Time Group: ICON Helped Promote People Magazine to the Right… People

The Challenge

As core holder of Time Inc. and Time Warner – which bills itself as the first globally integrated media and entertainment company – Time Group consists of some of the world’s best-recognized and most-admired media brands.

So, what could it possibly want or need from corporate barterThe creation of value by exchanging a client's unwanted or undervalued asset for the promise to purchase over a period of time from the corporate-barter company a defined set of goods and/or services, called fulfillment. (Sometimes mistakenly referred to as Corporate Trade.)? In a word: flexibility. Large media companies can sometimes get tunnel vision into cross-marketing primarily, or exclusively, on its own properties. But the editors of Time’s People magazine decided they needed to reach a very specific audience on an unfamiliar platform – MTV.

How ICON Uncovered Value

This relationship went well past the transactional level. Ad inventories sold in advance help Time monetize future assets. That’s straightforward enough; however combining trade creditAn alternative currency used in the corporate barter industry; one of ICON's financial options. (Note that this term is properly used only in the singular, i.e., never trade credits.) into the compensation scheme also gives the company flexibility to meet other corporate commitments without cashU.S. federal banknotes; one of ICON's financial options. outlay.

In the words of Time’s then president and worldwide publisher, “Different account situations at different points in time call for different solutions. There is no limit to the fertile minds at ICON in terms of how it can provide value.”

Result

Having access to Time properties allows ICON clients access to a global stable of legendary media properties with highly loyal readers.