Marketing and all things related

When Marketing Blurb was but a child, we read our older brother’s Mad Magazine. Mad proved hilarious to our 10 year old sensibility. There used to be a competitive magazine called Cracked, but we remember it as lame imitation. To be honest, we haven’t thought about Mad or Cracked magazines for years, until we read in The Associated Press that a new owner has resuscitated the title after a two year absence. Only this time around, Cracked is no longer targeting the 10 year old Mad magazine crowd. Instead, the new Cracked is aiming for 18 to 34 males. Think of this as Maxim, Stuff, and FHM with inane humor. There is even the obligatory well-endowed model. Magazine industry pundits believe the new owner is somewhat crazy to launch a new laddie magazine (funny or not) in a category with waning circulation and advertising. "They are entering at the end of the cycle of the laddie magazine market and it's going to be very tough to break into that market nowadays," said Samir A. Husni, author of Samir Husni's Guide to New Consumer Magazines and a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi. Of course, Marketing Blurb knows that 10 year olds will still want to read the new Cracked. Photo Credit: Associated Press