Advancing the Issue

Catherine Viscardi Johnston is executive vice president in charge of sales and marketing for the New York-based Conde Nast Group, publisher of Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ and 12 other magazines. Johnston, who was recently promoted to that position, is the highest-ranking woman at Conde Nast, a unit of New York-based Advance Publications.

In her 20 years at the company, she has held various positions, including publisher of Mademoiselle and senior vice president of group marketing. Johnston, 44, is a member of a management team that has engineered a financial turnaround at the company, which lost millions in the early 1990s. That team was assembled by Steve Florio, who became president of the publishing giant in 1994. Johnston now oversees one of the largest and most successful magazine marketing operations in the country. Conde Nast this year is expected to generate nearly $1 billion in advertising sales--an all-time high.

Under Johnston, the company is building a marketing database from its subscriber list--a move other major magazine groups have already made. Johnston will also play a role in deciding whether the company will regularly publish a magazine on personal finance, a crowded and highly competitive publishing niche. Known for developing promotional partnerships with advertisers, the company is co-sponsoring celebrations commemorating the 25th anniversary of Rodeo Drive’s merchants association.

Times staff writer George White discussed the company’s marketing plans and recent advertising controversies with Johnston when she visited Los Angeles recently. What follows is an edited transcript.

Q. Advertisers are obsessed with targeting consumers according to specific demographic characteristics. Where does your database fit in?

A. We’re developing [subscriber] profiles with information on where they live, their occupation, their education, their family situation, their age, income, what their residence is like, what kind of car they have and information on product usage. We’ll spend $10 million in the next three years to append information to our database. The database is proprietary.

Very few research companies have a database of very upscale buyers. This is an elusive group because they don’t often sit in focus groups to answer surveys. We began to develop a database from our subscriber files about a year ago. I feel a real responsibility to help [advertisers] understand their customers. If I’m doing my job, I can sit down with an advertiser and say, “I know more about your customers than you do and I know more about the competitors’ customers than you do. And I’m going to help you without compromising anybody.” We don’t sell [the information] to anyone. And we don’t overuse it.

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Q. What are you doing to gather information about your subscribers?

A. We mailed a questionnaire to 6,000 of our subscribers probing for their attitudes and purchase behaviors regarding all kinds of luxury watches. We gave them an incentive to respond--a chance to win a luxury watch. For example, we asked, “Do you own a watch valued at $1,000 or more?” We asked them to agree or disagree with statements such as: “My watch is the most important piece of jewelry I own.” About 73% of the luxury watch owners said “yes” and 56% of the non-luxury watch owners said “yes.” Overall, we had a 30% response rate--which is excellent.

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Q. Besides developing a subscriber database, what else are you doing to attract advertisers? Developing ad campaigns for them?

A. Yes. For example, [Levi Strauss Co.’s] Dockers really wanted to reach the younger customer--Generation X. So we went out and found this organization called Fuel, a consortium of independent film directors. Fuel has a film festival that travels the country. We went out and found people who were starring in some of these films, took photos of them wearing Dockers and included them in an ad campaign for the manufacturer.

In turn, we [Levi and Conde Nast] are helping Fuel finance this film festival. We’re also finding other people to help them underwrite the film festival.

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Q. Some of your innovations involving advertisers have been controversial. A “Businesses to Watch” supplement caused a stir because some believed you were trying to disguise advertisements as news features. Can you explain what you’re trying to do?

A. One of our divisions is American City Business Journals. They’re local newspapers about local issues for local businesses. Of the 70 [journals], 35 are owned by Conde Nast, and we have licensing agreements with the rest.

We sold advertising for a Vanity Fair October issue on the “new establishment”--important people to watch in the in U.S. industry. We did profiles [on those advertisers] and inserted them in issues of American City Business Journals.

The profiles appeared as a supplement to American City Business Journals. It was done in a way that made it very clear that it was paid advertising. I think there was some controversy; but if something has some value, readers will read it. If it doesn’t have value, readers won’t read it.

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Q. There was also some controversy about a letter Chrysler Corp. sent some months ago to Conde Nast--and some other magazine publishers--asking for advance notice of editorial content.

