GIVEN the glossy sheen, colour, and other innovative ideas that creative play around with, a print advertisement looks the best in a magazine. Even the milieu it is set in indicates more involvement.

These are the ideal ingredients of a good media vehicle. However, all this does not reflect in a media plan. It is worth exploring the factors that cause this and the future of magazine advertising. Here is a view from the advertiser’s window.

B V Pradeep, President, Market Research Society of India, says, "When you want to build markets by educating a consumer and consecutively aiming at a habit change, a magazine is an ideal tool. In products like skin care, which have to be communicated in detail and the requirement is more than just brand salience, a magazine proves to be an excellent medium of communication." Despite this, why is magazine advertising not looking up? "That’s more of a numerical issue," replies H K Press, Executive Director and President of Godrej Consumer Durables. "Imagery and information are the prime benefits that a magazine offers. But there are other important factors where magazines take a beating to TV. Whether you look at it in terms of cost per thousand or in matters of reach, magazines don’t deliver the way other mediums do, or even for that matter in the print medium itself, a newspaper does."

Though newspapers are still close to the consumer’s heart, magazines are losing out to other media. Is there a way out? "They have to get more innovative in the kind of advertising they allow a brand to do. The idea to let a consumer sample a product by giving it with the magazine was a good one. They should concentrate on these things. They could look at leveraging initiatives like providing relevant database or customer relationship management opportunities so that there is something unique they offer which other mediums can’t," remarks Press. "With a magazine, there’s a reader’s experience and a consumer’s experience. They should try and better the latter to attract advertisers," adds Pradeep. "Every piece of the product is in the consumer’s hands. This is a magazine’s strength and they must try and build on it."