Print Plus Free Equals Advertising Nirvana

INKmagsLooking to land that captive audience? You might want to take to the air.

For advertisers, nothing beats a highly targeted and captive audience.

While online consumers can block or click away from your ad in a nanosecond, there is one channel in which the reader is actively engaged and far less likely to look away: print magazines. And there’s no better place to capture their attention than during a long flight.

Simon Leslie of Ink, the publisher behind many of the world’s best in-flight titles, sees nothing but good things in this year’s ABC figures on magazines. While it’s true that a lot of mass market titles are down, Leslie notes that most of the magazines that are up and thriving have one thing in common.

“They are all free and they are all aimed squarely at the millennial market that we were told had fallen out of love with print,” Leslie writes in this post on LinkedIn.

“This suggests to me one thing; that print isn’t dead at all, nor even terminally unfashionable. Surely it’s more a matter that consumers – particularly younger ones – are reluctant to pay for content (News UK’s decision to remove the Sun’s paywall being a case in point)? However you look at it, the facts would seem to indicate people are perfectly happy to read well-crafted, ink-on-paper journalism, especially when it’s placed in their hands free of charge,” he notes.

And he should know; the in-flight magazine has been at the head of this line for decades.

“For over 50 years air passengers have been able to reach into the seat pocket in front of them, knowing that they can lean back, relax and enjoy the best in gorgeous photography, long-form articles and absorbing interviews with the world’s biggest celebrities,” he continues.

The inherent value of advertising to this kind of captured consumer is strong. “We can connect with any audience you want to reach: from ravers to traders, baby boomers to boomerang kids, Generation Y to geriatrics…,” he notes.

It’s a great reminder to advertisers looking to engage their audience at a time when they are most receptive. The power of the in-flight ad is strong. Give one a try and see where it takes you.