It was interesting to see Coughlin claim that Marxism in Europe was a Jewish plot against America? This from the man pioneering Marxist ideology here in the U.S. in the name of “Social Justice”. A socialism from the right side of the spectrum.

Coughlin was an adept marketer, who in an article in 1938 actually plagiarized a speech by NAZI leader Joseph Goebbels. Attacking Jews, atheists and communists . An anti-semetic bent that seem much in line with todays Democrat Party in light of their 2012 national convention where they refused to acknowledge Israel, or God for that matter.
“My purpose is to help eradicate from the world its mania for persecution, to help align all good men. Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile, Christian and non-Christian, in a battle to stamp out the ferocity, the barbarism and the hate of this bloody era. I want the good Jews with me, and I’m called a Jew baiter, an anti-Semite.”

“I want the good Jews with me” ? sounds like something the Democrat convention would whole heartedly endorse. Why Americans Jews support this party is an anathema.

After the United States entered WWII, Father Coughlin’s broadcasts were shut down with presure from the Catholic church because of his sympathies with the NAZI regime. Later, In 1942 – the periodical’s mailing permits were revoked under the Espionage Act of 1917.

Milton Fleitas

Father Coughlin’s Social Justice Magazine – 1940

Dominique Sanda Cover Art Gallery & bio

Iron Horse Magazine Cover Gallery

magazine cover on a ipad

Spaghetti sauce back when I was a child in the 1970′s  consisted of 2 choices, Ragu or Prego.  All this changed when a product researcher I admire by the name of  Howard Moskowitz* had an industry breakthrough that seems so obvious today to strategic creatives.  While researching Spaghetti sauce for the struggling #2 sauce maker in america “Prego” he had a revelation – the solution to Prego’s problems was not finding the perfect spaghetti sauce,  the solution to improve sales for prego was finding the perfect “Sauces” (plural).  Our world up until Moskowitz’ revelation consisted of totalitarian choices of one spaghetti sauce for everyone.  No chunky or garlic, vegetarian or meaty, no zesty, no plain.  We were only given one choice from Ragu, and one choice from prego – that was the simple life in the 70′s.  Back then product researchers attempted to create one product to please  as many people as possible, yet the answer to increased sales was simply marketing products to multiple types of  ”peoples’.  The answer was multiple products.  Howard created dozens of  very different spaghetti sauces and through taste tests learned that people would usually break up into at least 3 or 4 groups. We can all thank Moskowitz for Chunky, zesty, vegetarian and yes, extra meaty.

Cover desigers 7 marketing creatives  will soon have wonderful new research tools as the ipad brings digital magazines to the masses.   Sure the publication numbers are small at the moment but the new technology will bring a wonderful new ability to art directors.  Like Moskowitz you will now be able to “market taste” your cover designs on the ipad before hitting the printing presses.

Yes, “Taste”.   you see traditional Analog market “tests” required large and time consuming (expensive) samples in order to achieve usable data.  The new digital magazine marketplace will allow directors to create quick market “tastes” of multiple magazine cover designs a week prior to press, resulting in incredibly accurate data  about cover choices from around the globe.  All of this data is compiled relatively inexpensively and can be organized by age, location and gender.  (We will surely one day witness cover design on the ipad change according to different regions of the country, or even possibly based on the reselling website)

Traditional (pre Moskowitz) product, research companies needed to create extensive questionaires about a product and try to magically conjure up useful information from these epic forms.   But there was a design flaw in their questionair’s.   They did not take into account that  human beings can usually be grouped into 3 primary personality types.  Also missing from the data was the fact that people are not always honest about their “feelings” when given only one choice, especially when it comes to taste and design.  See article Blah vs Pleasing.

Milton Fleitas

you can send comments or contact me at

milton@pretenderstrategic.com

*I first came across Howard Moskowitz at a 2nd hand bookstore with a copy of “New Directions for product testing and sensory analysis of foods” one of my prized books in my library and I got it for $1 around 1998.  It caught my eye because of my early work for Taco Bell just out of college in a design role.  part of the priveleges of working for a successful Pepsico division  the late 1980′s was a free lunch! But there was a catch…. you had to eat (3) different versions of your taco, burito or enchirito served to you in a laboratory by men and women in white coats.  I hasten to say this concept of constant research by corporate restaurant labs is probably due to in some part the work of Howard Moskowitz.

