Recession fallout: Good and Time leverage digital to stay alive

You've heard, I'm sure, that Domino and WonderTime have shuttered their doors. A real loss of a bold aesthetic and brave approach, respectively.

They fell to the same shocks hitting the rest of the publishing industry: fractured media habits among core readers; reduced ad spending; increased distribution costs; etc.

This month, two other publishing innovators handled the industry-wide challenges in really different ways:

Good: Powerful content for the digital space

If you don't know Good - I'm happy you're reading this. It's a chance for me to introduce you to your next favorite thing. The visual appeal of Real Simple; the smart voice of Fast Company; the heady ideas of Seed. All in one even-better tome.

Unfortunately, Good is trimming its paper for the times. This mini issue was delivered this month. "The Recession Issue" features 80% less printed content and an announcement that the publishing schedule will be migrating from monthly to quarterly.

Ouch.

The "Good" news: The content isn't slowing down. It's just moving. To Good's digital space. Normally, this would be a scary proposition. But, Good is so provocative, so visual - it's better than ever. Check it out. You'll get addicted.

Time: Aggregating a house of brands

So how do you leverage a big operational elephant in lean times? Time is doing it with personalization. The publisher is pulling together its news, sports and lifestyle publications into one aggregator that lets readers completely customize their ideal multi-interest magazine.

Visitors pick up to five Time titles they'd like to read content from. Time builds that content into one personal book that can be delivered online or in mailbox. Pretty cool.

Comments

[Grace]

Time's idea is brilliant...now, not only will its followers become more loyal becuase it is exactly what THEY want...but this is advertising brilliance...Now advertisers can advertise directly to the subscriber based on their choices for what they want to read about...talk about niche marketing at its best!

[Cory O'Brien]

I really like Time's 'Mine'. Being able to customize the content that you want to read and then have them ship you the end result is a cool way of delivering content, and gives some life back to the printed media industry. I hope it works!