Barbie turned fifty and is  losing market share.  Doesn’t that happen even to the best of us?  Except in her case, a team of experts spent two days in some hip LA hotel where they examined her past, reviewed where and how the decline happened and then designed a course for her reintroduction. Basically a facelift if you will. They decided she would have six personalities: wild, artsy, cutesy, glamourous, sassy and girlie. And all at fifty!!

Now I am a fifty-one year old marketing consultant in Indianapolis and trying to reinvent myself. Perhaps I could get some friends to go on a two day retreat and think about the next stage in my life. If anyone is interested let me know.

The magazine industry is in a flux and wondering if people will pay for digital content after they have been giving much of it away. Circulations are down and e-newsletters are everywhere. The advertising opportunities are confusing. There are Web pages, e-newsletters, e-blasts, classifieds, directories and finally the actual printed publication. Most of the options give you little if any information on actual open rates and click throughs.

There are so many options that they are in effect competing with each other and unless packages are better developed they affect one’s ability to make any impact on readership.

Sullivan is a marketing, planning and research consultant in Indianapolis, Indiana