1930s – When “Art” was king, Illustrators ruled magazine covers from the 1910′s through 1940s

Technically “pleasing”  is a term often used when describing good  cover art – but what exactly does this mean?  Reaching customers through graphics comprised of copy and images needs to marry these two very different ways of expression.  It is this marriage of words and images (concepts) that requires a technician as well as  an artist to achieve corporate success.   This is why writers have editors and artists have directors.   Sure, it is true that art directors are generally experienced artists and many editors are capable writers -  They are simply professionals who have applied themselves to the technical aspects of the job,   it is this marriage of the “technical” with the “artistic” that Art directors and editors must master.   This is truly a battle which  has often been incorrectly referred to as “Left” brain vs “Right” brain.   Countless books have been written on the subject but there is one classic standard by Keirsey called “Please understand me II”  which breaks down the undeniable 16 base human temperaments.

According to Keirsey what is often refered to as Right Brain simply refers to abstract thinkers and Left Brain refers to those who view their world in more concrete terms.   Lets take two very similar appearing (on the surface) temperaments, one is abstract and the other is concrete.   ENTP’s and ESTP’s respectively are viewed and seen by the world similarly,  both are often highly capable marketing / design or copy professionals.  Research has shown that a  primary difference between these two personalities seems to be ones preference for words versus images (concepts).  the Abstract  marketing individual seems to excell and often prefer visual information versus the Concrete thinking  individuals preference for words (ESTPs’, though concrete in their thinking preferences are highly artistic individuals –  with language you can think of them as “word artists”)  These two temperaments share Extroversion and Perception in their preferences and seem to base their decisions not on their own internal preferences but on what they externally perceive their ” audience” is needing or is in search of .   This externally focused mindset (one for images, the other for words) was possibly best described in the classic book The Marketing Imagination, New, Expanded Edition by Theodore Levitt.   Please be sure to understand, that NO personality has a lock on “The marketing  imagination” All 16 base personalities have an incredible ability to learn and apply the “technical aspects” of the marketing mindset – they are only limited by their personal will.   No where was this more apparent then with Timothy Ferriss, Author and marketing guru, whose sincere honesty in his first mega blockbuster book “The four hour work week” describes his naivete’ with some of the most basic of marketing instincts that come natural to ESTP’s and ENTP’s.  Ferris describes how he could not initially grasp concepts which he learned from his mentors early in his career.  But once he put  these “abstract” concepts to work  and verified their success in the marketplace – he like no other researched, quantified and documented these concepts and achieved unprecedented business success.

1960′s early 70s – Photographers were king. Article information was subdued in small fonts. Each cover followed direction from the photo (PLEASING)

1980′s – Attack of the word monster. Art takes a back seat, even the “corporate” logo is reduced in size. Content editors have been put in charge (BLAH)

1990′s – Design by commitee! every one got their hands on this one. Too much logo, too much photos, & too much copy. Blah,Blah,Blah

Today / 2011 – well branded logo takes a back seat, Both photography and copy are in good proportions. (PLEASING)

“Pleasing”  or “Blah / Boring”  is the subconscious instant reaction one gets when viewing a cover design or  or any marketing piece for the first time – it is not just the professional copy writers or artists who are aware of this, but everyone – every consumer makes these subconscious instant decisions every day.   Achieving this “pleasure”  as oppose to “Blah” or “Boring”  from our one page marketing statement  is surely foremost on the minds of art directors everywhere, and for those whose publications have evolved into word “monsters”  there should be a concerted effort to tame the Beast.  Here’s a wonderful thought experiment, what would happen if once a year a magazine such as Redbook would put their efforts into the “perfect” photo based cover design with only one short ad copy or possibly none at all? How would newstand sales react?  could it be sustained more than once a year?

let me know your thoughts and ideas. you can contact me at

milton@pretenderstrategic.com

Milton Fleitas

Mirror Image of Super Tramp’s Breakfast in America and 9-11

Coincidence? At first glance one would think so, but as editor of CoverArt.com I must tell you that this album cover was the  first record I ever purchased back in 1980 along with a 2nd album that had also visually grabbed me.  It was possibly my tipping point for the eventual development of CoverArt.com

The supertramp Breakfast in America cover art shows a 1950′s era waitress with a nervous smile and representative of the statue of liberty.  She is holding up a plate with a “Golden Cup” right up to the Twin Towers which are shown along with the rest of  The Great City.  The Mirror image of the cover art shows a perfectly placed 9-11 just above the towers.

