Nowhere is that clearer than in Sony Style, the attractive new publication of the Sony Corp. Appearing biannually on newsstands–for $4.95 an issue–Style’s 300 pages is a tribute to feature editors everywhere. A story about “freedom of speech” turns out to be a paean to cordless telephones; the heartbreak of information overload is a pitch for a new floppy disc. “These advertisers are saying they want to go one-on-one with their customers,” says Bill Murphy of Meredith Corp., a leading publisher of these magazines.
Custom magazines are as varied as the companies putting them out. At one end are blatantly commercial Sony Style and Benetton’s Colors that glorify their brand name. But for IBM’s Beyond Computing and Profit, the goal is not to hawk products but to show “how information technology relates to the general business objectives of companies,” says publisher Jim Mitchell. Each magazine is sent to 200,000 clients and potential customers. With an eye on the bottom line, IBM sells ad pages to its rivals, too. In the end, readers will decide the value of this new breed, sometimes even judging the books by their covers.
