magazines
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LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
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Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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Magazines
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SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
22
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
Size vs engagementWhile much of the conversation regarding Facebook has been
about the size of an organizationrsquos page we believe that a more
important metric is the percentage of the community interacting
with brand content Across magazines interaction rates were
negatively correlated with page size
Only one brand in the Index Parents maintains a high interac-
tion rate within a comparatively large fan base The magazine
accomplishes this through an inquisitive voice (almost all com-
ments are framed as questions to fuel discussion) and content
that resonates with its primary audience (including informational
tips and inspirational comments)
Brands closing in on the desirable ldquoTribesrdquo quadrant include
Entertainment Weekly O The Oprah Magazine and Essence
COHORTS CROWDS
FAMILIES TRIBES
Parents Size + Interaction secured by inquisitive voice community polling and frequent updates
ELLE
Runnerrsquos WorldSports Illustrated
MaximPeople
PlayboyTeen
Vogue
Architectural Digest
Field amp Stream
Entertainment Weekly
O The Oprah Magazine
Essence
k E Y F i n D i n G S
SiZE OF COMMUniTY
note Horizontal axis (Size of Community) is graphed on a logarithmic scale
LE
VE
L O
F E
nG
AG
EM
En
T
FACEBOOk COMMUniTY SiZE vs EnGAGEMEnT RATES
Excluding brands with less than 1500 fans (n=85)
= ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS Magazines with Large Facebook
Communities and High Engagement
= MAGAZINES WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF BECOMING ldquoTRIBESrdquo BRANDS by Increasing Fan Base Engagement or Both
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
23
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
-1000
-750
-500
-250
0
250
Playbo
yVo
gue
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Peop
le
Cosmop
olitan
The E
cono
mist
Teen V
ogue
Seven
teen
Us Wee
kly
Paren
ts
Popu
lar M
echa
nics
Good H
ouse
keep
ing
Ladie
srsquo Hom
e Jou
rnal
More Tradit
ional
Home
Smart M
oney
In To
uch W
eekly
Menrsquos
Journ
al
Star Town amp
Countr
y
Better
Homes
and G
arden
s
Tradit
ional
Home
Road amp
Trac
k
Redbo
ok
Woman
rsquos Day
Reade
rrsquos Dige
st
Good H
ousk
eepin
g
Town amp
Countr
y
In To
uch W
eekly
Field
amp Stream
TIME
Peop
leInS
tyle
Wired
Enter
tainm
ent W
eekly
Newsw
eek
Health
The E
cono
mist
New Yo
rker
Food
Network
Mag
azine
Overachievers
Overachievers
Underachievers
Underachievers
OVERAChiEVERS amp UnDERAChiEVERS
Circulation ne Fans and FollowersThere is a weak relationship between a magazinersquos circula-
tion and its number of Facebook ldquolikesrdquo or Twitter followers
Only three brands on Facebook and three on Twitter maintain
a fanfollower base that meets or exceeds their average circula-
tion per issue No brands manage to accomplish this feat on
both platforms
This suggests that the social media battleground is about more
than just active readershipmdasha frightening prospect for some of
the most widely read brands which arguably have the most to
prove online (ie successfully transitioning a large audience
online without cannibalizing print revenue)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Actual Facebook Fans vs Predicted Facebook Fans Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
Actual Twitter Followers vs Predicted Twitter Followers Based on Circulation Data (Linear Regression)
2010 TOTAL PAiD amp VERiFiED CiRCULATiOn (Average per issue)
Rank BrandAvg Circ Per issue
(FY2010)
1 Better Homes and Gardens 7660754
2 Readerrsquos Digest 5822924
3 National Geographic 4493067
4 Good Housekeeping 4423181
5 Womanrsquos Day 3907651
6 Family Circle 3845395
7 Ladiesrsquo Home Journal 3834461
8 People 3578189
9 TIME 3313739
10 Sports Illustrated 3193688
Source Association of Magazine Media (MPA) Circulation Facts amp Figures Circulation for All Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Magazines 2010
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
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F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
24
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TwitterAll 87 brands in the Index maintain an active presence on Twitter
averaging 330000 followers and 17 tweets per day The most
active 20 percent of the brands in the Index tweet upwards of
40 times per day
News amp Politics and Fashion amp Style publications have the most
prominent Twitter followings Both categories excel at deliver-
ing time-sensitive information bites and links to the latest blog
entries The strongest brands donrsquot just broadcast they also
