Will Our Shelter Mag Survivors Reach The Rebound Finish Line?

All eyes are on Elle Decor, Architectural Digest and House Beautiful as they move into the last quarter of the year with new Chiefs at their helms. It's a hopeful time for everyone who follows, reads, works in, with and loves  shelter magazines after chewing  so long on the tough threat of their demise during the "print is dead" era.

A recent article by Folio Magazine cautiously notes a rebound for the category is occurring, but  the most resilient media titles are those that take their brands beyond the printed page with live events, online communities, social media, etc. House Beautiful's Kitchen of Year Event in New York City helped the magazine bring in nearly 50% more ad pages for their annual issue over last year.

Smells like smart marketing to me.

I think Dwell's been the early adopter in this category, being one of the first to deliver their content online, while the rest of the category was slow in accepting that the world was changing.  (Architectural Digest, where have you been?) Let's hope these survivors will reach the rebound finish line better and stronger than when they started.  

Who do you think's done the best job at staying alive through the downturn?

What Marketing Buzz Looks Like: House Beautiful's Get Blue Promotion

What would you do if you found a beautiful blue Eames chair sitting on a dirty street block on your daily routine walk to work? Last week, House Beautiful wrapped up it's "Blue Chair" campaign to promote their current blue issue, leaving 40 blue chairs around the city for anyone to claim their own if they found it.  Penelope Green's article in today's New York Times tells the story about how the promotion went down on the street level, offering a really nice look into the element of surprise and excitement a great promotion can create. Not to mention the added value content they're providing to their social media fans, who received the locations via Twitter and Facebook! If you're blue because you missed this one, check out House Beautiful's other blue promotions running the rest of this month. I hear they're giving away Jet Blue tickets next!