The final week of summer is upon us and I imagine lots of folks are squeezing in one last chance for vacation before we get ready for the fall and holiday season. Coincidentally, this time of year of also happens to be prime time advertising season. Many advertisers are launching ad campaigns across the board in magazines, on the web, TV and radio that tie in with the back to school season, fall fashion and the looming of the holiday shopping season. In fact, I saw an article in the New York Times last week about the September 2007 edition of Vogue magazine, which clocked in at a record 727 advertising pages. I had to do a double take to make sure my eyes were in focus and sure enough the cover touted it as the largest page count (840 total pages) in the history of Vogue. That’s like a phone book full of fashion ads.

Needless to say magazine advertising for the fashion industry is alive and well. My next project is to further investigate how Prada, Ralph Lauren and Anne Taylor are positioning their new lines on Web and more importantly determine how they are using affiliate and online performance marketing to compliment their magazine ad campaigns.

In addition, there was a new report focused on the continued resilience of old media such as magazines and newspapers. According to the report more than three-quarters of the respondents said they would rather read a printed version of a magazine even if they could get the same information online. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the respondents indicated they paid more attention to print ads compared to ads they see on the Internet.

Reports like this are music to the ears of magazine advertising departments that continue need to stay sharp as an increasing number of advertisers continue to migrate to the Web.

Here at Revenue we continue to develop innovative ways to both enhance and synchronize our ad placements in the magazine and online in order to maximize the effectiveness in terms of branding and direct response. Share your thoughts if you have any preferences when it comes to advertising in magazines vs. the Web.

And finally, here is the recently published editorial calendar for the November/December 2007 edition of Revenue.