Around 10 years ago, magazine publishers began to get a sense of just how powerful digital print could be. They foresaw, Jules Verne-like, a world in which this technology could provide magazine readers with a publication uniquely tailored to them; from the front cover imagery to the back cover advertising and everything in between. All that was needed was for technology to catch up with imagination.

But then it did catch up. Digital print surpassed expectations and proved it could deliver litho-grade quality, while enabling a use of data more complex than anyone had thought possible. And yet, tantalising snapshots of capability aside, from one-off cover promotions and subscriber specials, we’re still waiting for any real take-up of personalisation in magazine publishing. And the reasons why this might be are far from straightforward.  

Some say publishers have been lacking in ambition, others argue that the data side of things isn’t up to it, while a few point the finger at digital print for being too costly, complicated and slow. There is, however, a more fundamental question at hand: why personalise at all?

The simple answer is that personalisation boosts reader engagement and enables highly targeted advertising, thus delivering better response: the twin holy grails of magazine publishing.

"Personalisation, as a means of communicating with the reader, is also an extra promotional tool for publishers, and it is a great way of keeping publications vibrant and highly directional," says Kirk Galloway, managing director at Buxton Press.
Behind all these benefits there is, of course, a cost, both in time and money, and many blame printers for the high level of this cost. Personalised magazine work takes too long and costs too much, the critics say, even for just a cover, nevermind for the content of a whole magazine.

Pedestrian pace
Pensord managing director Darren Coxon admits that to properly produce personalised magazines, the production process has to be slowed to a "walking pace" to monitor spoilage and maintain the correct order, enabling the right magazine to be matched to the right address. He gives the example of a fellow magazine printer that had to extend production by a whole week due to a personalised cover – the cost for which had to be picked up by the publisher.

The technology to speed the process along does exist; devices such as barcode readers and on-press cameras that automate the verification process are common in the DM sector, where personalisation has made major inroads. However, Coxon points out that magazine printers haven’t seen enough demand for personalisation to make that level of investment viable.

"When we talk to publishers, they say personalisation would only ever be something they would do for one or two issues, as after that it loses its impact. So that investment wouldn’t be justified by demand," he argues.

Coxon and many like him on the print side are adamant that, if the demand was there, then of course they would invest in the technology to facilitate a more cost- and time-effective personalisation model, but printers will not splash the cash unless there is a real demand for that service from publishers. And they argue there is not.

Galloway puts the lack of demand from publishers firmly on a cost footing. He argues that personalisation as a model is currently just too expensive.

"Logistically, personalisation is a highly complex operation requiring substantial capital investment in technology to deliver a truly individualised product. We are not yet at the stage where it is economically viable for publishers – particularly for longer run lengths – to offer personalisation on a larger scale," he says.

The cost issue is one that rankles with St Ives group sales director Andrew Clay. Since selling off its web offset printing arm, its magazine operations have been centred on managing and printing the personalised elements of publications and Clay says publishers get too tied up in the initial costs, not the long-term benefits.

"When it comes to magazine publishing and personalisation, everyone seems to see the cost rather than the benefit," he reveals. "Personalisation does take a bit longer, but it can, say, boost your subscription levels, then the ROI is there and the argument strong for personalisation. The trouble is that many publishers only see the initial cost rather than the whole process."

And the whole process can be extremely beneficial for the publisher, as some recent personalisation work St Ives Direct has carried out for William Reed title The Grocer demonstrates. As part of a wider DM campaign to increase subscriptions, from November 2010 personalised covers have been sent out to targeted groups, encouraging individuals to sign up. Response rates are up to seven times more than those achieved with a traditional DM campaign (see box on page 22 for more). 

"Personalisation of the magazine covers is working extremely well and the ROI is clearly more than worth the cost as they are repeating the process," explains Clay. "Now we want to persuade other publishers to look a bit harder at personalisation."

Print’s responsibility
As Clay suggests, if printers do wish to take publishers down the personalisation route, then it is up to them to provide the proof that it will be worthwhile. Print’s job should be made easier by the fact that printers are now able to have conversations with someone other than the print buyer, according to Michael Burman, managing director at FE Burman.
"One of the great things now that we could not do before is that we can have creative conversations with customers," he explains. "Before, you’d only ever talk to the print buyer and all he was interested in was buying print at the lowest price for the quality he needed. Now we talk to marketing people and publishers who we can have a different kind of conversation with."

FE Burman has been at the forefront of personalised covers, with work for leading consumer titles Wallpaper* and Wired. The latter sent personalised covers to a select few subscribers, while Wallpaper*, for its August issue last year, handed control of its cover to its 22,000 subscribers. Each got the chance to design their own cover and see it wrapped around their copy of the magazine (see page 22). Publisher IPC Media has said it plans to repeat the trick for this year’s August issue, but this time the concept has evolved to enable the reader to also customise a Rolex advertisement on the back cover.

