Small Market Magazine Turns Profit With Events: Smaller titles are getting into event marketing, and for one Columbia, Missouri-based magazine, a recent focus on events has generated $400,000—30 percent of its annual revenue. Inside Columbia, a regional magazine with a circulation of only 12,000, has generated the impressive sum through ticket sales and local sponsorships for events such as food festivals, a speaker series, and show houses. Of the magazine's 14 staffers, one is devoted to special events. [Folio]
Industry Reflects on Comic-Con's Commercial Shift: On the eve of San Diego Comic-Con 2009, many are wondering how exactly the niche trade show became such a public spectacle, and Variety attributes responsibility to Angelina Jolie. The actress reportedly wanted to make a grand entrance to the event in 2002, when she was promoting the sequel to Tomb Raider, and though the city wouldn't approve her plans for arriving at the venue on horseback or by helicopter, she did stage a chopper stunt at the airport. The image didn't just make it onto blogs and industry Web sites, it was on the front page of the following Monday's USA Today. [Variety]
Destination Meeting Blacklist Not Government Endorsed: Venues and vendors in Las Vegas and Orlando might be grumbling about the decline in destination meetings and events in their "party city" locales, but if they're looking for the government to acknowledge its participation in the trend, they're out of luck. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel maintains that it's all about the bottom line—not perception. While addressing the issue last week, he said: "I agree that federal policy should not dictate the location where such government events are held. Our view on the issue of government travel is not focused on specific destinations, but rather on the justification for and the cost/benefit ratio of the individual exercise." [Orlando Sentinel]
British Open Stunt Scores Free Advertising: Hugo Boss got plenty of exposure during the British Open when it parked its massive—and blatantly branded—sailboat in the water just off of the golf tournament's Scottish venue. Cameras picked up images of the boat throughout the broadcast, and even in the United States, where ABC charges brands big bucks to air commercials during its broadcast, the Hugo Boss stunt was a frequent sight on American TVs. This probably isn't very pleasing to ABC, but Boss's guerrilla marketing is entirely legal. [BNET]
