# Running ads in magazines



## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

Anybody have luck with small space ads placed in traditional mags? We have an ad going in to the back of Rolling Stone's next issue and are expecting a bump...

I'm curious if anyone out there has tried The Onion or lad mags like Maxim, Stuff, FHM, etc. Or other music pubs...Alternative Press? Vibe? Rock mags? College newspapers?

There's room for all of us out there...


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Rolling Stone has contacted me a few times, saying that other t-shirt sellers are advertising in their mag, but I've never taken the plunge.

Are you advertising in the classifieds, or an actual color ad in the magazine?

College newspapers is a neat idea.


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

They have a section called "the store" in the back of the mag. It's basically a slide and copy type thing. Lots of t shirt sites have been in this section, like Tshirtsthatsuck.com and others. Tshirtsthatsuck.com has "graduated" to a 1/3 page ad in the pub.


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

yeah...the store is what they contacted me about. To me it seemed like a skam. They wanted me to write a fake testimonial about my own company as if I was a customer.


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

They're just straight up display ads now. Nothing weird.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Thanks for the clarification...that sounds like the same spot that the guy called me about.

Let us know how it goes for you. 

Are going to design your own ad? I'd be interested to see what your ad would look like.

I almost did this during the holiday season last year, but I decided not to at the last minute. If you get decent results, I may give it a shot.


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## Bougie (Jul 12, 2005)

sackwear.com said:


> We have an ad going in to the back of Rolling Stone's next issue and are expecting a bump...


How much did that cost?


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## hungnyc.com (Jun 27, 2005)

Also curious as to how much advertising on that level goes for. I spoke to a marketing rep for GQ in regards to their Media Kit and the initial fee was some figure like 50K than depending on the ad space you would add on 40k-80k. Am I way off here? Did I maybe miss something?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I think he said it was around 3K in another thread


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

Sackwear,
What month will the ad be in rolling stone? Please let us now what kind of results you get from the ad.


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

We're in the current issue, August 11, with Hendrix on the cover. 

Forgive me if I decline to go into specifics about hits, sales and ad prices. But I'll point this out: If you've noticed that threadless and tshirtsthatsuck have gone to half page and quarter space ads, you'll draw a pretty good conclusion as to the effectiveness of Rolling Stone.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> If you've noticed that threadless and tshirtsthatsuck have gone to half page and quarter space ads, you'll draw a pretty good conclusion as to the effectiveness of Rolling Stone.


Good point, but that's not necessarily true. Some corporations have the budgets to increase to larger ad units.

Also, the ad sales reps will often give a significant discount to long term advertisers (like threadless and tshirtsthatsuck) so they can say in their sales pitch "you can see other advertisers in your niche have bumped up to a larger ad unit).



> Forgive me if I decline to go into specifics about hits, sales and ad prices


That's understandable not to go into _specifics_, but it would be nice to give us a general idea of how it went...you did sort of start this thread asking for others to share similar information


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

I just saw the ad for tshirtsthatsuck in the rolling stones today at my local chriroprator..caught my eye


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

Okay, Rodney, Jeez. Here goes.

Hits, double to quadruple our previous traffic. Conversion, probably two to three times higher. Way more page loads, lots of time per user spent on site. These people want to see your product. Many will buy more than just one shirt. 

We're only a few days into the run. Rolling Stone is a bi-weekly so our ad will be "on the racks" for 14 days or so. 

Has anyone else placed ads in any other pubs that work? Banner ads? Sandwich boards? Anything? 

As long as we're all sharing...


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## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

sackwear.com said:


> Has anyone else placed ads in any other pubs that work? Banner ads? Sandwich boards? Anything?
> 
> As long as we're all sharing...


Thanks for sharing man. That's very cool. I have spoke at length with some of the Mojo merchants that have placed ads with some success. The overwhelming advise they gave to me is that you HAVE to reach your target Audience and Age. Not just an age that _likes_ your stuff but an age that has a freakin credit card.


