Editorial

"In-Flight = In-Home?"*

There are studies by Alfred Politz and Elmo Roper that indicate a greater value for the in-home versus the out-of-home reader. The in-home reader spends more time with the magazine, picks it up more often and receives more satisfaction from it than the out-of-home reader. This combines with some basic logic, reveals that the out-of-home reader, for most magazines, should be devalued. Many advertising agencies currently put the value of the out-of-home reader at 50% that of the in-home reader.

Not all magazines' out-of-home audiences should be devalued. For example, Talk magazine is specifically edited for women in beauty salons (out-of-home) to be read in the time it takes to sit under a hair dryer. In-Flight publications, also read out-of-home, reach a captive reader who probably spends as much time reading the average page as the in-home reader of a mass monthly publication.

*About the Author:

Jim Surmanek is currently Senior Vice President/Media Director in the Chicago office of Ogilvy & Mather.
While at Ogilvy & Mather, Jim Surmanek has worked on a wide variety of accounts spanning most product/service categories. In New York, he headed out-of-home media operations, all media department recruiting and all media training seminar programs. He moved to Chicago in 1976 where he now has the responsibility for all of the agency's accounts. He has lectured at several Advertising Age Media Workshops as well as at seminars put on by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He has also published a number of articles on media planning.