New York Life, Insurance Magazine, 1942

[Cross-posted in RexBlog.com]

For some reason, every few months or so, a reporter will discover that a consumer or business product company has launched a magazine or web property designed to communicate directly with its customers — and will write about it as if this were some newly discovered form of marketing. As launching and managing such media properties is what I have done for much of the past 25 years, I am pleased that such an approach to marketing is continuously treated as something new and fresh and cutting-edged, despite having been around since the 1800s.

Hammock provides content marketing services, which includes publishing print and digital magazines customized to meet our clients’ objectives. We study those objectives and work to ensure each issue of a client’s publication meets their specific goals. We accomplish this with expert writing about topics of interest to our clients’ target audience—and compelling design that brings to vivid life our writers’ stories. In the last month, these stories have included everything from historic re-enactors to the U.S. Marine Corps special ops and from the latest in pharmaceutical innovations to how health-care reform will affect supply chain managers. No matter the topic, our storytelling is tailored to the interests and passions of our clients’ customers and members. But we don’t just tell you that’s what we do—we’re always eager to show you. View our latest work for some of the publications we publish for our clients, including American Spirit, Semper Fi, The Source and Pharmaceutical Commerce.

The November-December issue of Semper Fi, The Magazine of the Marine Corps League, celebrates the 235th birthday of the Corps’ founding, as tradition has it, in Tun Tavern in Philadelphia on 10 November 1775. The cover shows a Marine Corps color guard participating in a Sunset Parade at the Marine Barracks at 8th and I in Washington, DC.
If you know a Marine, bid him or her happy birthday!
The Marine Corps starts its 236th year with a new Commandant, General James Amos, who assumed command on 22 October. We present excerpts from his testimony before Congress in this issue.
Marine Corps Special Ops comprise an elite group of warriors chosen from among America’s elite armed service. Relatively new to the SpecOps segment of our military, the Marines have quickly reached the upper echelon of this select group.
In September, the Marine Corps League put on its 30th annual Modern Day Marine Expo, a gathering of Marines and defense industry suppliers held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. Held under looming budget cuts and a drawdown in size, the Expo was the largest yet, with more than 8,500 visitors and 500 exhibits.
The Marine Corps Commandant’s annual birthday message is below. To view it, go here.

There are history buffs, and then there are re-enactors. Obsessive about getting every historical detail just right, these dedicated men and women volunteer their time and money to re-enact important events in our nation’s history. Whether it’s a Revolutionary War skirmish or a War of 1812 battle, the re-enactors in the November/December issue of American Spirit, which we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, serve as examples of how rewarding this hobby can be.
The DAR Magazine National Chairman, Pamela Marshall, and her family have been dedicated Civil War re-enactors for 15 years. “Our oldest sons took this hobby to a new level and became U.S. Army Artillery Officers,” she says. “One served in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq.”
Ms. Marshall’s sons are two of the brave military service members American Spirit salutes this Veterans Day for sacrificing so much for our freedom and the cause of liberty around the world.

The September-October issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, highlights two extremes of military might: the stealthy, lethal sniper and the massive force of tanks, amtracks and other armored vehicles.
Today’s Marine Corps snipers carry on a lengthy military tradition – that of the solitary elite marksman patiently stalking his quarry often behind enemy lines. Today’s Devil Dog snipers usually work in small teams, and may spend as much time gathering intel on shadowy terrorists as getting into place for a lethal shot.
Marine Corps armor also bears a proud tradition, one that made its legendary battles in the Pacific in WWII unforgettable as amphibious vehicles and tanks fought their way ashore. Today’s tankers operate the mighty M1A1 Abrams; the Corps has upgraded and refitted its old amphibian assault vehicles to meet modern needs as a stopgap for the next generation of amphibs.
Also in this issue of Semper Fi which we produce for the Marine Corps League is a look back 60 years to another famous Marine flag raising, this one above the US Ambassador’s residence in Seoul, South Korea. And we report on the 87th National MCL Convention, held this past August in Greensboro, NC.

