Talk to anyone in marketing these days, and you hear about the need for a brand owner to develop “content” – a narrative, descriptive or instructional video, pictures, etc.

Well, traditional magazines have loads of content that is coming in handy as they transform themselves into lifestyle brands by licensing their names into an ever-increasing array of goods and services. It’s far from a new tactic, but one that has assumed added importance in an era in which print circulation and advertising revenue is mostly diminishing, and digital ad rates haven’t been able to replace the revenue shortfall.

Even as Rodale Inc. was announcing last week that it’s considering “strategic alternatives” for its future, including the potential sale of the company, its management expressed a belief that its brands “can continue to expand and deepen their connectivity with consumers across all platforms through targeted investment and expertise in leading edge technology, brand-building and commercialization.” That “commercialization” already includes licensing.

Magazine editorial material can serve as fodder for product. For example, Bellisio Foods, which sells frozen meals under Meredith Corp.’s EatingWell brand, developed a cherry port pork dish based on a story that appeared in the magazine.

“It is more important than ever that magazines expand as lifestyle brands because it broadens their relationship with consumers beyond content,” says Ross Misher of Brand Central. “Magazines can have a big advantage over other licensors because they can augment the merchandise with magazine content bringing together content and commerce.”

In addition to editorial material, magazine brands bring other assets to the licensing arena, such as the social media dialog with their readers (whether print or digital) as well their subscribers’ email addresses and social media profiles.

“We know going in that we already will have a built in audience and it is just a question of reaching them with an accessible product,” says Clipper Corp.’s Jeff Malakasian, whose company licenses Meredith Corp.’s Allrecipes brand for cookware and kitchen utensils. “The magazines know all about their brand and how subscribers are using it, and we take that information to create products that fit their needs or fill gaps.”

Among recent magazine-related developments:

• Clipper Corp., which already has about 30 SKUs of Allrecipes.com products such as sauce pans, skillets, graters and slicer/dicers, will extend into lasagna cooking products in 2018, with a 5-piece ceramic bakeware set, cookie sheets and lasagna pans, says Malakasian. The decision to expand the line was due largely to lasagna being among the top searched recipes on Allrecipes.com.  “What we did originally was create a core assortment and now we are digging into what readers say is really important,” says Malakasian.
• Rodale‘s Prevention Magazine is following the company’s Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Runner’s World into licensing. Organic India will ship Prevention wellness teas late this year. “We have nearly 70 years of history to draw from, and teas give us a new entre for licensing while remaining true to the healthy lifestyle that has been Prevention’s hallmark,” says Rodale’s Kevin LaBonge. The Box Out Group, which launched a quarterly Men’s Health subscription box service last year, recently added a monthly box for Runner’s World.
• Bellisio Foods, having introduced a dozen frozen EatingWell meals including chicken and wild rice stroganoff and steak carne asada through Kroger, Publix, Albertsons and other grocery chains, is considering expanding the menu to breakfast and dessert, says the company’s Jeff Tuttle. Retailers on average are carrying 4-8 Eatingwell meals, which are priced at a premium.
• Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated, which has created a mini media empire out of its high-profile swimsuit issue every February with a distinct app and videos, licensed RAJ Swim for women’s swim and activewear collections that are due in early 2018. The deal is SI’s first for branded apparel. The launch of the line will coincide with the release of the swimsuit issue; e-commerce will be added to SI.com to enable consumers to buy the RAJ apparel.
• Meredith’s Shape magazine recently licensed Foster Grant for eyewear, the first of which is due this summer through select retailers with a broader collection shipping in summer 2018. The deal is the most recent for Shape, which also licensed Apparel Bridge for activewear that is being sold through 175 stores including Von Maur, Scheels and Equinox as well as online through Amazon and the Wantable apparel subscription box service.

While brick and mortar retail was once the main target for licensed brands, magazines are finding online retailers a good proving ground before seeking to expand their programs. The Allrecipes cookware has found a home both at Amazon and the Home Shopping Network where Clipper has demonstrated the products three times since introducing them last year.

