Contract publishing boosted by findings from Henley Centre

New research published by The Henley Centre has given a boost to

the image of customer publishing with the finding that 70 per cent of UK

consumers are regular readers of titles in the category.

The research, which was commissioned by Omnicom's customer publishing

arm, Redwood, tried to establish whether spending patterns were affected

by the content of companies' contract titles. More than half of those

describing themselves as regular readers of customer magazines recalled

buying specific items as a direct result of reading about them. This

figure rose to 70 per cent within the retail sector and 85 per cent in

the home improvement area.

A further 46 per cent of respondents said that reading a customer

magazine had improved their impression of a company, while 71 per cent

agreed that the existence of a title reinforced the image of a

successful operation.

"The customer magazine sector has always suffered from the chicken and

egg problem," Andrew Curry, The Henley Centre's associate director for

media and new media, said. "Companies didn't know whether customer

magazines improved sales or whether the best customers were more likely

to read the magazines. We have demonstrated for the first time that

customer magazines drive loyalty and improve spending behaviour."

The research was carried out across a survey of 1,504 respondents and

dealt with customer attitudes to more than 100 contract titles.

This article was first published on Campaign