engage in conversations
Last year Seventeen offered a special subscription deal to its
Twitter followers ($5 for 12 issues) which resulted in 170 paid
subscriptions in less than 24 hours9 Promotional content helps
publications like Seventeen achieve high growth in followers (14
percent during the study period) despite the fact that the brand
tweets half as frequently as its primary competition Teen Vogue
Only 34 percent of magazines posted links to other social media
accounts from their Twitter stream suggesting limited social
media integration
k E Y F i n D i n G S
9 ldquoHow Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along Build Voicerdquo Susan Currie Sivek PBS Media- Shift March 16 2010
Seventeen builds its Twitter base via
a healthy stream of promotional content
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
25
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
0 5 10 15 20 25
22Vogue
18ESPN The Magazine
14Seventeen
12 ELLE DECOR
12In Touch Weekly
12Bloomberg Businessweek
12Bon Appeacutetit
Prevention 11
11Parents
10GQ
Time
People
InStyle
Entertainment Weekly
Wired
Newsweek
Health
The Economist
Sports Illustrated
National Geographic
0
5000
00
1000
000
1500
000
2000
000
2500
000
3000
000
2626367
2022690
1619847
1417223
1392836
1350541
1215258
1039866
1014028
2646954
BEST in TwEET TOP 10 FOLLOwERS
(June 2011)TOP 10 FASTEST-GROwinG TwiT TER ACCOUnTS
(MayndashJune 2011)
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
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DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
26
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
TOP 10 BRAnDS YOUTUBE
Brand Channels with the Most Upload Views
(June 2011)
k E Y F i n D i n G S
YouTubeA recent study of video viewing habits found that 57 percent of
survey respondents are more likely to watch rich media content
when it is shown in the context of an article suggesting an op-
portunity for magazine brands to increase perceived value on
digital properties10
Ninety-three percent of the brands in the Index maintain an
active YouTube channel On average they boast 289 videos
nearly 12000 subscribers and approximately 400000 channel
views During the time period in which this study was conduct-
ed brands averaged more than 9000 upload views per day
Over the past two years YouTube has engaged in content part-
nerships with National Geographic Sports Illustrated and Motor
Trend recognizing the important role publishers can play in the
platformrsquos growth However Southern Living registered the fast-
est growth in upload views during the study period incorporat-
ing video links to instructional content featuring contributing
editor Troy Black within its recently released iPad app (Big Book
of BBQ)
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
Motor Trend
Playboy
Seventeen
Maxim
O The OprahMagazine
Us Weekly
Parents
Maxim
0
1000
0000
0
2000
0000
0
3000
0000
0
4000
0000
0
5000
0000
0
6000
0000
0
140928267
102273730
83614262
67443234
53285940
51729694
41858716
40429532
36218917
566153387
10 ldquoYahoo Study Shows Online Video Watching Shifting to Primetimerdquo Erick Schonfeld TechCrunch June 29 2011
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
27
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
100 20 30
EntertainmentWeekly
Money
Every Day withRachael Ray
Parents
TIME
Lucky
Newsweek
Prevention
Glamour
Fast Company
5 15 25
88
76
75
65
63
63
59
59
57
289
k E Y F i n D i n G S
emailMore than 90 percent of the publications in the Index have email
marketing programs However 16 of the brands that offered
opt-in failed to respond within six weeks of signup Participating
magazines averaged 25 emails per week Entertainment Weekly
leads the pack with 29 emails per week11 Across the Index
nearly 80 percent of email content is viewable on mobile devices
However nine out of 10 publications failed to incorporate sharing
options directly into emails via application programming inter-
faces (APIs) provided by social media platforms
Email Signup
Viewable on Mobile
Customization Options
Brand Social Media Links
Personalization
Social Sharing
93
79
69
46
10
8
7
21
31
54
90
92
EMAiL MARkETinG
of Brands with amp without the Following
11 Entertainment Weekly has incorporated an ldquoAlertsrdquo for Hollywood Insiders option into their e-mail newsletter sign-up process This 247 breaking news coverage serves to inflate its steady-state aver- age ldquoAlertsrdquo also form the basis for a secondary Twitter feed (EWAlerts)
TOP 10 BRAnDS
Average Emails Per week
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
28
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
Apple-Centric (Apple of Their eye)A review of mobile-centric efforts reveals a pervasive prioriti-
zation of the iOS platformmdashwith more brands present in the
iTunes store than any other platform including mobile web
development efforts (which are device agnostic) Only 57 per-
