Christmas comes early
Picture the scene -- it's the hottest day of the year and you're trying to photograph a bowl of brandy butter before it melts. Sounds ridiculous? Maybe, but it's often the reality for those who work on the food pages of magazines.
With magazine lead times of around 4-5 months, we at Good Housekeeping begin work on our Christmas-focused November and December issues at the beginning of July, just as the sun is coming out. While others are sitting in the park eating salads, we'll have been working our way through mountains of turkeys, stuffing, mince pies and Christmas puddings -- all in the name of research, of course.
The Christmas edition is one of the biggest selling issues of the year. As food and drink are so central to our readers' Christmas celebrations we devote the largest number of pages to them in the December issue. It also gives us plenty of room to let our readers know about the latest and best seasonal foods available from your company.
Working so far ahead can sometimes be a problem when we're trying to find out about which products are going to be available. It can be frustrating to have to leave out a key company's line because they haven't finalised details in time for our deadlines -- but we have no choice. To provide readers with information we need to have samples to test and photograph and to know complete names, prices and availability.
Timing is really important. Forewarned is forearmed so all product and packaging samples for photography need to be in by mid August and all product details will need to be confirmed by early September.
Well-organised press events are the starting point.The best events are detailed while still being relevant -- it's often a good idea to present food and non-food products on separate days as journalists tend to focus on one or the other. A clear and detailed press pack -- as well as samples of key items -- will help to cement your product in the journalist's mind. Then be sure to follow up any requests for more information promptly to increase the possibility of inclusion.
Get the timing right this summer and you'll give your product the best possible chance of success.
Joanne Finney is a food writer at Good Housekeeping Magazine, http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk
