Bonnier Corporation has named Elizabeth Burnham Murphy the chief marketing officer for its Men’s Group, a new role at the company. She was most recently associate publisher of marketing and online services for the company’s Outdoor Group.

As CMO of the Men’s Group, Burnham Murphy will now oversee Popular Science, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Popular Photography, American Photo, Cycle World and SHOT Business.

“Liz is constantly driving toward the ethic of constant improvement for our brands and our businesses,” said Bonnier’s executive vice president, Eric Zinczenko, in a statement. “Under her leadership, we will ensure our marketing efforts across the group are operating to the highest standard.”

We’ll never understand why there are studies that prove something seemingly obvious, but every day there is a new one, so there must be something to it. The latest: Bonnier Corporation and ad agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky, through a series of focus groups, have found that people reading iPad magazines are unfocused on the content.

Megan Miller, Research and Development Program Director at Bonnier, tells Ad Age:

We thought that of course there’s a lot of activity going on on an iPad, when there’s so many things you can be doing — between email, Netflix, playing games, reading magazines — but they’re actually bouncing around a lot more than we thought.

Well of course they are. It’s a computer portable enough that you can take it to the bathroom (oh like you haven’t done that).

But don’t start feeling bad for the magazines and their ads – the purpose of the study was to find ways to make iPad magazine advertising more effective, so we’re sure they’ll figure something out.

When Apple says jump, publishers – starting with Bonnier Corporation – apparently, ask how high. Popular Science will now be available using Apple’s subscription model at $14.99 per year, or $4.99 for a single issue.

The incentive to buy an annual subscription is that it’s almost 70 percent cheaper than buying a single issue each time. Once users opt for this option, it automatically renews each year.

Gregg Hano, Vice President, Group Publisher, for Bonnier, said the in-app subscription model will benefit readers:

A yearlong subscription to the digital magazine will bring the cost per issue down significantly, rewarding loyal customers while still giving them access to the high-quality extra interactive content, video and custom design that only the digital experience can offer.

Terry Snow, CEO of Bonnier Corporation announced today that Dave Freygang has been promoted to Senior Vice President of the new Special Interest Division. Previously Freygang worked as  Vice President, Publishing, for Bonnier’s Trans World and Water Sports titles. His new position will combine almost 40 brands across several categories.

Snow said that Freygang’s ability to improve brands is what lead to the promotion:

Dave has been an exceptional, energetic leader in the company’s rapid evolution over the years, with a long record of success. In his publishing roles here, Dave has made his titles the leaders in their markets, with record growth in revenue and profits. I have full confidence in his ability to strengthen our overall business in his new position.

Some of the titles that Freygang will now oversee include Islands, Scuba Diving, and Boating. You’ll never guess what each of those magazines is about.

Forget boring socks and underwear.  This season parents will find what they really need in their stockings: expert advice for raising their kids.  According to Folio, Parenting magazine’s parent company (does that make them the grandparent?) Bonnier Corp. has released an iPad only quarterly titled Parenting Seasons.  The all-digital venture will roll out winter, spring, summer, and fall editions and include a monthly calendar filled with parenting lessons.

Digital editorial director Rachel Fishman Feddersen says Parenting Seasons has a lot to offer subscribers:

We think we’re providing real value.  We didn’t want to just toss something on the iPad, we want to give people a lot for their money.

The pricing plan for Parenting Seasons varies depending on when issues are purchased – $2.99 at the start of a season, $1.99 midseason, and 99 cents at the end of the season.  The inaugural winter edition is sponsored by Gerber and Huggies.  How adorable?!

Magazine and newspaper publishers may have missed the boat when it comes to the Internet, but they are determined to be ahead of the curve when the tablet e-reader — or something similar — comes out. Esquire and GQ have already launched iPhone-downloadable versions of their magazines and Time Inc. and Bonnier Corp. have unveiled demos of their tablet-ready magazine concepts.

But Slate.com‘s resident media watcher, Jack Shafer, says it might be too soon to hail the tablet as the savior of the publishing industry. Shafer compares the tablet technology to CD-ROM’s of 1992, using Newsweek‘s product, called Newsweek Interactive, as an analogy:

“Newsweek President Richard M. Smith told the [New York Times] that his company’s early experience with the CD-ROM product would give it a valuable head-start on the competition.

A head-start to last place, I should add. The CD-ROM and its fellow technologies flopped for a variety of reasons. Too expensive, too cumbersome, too wedded to a propriety platform, and not much fun.”

