VITAMEDIAS
The NEW English Lessons: Newsstand competition being what it is in the U.K., the Brits have come to rely on more than just their covers to outwit and outsell the competition. The use of polybagged giveaways — or cover-mounts, as the Brits call them — is rampant. Editors attach everything from fluorescent flip-flops to lip gloss to condoms, hoping to lure consumers into buying their title instead of their competitors'. The tchotchkes work. In fact, with the choicest giveaways, some publishers have watched sales spike by 100 percent. But the practice is costly and can quickly add millions to the budget of an average-sized British magazine. Similar to the U.S. tactic of offering premiums with subscriptions (remember the infamous SI football phones?), U.K. publishers say they'd love to pull the plug on cover mounts, but not until the competition concedes first.
Despite its pitfalls, U.S. publishers have flirted with the cover-mounts concept. American computer and gaming titles give way CDs all the time, but so far the practice hasn't clicked in other categories. Not that publishers here haven't tried. They've even attempted to get advertisers to underwrite the costs — but to no avail. “When you ask [advertisers] ‘Can you provide us with $300,000 worth of gizmos?’ they want to know what the return on investment will be,” says Dennis publishing president Stephen Colvin. “Then they notice that they can buy 40 ad pages for that amount of money instead.” End of discussion.