Scott McDonald: How the Golden Age of Magazines Shaped Brand Marketing

A History of Marketing / Episode 48 The Advertising Research Foundation's President & CEO shares insights from a career in market research and the publishing industry This week, I’m joined by Scott McDonald, who spent three decades in the research trenches of America’s biggest magazine publishers before becoming president of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), an organization now celebrating its 90th year of trying to separate marketing science from marketing spin. Scott led consumer research departments during the Golden Age of Magazines. His insights helped launch Martha Stewart Living, tripled The New Yorker’s subscription price, and he saw the internet disrupt the business model he’d spent years optimizing. Along the way, he picked up insights that still resonate. Including: The Strength of Weak Ties: How a core sociological concept explains networking and provides a framework for go-to-market efforts. The Power of Print: Why Steve Jobs insisted that every new Mac launch campaign include an ad in Time Magazine. Cultivating Authentic Brands: Behind-the-scenes stories of using qualitative focus groups when launching Martha Stewart Living. Scientific Marketing via the ARF: Including the empirical rule that cutting your share of voice during a recession will reliably cost you market share. Learn more at marketinghistory.org Researched and hosted by Andrew Mitrak