AARP The Magazine And Its Sister Publication AARP Bulletin Defy The Odds And Thrive Where Others Could Not

“All you have to do is dig in a little bit and understand that the 50 plus market, they own the wealth. There’s a flood of sort of that gray wave in pop culture and music.” Shelagh Daly Miller

“Everywhere you go and everywhere you look, you see someone who’s over 50, whether it’s at your gym or whether it’s at the grocery store. You can’t ignore the size of the audience.” Shelagh Daly Miller

While it seems that everything and everyone are targeting generation Z or the millennials, AARP The Magazine, and its sister publication, AARP Bulletin, are doing just the opposite. Combining both a strong editorial content and even stronger advertising content, the magazines continue to soar to new heights. I don’t need to remind you that you have to be at least 50 to access one of the three age targeted editions of the magazine: 50+, 60+, and the largest of the crowd, 70+. This mass-circulated publication makes no apologies for its print prowess and passionate nature regarding ink on paper.

The magazine is the largest-circulation publication in the United States with over 38.9 million readers and its sister AARP Bulletin reigns supreme with 32.6 million in readership. Combine the two together and the numbers are a staggering testament to the power of print and its relevant audience, while never ignoring the reach and information the brand’s digital extensions offer.

I thought it was time again to revisit with Shelagh Daly Miller the Vice President, Group Publisher, AARP Media Advertising Network who has been with the brand for 23+ years. Coming from a background rich in advertising and publishing, she is a woman very much at home in the world of magazines and magazine media.

I interviewed Shelagh and asked about AARP and the world of magazines and magazine media. The world of advertising and the role of print delivering ads at the beginning of the journey. I hope that you enjoy this very inspiring and print-positive Mr. Magazine™ interview with a passionate woman and her brand that make no apologies for their faith and commitment to all platforms, print included, Shelagh Daly Miller, Vice President, Group Publisher, AARP Media Advertising Network.

But first for the soundbites:

On the status of the magazine and the Bulletin: To consistently have both AARP the Magazine and The Bulletin as number one and number two in terms of most read magazines, that’s pretty incredible.

On her success in a heavily doubted print future: So I think that was, maybe not so much a surprise, but, you know, 39 million readers is nothing to sneeze at. And in a climate where print has an uncertain future for many, I think it’s just shown us that we’re doing a great job out there.

On her editorial team: So Myrna (Blyth) and Bob (Love) and Neil (Wertheimer) and Steve Perrine and all of those terrific journalists, they’re living the 50 plus life. And I think that they’re excited to combine journalistic expertise with an opportunity to kind of show everyone how great it is to be in the 50 plus life stage.

On the role of ads in the publications: One of the things about magazines that I know I like is that the ads are part of the experience, you know? They’re not popping up and hitting me in the face the way they sometimes do in other media. It’s actually part of the experience and it’s a very tactile experience.

On how is print different than digital: Or in our case we’ve had some success with flip covers where you physically have to turn. So you’re really engaging with the medium. And personally, I love that.

On the future of her audience: As people continue to live longer and more and more boomers are getting into that 70 plus it’s going to continue to grow.

On her biggest challenge: One of the ongoing challenges is convincing people that 50 plus is viable and vibrant and a terrific opportunity to sell products and services to…. Another great challenge that came my way about a dozen years ago was getting into the digital space with aarp.org, which has grown into a tremendously robust and vibrant digital platform. So that kept me as a personally super engaged and always learning.

On her goals for 2024: I’d like to hit our revenue goals. That’s always my first and foremost. And I hope that I can tell you that I’ve exceeded my revenue goals for 2024 in 2025.

On anything she’d like to add: What we didn’t really talk about is how many of our advertisers are running in both print and digital. And that seems to be sort of the ideal combination. And for us, and I think for other print vehicles as well print is really a chance to kind of get that purchase journey started and really hit them sort of at the top of the funnel, create that awareness.

On staying the course: We’re continuing to do what we do best, which is to really inform, educate and entertain and delight our members with really quality content and trusted environments that you just don’t find across the media landscape anymore.

On what keeps her up at night: How do we get the 28 to 35 year old media folks to really understand who this market is? That has been a challenge since the day I walked in the door.

On what I might catch her doing if I visit unannounced: You might also find me on the pickleball court because I live most of the year in Florida and I’m an avid and passionate pickleball player.

