Nothing against the company Simpson, but I honestly hate with a passion the thick inserts that make magazines hard to read. I looked closer at the one in the April issue, and if I try to take it out, it appears that I'll destroy the magazine.
GRM is 202 pages, why can't that ad be kept within those pages?
I hate the glued in magazine ads, but at least those are less intrusive.
Please don't do that- it distracts from the advertiser for me, anyway. I would throw it away.
Yes, I hated that insert too, eventually I said screw it and ripped it out. I'm sure that Simpson probably paid a premium for that but please try to talk anybody else out of doing that again
Pretty please?
Oh...didn't know the April issue came out yet. That's the Challenge issue, isn't it?
In reply to Pat:
yes. the ad makes it hard to thumb though the end of it + I think the rollerskate article- it flips to the ad so fast.
Alfa, I got mine today. If you pull ever so gently it will come out without tearing the spine of the magazine. Worse case, get out the pocket knife.
OT: GRM has changed a lot since purchasing CM or whatever the Brit magazine was and light years from what it was prior. It's kinda OK, not the homespun GRM I like but heck, nobody asked me.
When you branch out, get successful, this comes with the territory I suppose.
Dan
I considered posting about that one myself. I tore a couple of pages of the magazine when I was trying to get it out. I never read those things. I generally stand over the trash with new magazines and tear them all out. Sorry.
Almost created a brand new thread to complain about this. It drives me nuts. I hate when I'm flipping through a magazine and any insert of a different thickness sticks out too much. If you absolutely MUST have inserts like this, at least perforate them so that they can be easily removed. Sure I can do this with a razor, but it's too easy to destroy adjacent pages.
I took that insert out too. Tried to be careful and still ended up tearing a page but its still better than that stupid insert. The whole time I was thinking "I hope GRM never does THIS again".
Seems to me Simpson would have been better off with a full page ad since I would probably see it whenever I picked up the mag again for reference.
Guys, if you let us make a living, we won't have to go get real jobs and give up on GRM. Every Tuesday every one of my staff members wants a check and sometimes, just like in the real world, they ask for raises, so they can feed their kids.
Look at who writes the stories and what they are about. It's still the same old gang. We haven't sold out to the evil overlords. Once in a while we run an insert, but not usually.
Also, bitch about this topic on any other magazine message board (if they have one) and let me know if the owner responds and apologizes.
By the way, Simpson makes good stuff. Why don't you check it out, since they spent the money to show it to you. Also, by the way, we added pages and lowered the ad/edit ratio so you now get more and an insert doesn't take up pages that we used to cover the $2010 Challenge.
See.... the glass is half full, not half empty.
Thanks for the personal post. MOST mags would wait until the next issue in a letter to the editor section.
At least it was from Simpson, what if it were a "male enhancement" pop up?
FWIW, I didn't even notice the insert. I thumbed through the magazine once, then loaned it out to a friend who I'm trying to interest in the challenge.
Tim Suddard wrote:Guys, if you let us make a living, we won't have to go get real jobs and give up on GRM. Every Tuesday every one of my staff members wants a check and sometimes, just like in the real world, they ask for raises, so they can feed their kids.
Look at who writes the stories and what they are about. It's still the same old gang. We haven't sold out to the evil overlords. Once in a while we run an insert, but not usually.
Also, bitch about this topic on any other magazine message board (if they have one) and let me know if the owner responds and apologizes.
By the way, Simpson makes good stuff. Why don't you check it out, since they spent the money to show it to you. Also, by the way, we added pages and lowered the ad/edit ratio so you now get more and an insert doesn't take up pages that we used to cover the $2010 Challenge.
See.... the glass is half full, not half empty.
But to be fair, go to the Simpson exec and ask them if they'd rather run an ad that's gonna piss off consumers to the point where they rip it out, or an ad that's arguably less attention getting, but will be left in the magazine and viewed every time I turn past it?
NO ONE LIKES INSERTS THAT ARE A DIFFERENT DENSITY THEN THE REST OF THE PAGES. IT MAKES FLIPPING THROUGH PAGES A PITA.
