With Australians torn over immigration issues this week, a good news story from the nation's foremost social enterprise magazine. The Big Issue posted the biggest readership gain of any Australian title in the Roy Morgan Readership Survey. Jumping 75% to reach 227,000 readers every fortnight, The Big Issue attributes the massive increase to its healthy circulation (its street vendors sell an average of 30,213 copies a fortnight) and a strategic marketing campaign executed pro-bono by Melbourne agency The Blue Group.
"Before we started working with The Blue Group in 2009 we were asked the question, Do vendors need help from advertising? And the answer has been a resounding yes," says the magazine's media relations and online consultant Danielle Bombardieri. "As a result of outdoor billboards, TV and various marketing activity throughout last two years, we are now reaching 227,000 Australians every fortnight."
But at $5 a fortnight ($2.50 a week) compared with $4.70 for your weekly copy of Who or $7.95 for BRW, you've got to wonder if Aussies are being a bit tight when it comes to shilling out for their own copy of the magazine. For every one copy sold there are 7.5 readers.
Considering half the cover price goes into the pockets of homeless or disadvantaged vendors, some who've recently put all their earnings into funds for flood victims, while subscriptions help to support the Women's Enterprise Centre, Community Street Soccer Program and The Big Issue Classroom, perhaps the next campaign – featuring friends of The Big Issue Josh Thomas, Jimeoin and Paul McDermott – can run with the slogan, "Buy your own bloody copy"?
Check out The Big Issue's Facebook page, or sign up for a subscription here.
P.S. TV networks, how about a show based on this magazine?
Girl With a Satchel
1 comments:
Always buy the latest Big Issue from my vendor. Sometimes I think it lacks the sparkle of other mags and the writing it could hold up given it's a fortnightly but I appreciate the fortnight's timelag is hard to juggle in the publishing world. It's a great read, all round, and a great project.
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