Traditionally known for their ability to do much with little and to improvise, the United States Marine Corps is nevertheless going on a diet. During it time as a “second land army” In Iraq, the Corps “got heavy” as its leaders express it, relying on massively mine-resistant vehicles to protect its warriors, who also strapped on personal armor and other gear often weighing 90 pounds or more.
All this extra mass required correspondingly greater amounts of fuel and electricity to run. Now, eying a return to its seafaring roots, the Corps is slimming down. From battlefield to base barracks, the Corps is particularly interested in curbing its appetite for fuel and power. The July-August issue of Semper Fi, the magazine of the Marine Corps League, examines how the Marines plan to get back into fighting trim.
Some of that new equipment was on display at the recent Marine South Military Expo aboard Camp Lejeune, NC. Sponsored by the Marine Corps League the Expos showcase the finest gear available to the military in the world.
Elsewhere in this issue, we meet a Marine veteran who did a tour in Korea during that “Forgotten War,” leading a squad of airplane mechanics who kept Marine aviators in the air around the clock. Flight mechanics had to go up with pilots to check out repairs, leading to some hair-raising moments – and a very personal commitment to do it right – first time, every time.
Semper Fi also remembers the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, who used their native language to transmit unbreakable messages during the bloody battles with the Japanese on remote Pacific Islands. With only a few left, they are pursuing a new goal: To build a museum and veterans center honoring their legacy.
The new issue also coincides with the League’s 87th National Convention in August in Greensboro, NC, and the magazines salutes retiring National Commandant Jim Laskey.
The issue also reports on progress toward a cherished League objective — redesignating the Department of the Navy as the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps. Though approved by the House and with most of the Senate signed on as cosponsors, the effort still faces potentially stiff opposition when debate starts sometime this summer.

Next week the May/June 2010 issue of American Spirit, and its member companion, Daughters newsletter, will begin arriving in mailboxes of all 165,000 members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The increased circulation of the magazine and newsletter for this special issue enable NSDAR to promote subscriptions, encourage membership development and recount the achievements of the past three years of President General Linda Gist Calvin’s administration.

As America’s rapid response armed service, the US Marine Corps early saw the advantages of adding air power to its traditional amphibious capabilities. Marine Corps aircraft, flown by legendary figures such as Medal of Honor recipient “Pappy” Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron, helped win pivotal victories in World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The May-June issue of Semper Fi, the magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we publish for the League, looks at what’s ahead for Marine aviation. With its long-awaited new bird, the tilt-rotor Osprey, racking up impressive service in Iraq and now Afghanistan, the Corps must aggressively update its other rotary wing aircraft, as well as acquire a new generation of fighters.
The article explains the urgency behind these replacement programs and what the Corps expects from birds that Pappy and his boys would’ve given their eyeteeth to command.

Like Mark Twain, reports of the death of print continue to be exaggerated, though, like the Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” print has suffered considerably more than a flesh wound.
But the recently launched “Magazines, The Power of Print” campaign underwritten by leaders of five major magazine companies—Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast; Cathie Black, Hearst Magazines; Jack Griffin, Meredith Corporation; Ann Moore, Time Inc.; and Jann Wenner, Wenner Media—is betting $90 million worth of ad space on assuring advertisers (and readers) that magazines remain a vital — a necessary — medium.
To those who scoff, we can point to Dr. Samir Husni, aka “Mr. Magazine,” who recently reported there were 170 magazine launches in 1Q 2010 — the same number as 1Q 2009 and more than in either 2007 or 2008.
“Call it what you want,” writes Dr. Husni, “but yet again the innovative media companies and entrepreneurs have shown a resiliency against all odds, and for that matter against the prophets of doom and gloom.

Digital marketing is all the rage right now, but recent statistics show that you shouldn’t count print out when planning your marketing strategy, according to the Junta42 Content Marketing blog. Statistics from APA (the UK’s association of branded editorial content) reveal the following:
•The average time a reader spends with a custom print magazine is 45 minutes.
•Custom print magazines get an average 44 percent response rate and an 8 percent increase in sales annually.
•And most surprising of all, men and women between 18–24 who receive custom magazines from a corporation are the most engaged age group.
One company that’s doing this is Fortune magazine, which has a content marketing strategy for its Web site and social networks, but is also investing heavily in its print magazine. The magazine, in addition to adding more useful news for readers about careers and entrepreneurship—and extending those conversations online—is also switching to higher quality paper and making significant design and font changes. The reason for the redesign? To make the aesthetic experience of flipping through a print magazine more rewarding for readers.