cent of magazine brands have created mobile-optimized sites
perhaps working under the assumption that users will pick-up
their Apple device and reflexively jump right to the iTunes App
Store instead of Safari Only 31 percent of brands maintain a
dual strategymdashactively maintaining a mobile site and develop-
ing apps for each iOS device
Magazine demographics explain some of this disparity in the
context of other device platforms A recent Forrester Research
study shows an interesting gender divide between tablet and
e-reader owners with the men skewing towards the former and
the women towards the latter Top sellers on Barnes amp Noblersquos
Nook Color e-reader include Us Weekly Shape Womenrsquos
Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray12 Our findings support
the hypothesis that many magazines are choosing to selective-
ly invest in either tablets or e-readers with less than 70 percent
of brands providing content on both
With respect to magazines Apple maintains a clear lead when
it comes to mobile operating system development Each of the
27 magazines with an Android app also has either an iPhone
or an iPad app with Android app functionality closely mirroring
that of its iOS peers (which were typically first to market)
12 ldquoFemale Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Colorrdquo Jeremy Peters New York Times May 22 2011
40
20
60
iOS PlatformMobileWeb
OtherPlatforms E-Readers GeolocalSMS
57
82
67
51
18
107
31
11
20
59
44
0
= MOBILE WEB = iOS PLATFORM
= OTHER PLATFORMS
= E-READERS
=
= SMS
= GEOLOCAL
Mobile-
Optimize
dSite
iOS
iPad N
ative
Apps
Androi
d
Blackb
erry
Fours
quare
Face
book
Both iP
hone
amp
iPad A
pps Noo
kZin
ioKind
leSMS
MOBiLE COVERAGE
of Brands Participating on the Following Platforms
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
29
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
k E Y F i n D i n G S
iPad iSolationWe reviewed more than 90 iPad-native applications produced
by brands in the Index Of the 58 brands present on the tablet
device only 43 make the full digital edition of their print product
available on the iTunes store as a unique application (exclud-
ing those brands relying exclusively on Ziniorsquos cross-platform
reader)
Efforts on this platform are impressive but consistently lack a
key feature in terms of functionality Despite the near-universal
ability to share a link to site content via Facebook or Twitter
only 42 percent of the brands publishing an iPad digital edition
enable sharing of app content to either social media platformRich Media Content
Link to External Content
Interactive (ldquoGesturerdquo) Page Elements
Embedded Social Sharing
8614
7228
6733
4258
SUBSET OF iPAD APPS REPRESEnTinG
DiGiTAL EDiTiOn OF ThE PRinT MAGAZinE
of Brands with and without the Following Features
= WITH
= WITHOUT
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
30
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2rsquos road map for navigating the past present and future
of magazines online
Sales Outlet
Subscription Promo
Cover
Platform for Digital Edition
Digital Pricing Model
Must-Have Digital Edition Feature
User Accounts
Forums
Archives
E-Commerce
X-Factors
Today Tomorrow
Corner newsstand
Annoying 3x5 Cards Disrupt Reading
Experience
Static
Zinio
Full newsstand Price no Subscription Option
Moving Covers and interactive Graphics
Unlock Ability to Comment
Active
Premium
ldquoShown in imagerdquo References
mdash
App Store Download
Annoying Pop-Ups Disrupt Viewing
Experience
Dynamic
iPad
Discounted Price Digital-Only Subscription
Ability to Share Content Enhanced Readability
Become interoperability with 3rd-Party Credentials
Defunct
Free
Pass-Through Storefront via Search Partner
mdash
Cross-Brand Digital newsstand
Targeted Social Media Promotion (Like to Subscribe
Reward for Referral)
Fully interactive
hTML5
Modular Print Digital Subscription
Ability to Aggregate Content Across Sister Publications
Enable Access to ldquoSocialrdquo Site Features
Discontinued
Basis for Microsite
Curated Content on Specialty Retail Site
Google+ iTunes newsstand Google E-Reader
Amazon Tablet
Yesterday
D i G i TA L P R O J E C T i O n S
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
31
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ROUTinE ROUTinE ROUTinE
The strongest magazines on Facebook have fueled growth in
page ldquolikesrdquo by updating the brandrsquos Facebook landing page
in conjunction with the release of a new issue and coupling this
fresh content with rewards promotions and access to live events
hosted online By maintaining a timely content program Self
provides an additional dimension to its print content and fosters
a sticky relationship with its Facebook fans
Starting in March Self adopted a ldquolike gaterdquo strategy for its Facebook page synced to fresh content inspired by each new issue
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
6867666564636261531
530
529
528
527
526
525
524
523
522
520
518
516
514
512
