COMAG

COMAG is a magazine marketing and distribution company, responsible for

· Carrying out market research into target markets – Finding out their interests, background, hobbies, etc Also responsible for monitoring their reaction to special offers and content of the magazine

· Carrying out marketing for various magazines including creating TV adverts, web adverts, promotions, running social networking fan groups for the magazines in its portfolio, contacting readers via email / text to encourage them to purchase the magazine

· Distributing the magazines in their portfolio from the publishers to the warehouses / shops

COMAG was set up as a joint venture by Hearst UK (Natmags) and Conde Nast. Part owning this company gives Hearst UK and Conde Nast an advantage over other magazine companies as they do not have to pay an outside company to do their marketing and distribution. They can carry out these activities “internally” saving them money and time.

Around 10 years ago, COMAG took an existing technology called EDP (Electronic Data Processing and developed it even further. EDP is a technology which allows data to be stored and recorded in items such as barcodes and credit card strips. The purpose of this is so that when an item is scanned at a shop, COMAG can use EDP to monitor the other items that a customer purchases with it. If the customer uses a credit card, the company can also monitor details about the customer such as their age, address, gender, salary etc.. This technology has helped COMAG carry out extensive audience research, finding out what the readers of the magazines are like, and helps the publishers like Hearst UK target their magazines at their audiences in a more powerful way