Featuring a message designed to be quintessentially Canadian, Magazines Canada has launched a new consumer- and trade-facing ad campaign to promote the value of the medium.

The creative for the consumer campaign, which is available to member magazines to place in their books, starts with the phrase ‘Dear Magazine Reader,’ followed by a cheeky letter listing the secrets to magazines’ success. The letter closes with an apology: ‘We’re sorry we’re so engaging.’ The simple ads were created as such so they could be customized for individual mags’ themes.

An additional campaign was developed for business media titles, showing bedrooms and bathrooms as the new boardrooms, as well as a trade campaign starting this week that targets advertisers and features a die-cut insert resembling a torn page from a magazine.

The campaign goals were simply to remind both consumers and advertisers that, despite all the hype about new media, magazines still deliver engaging content, and an engaged audience, Gary Garland, executive director of advertising services, Magazines Canada, tells MiC.

‘Our thinking was ‘what better medium to use than magazines to prove that magazines work?’ We wanted to deliver a message in a fun way that delivers a smile and that’s what took us to the ‘We’re sorry we’re so engaging’ tagline, which is very Canadian,’ he explains.

The second phase of a long-term promotional campaign, the creative was developed by Doug and Serge in Toronto. The paid trade campaign is a limited fall run, but the campaign creative will be available for several years, Garland says.