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## Melinda Lutes (Apr 3, 2007)

Hi everyone --

I am a newbie here and was just going thru some of the threads and thought I would comment about this topic. In addition to having a t-shirt business, I am a PR Specialist and instead of buying ads, do some Publicity on your company --- it's FREE! You need to be very creative and don't feel bad if your story doens't run the first time, but your odds will increase dramitically if you find your niche publication -- (ie: if you sell t-shirts of dogs, target dog publications). If you come up with a creative news angle about your company, they will run it! 
Trust me, this is what I do for a living. It takes a little practice and some patience, but it WILL work. Magazines are expensive and unless you give the readers a special offer, it will be extremely hard to measure -- 
Good luck!


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## Royaltygirl (Apr 12, 2006)

Hey,
I have run ads in OK magazine and US weekly. I will only run ads when they have a last minute remnant available. It is over-priced and I haven't seen the type of traffice that I would like to.

Hope this helps
TARA


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## threadsnorth (Apr 24, 2007)

Melinda Lutes said:


> Hi everyone --
> 
> I am a newbie here and was just going thru some of the threads and thought I would comment about this topic. In addition to having a t-shirt business, I am a PR Specialist and instead of buying ads, do some Publicity on your company --- it's FREE! You need to be very creative and don't feel bad if your story doens't run the first time, but your odds will increase dramitically if you find your niche publication -- (ie: if you sell t-shirts of dogs, target dog publications). If you come up with a creative news angle about your company, they will run it!
> Trust me, this is what I do for a living. It takes a little practice and some patience, but it WILL work. Magazines are expensive and unless you give the readers a special offer, it will be extremely hard to measure --
> Good luck!


I like Melinda's approach. If you can get mention in something "newsworthy", it is definitely more valuable.

I work in the publishing industry and I know that most ads are run in consecutive issues in order to create brand awareness. Often times a first time ad is overlooked -- it may take 2 or 3 ads in subsequent issues to build any sort of connection.

That being said, I think placing ads is a poor use of funds. The results are very difficult to measure and quantify.

Neil


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## teabelly83 (Jun 16, 2007)

threadsnorth said:


> I like Melinda's approach. If you can get mention in something "newsworthy", it is definitely more valuable.
> 
> I work in the publishing industry and I know that most ads are run in consecutive issues in order to create brand awareness. Often times a first time ad is overlooked -- it may take 2 or 3 ads in subsequent issues to build any sort of connection.
> 
> ...


yes ive been giving thoughts to placing an add, a 'launch' ad so to speak in a very well knwn and big selling tattoo magazine, esp with my clothing been inspired by and targeted at that market for one. im not sure totaly, altho i knw it will cost afair mount of money, but it could or could not help, if it did then that would be well spent.


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## DBT (Feb 20, 2007)

if your site has a discount code function that can be a good way to measure the effectiveness of your advertising. publish a discount code that is unique to one ad and you can tell exactly how many sales it produces.

but yeah, i agree with melinda, free publicity is the best


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## normsbrand (Jul 26, 2006)

great topic, and thanks to everyone for sharing. 

I am trying to figure out the whole marketing plan now, and I feel like a sponge on these forums soaking in all the information.


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## shinsyotta (Oct 31, 2006)

I think that the discount code is a great idea.


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## Duran (Jul 23, 2007)

Does anyone know the prices for each magazine?

If you dont know exactly how about in general.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Duran said:


> Does anyone know the prices for each magazine?
> 
> If you dont know exactly how about in general.


It varies greatly from magazine to magazine based on their demographic, number of subscribers, size of ad, location of ad, etc.

If there's one you're interested in, you can contact their ad department and they'll usually send you pricing.


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## missnish (Nov 6, 2008)

WE did some advertising in AMP magazine. I saw a bump in sales. Its definetly a risk though. You gotta make sure that you choose the right audience. It was awesome to see an ad for somethign Im a part of in a well known magazine.


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## Rico Menor (Mar 22, 2007)

I thought about placing an ad in some mags that my target customers read but the prices were too high for me. What I did do was found a few on myspace and made friends with them, also hit up some of the local tracks that they did testing at. I talked to them and kind of sent a sales pitch and a few shirts their way. I was able to get a small ad in a mag for cheap for a short period of time. I also did the same with a local radio station for a 30 second commercial, but for them i did a few shirts for their company so that paid for the airtime.


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