How To Pitch: Consumers Digest

Sign up for How To Pitch updates Get the RSS Feed RELATED: How to Pitch: Reader's Digest

The information in this article is current and accurate

Background: Consumers Digest was founded in 1960, and according to editor Richard Dzierwa, it fills the same niche today: to provide consumers with well-researched and unbiased opinions on a wide range of products and services. The magazine has remained under the same ownership and leadership since its founding, but the approach has evolved to better meet the needs of its adult consumer target audience. "While we've always included an investigative element, we've recently ramped that up," notes Dzierwa.

Consumers Digest's editorial mission is "to make consumers as informed as possible ahead of their purchase of a product or service, so they can spend their money wisely," says Dzierwa. And while he admits his publication does have a close competitor in this area (one, in fact, with a very similar name), he believes a direct approach, timeliness, and ease of accessibility to information are what make Consumers Digest stand out.

"We seek to apply a hands-on familiarity to our product evaluations. Two, we make sure that in our product evaluations, we cover products in a timely manner so that the items we report on are in the marketplace when the information gets into the hands of our readers. Finally, we run stories and reports written in a conversational style to ensure that readers not only grasp the information, but also enjoy reading the articles. Then there's our intensity. We believe no other magazine delves into product categories and services to the depth that Consumers Digest does."

...

The How to Pitch series is worth its weight in gold. In just the first month I'd already benefited enough to consider the cost of joining well worth it. -- Gaen Murphree