|
|
|
Last week I showed you these three covers and asked which you preferred. Thanks to everyone to shared an opinion. By now you might have seen the magazine on the newsstand, so you know we went the option on the right, chef Julian Barsotti from Nonna. Those Who Care can jump to read the results of our online poll and why they don’t scare me. |
First the stats: 557 people voted on FrontBurner. 42 percent chose the cake, 40 percent went with the sloppy joe, and only 18 percent picked chef Barsotti.
So we screwed up, right? We had three options for a cover, and we went with the option that clearly is the least-preferred. Newsstand buyers will punish us for our bad taste. Feh, I don’t think so, and here’s why: on the newsstand, we give you only one option. Just because the one we published was the least-popular of the three we considered doesn’t mean that it won’t sell. On the newsstand, we’re essentially asking people, “Yes? Or no?” Not “Which one?” I think our cover is a “yes.” (And not because chef Barsotti’s deliciously full lips form that come-hither smile. Rather, the headline — “Best Restaurants” — will do the selling.)
Then, too, I believe — though I don’t have the data to back it up — that the FrontBurner audience ain’t the same as the newsstand audience. Which ain’t the same as the subscriber audience. I send a monthly e-mail to subscribers. I asked them the same question about the cover. I got a smaller sample size, but the votes from that audience were more evenly distributed.
Finally, we don’t design magazine covers with the single focus of selling copies. In fact, sometimes we design covers that we know won’t sell well. Because the cover is a marketing tool. It reflects and amplifies our brand. To my mind, the chef cover was the smartest, most elegant option. That’s what we want people to associate with D Magazine.
Why am I telling you all this? I’m in a sharing mood today. Plus, when we get the final sales numbers on this cover in a few months and we learn that it tanked, I’ll be able to refer back to this post and remind myself what the hell we were thinking when we didn’t chose that cake. Because at the end of the day, let’s be honest. Chocolate is gonna outsell smart and elegant every day of the week.
