When Will The Custom Publishing Bubble Burst?

Custom publishing has been booming in recent years. So when will the bubble burst? Or will it? According to the Custom Publishing Council (CPC), if consistent research and years of relative statistics are any indication, the industry will continue climbing. To remain at the top of its game, however, custom publishing, like any industry, will have to forge the trends, rather than simply witness their emergence.The Move Toward “Custom Content”One reason for steady growth is the fact that the custom publishing industry comprises more than just print media. “Custom publishing has evolved into an umbrella industry encompassing custom content as a whole, across several mediums and channels,” says Lori Rosen, executive director of the CPC.However, this in no way indicates that custom print media is at a standstill. The CPC’s “2006 Characteristics Study” demonstrates consistent increases in key metrics, such as: average page numbers (80.4 percent increase since 1999, when research began); circulation (119.7 percent increase since 1999); and money spent on custom publications (from $22 billion in 2000 to $45.8 billion in 2006).In fact, some say it is inevitable that custom publishing’s success in print is paving the way toward custom content.Fred Petrovsky, senior vice president of McMurry—a custom publisher with 120+ corporate customers—says, “In our view, custom publishing is morphing into much more than print on paper. Businesses want e-solutions, video, audio and integrated solutions for their marketing objectives,” says McMurry. “In recognition of this evolution, McMurry has renamed its ‘Custom Publishing’ division ‘Custom Media’ and has spent a great deal of time evolving its marketing communications business and offerings to meet what we see as the inevitable trend of customers (businesses, corporations, etc.) becoming media companies.”Diana Pohly, president of Boston-based marketing and publishing services company The Pohly Company, credits this evolution to marketers’ need to reach their key audiences in a highly targeted and personal way. “The more we move from a broadcasting culture toward a narrowcasting one … the more we begin creating an engaging dialogue, which ultimately leads to enhanced customer involvement, experience, relationship and stickiness,” says Pohly.Digital’s Place in a Print WorldMany traditional custom publishing companies are now supplementing their printed titles with digital companions. For instance, Bob Schwartzman, president and publisher of custom publishing company Journal Communications, is committed to expanding editorial and visual menus to offer readers more choices. “In addition to expanding our traditional content options with articles and departments designed specifically for online display, digital editions afford us the opportunity to offer streaming video and page-turning technology to our readers,” says Schwartzman.Brad Ketchum, director of marketing solutions company King Fish Media, agrees, but notes, “Digital magazines won’t replace printed publications, but they do clearly supplement and enhance both the content and the reach established by the print effort. Digital delivers this content to different audience segments based on those who select their content in preferred media platforms.”Ketchum says he uses digital “as a way to tease the audience and to further promote/cross-promote the direct mail effort. By nature of the online platform, it is often easier to track use/readership based on click-throughs. This is one advantage that digital has over print,” he says.Arjun Basu, editorial director at inflight specialist Spafax, is working on an e-zine for Air Canada, with great results across the board—editorially, creatively, in sales and financially. Basu claims that ROI is what makes e-zines so powerful. “You can tailor the information and get feedback from readers immediately; you can track their spending, and collect data and demographics,” he says. “It’s a fantastic tool, and this component is now a part of each and every pitch.”Nevertheless, Basu, too, sees digital as a supplement to print and “part of a larger multimedia strategy,” he says.Other digital formats in use include interactive DVD kits, electronic events on CD/DVD, and interactive, direct mail collateral in print—e.g., binders, booklets. The trend shows an adoption of new digital strategies, but by no means a dismissal of former and still-effective print strategies.Other TrendsOther industry trends center on the rise of niche specializations and growing account sectors. Staying current on growing sectors gives any custom content provider a competitive edge.Jonathan Witty, president of custom publishing and marketing agency Media Two Inc., has identified the growth of domestic travel and tourism as an untapped sector worth paying attention to. “As domestic travel continues to increase, publications for state and local tourism agencies remain a strong sector,” Witty says. While many companies cater to this sector, they are doing so on a macro level, rather than on a micro one. “The big change is the addition of more specialized, niche products. In Maryland, for example, we’ve worked with the state to create guides to African-American heritage, the Chesapeake Bay, sports venues, Civil War sites and dining,” he explains. Other growth sectors are financial services, and the food and medical industries.Custom Publishing at the ForefrontSo, why does the custom publishing industry stand at the forefront of the emerging trend?Craig Waller, chief marketing and sales officer of custom publisher Pace Communications, believes, “Custom publishers have been quietly positioning themselves as the experts in … producing engaging editorial content on behalf of client companies for the last two decades. Custom magazines have grown in importance as a marketing and communications channel for the country’s leading marketers, and those same companies that are creating a magazine for Lexus or United Airlines are also creating Web content and, in some cases, unique Web magazines for those same clients,” says Waller.“These projects combine the tactics of the newsstand publisher or consumer Web publisher with the direct marketing and CRM skills of the leading specialist agencies in these fields,” he continues. “So, while traditional agencies wrestle with integrating their media—Web and advertising agencies acquire blogging companies and branded content ‘experts’—custom content agencies have continued to grow. [They now sit] at the intersection of communications, marketing, print and Web —offering full-service solutions to the growing need for brands and companies to develop their own, unique media channels.” Gretel Going manages member relations for the Custom Publishing Council (www.CustomPublishingCouncil.com), the professional association for custom publishers and branded content marketers.

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When Will The Custom Publishing Bubble Burst?

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