The power of print – magazines boost children’s brands and increase a sense of belonging among fans

It seem that the kids’ magazine market is in a healthy position, with the latest children’s brands frequently being realised in print. Examples include Minecraft, Play-Doh, Frozen (Egmont) and Peppa Pig (Redan), all of which provide themed content, puzzles, colouring and cover gifts. Publishing houses such as Immediate Media and Redan Publishing are continuing to enjoy resilient sales, despite the growth of online media. Year on year growth has been recorded for titles including Girl Talk, Girl Talk Art and LEGO Nexo Knights (Immediate Media). The first and second ranking magazines in the pre-school ABC chart are Peppa Pig Bag-O-Fun and Fun To Learn Peppa Pig (Redan Publishing) which have sold over 77 and 64 thousand copies respectively per issue. Andrea Marsden, deputy MD at DJ Murphy (Publishers) commented “the power of print is undeniable. When a brand is ‘hot’, then the fans want to interact with everything to do with that brand.” She also suggests that magazines enhance children’s feeling of belonging to a club and that cover-mounted gifts are a key part of the offering, as seen with DJ Murphy’s magazine launch inspired by the collectable brand Shopkins. Read more here.