It's a mantra one hears from most reporters covering consumer magazine publishing and Lisa Granatstein, general editor at Mediaweek, is no exception. "There's never a dull
moment in this business, well maybe one or two, but very, very few of them," says Granatstein, who covers Time Inc., Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Gruner + Jahr plus all of the
other heavyweight group publishers in the consumer magazine field. Advertising spending is part and parcel of Granatstein's coverage.
Granatstein's Bugaboos:
- Calls from clueless PR executives. Granatstein's beat is challenging but not complicated: consumer magazine publishing, with an advertising bent. But that doesn't stop PR
pros from calling her who have no business doing so. A real doozie was the pitch Granatstein recently got describing a company that stores and retrieves small parts in the desert
in Kuwait for the U.S. Marines. Not exactly a perfect fit for Granatstein, who is more interested in, say, who is going buy now-in-play New York. "People should know who they're
calling," Granatstein says. - Confusing Voice Mail with Snail Mail. A fairly chronic problem has been extended voice mails, in which communications execs basically pitch a machine. "After about 30 seconds
you should be able to say what you want to say," Granatstein says. "I can't sit there for five minutes listening to a voice mail that should take 15 seconds." - E-mails followed up -- a nanosecond later -- with a telephone call. "Those follow-ups drive me nuts," she says. "I'm pretty good about getting back to people, so don't waste
your time calling me right after an e-mail." Also, she's not going to do cartwheels about a 1% increase in ad pages. "I'm looking for stories in which magazines are changing in
some significant, or obscure, way."
What Works: It's the one way to get any reporter to spread love. Return the important phone calls. Promptly. "There are a lot of good publicists out there who know and
understand my needs," Granatstein says. "But I need them, too, so if they have a decent pitch, stories can happen."