A. I have very passionate feelings about this. Chrysler sent a letter not too long ago to all magazine companies that carry their ads asking to be informed ahead of time if there is to be anything controversial in an issue so that they could decide whether to run an ad.

That’s their right. But it was misinterpreted as being a demand by Chrysler to dictate to editors what they should and should not print in their magazines. That’s not what they’re doing. [Chrysler, under pressure from other magazine publishers, announced Tuesday it was changing its policy and would no longer require advance notice of stories.]

If an advertiser were to ask us to remove an article, we would say, “We like having you as an advertiser--but no.” Our advertisers know that when they buy into Vanity Fair, they also buy into controversy. Vanity Fair’s known for bringing up controversial subjects. Advertisers know they’re taking a bit of a risk, but they like the environment overall.

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Q. You just became one of several publishers to launch a sports magazine for women. Now you’re talking about a personal finance publication--an even more competitive arena.

A. We recently conducted a major study on how Americans feel about finance, the stock market and financial advisors. When we received all this information, we decided to use it to develop a magazine. We’re now developing that new magazine, and in April it will be bound together with each of the other [Conde Nast] magazines that are delivered to subscribers. It will be called Conde Nast Capital. It’ll be probably a 100-page magazine with financial advertising, some online advertisers and probably a few automotive advertisers. If it’s successful, we’ll consider publishing it regularly.

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Q. Magazine publishers are spinning off products in hopes of cashing in on well-known brand names. Meredith Corp., for example, licenses the Better Homes & Gardens name to retail garden centers. What are you doing to leverage your brand names?

A. We have been very careful about licensing our magazine titles to any product for a couple of reasons. One, we don’t want to dilute the editorial power of the property. And second, we don’t want to compete with our advertisers. However, we are considering launching a line of sunglasses. It would be the first time that we’ve ever licensed our name for any product.

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Q. You’re the highest-ranking woman at Conde Nast, where men dominate the business side. Do you see yourself as a role model?

A. It has become very clear to me over the last year or so that I am a role model. On the editorial side, our company has been very female-driven. On the business side, however, it’s been primarily men. That’s not by intent or design, and it’s changing. The business side is very demanding, but I think women are realizing that you can have a life and have an ambition and drive. I have a husband and two children as well as a terrific career. Hopefully, that sends a message to the women in our company. If you are energetic and creative and driven in your ability to deliver, you will succeed. But it’s also important that women see me enjoy this work. If it’s not fun, I’m not a good role model.

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Glad Mags

One of Conde Nast Group’s 15 magazines, Vogue, ranked ninth on a monthly list of magazines categorized according to advertising revenues. Top 10 magazines in September ranked by advertising dollars:

Rank: 1

Publication: People Weekly

Publisher: Time Inc.

Ad revenue, in millions: $65.7

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 18.4%

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Rank: 2

Publication: TV Guide

Publisher: News Corp.

Ad revenue, in millions: $51.7

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 14.5%

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Rank: 3

Publication: Sports Illustrated

Publisher: Time Inc.

Ad revenue, in millions: $50.5

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 14.1%

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Rank: 4

Publication: Time

Publisher: Time Inc.

Ad revenue, in millions: $48.9

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 11.9%

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Rank: 5

Publication: Newsweek

Publisher: Washington Post Co.

Ad revenue, in millions: $40.5

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: --0.1%

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Rank: 6

Publication: Better Homes & Gardens

Publisher: Meredith Corp.

Ad revenue, in millions: $33.0

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 9.7%

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Rank: 7

Publication: BusinessWeek

Publisher: McGraw Hill

Ad revenue, in millions: $32.9

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 1.2%

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Rank: 8

Publication: PC Magazine

Publisher: Ziff-Davis Inc.

Ad revenue, in millions: $29.1

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: --4.5%

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Rank: 9

Publication: Vogue

Publisher: Conde Nast Group

Ad revenue, in millions: $28.1

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 18.0%

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Rank: 10

Publication: Woman’s Day

Publisher: ACP Publishing

Ad revenue, in millions: $24.8

Percent chg. from Sept. ‘96: 18.0%

Source: Magazine Publishers of America

Researched by JENNIFER OLDHAM / Los Angeles Times