A Healthy Brand

The Ad-Edit Conflict

Of course, as with any plan, the primary challenge is sticking to it. Gerasimo concedes that she occasionally feels the push and pull of what she terms “the conventional forces of publishing,” namely advertising. In publishing circles, the relationship between advertising and editorial departments is generally described as one of “healthy tension.” Sales staffs, naturally, want to pump a publication full of advertising revenue with the fewest possible restrictions. Editors, meanwhile, typically strive to ensure that the credibility of the editorial product isn’t compromised by contradictory ad messages, or articles that are clearly motivated by a need to support advertiser aims, not enlighten readers.

In reality, however, the ad-edit tension is often unhealthy, and the relationship is lopsided in favor of advertising. “Trustworthiness was the one element that I saw missing from a lot of magazines,” Gerasimo says. “They had different masters to please, which were all their advertisers. They’d create all this supportive editorial for protein powers and diets and things and, as a result, they weren’t really serving their reader, which is an editor’s job.”

Experience Life, conversely, differs from conventional magazines in that it isn’t totally dependent on advertising dollars. The magazine continues to be subsidized, in part, by the Life Time marketing budget. Gerasimo credits this hybrid model, along with strong and sustained support from Akradi and other Life Time executives, for enabling her and the Experience Life sales team to maintain that increasingly elusive healthy tension.

Consider, for example, the September/October 2003 issue of the magazine, which included a short article titled “Saying No to Soda,” which discussed why drinking too much soda is unhealthy. Also in that issue: a full-page ad for Diet Coke. No doubt, Coca-Cola is a powerhouse brand, which also happened to have a longstanding business and sponsorship relationship with Life Time Fitness. “Alienating Coca-Cola was not a comfortable notion,” says Gerasimo, who nonetheless lobbied to omit any of Coke’s soda ads from future issues.

“The problem is that if I’m writing on page 3 that a certain thing could be bad for their health, and an ad contradicting that appears later, readers will see us as disingenuous,” she explains. “And not only is the whole proposal of the magazine as authentic and credible and trustworthy down the tubes, but that negative impression transfers to the larger brand. Consumers see you as being willing to sell them out to make a buck. We should not sell ourselves down the river in the interests of a $10,000 ad, if it’s going to put the larger brand proposition in danger.”

Ultimately, publisher and advertiser settled on a tentative agreement in which the magazine accepts ads for Coca-Cola’s other beverages, including Dasani bottled water, sport drinks, and juices. “I think it does a good thing for that company and for our readers,” Gerasimo says.