510
521
519
517
515
513
5115958
MAY 10
Jillian Dempsey (Global Creative
Color Director for Avon) hosts
Facebook event
MAY 11
Angus Mitchell Salon hosts Facebook event
MAY 17
Leslie Blodgett (Executive Chairman of makeup company Bare Escentuals) hosts Facebook event
MAY 23
Kraft Foods guest hosts Facebook event as part of
the 2011 Healthy Food Awards
MAY 24
Transition to June issue promotion
MAY 26
Continued momentum from 525 Twitter community solicitation ldquoOur Facebook
page is 1000 fans away from 100000 fans Like our page amp help us reach our
goal (amp yoursquoll get fun perks)rdquo
MAY 27
Brand Manager for Sweet Leaf Tea hosts Facebook event
JUnE 1
Exclusive subscription
rate for Facebook fans
JUnE 6
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 1 (Workout DVD)
JUnE 7
Tone It Up Sweepstakes 2 (10 pairs of Sketchers Tone-Ups shoes)
JUnE 5
Karena amp Katrina (trainers from
health amp fitness company Tone
It Up) host Facebook event
MAY 25
Dr Ayala from Herbal Water hosts Facebook
event
FACEBOOk TiMELinE Brand ldquoLikesrdquo Per Day on Facebook(May 8 ndash June 8 2011)
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
32
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
ChAnnELinG FAn EnThUSiASM
Less than 25 percent of magazines incorporate interactive
Facebook applications and less than 15 percent solicit user-
generated content beyond commenting
Golf Digest does bothmdashrecently porting a bracket version of its
annual ranking of Americarsquos 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses
(published since 1966) to Facebook Each week fans vote on a
head-to-head matchup of public courses and over summer will
determine the 2011 ldquoFansrsquo Choicerdquo for the best public course in
the country
Golf Digestrsquos static version of the rankings on their site
Golf Digest engages with its users by allowing them to
choose Americarsquos Greatest Public Golf
Course through a competitive bracket
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
33
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
On YOUR MARk GET SEThellip CO-BRAnD
As magazines rapidly expand their digital footprint to leading
social media platforms advertisers are often left behind The
Facebook app ldquoBreaKawayrdquo is designed to blend into the social
media mold by presenting profiles of various running champions
who use K-SWISS gear to win races It goes on to present social
media links to official K-SWISS online properties a series of tips
and tricks for running enthusiasts and an interactive gallery of K-
SWISS shoe models with direct links to the brandrsquos online store
The k-SwiSS sponsored Facebook app provides Runnerrsquos World Facebook users with profiles of their favorite running champions tips and tricks and an image gallery of their latest running shoe models
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
34
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
E(DiTORiAL)-COMMERCE
Declining advertising revenue combined with growing online retail
sales has created an opportunity for Fashion amp Style publications
Several of these brands have launched affiliated shopping
microsites or exclusive partnerships with members-only shopping
sites13 14 These opportunities allow magazines to leverage their
editorial influence while maintaining a degree of separation from
direct product sales and fulfillment
Glamourrsquos shopping portal (powered by ShopStyle) aggregates
thousands of products across several hundred online retailers15
While the portal contains several innovative features such as
ldquosales alertsrdquo its ldquogeniusrdquo becomes apparent when browsing
Glamourrsquos main page Within select photo galleries users are
presented with an option to ldquoShop This Lookrdquomdashwhich then
redirects them to similar items or the point-of-sale if the item
is one-of-a-kind
13 ldquoGQ Gilt Groupe Team Up on E-Commerce Siterdquo Lucia Moses Adweek June 16 2011
14 ldquoSocial Shopping Gets Personal Lucky Magazine Partners With This Nextrdquo Lydia Dishman Forbescom Style Inc July 11 2011
15 ldquoThe Great Glossy Sell-Outrdquo Kat Stoeffel New York Observer July 5 2011
The Glamour shopping microsite is filled with products sales alerts and shoppable photo galleries with click through to point-of-sale
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
35
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
CROwDSOURCinG REinTERPRETED
The majority of the brands reviewed in the Index have been slow
to offer user-centric tools features or access privileges that
diverge from the successful sweepstakes model One notable
exception is National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program
ldquoYour Shotrdquo enables readers to submit their own photos
Each weekday magazine editors select 12 photos for further
consideration by the user community Each month the
community is given the opportunity to vote for their personal
favorites All uploaded photos are archived on the site and a
