ANOTHER LOOK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100520027-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: May 4, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/07/25: CIA-RDP88-01314R0001
iJ WSWEEK
4 MAY 1970
Another Look of which Look is the flagship. "The multi- the ml
million-circulation magazine just didn't' It fast year, it remains, by general con-
.! The furious circulation war waged by have the strong appeal for advertisers it' scut, it better editorial product than was'
Look, Lift' anti The Saturday livening 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 plow program." magazine executive put it this way:
to an end last week. One year after the - Perhaps. But Look's decision to cut "They're in some trouble, but I certainly'
demise of the Pctst, Look announced back circulation was not entirely voltin- '. 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
oil which, of course, its advertising rates the Cowles empire of late -has been a V and publishing executives agree with
are based-from the 7,750,000 subscrib- continuing attack by Rep. Fred Rooney Whatmore that Look has made a smart
ets the magazine now claims to 6.5 mil- a Pennsylvania Democrat, on Look's move. "We had been considering this ur-
'ion. Iiencefrn'th. Look will try to conccn- door-to-door sales of what are known as ban-concentration approach in - 1,967,"
trate its diminished circulation in the 60 ? paid-during-service subscriptions (P1)S). Whatmore Insists, "Then the Post tried it.
most profitable urban markets in Ameri- 'Their salesmen will tell housewives ineptly and out of desperation and died.
ca. Subscription renewals from rural read- they'll be getting Look for 7 cents it week So we put it on the back burner. We
ers will no longer be sought, although for 50 weeks when the actual cost is were aware that some people thought
they will still be accepted. "The nun- double that," claims one rival' magazine a cutback in circulation carried the kiss
hers game is over," declared Gardner vice president, "Or spyin~~~etimcs, they'll of death with it. But we re-examined
Cowles, founder and chairman of the simply stay in the hoasIi itil the house- our program and found that, in fact, the
board of Cowles C*munications,..Ine.. wife, beaten down, will purchase a him- notion wasn't justified."
over at 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 con- marketing, the magazine can assure an:
plaint against Cowles and three other 'advertiser that his message will reach"
,publishers,* Look had scant choice but to the affluent audience he wants. "We've
,renounce 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 auras 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 Carry 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-
ed Look to present a new program to evision head-to-head for the advertis-
advertisers. This past year Cowles an- ing dollar. With its circulation of 8.5 mil-
nounced the closing of The Suffolk Still, 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 it National,
mially. 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-co)or 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-,
the magazine was in court last Week de- '. lief that mass magazines now offer better,
.fending itself against a $12.5 million advertising showcases than television.,
libel suit by San Francisco Mayor Joseph ' "We feel that TV is suffering from clut-
jAlioto. Alioto's suit was prompted by a ter," says Valk, "Several years ago, TV
piece written by two young reporters, ' went from 60-second spots to 30-second
Lance Brisson and Richard Carlson, " spots. We question the ability of the'
a half dozen Mafia figures. To support this argument, Valk points
To some observers, Look's difficulties to a sixteen-month survey taken by Life,'
seemed painfully analogous -to those of Look and the Reader's Digest in con
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 magi-
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-
twecn 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,
for both Life and Look."
"The FTC, which hits been investigating maua- Even so, Valk concedes that Life's vie
zinc sales uhr,Nex ahrce last simmer, is expected
dnInls within the next left tort' in the numbers war could yet prove
to issue formal con
1
g
'/C .tblys o~:aisl poor ounce puhiisherq and their to be a Pyrrhic one. "If Look seems ini
:1'!)S xulart~llurlos. Thn annpanics are (:awlex
?
Time Inc., tin iiearst Corp. rind Yerftwt lulu 411141 trouble to everyone," ho says "Ithen we'-
Chondcul (:oryt? which operates the; subscription 1
apt circulation subsidiaries of Iho Curtis Publish- at Life will have a lot of questions to all-
ing Cu,. It., formal complaint which is on Inane- ' swer 'about the viability of our own I
ttnn' tr ' ot?asn and, dos st," is the strongest sctlon
the IN ran tnkm_. product."
__,...... ,, w . . ,.. _.. i
Approved For Release 2006/07/25: CIA-RDP88-01314R000100520027-9