Double Cicero

Marketing The political magazine Cicero wants to offer readers and advertisers added value Some monthly magazines are published in the summer with a so-called double issue, one issue in two months - for reasons of economy. Cicero, Ringier's monthly political magazine in Germany, does something similar. The only difference is that they don't save money there, but take the term "double issue" literally: on August 31, the September issue is published in a double pack, one issue completely in black and white, the second in color. Only the black and white issue is available at newsstands, but newsstand buyers can order the color edition free of charge. Subscribers receive the double pack sent to their home. The two issues differ not only in terms of color, the editorial content is also different, but relates thematically to the other issue. "Cicero stands for a lively culture of debate. We are therefore daring to conduct an unusual journalistic experiment with a paper-based thesis and counter-thesis. Because the answers to the big questions of our time are never just black and white," explains Editor-in-Chief Wolfram Weimer.
Advertisers were given the opportunity to incorporate the magazine's duality and present themselves creatively: In the black-and-white edition, they could only place an advertisement of the same type, but at the same time, advertisers could book a four-color advertisement in the color edition free of charge. With one exception: as an advertising partner, BMW was the only customer allowed to place 15 color double pages in the black and white edition. The "Cicero Double Edition" apparently met with a good response: one third of the total of 320 pages consists of advertisements. The circulation was increased.
Markus Knöpfli