Subject: Magazines Find Noble Causes Let Them Help Others, Themselves Date: Published: 9/18/90 (174 lines) Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. Marketing & Media -- Advertising: Magazines Find Noble Causes Let Them Help Others, Themselves ---- By Patrick M. Reilly Magazine publishers are finding that noble causes may be the best new way to help themselves as they help others. On the charity ball circuit, there's a new catchword: "cause marketing." In a difficult advertising environment, with many traditional forms of promotion exhausted, publishers are adopting causes ranging from AIDS to homelessness and breast cancer as their favorite charities. And they are turning well-publicized fund-raising events into opportunities to grab the attention of highly valued readers and advertisers. Conde Nast Publications Inc. 's Vanity Fair raised quick cash for Phoenix House's drug rehab center. News Corp. 's Mirabella is giving a portion of its advertising revenue to four different charities. Meredith Corp. 's Metropolitan Home will hold its second major shindig next spring to fight AIDS. And Hearst Corp. 's Town & Country is raising money for cosmetic makeovers for cancer patients. Magazine publishers concede their motivations are mixed. They insist their first priority is the cause, and in the do-good environment of the 1990s, the causes often do reflect the personal convictions and concerns of editors and publishers. In the case of many fashion magazines, for example, AIDS has proven a devastating scourge, taking the lives of several well-known designers. For example, a major beneficiary of such publishers is the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS. George Slowick, the foundation's chairman, acknowledges that magazines are using funds they might otherwise spend on different forms of promotion, but that's OK with him. "Let's face it, we are taking money out of marketing budgets," says Mr. Slowick, who is also publisher of the book publishing trade magazine Publishers Weekly. "We have to create win-win situations. Magazines need something in return. The best situations are when we both come out well: Magazines get publicity, and we get dollars." No one denies that the good works could well translate into good business down the road -- and publishers don't hesitate to get their own advertisers involved. Mirabella told advertisers that for every ad page in its anniversary issue, $1,000 would go to one of four charities, including the AIDS foundation and a literacy group. Mirabella raised $82,000 and plans to do it again each year. "It's very unattractive not to give back, and we want to be attractive," says Julie Lewit-Nirenberg, publisher of Mirabella. "There is a promotional value, no question. But promotion should be an extra benefit, not the prime mover." In November, Vogue will join with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to put on "Seventh on Sale," with the aim of raising $1 million for the New York City AIDS Fund. Vogue will underwrite all the costs of the three-day event in New York, including a celebrity dinner in Manhattan thrown by Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Many of the famous designers who depend on the magazine's coverage will donate their creations for sale. Ms. Wintour says she offered help to design council president Carolyne Roehm, the fashion designer, out of personal concern over the ravages of AIDS in the fashion industry. Vogue is not offering an advertiser tie-in and has no plans to run photos of the star-studded bash. But the magazine is strongly promoting the event -- and the cause -- to its readers. In the September issue, Vogue had a three-page spread on "Seventh on Sale," including information on how to buy tickets or make a tax-deductible contribution. The magazine also plans a series of articles on the AIDS crisis. "Fund-raising is something we shouldn't be known for," said Ms. Wintour, who is involved in several charities. "But the reason is the time. AIDS is not going away, and there are so many places the money can be channeled." Vanity Fair raised almost $500,000 for Phoenix House last March with a party in Los Angeles, and later ran four color pages on it in its June issue. The drug rehabilitation program is a favorite cause of Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, who also ran a story critical of former First Lady Nancy Reagan for pulling her support from a Phoenix House project. Other publishers are finding ways to subtly pressure advertisers to donate to both their causes and their magazines. Town & Country notified advertisers it would donate 55% of beauty ad revenue from a special section in the magazine's October issue to "Look Good ...Feel Better," a group that helps female cancer patients. The wave of magazine good will can be traced back to the fall of 1988, when Metropolitan Home magazine threw a benefit at Manhattan's 27th Street Armory for the design industry AIDS foundation that netted $800,000. Advertisers got directly involved when Met Home later produced a special "showhouse," giving 5% of the issue's net ad revenue, or about $100,000, to the foundation. The magazine sold sponsorships of the showhouse to several key advertisers, including General Electric, Kohler and Lenox China. Maybe the most elaborate, though unsexy, charity promotion involves Meredith's Better Homes & Gardens and Sara Lee Corp. 's Hanes hosiery and underwear. Buyers of Hanes and Hanes Her Way products can send their $15 rebate directly to the three-year-old Better Homes Foundation, which funnels money to homeless families in 50 communities in 26 states. Hanes is guaranteeing a minimum of $200,000. International Business Machines Corp. and McDonald's Corp. have also given to the magazine's foundation. "You can question people's motivation, but our impulse is that we have a communication power," says David Jordan, Better Homes' editor-in-chief. "It's people with families helping people without homes. We want it to go on forever." --- Change at Colgate Clay Timon, vice president of worldwide advertising at Colgate-Palmolive Co., has left the New York-based company because of differences with top management over the company's advertising strategy, according to company insiders. Since Mr. Timon, 46 years old, arrived at Colgate in 1985, he has been responsible for building the company's relationship with its two world-wide advertising agencies, Young & Rubicam and FCB/Leber Katz Partners. "There was a specific job to be done, and the sense around here is that it was done," Mr. Timon said. But Mr. Timon's inclination to use image-oriented advertising for the company's personal care and household products clashed with the product-oriented approach favored by William Shanahan, Colgate's senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, company insiders said. Mr. Timon's position will be eliminated, with responsibility for the company's advertising likely to be left to several managers around the world. The company has also reassigned Ariel Allen, vice president of creative services at Colgate U. S., although her new position has not been announced. The moves were first reported yesterday in advertising trade publications. Sources close to the account also said that they believed Mr. Timon's departure could signal an era of increased competition between Colgate's two world-wide agencies, and that the company may begin entertaining pitches from other agencies for special projects. A Colgate spokeman called that scenario "just plain wrong." The spokesman added, "Advertising will be managed at a very senior level because of the importance we place on creative excellence and maintaining excellent partnerships with our two global agencies." --- Ad Notes.... AGREEMENT: American Express Co. and France's Club Mediterranee S. A. are close to signing a marketing agreement likely to include joint promotions designed to sell Club Med vacations through American Express travel offices world-wide. Analysts said the move was a logical one for Club Med, which has been trying to expand its distribution in Asia and attract conventions to its vacation villages during the off-season. The promotions are also likely to offer vacationers incentives to pay for their Club Med stay with an Amex card. Neither company would comment on the specifics of the agreement, which is expected to be announced within days. TACO BELL: Greater Los Angeles Taco Bell Advertising Association awarded its $10 million account to Foote, Cone & Belding, San Francisco. The account had previously been handled by Tracy-Locke, Los Angeles, a unit of Omnicom Group. WHO'S NEWS: Bruce Lee Albert was named chief operating officer at Lord Einstein O'Neill & Partners, New York ... Medicus Intercon, a New York-based unit of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, named John Hegquist executive vice president and creative director. [This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]