Refresh of Stories, an annual company magazine.
Background
Stories is the annual magazine of Powder Byrne, a luxury travel provider, established over 30 years ago, specialising in tailor-made ski holidays. With a rich heritage to draw upon and a loyal readership from repeat clients, the magazine became a pillar of the business’s yearly marketing activities, raising awareness and soft-selling with both existing and new clients.
The Challenge
The cost of producing Stories magazine was high, due to the use of external creatives to support in-house, and the business was not seeing a return on its investment. Crucially, new enquiries from prospective travellers were citing Stories as their referral much less frequently than previous issues. Despite the diminishing effects of direct mail marketing, the business was keen to continue the tradition of Stories magazine - but there was a need to do so more cheaply and to create a bigger impact.
The Solution
To effectively communicate the revamped content, I created a fresh look and feel for the magazine to accurately reflect the brand. Drawing inspiration from the considered restraint of luxury magazines from other industries, the spreads are clean and impactful with a carefully organised hierarchy. I illustrated relevant articles myself, removing a high external cost and allowing for flexibility.
The new and improved Stories magazine was very well received by the business, and this became the new template for future issues. The number of clients citing Stories as a referral rose by 15% on that first issue, and there were also a number of conversions - which more than paid for the production of the magazine.