Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

The digital age may only be in its infancy still, but there is no denying that it is here and that there are things that will soon be considered relics just like cassette players, VCR's, landline phones and the US Postal Service. We've been talking about the debacle that the publishing industry has been in for several years now as print magazines shutter with the growth of social media, which really propelled digital to the next level. Anyone who wonders when the bubble will burst surely haven't seen my kid's curious faces when we get a magazine or toy flyer in the mail.

"Why do you get these mom?"
"To read them."
"But can't you just go online and do that?" they respond quizzically.

While many of us still enjoy the tangibility of being able to physically touch and turn the pages of our favorite magazines, convenience has trumped this as we want the ability to bring something up on our mobile phone or tablet at our beckon call. You certainly don't overhear conversations like, "Did you see our beauty client in this month's A+ magazine? Here, I brought the magazine with me," as the PR associate pulls it from their handbag. No, instead they are pulling out their iPad and at the touch of a finger, bringing up the bookmarked page in under 30 seconds.

Now, Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the US, has hired Laura Lang, a well respected thought leader in the digital space, to help the magazines under their name make that transition from print to digital all while maintaining the integrity of its brand and delivering measurable results back to its advertisers. If there has been one major thing that social media and digital publishing has provided that print cannot--it's actually showing the correlation between exposure and sales. In PR clients scream ROI like it's going out of style, yet they demand to be in X, Y and Z publication because their competitors are without really knowing if there is value behind it beyond image. If there is anything that coverage online has generated, it's the client having the ability to visually see the click throughs and how many sales were driven because of it. The demand is growing and while print still may be where many brands would like to hang their hat, they also like the measurability of the digital space. I believe Lang can do this for Time Inc. and maintain and grow it for another 80 years.

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