Brides Sees Some Gains After Frequency, Focus Shift

But the category has come under pressure as wedding planning Web sites have cropped up and dress advertising has flattened. As part of a major cost cutting in ’09, Condé Nast, the leader in the category, folded two of its three bridal titles, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride.
The surviving Brides, trying to expand its ad base, launched an experiment, doubling its frequency to 12 times and expanding its editorial mission.

Nearly a year later, Brides, the category leader in ad pages, has charted some, if not overwhelming, success that shows the difficulty of growing nonendemic advertising in a tough print market.

This year through October, ad pages from nonbridal sources rose 44 percent over last year, to 575 pages. While that may sound like a lot, nonendemic advertising’s share rose only 4 percentage points, to 26 percent of all advertising in the book. Carolyn Kremins, the title’s vp, publisher, is undaunted, though, pointing to increases in categories like home, travel and finance including Walmart Home and Bank of America. “The monthly frequency lets us talk to more advertisers,” she said.

One new advertiser, Tissot watches, saw Brides as a way to reach women who are still in a buying mood, according to Walter Coyle, president of Pedone Media, who added the magazine to a corporate Condé Nast buy.

“It’s an opportunity to create an emotional engagement with the consumer at this stage in her life,” Coyle said. “It’s also an opportunity to reach women who are considering gifting men.” Value-added elements like an iPad app ad, retail presence and e-mail blast helped seal the deal, he said.

In addition to doubling the frequency, Brides added editorial content in areas like home, financial planning and nonbridal fashion. Such information might seem out of place in a bridal magazine, but Kremins said that research bore out brides’ desire for it. While they might get money management advice from traditional financial media, Brides offers it in a way that’s relevant to their life stage, she added.

Research aside, it will take a while to see if the new format truly catches on with readers. Subscriptions to Brides rose 82 percent to 153,993 in the first half of 2010 versus the year-ago period. But about 15 percent of that included subs that were served to former subscribers of the two bridal titles that Condé Nast folded the previous fall, according to Brides. Nearly 137,000 subscribers to Elegant and Modern Bride received copies of Brides for the balance of their subscriptions.

As she sets her sights on cracking categories like automotive and nonbridal fashion, Kremins will be challenged to convince other media buyers, skeptical about Brides’ addition of content that’s not specific to the big day.

“My concern is if they’re turning off the reader who’s going there to get specific cues about her wedding,” said Stacy Misher, svp, group account director, MPG.