selection of each monthrsquos best images is printed in the magazine
Since launching in June 2006 the site has accumulated nearly
138000 users and more than 970000 images
National Geographicrsquos ldquoYour Shotrdquo program has accumulated nearly
one million user-generated images since its launch in 2006
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
36
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
whATrsquoS OLD iS nEw AGAin
Although more than 40 percent of the brands analyzed maintain
an issue archive only a handful differentiate Some of the more
engrossing archives (eg New Yorker Rolling Stone) are offered
as premium content or as a subscriber perk Alternatively some
of the most voluminous archives (eg Popular Science) are
accessible thanks to Google Booksrsquo archival efforts
However only Vogue uses its archive to introduce a new site
feature ldquoVoguepediardquo launched in early May is an encyclopedia
for all things Vogue16 The tool draws from 119 years of content
and allows readers to retrieve profiles on designers brands
models personalities and makeup artists Profile pages are
broken down into useful sections each with forwarding links
to accessible Vogue content including archived collection
slideshows and recent appearances in web content
16 ldquo119 Years of Vogue Now Available on Voguepediardquo Misty White Sidell Fashionistacom May 9 2011
An archive of various celebrity
personalities can be found in
ldquoVoguepediardquo
ldquoVoguepediardquo enables users to retrieve profiles
on designers brands models
personalities and makeup artists
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
37
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
SOniC BLOOM-BERG
Available since April Bloomberg Businessweek for iPad satisfies
the needs of readers seeking both news and research The app
features intuitive persistent ldquoTable of Contentsrdquo navigation as
well as an expansive company index A ldquoRelatedrdquo tab on the
right-hand side provides access to additional information about
companies cited within articles such as stock quotes and other
recent news Users can share content via email Facebook and
Twitter in addition to saving content to a personal in-app library
The apprsquos advanced search functionality is equally impressive
allowing users to customize their search by company and over
multiple issues
Bloomberg Businessweekrsquos iPad app is equipped with intuitive navigation sharing and search features
ACCESS ShARECLiPSEARCh
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
38
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
PaRlEz-VouS innOVATiOn
Despite the propensity of women to consume magazine content
via e-reader rather than tablet platforms iPad editions of Fashion
amp Style brands are among the most innovative in the industry
featuring cutting-edge interactive elements and rich media alike
EllE and Marie Claire are ahead of the pack showcasing content
and featured products through animated covers tap buttons that
reveal additional content as well as interactive quizzes and live
contests
Perhaps most impressive are the native e-commerce tools
showcased in both apps EllErsquos app has a ldquoBuy Nowrdquo API
(powered by ShopStyle) that is naturally integrated within its
combined swipe and scroll navigation Marie Clairersquos app offers
users 360-degree views of items with live links to each productrsquos
respective storefront
EllE showcases content by providing readers with the opportunity to learn
more andor buy with the touch or flick of a finger
Marie Claire highlights links that direct to brand sites without even leaving the app
Marie Clairersquos 360deg view provides
readers with a closer look at each of its
showcased products
+
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
39
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
LiVE YOUR BEST APP
O The Oprah Magazine does a commendable job
of leveraging both design and technology on its
iPad app Tapping the cover of the poetry-themed
April issue launches an embedded video of Oprah reading a
selection from the collected works of Langston Hughes Keeping
with the theme there is an issue-specific interactive poetry
game that enables users to create poems and save them to
their image galleries Likewise the ldquoReading Roomrdquo section
showcases books allowing users to read excerpts share via
email add content to favorites and buy the full edition through
Amazon or Barnes amp Noble Beyond books featured products
are effortlessly browseable easily shared by email and linked to
Oprahrsquos ldquoO Listrdquo storefront and other e-commerce sites
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
Oprah gets closer to her readers by inviting them to interact with each issue
Browse books products and recipes Read and share book reviews amp excerpts View recipes and watch how-to videos all within this app
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
