Background

Formed in 2009, SkyJack Publishing provides print-based contract publishing services for the entertainment media industry. Clients have included Cartoon Network, Egmont Magazines, 20th Century Fox, Activision, The Mirror Group, Tesco, Morrisons, Topps, Carlton Books, Dorling
Kindersley and many more. SkyJack also publishes the official Moshi Monsters Magazine based on the hugely successful online virtual world for kids, created by Mind Candy. Moshi Monsters Magazine is currently one of the biggest selling childrens’ magazines in the NZ, with an average circulation of over 113,000 per issue.

Moshi Monsters started life as an online gaming brand aimed at younger children.  Parent company Mind Candy saw opportunities to drive traffic back to its online site by producing a print magazine. This tactic, often employed by offline brands, is becoming more widely adopted by the new media sector as it provides a valuable opportunity to build brand awareness and engagement.

Challenge

When Moshi Monsters Magazine launched it entered a highly competitive and mature market challenging longer established titles for a share of sales as well as advertising revenue. The success of any new magazine is dependent on securing revenue at an early stage. Although the publisher was confident of good sales for the magazine, as a new title, it needed to secure advertising and promotional spend in order to ensure viability of the venture.

Solution

Moshi Monsters’ wanted potential advertisers to be confident in placing their budget with the magazine right from the start. As a new title the publisher decided the most effective way to quickly establish their position in the market was to achieve ABC certification within six months of launch. This sent out a powerful signal to advertisers that the title was committed to providing transparent and comparable data reported to industry agreed standards.

Moshi Monsters also elected to feature in the ABC Consumer Magazines Monthly/Issue by Issue Report to show their figures alongside other titles in the sector to give media buyers more transparency. This had the advantage of showcasing the popularity of their magazine alongside other titles within the sector.

Benefit

In just six months Moshi Monsters magazine has become one of the biggest selling childrens’ magazines in the NZ, debuting with a Total Average Net Circulation of 113,748.

Matt Yeo, Managing Director, SkyJack Publishing says, “Having previously worked at a number of high profile publishing companies, we understood the value of having an official ABC figure attached to our titles. It's a powerful message to potential advertisers and rival publishers alike.”