This evolution suggests the level of personalisation being tried is increasing, a theory supported by the work of customer publisher River Publishing on Honda’s magazine dream. River recently began personalising the magazine for Honda’s regional showrooms, tailoring a four- or six-page cover section to each showroom’s area, with images, cover lines and news.

Strictly speaking, the dream project is versioning rather than personalisation, as it targets a region rather than an individual. Covers remain the only real examples of personalised magazine publishing. While tailoring a full magazine to an individual is technologically possible, it is seen by most to be too time-consuming and expensive to be worthwhile. Even personalising a specific section is tricky, according to Burman.

"Could you insert a personalised section with a personalised cover?" he ponders. "It’s not easy, unless you are printing the whole magazine yourself. To match a separately printed insert with a cover is a logistical nightmare if you go above 500 – there are ways of doing it with barcodes and control systems to automate the process, but those disciplines are not in the commercial print magazine field."

There is also the key issue of data. To go beyond a cover and delve into personalised content, you need a substantial chunk of information about your target consumer. Subscription data gives you a starting point, but even in the US, where subscriptions are the most popular way of buying magazines, data is hard to come by. In the UK, where titles are far more likely to be purchased off the newsstand, this is borderline impossible.

"Print-wise, personalisation is a real possibility, but there is often not the data to fully personalise," admits St Ives’ Clay. "It is feasible to have a completely tailored magazine, so long as you have the right data about a person, but it would take a long time to build up that sort of knowledge."

He adds that this data has to be extremely clean as any slight error, calling someone Mrs instead of Mr for example, could undermine the whole initiative and cause long-term damage to the brand.

Even if you did build up the accurate knowledge required, having the software capability to process that data into something meaningful in the magazine context and being able to convert that into content that upholds the quality and integrity of the magazine brand, is going to be extremely expensive, and perhaps impossible.

Is it wanted?
Some may lament these barriers but, as Burman asks, have we got caught up too far with the idea of personalisation in magazines without really assessing the reasons why we want to do it in the first place?

"The publisher needs to ask not, why haven’t I personalised, but why should I personalise?" he says. "There may be very good reasons to personalise that justify the cost of 80,000 digital covers, but if the reason is not strong enough, then don’t do it."

Burman makes a good point. While print production issues, a lack of data or absent publisher ambition may be attributed as reasons for the minimal use of personalisation, it has to be considered that the magazine consumer might just not be that interested in personalisation beyond the few, one-off examples that have occurred. If they were, then the publishers would have a cast iron case to pursue it and the printers would have the commitment to justify a spend on more advanced personalisation kit.

Granted, without substantial choice of personalised examples to chose from, a magazine reader may not be able to make an informed opinion on the subject, but it’s clear that putting personalisation on a pedestal as some sort of holy grail for printed magazines may be a little misguided, and perhaps a more in-depth look at what consumers want, rather than what is possible, would be more appropriate.

THE GROCER
In search of new ways to communicate with lapsed subscribers and those subscribers nearing renewal for its flagship title The Grocer, magazine publisher William Reed (WRBM) decided upon a communications campaign that put personalised magazine covers at its heart.

St Ives Direct is in charge of the ongoing project. The company used XMPie’s content management system to link marketing data with the artwork required for the personalised magazine covers, which featured money-off promotions and other marketing messages.

Running since November 2010, WRBM has experienced a near seven-fold increase in response rates compared to a traditional mailshot, and the success has been such that it is now considering the initiative for other titles.

"The actual printing of it is very easy, but getting all the bits to link up has taken a lot of work and some time to get right," says Andrew Clay, St Ives group sales director. "It most certainly is working for WRBM though and the ROI is clearly more than worth the cost as they are repeating the process. Now we want to persuade other publishers to look a bit harder at personalisation."

WALLPAPER*
When Wallpaper* magazine wanted a creative way to reflect the handmade theme of its August 2010 issue on the cover, they teamed up with FE Burman to produce personalised covers for its 22,000 subscribers. These subscribers could choose from a palette of images, patterns, textures and words to design their own magazine cover, which was duly printed and delivered to their door. The individual covers were printed on an HP Indigo 7000 and the data was sorted through the HP SmartStream Production Pro Server.

"We did a few tests using the HP Indigo, and the quality was amazing," says Wallpaper* art director Meirion Pritchard. "We compared covers we had printed traditionally with the digital prints, and there was no difference in quality."

The magazine is repeating the project for this year’s August issue, but things have moved on a bit, accoding to FE Burman managing director Michael Burman.

"The first thing we did had the guy’s name and address on the cover for ease of mailing," he explains. "That is a bit naff Wallpaper* decided, so this next one has a bardcode on it instead, which we swipe and it prints a label out. So Wallpaper* has moved it on a bit."

Wallpaper* editor in chief Tony Chambers adds that this time around there are more customisation options enabled, including the ability to personalise a Rolex ad for the back page. The offer of a personal cover has also been extended to non-subscribers that register on the magazine’s website.

"Custom covers are back by popular demand and this year, it is even better and enables our readers to get even more creative," says Chambers.