40
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
F L A S h O F G E n i U S
HTML5DODGinG ThE APP-ALAnChE
Although many magazine brands are investing heavily in tablet
apps others are bypassing the iTunes store and Android
marketplace altogether creating both mobile-optimized and
tablet-optimized sites
Given that the latter are such a recent phenomenon the degree
to which brands have adopted this ldquopass-throughrdquo strategy varies
considerably CNNMoney the parent brand of Fortune and Money
magazines has released the beta version of moneycnncom
tablet a scaled-down adaption of the main site designed for
viewing in landscape mode17
Another Time Inc publication Sports Illustrated made waves last
year with a well-received HTML5 demo that spurred a fresh cycle
of innovation across the industry Since then there have been
several advancements This June Google Labs released Swiffy
a free barebones Adobe Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool18
Forbes and Marie Claire have followed this lead offering HTML5-
powered tablet-optimized sites that look and behave like iPad-
native apps19 This platform pioneered by Onswipe provides the
opportunity to recapture subscription revenues lost to Apple and
mitigates some of the bandwidth memory and time demands of
a permanent application
17 ldquoWill Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Applersquos Walled Gardenrdquo Matthew Ingram GigaOM May 24 2011
18 ldquoSwiffy convert SWF files to HTML5rdquo Gordon Michael The Official Google Code Blog June 28 2011
19 ldquoOnswipe Makes Any News Site Touch-Enabled With HTML5 Magicrdquo Ryan Singel Wired Epicenter June 21 2011
OLD SChOOLCNNMoneyrsquos
Tablet View Betamdash provides tile view of
breaking stories
nEw SChOOLForbes and Marie Clairersquos tablet-optimized hTML5 sites
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
41
Want to know more about your brandrsquos rankingCOnTACT US
DiGiTAL iQ Indexreg
Magazines
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
SCOTT GALLOwAYClinical Professor of Marketing NYU SternFounder L2
Scott is the founder of L2 a think tank for digital innova-tion and Clinical Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing Scott is also the founder of Firebrand Partners an operational activist firm that has invested over $1 billion in US consumer and media companies In 1997 he founded Red Envelope an Internet-based consumer gift retailer (2007 revs $100mm) In 1992 Scott founded Prophet a brand strategy consultancy that employs over 250 professionals in the United States Europe and Asia Scott was elected to the World Economic Forumrsquos ldquoGlobal Leaders of Tomorrowrdquo which recognizes 100 individuals under age 40 ldquowhose accomplishments have had impact on a global levelrdquo
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer The New York Times Company Gateway Computer and Berkeleyrsquos Haas School of Business
COLin GiLBERTL2
Colin is a strategic consultant with more than three years of experience working at the nexus of the public and private sectors Serving as a principal at the Civitas Group in Washington DC he helped lead research advisory and due-diligence engagements for a range of clients spanning technology start-ups defense contractors and government agencies and specialized in matters pertaining to cloud computing cybersecurity and online privacy Colin received a BA in History from Stanford University and an MPA from the London School of Economics While completing his graduate studies abroad he worked with Accenture to construct case material used to demonstrate the versatility of the firmrsquos Public Service Value (PSV) methodology
MAUREEn MULLEnL2
Maureen leads L2rsquos Research and Advisory Practice where she helped developed the Digital IQ Indexreg She has bench-marked digital marketing e-commerce and social media efforts of more than 300 brands across Pharma Auto Luxury Specialty Retail Beauty and the Public Sector Mau-reen also has led digital strategy consulting engagements for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients Before joining L2 Mau-reen was with Triage Consulting Group and led managed care payment review and payment benchmarking projects for hospitals including UCLA Medical Center UCSF and HCA Maureen has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from NYU Stern
R DAniELLE BAiLEYL2
Danielle began her career at The Home Depot Inc where she led a variety of internal consulting engagements focused on supply chain merchandising and in-store pro-cess improvement She went on to manage the implemen-tation of award-winning mobile initiatives for several large media clients including The New York Times Company NBC Universal DisneyABC Maxim magazine and Zagat Danielle has a BS in Systems Engineering from the Univer-sity of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern
ChRiSTinE PATTOnCreative Director L2
