Essay 1251

Presenting two obituaries for Marketing y Medios.

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From HispanicBusiness.com…

Marketing y Medios Magazine Ending Separate Publication

Marketing y Medios, one of the smartest journals in the Hispanic-oriented English-language publication niche, will no longer be published as a separate magazine, its parent company announced Monday.

The magazine’s founding editor, Laura Martinez, will leave the company on Dec. 15 “to pursue other opportunities,” according to VNU Business Media, although other editors will remain on staff. Its Web edition will not change.

Marketing y Medios debuted in September 2004 with Ms. Martinez, a veteran journalist who had helmed creation of the weekly Wall Street Journal en Espanol, in charge.

VNU said the print content that made up Marketing y Medios — a bimonthly look at marketing to Hispanics — will appear as a monthly special report in the journal’s sister publications Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek.

VNU pitched the switchover as a positive.

“The growing Hispanic market has evolved from a niche to the mainstream and our audience is asking for forward-thinking, broad-based coverage,” Mike Parker, president of the Marketing, Retail and Design Group at VNU, said in a release. “This move provides Marketing y Medios a prominent presence in our three core brands while offering Hispanic advertisers a voice among mainstream brand marketers and media buyers.”

But others were less enthusiastic. “Marketing y Medios folds …” the Web site HispanicAd.com headlined. “Marketing y Medios did not enjoy the traction with either readers and advertisers, thus suffering from severe sales under-performance and cost containment issues,” it wrote in a brief announcement.

That contrasts with the high hopes that accompanied the magazine’s debut. “The launch issue has been an overwhelming success among Hispanic media companies,” Publisher Michael Hatherill was quoted when the journal first came out. “We premiered with 19 1/2 ad pages and marketers are recognizing that this is the place to be to reach this important demographic.”

VNU said after the announcement of the Marketing y Medios demise on Monday, “ad agencies, media companies, readers and advertisers have expressed a genuine feeling of loss for the standalone magazine.”

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From HispanicAd.com…

Marketing y Medios folds…

VNU has announced that it will no longer publish their dedicated US Hispanic industry trade journal Marketing y Medios. They have decided to publish a monthly selection in select copies of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek.

Editor Laura Martinez will leave the publication after the November/December issue is put forth.

Marketing y Medios did not enjoy the traction with either readers and advertisers, thus suffering from severe sales under-performance and cost containment issues.

“We at HispanicAd.com are sorry to hear about VNU’s decision to cut back drastically in their involvement in servicing the US Hispanic advertising, marketing, media and sales professionals,” stated Gene Bryan, CEO of HispanicAd.com. “We continue to believe in the viability of covering our industry daily and that there is enough critical mass and revenues to support efforts from Ad Age, Hispanic Market Weekly and ourselves.”