Content & customers

What would you do if the company you work for tells you that they want to include sexy photos and interviews of women as well as advertisements and articles on alcohol and tobacco for a magazine that is suppose to be all about cars?

What would you do if you are one of the country’s top merchandiser of aftermarket car accessories and a men’s magazine or a car magazine asks to feature you along with seductively posed models even if they have nothing to do with your product or the topic?

Do you include a cat-walk of bikini- clad models under the guise of a “summer fashion show” for an industry event that is rated GP? Do you lie about the poor qualities of a car because the manufacturers keep lending you cars and give you advertising?  

I have been asked this question so many times that I have decided to write a response in public.

The issues raised regularly by respected businessmen stems from the idea of other businessmen that in order to insure the success of magazines, TV shows, and special events, you need to have the right market mix or product mix.

So your project should appeal not only to one age group or one interest group but several. In short, “the more, the merrier”. The other idea is to offer many “products” so not only do you show or feature cars for instance; you also show skin, as in scantily clad women or talk sex as tidbits.

Unfortunately, the argument always ends up with one group calling the other as unrealistic, fundamentalist conservatives. While the other side ultimately end up looking like greedy opportunists using business as an excuse for their erectile preoccupation.

From where I sit, I would dare say that it all started with a bunch of amateurs who thought they had a good idea. If they were pros, none of these arguments or disagreements would be taking place.

Most businesses in this country start with a bright idea but very little research and very little facts to back it up. Most research is about demographics but don’t really study business concerns and their market on an extended basis.

The philosophy is: why spend good money asking questions when you can learn as you go along. Unfortunately it took several dinner guests before someone lived to tell the tale about cannibals.

Many upstarts jump in so fast that they are already half eaten before they discover that their business is a money-eating monster. They went in FAST and went out FURIOUS! In like manner, so many magazines have come and gone in the same way that so many businesses have been put up and have been shut down.

Someone has a bright idea but there is really very little available in terms of retail research or data. Most people simply “observe and conclude” that a business or an idea is good, because someone did it and “succeeded”.

Success unfortunately is presumed based on visibility of product or number of branches, “fame” and media hype. Unlike publicly listed companies that show their success based on value of shares, many retail products such as men’s magazines don’t really show the ups and the many downs in sales, advertising and production costs.

When a store shuts down or a magazine disappears, business programs or media don’t really do a post mortem or after burial interview on why the business collapsed.

What many “Losers” discover is that the market is not big enough to support a thousand Zagu stores, others discover that even the biggest Mac or the Jolliest Bee will still suffer if there are too many of them in the neighborhood.

So they try to remedy the problem by following the mix market, mix product philosophy. But as my Tsinoy mentor loves to point out, “when an a la carte Chinese restaurant starts selling dim sum after a few months, it’s almost a sure sign that business is bad.

It’s a sign that the joint is trying to attract the fast food diners because it can’t keep or get enough fine dining customers. Unfortunately the original customers will eventually leave and that will create an even bigger hole because they were the primary spenders. 

 Whether it’s a magazine or a Chinese restaurant, the key element is always: CONTENT & CUSTOMERS.

To this day Savory, Max, Ma Mon Luk still exists alongside media products because they remained faithful to their customer and content.

They give what the customers want at the price that they want, and the customers know what to expect. The “Losers” on the other hand don’t focus on their customers but on their profit margins. They’re too preoccupied in not losing money that they lose sight of their content and their customers. Instead of connecting with customers, they assume they know what will tickle the customer.

In the end, they insult their customers.

Any husband who has bought a magazine with a “sexy cover” I’m sure, has been asked or challenged by their wife regarding why they bother to buy such “stupid” magazines. Funny enough, I find it very irritating when a favorite restaurant ruins great food through cost cutting instead of simply raising prices.

I go to eat in a restaurant not to take notes on how they tried to keep their costs down in order to keep their customers. When you mess with the content, you lose the customers.

As for my friends in the magazine business, it’s about time you discovered that your readers might be more interested to read about themselves and their fellow hobbyists that look at sexy models on magazine covers who all look the same anyway thanks to photo shop.

You might discover that focusing on the backyard shops could be more interesting than looking at the back ends of photo shopped models!