The first thing I always do with a new magazine, is go through and tear out all the subscription cards. What advertiser wants me to do the same with their ads? I already know Simpson makes good stuff. I don't think anyone in this thread is questioning that. We simply hate the presentation.
Hell, even if you're going to use ads that are a different density, at least give us perforations.
Those inserts are almost always supplied by the advertiser, so we don't have any control over density or perforations.
Margie
Tim and Marjorie,
Thanks for the direct response. This level of communication would never happen at other places. It is highly appreciated! Why GRM is the only subscription I have had for several years now.
The Simpson insert irritates me. I understand the how, why and $$$$ behind it. I did not like it but I then told my self "hay get over it!". Considering what I actually pay per issue (I have a 10 year scrip) I am surprised that there are not more of these.
Dean, I totally understand you. Honestly, there's a lot of stuff I'd prefer not to have to put in the magazine--sub cards, ads, pictures of J.G. in women's wear--but the reality of publishing a consumer magazine get in the way of our ultimate 'zine dreams sometimes. And never underestimate the foolishness that large advertising agencies will demand. "Mad Men" aside, they tend to wear me out.
Margie
TRoglodyte wrote:"male enhancement" pop up?
Interesting choice of words....
Tim Suddard wrote:Guys, if you let us make a living, we won't have to go get real jobs and give up on GRM. Every Tuesday every one of my staff members wants a check and sometimes, just like in the real world, they ask for raises, so they can feed their kids.
Look at who writes the stories and what they are about. It's still the same old gang. We haven't sold out to the evil overlords. Once in a while we run an insert, but not usually.
Also, bitch about this topic on any other magazine message board (if they have one) and let me know if the owner responds and apologizes.
By the way, Simpson makes good stuff. Why don't you check it out, since they spent the money to show it to you. Also, by the way, we added pages and lowered the ad/edit ratio so you now get more and an insert doesn't take up pages that we used to cover the $2010 Challenge.
See.... the glass is half full, not half empty.
Random not on topic at all, but a co worker of mine and I had a contest. Her Oprah Magazine, vs. my copy of GRM. GRM had a far better content to ad ratio than Oprah does. I forget the statistics, but I actually sat and counted a couple hundred pages of magazine to share that with you guys.
My Simpson insert is being used as a place marker 
ps. if advertisers start building pre-perforated place markers into magazines I want a piece of the action!
"And never underestimate the foolishness that large advertising agencies will demand. "
No E36 M3.
Having spent more time than I really care to admit in advertising, the most baffling thing about the whole racket is that utter lack of good sense and basic psychology.
Walk into a room full of ad people and suggest that maybe, just maybe, step one should be not pissing off potential customers and you'll be met with nothing but blank stares and hostility.
And so you get popovers, popunders, inserts, flash ads, you private information being bought and sold and a million other shady practices.
And it doesn't work. They think it works because they're "Getting your attention" but the numbers say otherwise. If I come to your party, drink all your liquor, hit on your wife and tell your brother why I think he's gay, you'd remember me, but you wouldn't want to be my friend.
What works is what GRM normally tries to do: put ads in contextually, near similiar stories, so if you're interested in one, you have a good chance of being interested in the other.
Tim Baxter wrote: What works is what GRM normally tries to do: put ads in contextually, near similiar stories, so if you're interested in one, you have a good chance of being interested in the other.
+1
JG and I do the placement of the ads---it takes about 2 hours and gives the advertising and graphic departments a chance to 'craft' the magazine so that it appeases the advertisers, keeps the readers happy and fits ten pounds of E36 M3 into a five pound bag. If we're lucky, we don't even get into too many arguments.
Tim Baxter wrote:They think it works because they're "Getting your attention" but the numbers say otherwise. If I come to your party, drink all your liquor, hit on your wife and tell your brother why I think he's gay, you'd remember me, but you wouldn't want to be my friend.
This is the most succinct description of advertising in the new millennium I have seen yet. Believe me when I tell you I'm in a position to know.
