“A lot of easyJet budget travellers will be surprised to see such a quality product on board. Just hope they appreciate it.”
That’s the verdict Alan Geere gives in InPublishing of EasyJet’s inflight magazine. Geere undertook an analysis of several of the magazines found in seat pockets in the UK, from the budget-minded to the high-end magazine of Air France.
For the most part, Geere found solid content and overall high-quality editorial work in the titles, with beautiful ads and nice features to appeal to the world traveling set.
“Neat, chunky size plus complementary yet unobtrusive advertising coupled with high quality editorial make Flight Time really take off. Although they say the magazine ‘needs to both entertain and drive ancillary revenues through onboard catering and subsequent travel’, it comes across as much more approachable than that. A real friend in the seat pocket,” he notes about FLYBE’s Flight Time title.
“Some magazines on the newsstand for the price of a paperback book do not come close to its verve and sheer professionalism,” Geere gushes about British Airways’ High Life.
The one exception is Ryanair’s Runway Retail, which is more product catalog than magazine, and it includes a request to return the copy to the cabin crew. Ryanair did away with their print magazine Let’s Go earlier this year, hoping to lure readers into their online content instead. We think they missed the boat.
Interestingly, most all of the titles had links to their digital content, supporting the idea that inflight magazines can co-exist with digital content in a wi-fi enabled airplane. Print continues to thrive at 30,000 feet, and partners continue to recognize that “print” plus “free” plus “captive audience” is an advertiser’s dream.