Company: mag nation | Visit Website

Disclaimer  - we should note that mag nation are not a client of Engage Marketing and we have never worked with them. This interview has been provided for you because we love good marketing and feel that interviews like this can only help our blog readers to improve their marketing.

We recently contacted Sahil Merchant, Founder & Chief Magazineologist at mag nation, to talk about how their marketing is helping them to grow and create a real market presence.

A reseller of over 4000 magazine titles and 6 stores around Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, mag nation has been doing some amazing things with their marketing. We approached mag nation because they have exceptional marketing. Fortunately for us, Sahil was happy to talk with us and I think you’ll find this interview very interesting.

Before we get started I want you to ask yourself the question – how can a magazine store stand out and grow in a market on the decline? Here’s how:

• They have made their brand stand out by being interesting and quirky (read their About Us)
• They have filled a niche
• They have created promotions that are worth talking about and have generated huge buzz (see the fantastic ‘Undies Monday’ guerrilla marketing promotion)
• They’re authentic in everything they do

Think about that last point – authenticity. As you read this interview you’ll notice how even in a seemingly boring interview about marketing, Sahil manages to make it humorous. The mag nation brand is truly an extension of his personality and this comes through in everything that they do. This authenticity has no doubt contributed to the success that mag nation has been enjoying.

Through this interview you should get a feel for the things that make mag nation worth shopping at and worth talking about. Enjoy!

I love the personality of your brand and how playful you are. Did you start out with this confidence to do things differently or did you grow into it as you found your feet in the market?

We were always playful in our outlook and happy to challenge the status quo in the magazine industry, but we definitely grew into our voice in terms of using it to interact more broadly with customers. As more people responded to our character, we were able to reflect our true personality with more confidence. Had we gone out all guns blazing from the very outset, our persona may have been considered fake. I am really proud that in addition to being seen as playful and fun, we are also known to be genuine. There are few better compliments for a brand.

You’ve done a fantastic job of creating a culture around your brand and changing the way that your customers see magazines. You have essentially removed competition from your competitors (online resellers, newsagents). What would you put this culture down too?

Shit – I should have read all the questions first before responding to the previous one. Now I am going to sound repetitive. I think the key to our brand has been fun and being genuine. We are happy to discuss things that most businesses don’t want people to see. We discuss the errors we have made, the mechanics behind the thinking and the dilemmas we face as a business. We also really want to interact with our customers. There is no similar model that we can copy from elsewhere in the world, so rather than a Board of Advisors, we rely more on the opinions of the end users (our customers) to help us determine what we should be doing. But, people are only willing to help if they like what you are doing. On this front, we take a very simple approach. If people smile when they think about you, they probably like you. So, we want people to smile, whether it be because of our persona, or because they enjoy being in our stores. This will ultimately lead to sales and loyalty. Focus on the means, and the ends will take care of themselves.

If someone were to come up to you and offer you a $500,000 marketing budget, would you do things differently?

I would abscond to Majorca and live a life of luxury. So yes.

You’ve got a lot of attention from your Undies Monday guerrilla marketing campaign. Going beyond the buzz that you’re received, how has the campaign influenced business?

We have got to see lots of people taking their clothes off in public… do we need more of a reward than that?

What other things have you tried with your marketing? Has there been anything in particular that has crashed and burned?

Most of the times when we have relied on partnerships with other brands, we have not been as happy with the end results. The reason is that we are incredibly passionate about how we do things, and we find that for most other brands who we partner with, we end up being so small fry that they don’t see as much benefit as we do, and hence don’t put in the same effort.
I am planning on starting an Undies Monday alumni club. Perhaps this will be the worst crash and burn to date…

How has marketing effected the culture of your business? It gives the impression of an enjoyable brand to work for. Do you find working on mag nation more stimulating because of the personality it has?

The personality of mag nation is simply my personality. Yes – I do find it stimulating to work on myself. No wait… that sounds really bad…

A big thanks to Sahil Merchant and mag nation for that open and fascinating interview. Please comment below with any thoughts or questions for Sahil or the Engage Marketing team and remember, please Tweet about this interview if you found it useful.

NOTE: The Blog Designer interviewed Sahil on mag nation’s blog and how it fits into their marketing strategy. Read Here.