The annual Magazine Publishers of America Conference dropped 14% in attendance, which is no surprise seeing as how there is 50% less magazines out now then a year ago, and only 25% of last year's staff left (all except that first number are made up figures). Adam Moss' New York cover of Eliot Spitzer with his brain in his dorkle won Best Cover, but what people will really be talking about (besides the fact that Ah-nuld showed up to bemoan the state of things), is the San Francisco summit's lack of VIP treatment for important editors:
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When Miss New Jersey was blackmailed with incriminating photos from Facebook, older pageant winners must have wondered why she would allow such embarrassing shots of herself to go online. Reid Hoffman, chairman and president of LinkedIn, explained the prisoner’s dilemma that is social networking down in Florida to the American Magazine conference:
More of what you missed at the AMC (American Magazine Conference) 2007: "By Monday afternoon, Men's Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko was still blithely torturing the English language both by pushing the term "magabrands" (despite an early onstage warning from Advertising Age editor-in-chief Jonah Bloom that he was boycotting it) and overindulging in puns."
Worse still? Although he got up for an a.m. tv spot, word has it he drank so many "magabrandies" (the signature drink) he missed his weekly chest-waxing appointment. [WWD]
Senator Clinton and her staff are trying to create an aura of inevitability among both voters and journalists to suggest that she's the Democratic frontrunner [and] you'd better get on board … beware of the inevitability.
–Dan Rather, at the 2007 American Magazine Conference in Boca Raton, Florida [FishbowlNY]
With the American Magazine Conference's naming Men's Health editor David Zinczenko as its chairman for his news peg, Jon Friedman remembers he's not the only one on the receiving end of blog barbs.
Zinczenko has thrived despite the blogs' juvenile jibes, which often contain all the wit of a little kid who thinks it's funny to ring your doorbell and run away.
It's not the ringing of the doorbell we find funny. It's the flaming pile of dog shit from a neighbor's Newfoundland that carries the real comedic value.
Zinczenko shows how magazines can survive [Jon Friedman, Marketwatch]
Women's Wear Daily's Memo Pad, always one to ask the tough question, chimes in today with a post-wrap from the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix.
While no one would argue that The New Yorker's David Remnick did not do an outstanding job interviewing Sen. Barack Obama during Monday's luncheon at the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix, some senior editors there — including former Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker, now vice president and editor in chief of new ventures at the digital division of The Washington Post Co. — noted one obvious question the junior senator from Illinois was glaringly not asked by either the editor or the audience. Although Remnick grilled Obama on his potential run for president in 2008, his critique of the Bush administration and his experimentation with drugs as a teenager, Obama was never pushed on the issue of whether America is ready for an African-American president.
Look for tomorrow's Memo Pad, where they bring up the issue of why Editor of the Year Anna Wintour was never pushed on the issue of whether America is ready for an African-American editor of Vogue.
ONE LAST QUESTION [WWD]
Back at the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix (we promise, it'll end tomorrow .. or, at the latest, next week), attendees are battling – or being barraged by reporters asking – the question: "What kind of business are major magazine publishers in today?" Let's tune in:
• "We're in the brand business. We have brands that people feel pretty passionate about and we produce material that can be put together in different ways." —Nina Link, chairman/CEO of MPA
• "We are in the business of producing content. And I didn't say the only way to do it was print. But it is still core of what we do." — Rick Smith, CEO and editor of Newsweek
• "We produce content that can exist in a multimedia world. We're not in the railroad business anymore but the transportation business." — Christy Hefner, CEO of Playboy
And since Us Weekly's Janice Min couldn't be there, she phoned in her response: "We're in the business of throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks in Jennifer Aniston's hair."
The Magazine Industry Ponders Its Future [Myrna Blyth, NYS]
In a shocking bit of news to come out of the American Magazine Conference, the Magazine Publishers of American's own study concludes print is not the firey pit of banality and irrelevance some marketers believe it to be. Rather, there's good news: magazines are part of some sort of "purchase funnel," leading three of four "funnel stages." It's not quite clear what either of those ad industry terms means, but if they have anything to do with properly distributing kerosene to construct a flaming path of destruction, we're in agreement.
At Deadline: MPA Study: Mags Still Effective Ad Buy [Media Week]
The first reports are coming in from this year's American Magazine Conference in Phoenix – where the booze clock, which began counting down yesterday, was reduced to just three days – and at the top of the list is the honoring of Vogue's Anna Wintour, as Editor of the Year. (More, meanwhile, took home the Magazine of the Year award.) Naturally, every report of Anna's new title carries with it some sort of Devil Wears Prada anecdote (Evidence A, Evidence B, and so forth). Her accolades precede her: Boosting newsstand sales by 3.5 percent; raising overall circ by 6.5 percent. Yes, these are the numbers of a publishing queen.
And yet, in all the melee, it wasn't just Janice Min and Bonnie Fuller's absences that had people talking. That ELLEgirl's Christina Kelly was not honored had many baffled. Or, you know, at the very least, us.
• With just a three-day schedule, the American Magazine Conference is forcing attendees to consolidate their "getting sauced" time if they want to attend any of the panels. Which means fewer people attending panels. [WWD]
• MSNBC talent Kristine Johnson was smart enough to defect to WCBS before Jeff Zucker took her job away. [IC]
• Now-former Reuters markets editor Joe Maguire confirms he was fired over his Ann Coulter book. First Amendment, Schmirst Amendment. [PFAW]
• President Bush's tactic of hiring a a media insider as his talking head has worked: The major papers are said to have been going too lightly on Tony Snow. [NJ]
• Page Six should stay out of the business of reporting DUIs. Especially those of Daily News employees. [P6]
• Glamour sort of admits it screwed up when launching its "Don'tspotting" fashion feature, where readers got to trash the fashion sense of others. Now EIC Cindi Leive is reaching out to critical bloggers. And, it seems, to crazies: She's asked for Coutorture's Julie Frederickson to weigh in. [WWD]
• Seattle's Stranger apologizes for a staffer writing music reviews while selling music ads. Bad, bad! [The Stranger]