I purchased both albums  not for the music,  but for their cover art. What does the artwork  mean?   Will the lyrics within the album answer this question? Imagery and Symbolism is what makes cover art so interesting and collectible by  many.   This cover’s symbolism relating to texts  from the bible is chilling.  Add the 9-11 mirror image and Super Tramp being a synonym for “Great Harlot”  and we  may have possibly gone beyond coincidence.

Biblical symbolism with Revelation 17-18 and Jeremiah 50-51

As I researched the possible deeper meanings dealing with the obvious (to myself) symbolism relating to Biblical passages  that speak of a “great” (super) “harlot” (tramp) which sits on many waters and is holding up a golden cup over The Great City!   The ancient texts goes one step further describing a mystery of the harlot in that she simply represents the Great City!

I won’t preach to you here, but go ahead and pick up that dusty bible of yours and read Revelation 17-18, and Jeremiah 50-51.

This hits home to me, because I was born in the Great City of Manhattan.

Was this imagery on purpose?  A coincidence? or simply a sub-concscious message from an Illustration artist aware of these passages?

For a more thourough look at the possible archetypical and Jungian symbolism of this cover art visit Godtype.com

The other album I purchased on that day in 1980?

It was Rush’s permanent waves, the only band I have followed through the years due to their libertarian philosophical lyrics written by drummer/author Neil Peart.   The artwork created by Hugh Syme  earily shows a beautiful woman dressed in a modest dress with 1950′s era bobby socks, yet she is flashing us with a devilish smile - a “Super Tramp” walking away from her city which has just been destroyed.*

I never did figure out what songs from either of these two albums had anything  to do with these wonderful cover art images, even after wearing out my needle on both of these records.   32 years later, I may have finally found my answers……

PSR Strategic Research / CoverArt.com

* A little research into Rush’s pemanent waves album cover concept finds out that our favorite rational band did indeed have a “meaning” and a reason for the title of their 1980 album.    It seems the band was discussing “Waves of Culture” a concept that most rational’s who see time in “sequence” as oppose to (  past,present or future) are aware of..  ie cycles of time,  rise and falls of empires and even civilizations.  Who better to represent the passing and end of a culture / civilization then the Great Harlot of revelation 17-18,  A Super Tramp…..

Rush permanent waves album cover – the harlot?

m.f.

CoverArt.com / PSR

Every Girls Magazine Cover

Josiah Henson: The Real Uncle Tom Below is a .pdf article. This rare 80 year old magazine is available as well as the complete article in editable .pdf format.

PDF (3) page article on The Real Uncle Tom by Olive Burns Kirby- (text editable)

Lisa Fonssagrives Bazaar Cover

Coverart.com brief biography:
Lisa Fonssagrives
(May 17, 1911 – February 4, 1992)
With Covers of Time and Life Magazines along with Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair and countless other Fashion magazines, Lisa Fonnsagrives is rightfully considered the first “Super Model” apologies to our self proclaimed “first” Janice Dickinson.

Born Lisa Birgitta Bernstone in Sweden, She married photographer Fernand Fonssagrives in 1935. In 1950 she married another photographer, Irving Penn and continued her first love of Art and Sculpture profesionally represented by the Marlborough Gallery in Manhattan in the 1960′s.
Fonssagrives died, aged 80, in New York, survived by her husband, Irving Penn and two children: her daughter Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, a costume designer, and her son, Tom Penn, a designer.

Lisa Fonssagrives Cover Art Gallery and Image Archive

Calling all Girls Magazine was the “young girls” compact (digest size) magazine of YM. YM published multiple brands geared to teen girls for 72 years. Being the second oldest girls’ magazine just behind Seventeen in the United States. Calling All Girls maintained some of the most wonderful cover art illustration during the 1960′s at a time that most magazines were switching over to photographic covers.

ROLL cursor OVER photos for Price and Issue Information.  Available Issues will have a $dollar value, Click on image for more information and possible additional images.

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Calling All Girls magazine in very good condition

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Calling all Girls magazine – December 1960

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