For the
past two weeks at Atlanta Magazine, I have spent my time working at an event
with my co-intern, Jessica. In Atlanta from July19th - July 27th, BB&T hosted
the Atlanta Open Tennis Tournament. Atlanta Magazine had a tent set up in which
they gave out free magazines and 2 year subscriptions at a very low cost (the
lowest they have ever offerred). In the most recent issue of Atlanta Magazine, there
is a two-page advertisement for BB&T and the Atlanta Open. My understanding
is that in exchange for this advertisement in the magazine, the event gives
Atlanta Magazine a booth for the event.
I learned
a lot of information from customers on Atlanta Magazine and magazines in
general while standing at the booth. First, Jessica and I had trouble getting
customers to come over to the booth in the first place. I found that it would
help to give something out at the booth other than magazines in order to
attract customers. Many did not want to carry magazines around with them at the
tournament, and we did not have any other free "stuff" to offer. The
table next to us was handing out candy and chapstick, and as a result they were
much busier than we were. If people come to the booth to get our free stuff, I
can then tell them about the subscription. Next, the paying process was an
issue and turned many customers away from our great deal. The only way that
they could pay was by writing a check or writing their credit card information
down on a sheet of paper that we provided. We definitely lost a lot of
customers to this process - many do not carry checks with them and many were
very concerned about safety when we asked them to write their credit card
information down. Lastly, I learned about the current magazine trend. Even
though many complimented the magazine and said that they really enjoy reading
it, many were not interested in subscribing and said that they are in the process
of cancelling most of their magazine subscriptions. While it is definitely disappointing
to hear that magazines truly are going "out of style," it's
interesting to know the current trend and what will and will not sell.
Working
at the tournament was definitely a nice break from the typical office work I
have been doing, but it was also excruciatingly hot outside! Even though we
only sold a few subscriptions, Randy was very appreciative that Jessica and I
were able to work the event.
Even though you ran into several obstacles, it seems that you were able to observe how this process could be improved for another event. It's interesting what you said about people not subscribing to magazines anymore. I knew that the popularity of newspapers has been declining but I never thought about how new technology is affecting magazines!
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