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Maggie Knoll - Print Director, Senior Partner, MindShare Chicago

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Believing in Print

Maggie Knoll recently became MindShare’s first print director. "Our department head approached me to tell him the pros and cons of a print team," she says. Through research, she learned there were real advantages to the concept. "Media planning teams are more challenged in creating different solutions now. There are so many expanded channel options," she says. "Having a specialized print team gives us more knowledge of the solutions, pricing and market changes."

As print becomes digitalized and more channels of distribution evolve, " There’s so much to understand in the medium," says Knoll. Just in the first four months of the print division, MindShare has gained extensive knowledge about what publishing companies are doing in terms of cross-platform programs.

Advertising, even for a print group, isn’t as simple as buying a page in a print product. "It’s leveraging the brands...using the brands across the channels," says Knoll. Clients at MindShare believe in print, which has a specific role that works collaboratively with online channels, and "we need to understand that role. It’s the one-two punch," she says.

Debbie Solomon, senior partner and group research director at MindShare, has known Knoll for many years. "She’s a great professional, and she always does what’s best for her clients," says Solomon. "She’s dedicated to the print medium. She really loves it. They couldn’t have gotten a better person" to run the print group.

Knoll says she likes to "get on a soapbox about print." Consumers are much more savvy and selective in making their media choices. But magazines offer a loyalty base that can’t be ignored, as well as a single-minded focus. "You need one-on-one activity with the medium," says Knoll.

Knoll describes magazines as "the inspirational medium. It’s the first phase of the buying cycle." But, she says, "magazines all have their own Web sites now, so people go there to search."

Knoll’s team is responsible for more than $125 million in print and magazines, and different clients use print differently. Kimberly Clark is a strong supporter of magazines because of the "mom" target, and Sears is increasing its print support, shifting a few dollars from TV. It’s all about building that loyal base – a place where magazines currently have an advantage.

When a publisher comes calling, Knoll is looking for several crucial elements:

Ownable, creative solutions that align with the brand’s essence.
Compact, targeted ideas. "Don’t show me all your assets. Show me the idea that links back to the client," she says.
Accountability. Make sure there’s a research tool to measure success, whether it’s a call to action, response rates or attitude changes.
Flexible packaging.

When Sears launched Kenmore Pro appliances last year, MindShare created packages to run in Condé Nast’s Bon Appetit, Condé Nast Traveler, Gourmet and the Epicurious.com site. Custom inserts depicted celebrity chefs with the appliances behind them, and a custom microsite linked to Kenmore.com. A database reached out to the people who visited the sites or attended chef-studded culinary events, for backup messaging and wrap-around success.

Recipe for Success

FOR SOME REASON, when a marketing executive wins a Bill Harmon award from the Chicago Magazine Association, they have to sing for their supper. Maggie Knoll earned her first Vanguard Award (as it was known then) in 1995 and was among the first to receive this kudos, which honors nominees who support magazines or creativity in print media. Last year, she won another Harmon. As a result of this achievement, Knoll had to create a video expressing herself, her interests and why she is passionate about magazines.

She did a takeoff on the "Top Chef" TV show, because "I love cooking, which ties in to magazines because it’s all about individual tastes," she says. "Magazines offer niches that people are passionate about. It’s the same thing with cooking, whether you like to cook Italian or French."

The "Top Chef" show came out when she was working on the Sears account, which had product embedment in broadcast. Because she did print planning for that, she decided to be the Top Chef in magazine marketing, recreating the show’s Fire Challenge for her award video. Her client at Sears appeared on the video to issue the Fire Challenge, which gave her team one day to come up with a big idea for a magazine solution. Knoll and her team of "chefs" put "ingredients" into a big pot, pretending to cook up a good magazine program. "It’s all about creative solutions," says Knoll.

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