ANOTHER LOOK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100470016-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: May 4, 1970
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2005/01/w/111 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000
MAY 1970
,1 Another Look of which Look is the flagship. "The multi- the magazine ecorc a only a s urn pro -
million-circulation magazine just didn't it last year, it remains, by general con-
Tim furious circulation war waged by have the strong appeal for advertisers it' sent, it better editorial product than was-
Look, Life and The Saturday Evening used to. So we had to come tip with a the Post before its fall. One New York
Post for more than a decade finally came 11ew program." magazine executive put it this wary:,
to an end last tvc ek, One wean after the - Perhaps. But Look's decision to cut "They're in some trouble, but I certainly.
demise of the Post, Look announced back circulation was not entirely volun- '. don't foresee their end."
that it was cutting back its circulation- tary, Among the woes that have beset Smart Move: In fact, many advertising
on which, of course, its act crtisin~r-, rates (lie Cowles empire of late has been a and publishing executives agree with
are based-lieu the 7,750,000 sui'scril).continuing attack by Rep. Fred Rooney Whatmore that Look has made a smart
V V
cis the magazine now claims to 6.5 mil- a Pennsylvania Democrat, on Look's move. "We had been considering this ur-
lion, henceforth, Look will try to concen- door-to-door sales of what are known as ban-concentration approach in ' 1967,"
(rate Its diminished circulation in the 60 paid-during-service subscriptions (PUS). Whatmoro insists. "Then the Post tried it.
most pprofitable urban markets in Ameri- "Their salesmen will tell housewives ineptly and out of desperation and died.
ea, Sutiseripticni renewals from rural read- they'll be getting Look for 7 cents at week So we put it on the back burner. We
ers will no longer be sou ht, although for 50 weeks when the actual cost is were aware that some people thought
they will still be acce ited. "The num. double that," claims one rival' magazine a cutback in circulation carried the kiss
hers game is over "" declared Gardner vice president. "Or syy~)l,ctianes, they'll -of death with it. lint we re-examined
=rd' es, founder and c)tairman of the .1 simply stay in the hour 'lsi itil the house- our program and found that, in fact, the
Cowles .Qommunications.:?Ino,. I wife, beaten down, will purchase a hurt., notion wasn't justified."
drcd dollars worth of various magazines '. Whatmoro admits that Look can't corn
over a five-year period." ; pete with television in terms of numbers,'
Between the Rooney investigation but he believes that with its newly fo-,
and the reportedly impending issuance cused subscription list and computerized,
of a Federal Trade Commission com- marketing, the magazine can assure an.
plaint against Cowles and three other advertiser that his message will reach'
publishcrs,* Look had scant choice but to the affluent audience he wants. "We've
irenounce PDS and the circulation that ' canvassed the world of advertising," he:
'came with it. "We've accelerated our says, "and our move has been unani-
plans to concentrate on urban areas be- - mously applauded." Richard Jones, me-.
cause of the PDS dispute," concedes dia director for the J. Walter Thompson
Marvin Whatmore, president of Cowles. - agency, agrees: "To many advertisers
Says Garry Valk, publisher of Life: who want to concentrate on urban mar-
"They're making the best of a bad thing." kets," says Jones, "this new program
Malaise: Its troubles with PDS were should make Look more attractive."
by no means the only thing that prompt- Life, however, continues to battle tel-
(? advertisers. This past year Cowles an- lug dollar. With its circulation of 8.5 mil-
nounced the closing of The Suffolk Sun, lion, a full-page color ad in Life costs.
a Long Island daily that was losing, by at $64,200, or about what it costs to buy a;-
least one estimate, some $5 million an- minute of TV time during a National,
nually. The Sun joined Education News, Football League game. (Because of its!
Insider's Newsletter, Accent on Leisure, diminished circulation, Look has now re-'
and Quick and Flair in the morgue of duced its cost for a full-color page from.
failed Cowles projects. And to add to the $55,500 to $48,500.) The major reason
atmosphere of malaise surrounding Look, for Life's boldness is publisher Valk's be-,
fending Itself against a $12.5 million
libel suit by San Francisco Mayor Joseph
Alioto. Alioto's suit was prompted by a
piece written by two young reporters,
Lance Brisson and Richard Carlson,
which alleged that the mayor had tics to
a half dozen Mafia figures.
To soinc observers, Look's difficulties
"We feel that TV is suffering from clut-
the defunct Saturday Evening Post- junction with General Foods, which
which shortly before it closed down cut '.seemed to indicate that products sold
its subscriber list and lost $760,000 in better when advertised in both maga-
libel suits to University of Alabama foot- zines and television than they did when
ball coach Paul (Bear) Bryant and Uni- advertised solely on television. "The',
versity of Georgia grid coach Wally competition between Look and Life has
Butts. But the apparent analogies be- been overplayed," contends the publish-
tween Look and The Saturday Evening er of Life. "Our biggest battle has been a,
Post are misleading. Lqok has not been ? common one-to attract the advertising
beset by the management problems dollar away from TV. If we can get that,:
that so damaged the Post and,. while there will-be plenty of advertising money
*The FTC, which has boon lnvustii ndnq mnt a Even so, Valk concedes that Life's vic-'
zlno auks abases xincu last summer, is expected
la Issue formal anoplahits within the next ten tory in the numbers war could yet prove'
,days ag, h,sl four major publishers and their to be a Pyrrhic one. "If Look seems int
P15 sulrnidiarh'r. The companies are Cowles ?
Time inc., the hearst Corp. nod Perfect i'iim awl . trouble to everyone," lie says, "then we
Chemical Corp.. which onoratcs the Imiracril'tion
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ter," says Valk. "Several years ago, TV;
went from 60-second spots to 30-second-
spots. We question the ability of the
viewer to retain all those messages."
To support this argument, Valk points
to a sixteen-month survey taken by Life,'
Look and the Reader's Digest in con-