Global Wandering

Two newspapers arrive at my doorstep; my little Idaho town’s paper, which is delivered five days a week, and the Sunday New York Times, which comes on Sunday one-third of the time, on Monday another third of the time due to bad weather, and the rest of the time it doesn’t come at all because the newspaper boy forgets to deliver it. I appear to be the only person in the entire town that subscribes to the New York Times so I suppose this forgetfulness is understandable. I’m just amazed they deliver it to me at all. I was incredulous when the NYT called to offer home delivery. I signed up, but assumed there was a misunderstanding and the paper would come by Pony Express ten days after publication. But they were right. Occasionally, the current edition of the NYT lands on my porch on Sunday mornings. Granted, it never contains late breaking news because they print it on Friday, but that’s what blogs are for.

One of my oddball pastimes is to page through magazines in order to figure out the demographic profile of their target reader. Sometimes the difference between two magazines is striking.

Compare, for example, the advertisements found in American Profile magazine, a weekly insert in our local paper, with the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

Food
American Profile: Bush's Homestyle Chile, Milk-Bone Dog Biscuits
NYT Magazine: illy Espresso Coffee

Fashion
NYT Magazine: Searle designer clothes
American Profile: The World’s First Expandable Shoe

Home Décor
NYT Magazine: rochebobois paris “les contemporains” collection
American Profile: First Ever Thomas Kinkade Illuminated Christmas Tree

Personal Fitness
NYT Magazine: Brooke Siler’s latest book, Pilates Body Challenge
American Profile: Hear What Your Missing Discreet Listening Device

Travel
NYT Magazine: Club Med, Holland America Line European Cruise
American Profile: Pay for a vacation using the $500 Grand Prize won in the Best Recipes in America contest

Alarmist Ad
NYT Magazine: Weather Channel It Could Happen Tomorrow Program, “What if a category 5 hurricane hit New York City”
American Profile: If You Go Into a Nursing Home Will Your Spouse Go Into a Poor House?

Personal Technology
NYT Magazine: Bose QuietComfort 2 Headphones
American Profile: Tracfone Prepaid Wireless Cellphone available at Walmart

Personal Escape
NYT Magazine: Porsche Caymen S
American Profile: Those Were Our Songs – Music of World World II CD Collection

Personal Investments
NYT Magazine: Northern Trust Private Bank
American Profile: Seldom Seen Silver Coins , Rarely Seen Price $9.95

I'll let you guess the obvious of who is the target reader for each.

Dorothy is a 72 year-old widow who has lived for 45 years in the same brick ranch house in Des Moines, Iowa. She sits in her robin egg blue La-Z-Boy recliner with Tizzy her poodle curled in her lap, watching eight hours of network television a day. She cries with the guests on Oprah, complains about how trashy the soaps have gotten⎯but watches them anyway⎯and writes down the 1-800 number for The Scooter Store in case the day comes when she can’t walk. She clips coupons from the local paper, eats out twice a month at Bakers Square with her friends from the senior center, and attends 9:00 AM Mass on Sunday, depositing five dollars in the collection basket. Her annual income is $27,000, made up of Social Security and her husband’s pension from the Des Moines Rubber Stamp Company. She visits her grandchildren in Chicago twice a year, and every other year takes a trip to Branson, Missouri sponsored by the senior center.

Susan is 47 year-old interior designer with two teenage sons. Her husband, Robert is a public relations executive. They live in a three bedroom Upper East Side apartment on 85th between Lexington and Park, eat out three times a week⎯usually sushi or Thai on weekdays⎯and worry about how they are going to both pay for their sons’ schooling and save for retirement. Their annual income is $350,000. The family takes an annual ski trip to Colorado over President’s Day weekend and spent three weeks touring Europe last summer. Susan has never been to Iowa. She dreams of buying a condo in Miami. They only go to church for weddings and funerals and watch less then five hours of television a week, usually The Daily Show.