Magazines have always promised their advertisers a certain number of paying readers. Now the industry is moving toward another guarantee: that its ads will work.

One of the industry’s biggest publishers, Time Inc., and one of its biggest ad buyers, the Starcom MediaVest Group, are collaborating to develop promises that certain numbers of people will remember ads or take action on them. If a participating marketer’s campaign doesn’t achieve the promised result, Time Inc. will run free additional ads until it does. […]

In TV, for example, NBC has been guaranteeing audience engagement to some clients in particular deals for several years.

AdAge: Magazines’ Pitch to Marketers: Our Ads Will Work — We Promise

(via Nieman Journalism Lab)