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Bon Appetit and MediaVest Serve Up Innovation
Circ Matters Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 5 - 4/14/2008
If you want to see something innovative, pick up the May issue of Bon Appetit. I’m not referring to Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for crispy waffles with salted caramel coulis.
No, I’m talking about a media innovation that I’ve never seen before….an innovation that created something fun for the reader and an effective placement for the client.
Responding to a “call for innovation” from Starbucks agency MediaVest, Publisher Paul Jowdy and the Bon Appetit team proposed the transformation of something that’s in every issue of the magazine but is typically as ignored as a drunken soufflé.
The masthead.
The idea Bon Appetit submitted took the normally undistinguished, white background masthead featuring the names of the business side professionals at the title and re-created it in the style of the Starbucks “Life Happens Over Coffee” campaign. One execution in that campaign focuses on the firm’s Breakfast Blend and prominently features a colorful, wood-framed chalkboard. The BA masthead was changed to mirror the look of the chalkboard, adopting the color palette and printing style of the Starbucks ad.
Selected BA staffers offered what they enjoyed best with their Starbucks at home and the result was a novel looking masthead with copy that drew (at least) this reader in.
Merchandising Director, Stephanie Baker shared that “My pecan pie and Starbucks Colombia were made for each other,” while Florida representative Peter Zuckerman confessed that “A French indulgence like crème brulee demands a delicious Starbucks French Roast.” It may have had a dash of corniness but it was unexpected and different…and it worked!
The masthead page was labeled “Promotion” at the top and, if you’re wondering, the masthead displaying the names of the editorial staff looked the same as usual.
Kudos not only go to Paul Jowdy and the BA team for this idea but also to Robin Steinberg and her group at MediaVest for their collaborative role in bringing this novel but effective idea into being. Their client had to be happy.
Often, media agencies are called “creative” when they place a nifty multi-page insert or some other execution that came from the client’s creative resource. That’s really not being creative.
Creativity happens when you use your imagination to develop something brand new or when you look at something that already exists and transform it to make it fresh and new. That’s what Bon Appetit and MediaVest did here…and their combined creativity needs to be congratulated.
Now, let’s not have a whole bunch of imitatiors transforming ever blessed magazine masthead. We all remember that Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon…but not as many remember who was number two.
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