Christine is a brand and marketing consultant with more than 15 years of experience creating brand identities and marketing communications for aspirational and luxury brands As creative director of L2 she leads the translation of the L2 brand across all touchpoints with a particular focus on the visual packaging of L2rsquos researchShe began her career at Cosiacute where she developed the brand and oversaw its evolution from concept through growth to 100 restaurants Since then she has provided creative direction for a wide array of clients including the launch of Kidville and CosmoGIRl magazine Christine received a BA in Economics and Journalism from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from NYU Stern
JOn wEinBERGL2
Jon Weinberg began his career as a strategist and copywriter at The Moderns a boutique Manhattan-based branding consultancy where he worked with clients rang-ing from start-ups to Fortune 1000 corporations While there he managed digital strategy for both the firm and its clients Jon received an AB in Government with a secondary in Near Eastern Language and Civilizations from Harvard University where he served as an associate editor for the Harvard International Review
LinDA MATELJAnL2
Linda began her career as a consultant at DTZ Pieda Man-agement Consultants in London where she worked on devel-opment feasibility projects for leisure and retail real estate clients She went on to manage the investment optimization of a $30 million real estate trust as well as develop brand-building initiatives for such clients as La Prairie and JPMor-gan Chase in the United States Linda has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia a BA Hons (1st) in Business from the University of Westminster and an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading
JESSiCA BRAGAL2
Jessica a freelance art director specializes in identity iconography event graphics and invitations Initially begin-ning her career in fashion designing textiles and prints at Elie Taharirsquos design studio in New York City she then focused on the Elie Tahari brand aesthetic and consistency in design across its many developing disciplines Desiring to explore other facets of design she went on to become the art direc-tor of a small prestigious design firm in Chelsea where she focused on event graphics digital and print collateral and brand aesthetics for companies both large and small Jes-sica holds a BFA in Graphic Design as well as an AAS in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology
T E A M
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom
L2 is a think tank for digital innovation
We are a membership organization that brings together thought leadership from academia and industry to drive digital marketing innovation
ReSeARCH
Digital iq indexreg The definitive benchmark for online competence Digital IQ Indexreg reports score
brands against peers on more than 350 quantitative and qualitative data points diagnosing their
digital strengths and weaknesses
eVenTS
Forums Big-picture thinking and game-changing innovations meet education and entertainment
The largest gatherings of prestige executives in North America
300+ attendees
Clinics Executive education in a classroom setting with a balance of theory tactics and
case studies
60 ndash120 attendees
working Lunches Members-only lunches led by digital thought leaders and academics
Topic immersion in a relaxed environment that encourages open discussion
12ndash24 attendees
MBA Mashups Access and introduction to digital marketing talent from top MBA schools
COnSuLTinG
Advisory Services L2 works with brands to garner greater return on investment in digital initiatives
Advisory work includes Brand Digital Roadmaps Social Media Strategy and Site Optimization
engagements
MeMBeRSHiP
For membership info and inquiries membershipL2ThinkTankcom
uPCOMinG 2011 eVenTS
072811 L2 Clinic Video amp Celebrity
This half-day immersion explores successful strategies to drive
engagement and brand awareness through the use of online
video and traditionalmdashand untraditionalmdashcelebrities
090911 L2 Clinic China
A full-day clinic devoted to raising brandsrsquo Digital IQs in the
worldrsquos biggestmdashand soon-to-be most digitally savvymdash
consumer market
101411 L2 Clinic The Social Graph Pharma
An intensive workshop examining social mediarsquos platforms
and best practices through a Pharmaceutical industry lens
111011 L2 Forum innovation 2011
Called the ldquoTED for marketingrdquo L2rsquos third-annual Innovation
Forum will bring together the highest density of scholars
business leaders startups and marketing executives in
North America
uPCOMinG 2011 ReSeARCH
PRESTiGE 100reg Reports
China
DiGiTAL iq inDExreg Reports
Specialty Retail
Beauty
Fashion amp Leather Goods
watches amp Jewelry
GEn Y AFFLUEnTS Reports
Prestige Brand Ranking
A Think TAnk for DiGiTAL innOVATiOn
821 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York NY 10003
w L2ThinkTankcom
E infoL2ThinkTankcom
copy L2 2011 L2ThinkTankcom