March 7, 2002
TO: JCNA Board of Directors
FROM: Mike Cook
RE: 2001 Jaguar Journal Report, Board meeting March 22, 2002.

Jaguar Journal went through a complete re-design in 2001. We added eight more pages of color and have sourced more articles from both professional auto writers and club members. Advertising income is up for the fifth year in a row. Some production delays occurred in 2001 but the magazine is back on schedule in 2002.

Scheduling:

The magazine suffered a delay in publication of one month during the changeover to the new design. This delay carried through the September-October issue. November-December and January-February were mailed more punctually and the March-April issue will be in the mail by March 12^th, back on schedule. A Journal Production Schedule with new dates is being distributed at this meeting. Please discard previous schedules.

Editorial Content:

Our focus has been on more feature articles, both technical and of general interest. Since the last AGM, we have published coverage of the UK Celebration of the E-type 40^th anniversary, a historic piece on XK 120 HKV 500 and two travel features. There have been two full-length technical pieces, one on modifying a 1994 XJ12 and one on restoring and customizing an XJS-C. March-April also contains a comprehensive XJ sedan buyers guide.

We are devoting reasonable space to club activities such as the 2001 championships, slaloms and Euro 2001 which honored Jaguar as the featured marque and included the Carolina JC concours. However, covering the diverse interests of our membership and the large number of modern and historic Jaguar models in a 36-page magazine with 30 percent advertising content creates space problems. For example, we were criticized for the length of our Challenge Championship story but, at six pages, it took up 25 percent of the editorial space available.

In future issues, we have a feature by Ian Norris driving an X-type to the historic Brooklands track and to Britain’s new NASCAR-style oval, Rockingham. Graham Robson is doing a story on the events surrounding the introduction of the XJ220 and there will be a feature on a successful club rally in Los Angeles.

Advertising:

It is now ten years since Jaguar Journal started taking advertising. With one dip, in 1996, each year has seen an increase in revenue. In 2001, commercial advertising revenue was $71,090.00, six percent ahead of 2000 and the first time revenue has exceeded $70,000.

YEAR   PAGES  # AD PAGES    %AD PAGES AD REVENUE AV/ISSUE
            Non-J Jag Total
1992    120  15    3   18     12.5      12,442     2,074
1993    140  16    5   21     15        20,919      3,487
1994    158  20   18   38    24         43,426     7,238
1995    168  30   18   48    28.5       55,500     9,250
1996    192  24   18   42    21.8       47,231     7,872
1997    192  28   18   46    23.9       56,201     9,367
1998    196  33   18   51    26         8,284     9,714
1999    204  39   18   57    28         59,405     9,901
2000    216  42   18   60     28        66,864     11,144
2001    216  44   18   62     29        71,090     11,848
NOTE: Figures rounded up to the nearest whole number. Ad page totals are display advertising. Each issue also has up to 2 pages of classifieds and JCNA merchandise.

In 2002, Pirelli has once again scheduled four color pages and S.N.G. Barratt is running six color pages. Zymol has come in with a 1/3 page color ad to start and then a schedule of ¼ page ads in black and white. Welsh Enterprises has come back in and Dayton Wire Wheel is a good prospect.

Production Costs:

Time and color processing charges associated with the new design and the additional eight pages of color increased the cost per issue by approximately $3500 to a base of $12,594 per issue. There was no increase in printing costs for 2002 and we have been able to reduce production cost.

The Journal re-design specified that all photos be sent to an outside lab for scanning. Due to the fact that the majority of the Journal photography is snapshots, we were not getting any picture quality improvement from this. Starting with January-February, 2002, Grand Prix Graphics is doing the scanning again, saving $900 per issue. The base cost is now $11,694.00 per issue.

Conclusion:

The Journal continues to be profitable and the improvements in content have received favorable comment. Although we still get few letters or calls, the JCNA website Forum has been a great source of member reaction. Beyond good content, the most important issue is scheduling. Getting each issue out on time will be a primary goal.

 

 

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