Are all those publishers seeking to pump out tablet demos before the device is even released on a similar race to the bottom? We are excited to see what these new devices will mean to the industry — because they look pretty darn cool — but they’ll only be the hip new thing until something new comes along. As Shafer concludes:

“That’s not to say that the tablet has no future. It’s just if the past is any guide, the future of the tablet won’t look like the SI or Wired prototypes — any more than Pathfinder turned out to be the future of the Web. I find it more likely that some young people at a startup will figure out the highest uses of the tablet form before SI or even Slate does. As Newsweek‘s president ultimately learned from his CD-ROM debacle, not all head-starts turn out to be valuable.”

The Tablet Hype –Slate

Previously: Bonnier Debuts Plans For Highly Anticipated Tablet Device

News of magazine closures was, sadly, pretty prevalent throughout 2009. But, although 428 magazines folded during the year, according to MediaFinder.com, 275 launched.

Launching a magazine or Web site in the midst of a recession is never an easy task. But we think there are a few new pubs on the block that will be around for awhile. Even mediabistro.com got in the launching spirit, debuting four new blogs this year: WebNewser, MediaJobsDaily, BayNewser and eBookNewser.

As the year closes out, here’s a look at some of the biggest launches in print and online.

Magazines
Much-anticipated travel magazine Afar celebrated its launch in August with an opulent party, pretty unheard of these days.

Get Married proved that there is still room in the bridal magazine market, despite the closure of Modern Bride and Elegant Bride this year.

And Modern added another design magazine to the mix.

Cookie may have crumbled, but Bonnier Corp. successfully split its parenting magazine into two editions, Parenting Early Years and Parenting School Years, later raising the rate base of School Years.

Other notable launches: Children’s Health, Organic Beauty, Women’s magazine VAIN and two Reader’s Digest Association launches, DIY mag Fresh Home and Rick Warren‘s Purpose Driven Connection, which folded later in the year.

After the jump, online magazine and blog launches

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Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

When Sports Illustrated revealed plans for content for the not-yet-released tablet reading device, we were impressed. The prototype seemed like a great way to integrate traditional magazine content, with large, full-color photography, bold headlines and lengthy text, into an e-reading format that has yet to be experienced by anyone.

But that was just the first of its kind. Expect other magazines and publishers to be revealing tablet prototypes in the coming months. Like publisher Bonnier Corp., which has titles like Popular Science and Saveur in its stable. Last week, the publisher released the above video of its tablet technology, created with design shop BERG.

Unlike Time Inc.‘s SI demo, Bonnier’s focuses in vertical scrolling to read articles. There is no “digital page turning,” that is common among a lot of digital versions of magazines today. As the video explains:

“The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories.”

What do you think of this concept? Is it better or worse than SI‘s? We don’t know about you, but we’re intrigued.

Previously: Sports Illustrated Puts Money On Tablet Technology

Magazine publisher Bonnier Corp. has grown rapidly in the past year, thanks to several major acquisitions. The most recent, announced today, brings book publisher Weldon Owen Publishing into the Bonnier fold, giving the company its own book division.

Weldon Owen is most well-known for publishing illustrated non-fiction books, including cookbooks. This specialty will mesh well with Bonnier’s stable of titles, including Saveur, which has previously worked in partnership with the publisher. Weldon Owen also produces children’s titles and family/adult reference books, partnering on some of those titles with Bonnier’s Parenting magazine.

This deal marks Bonnier’s fifth acquisition in 15 months, as the three-year-old publishing company seeks to expand its reach. In October, the organization picked up independently published parenting title Conceive, which followed a big deal in June under which Bonnier acquired five Hachette Filipacchi enthusiast titles.

Full release after the jump

Previously: Bonnier Picks Up Parenting Title Conceive

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Mark Wildman is leaving Reader’s Digest to join magazine publisher Bonnier Corp. as senior vice president of corporate sales and marketing. Wildman was most recently vice president of integrated marketing at Reader’s Digest Association, but his replacement, Maureen Polo, was announced last week. He will start at Bonnier on November 6.

While at RDA, Wildman worked to establish the integrated sales and marketing group for the company’s Food & Entertaining Affinity. Before joining Reader’s Digest in 2007, Wildman worked as executive director at Conde Nast Media Group.

“Bonnier is a strong, forward-thinking organization with more than 50 consumer media brands like Saveur, Popular Science, Field & Stream and Parenting,” Wildman said. “As consumers continue their shift toward real and meaningful, the Bonnier brands are very well-positioned, delivering specific well-defined audiences which are highly engaged and emotionally invested in the content.”

Full release after the jump

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