“Space is limited at brick and mortar retailers and we need to prove that the products are viable and that there is a customer,” says Malakasian. E-commerce is one means for establishing a track record of sales for a new brand that can be used to help convince brick and mortar retailers to carry a product, says Malakasian, whose company debuted Allrecipes products on Amazon.

Not all magazines gain equal traction as licensed brands. Meredith has had an extensive Better Homes and Garden DTR line at Walmart for nearly 10 years that encompasses 3,000 SKUs ranging from bedding and area rugs to patio furniture, lamp sets and pillows. But despite efforts to build out programs for its many other properties, significant programs have grown only around relatively recently acquired properties such as Allrecipes (2012), EatingWell (2012) and Shape (2015).

“Family Circle is one of my favorite brands and the trademark has great equity and we have tested it with consumers,” says Meredith’s Elise Contarsy. “But it is not a brand we where we have found a right partner for it in terms of a retailer or manufacturer. We put a lot of our brands out there and the ones we saw traction with were EatingWell, Allrecipes and Shape.”

Sometimes a magazine’s first venture into consumer product licensing doesn’t go exactly as planned. Design magazine Dwell launched a “Modern by Dwell” homegoods DTR program in 1,200 Target stores late last year. The line started with 75 SKUs stretching from candle holders ($17) to outdoor sofas ($400). Another 26 “Homework Session” items were added last week, including desks, letter holders and mobile filing cabinets and will bring 30 more products to the mix in the fall.

Yet while the product assortment was large and the program “successful,” more work needed to be done to make the Dwell brand resonate with Target customers, says Nick Dine, a partner with Chris Deam in the Deam + Dine firm that designed the Modern by Dwell collection. Deam is the husband of Dwell founder Lara Hedberg Deam. What started in 1,200 stores in the Design and Innovation section gradually shifted to an endcap before going online-only, says Dine.

“The products did much better sales-wise online than in stores because merchandising is very complicated and sometimes people miss the story and don’t understand it,” says Dine. “You can craft the story better online using the magazine for content and that creates a clearer focus. It was an issue of Dwell being a new brand at retail and people having to understand Dwell as a consumer product.”

Dwell has the rights to the IP and designs tied to products sold through Target and is weighing either striking new licensing deals or introducing its own items under the magazine brand, says Dine. (We were unable to reach Target for comment.)

As always, publishers are cognizant that by moving their brands into consumer products, they could end up competing with their advertisers. Some limit their licensing to categories that don’t conflict with advertisers, says The Wildflower Group’s Michael Carlisle, whose firm represents Rodale in licensing. Others may give advertisers first crack at developing licensed products. Yet with publishers increasingly seeking to expand their programs, colliding with advertisers may be unavoidable.

“Magazine brands seem to be more open to exploring categories that are closer in to their core business,” says Brand Central’s Misher.

Adds another licensing agent with experience in media properties: “In the end, if the magazine delivers the audience that the advertisers want to hit, they’re going to be there” whether the magazine is doing its own branded product or not.

Contacts:

Bellisio Foods, Jeff Tuttle, SVP New Ventures.  612-758-8410, JTuttle@bellisiofoods.com

The Box Out Group, Darrell Branch, CEO, 561-289-9870, darrel@theboxoutgroup.com

Clipper Corp., Jeff Malakasian, Pres. Licensing, 310-533-8585, jeff.malakasian@clippercorp.com

Deam  + Dine,  Nick Dine, Partner, 917-715-6900, dinersan@gmail.com

Meredith Corp., Elise Contarsy, 212- 455-1201, elise.contarsy@meredith.com

Brand Central Group, Ross Misher, Pres., 310-268-1231, ross@brandcentralgroup.com

The Wildflower Group, Michael Carlisle, Principal, 212-924-2322, Michael@thewildflowergroup.com

Time Inc., Bruce Gersh, SVP Strategy and Business Development, 212-522-1212, bruce.gersh@timeinc.com

Rodale, Kevin LaBonge, Executive Dir. Business Development and Global Licensing, 212-573-0348, kevin.labonge@rodale.com