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Shelagh Daly Miller, Vice President and Group Publisher:

Samir Husni: My first question to you is, you know, in this day and age where a lot of magazines are cutting frequency, cutting circulation, I remember last year you told me that AARP, the magazine, is a necessity. Why do you think it’s a necessity and why do you think your print publications, both of them, the Bulletin and the magazine, have done exceptionally well last year?

Shelagh Daly Miller: Well, I would say that a lot of it has to do with the trust that we provide to our members. We are a brand that they trust and that translates into trusting the information that we provide them. So I do think that it’s a very trusted environment in a kind of wacky world where people are looking for things that are safe and trusted. And so I think that’s part of it. I also think that when someone joins AARP, they’ve taken an action around a life stage. They’re raising their hand. They’re saying, yep, I’m 50 plus and I’m going to embrace it. I’m going to join AARP.

The publications are sort of a gift in exchange for you taking an action. So I think that brings a level of engagement where they said, okay, I’m 50, I’m joining this organization and now they’re sending me these publications. And gee, now that I’m reading them, it’s all about me.

They really see themselves and their life stage and all of the issues that they’re dealing with in life reflected in the pages of the magazine. So I think there’s a real connection there.

Samir Husni: You mentioned two keywords: trust and engagement. How are you translating this trust and engagement to your advertisers? You have the trust and engagement from the readers and from the members. Sure. How are you translating it to the advertisers?

Shelagh Daly Miller: Well, I would say that our advertisers are also looking for a trusted environment. There are some platforms, particularly in the digital space, where they don’t have as much control over where their message is being viewed in what kind of environment. So, you know, we have that contextual alignment for advertisers and marketers who are looking to reach people in the 50 plus life stage.

We provide the contextual alignment because that is what we’re writing about. Both of the publications are focused on that life stage. I think advertisers do appreciate the trusted brand as well. In fact, not only does AARP’s brand give a trusted halo, but our advertisers go through a pretty rigorous approval process from an ad policy team. And while some advertisers don’t understand why we won’t accept certain things or, you know, we need substantiation of claims and things like that, I think there are a lot of advertisers who actually appreciate that. But mostly, I think, too, we really become a consultative partner with our marketers.

We offer so much beyond just selling an ad page or selling a campaign. We have such a depth and breadth of insights. So we really try and help our marketing partners be smarter, really understand the market.

We help from a creative optimization standpoint. Obviously, we help with performance optimization. But I think that kind of consultative approach has had a positive impact on developing relationships with marketers who have been advertising in our publications.

Samir Husni: Do you think, do you attribute the vast misinformation that’s out there and the bombardment of whether it’s digital spying on your privacy or do you attribute that to the success and the increase of readership of AARP the magazine last year?

Shelagh Daly Miller: I think that’s part of it. I do think that, you know, that sort of trusted brand and that trusted environment plays a big part. I also think that the fact that we’re read in home, the magazine is delivered to the home. That’s sort of your own environment. You choose to, as part of our strategy, we want to provide our members with information, how they want to read it, when they want to read it, where they want to read it. We know that a lot of people started spending more time at home during the pandemic. And I think that the fact that we’re really large, I think too, that people are looking for value and there’s a lot of value that you can find through our publications. That’s part of who AARP is, savings and value, etc. .

Samir Husni: I’ve seen so many magazines either fold or went digital, what about the 50 plus audience that you feel other magazine publishers and other media companies are ignoring?

Shelagh Daly Miller: Yeah. Well, I do think that other media companies and marketers continue to ignore the market. Personally, I don’t think it’s a smart marketing decision on the part of the media companies or on the part of the marketers. All you have to do is dig in a little bit and understand that the 50 plus market, they own the wealth. There’s a flood of sort of that gray wave in pop culture and music.

The Golden Bachelor was a big hit recently. Everywhere you go and everywhere you look, you see someone who’s over 50, whether it’s at your gym, whether it’s, you know, at the grocery store. You can’t ignore the size of the audience.

I think that with some of the shifts in the growing influence on pop culture, I’m hoping that more marketers come along and more media outlets. I mean, one challenge on the media side is, we really dominate. So I don’t know that you want to start a publication to compete with us. That would be kind of a tough task. Others have tried. And I mean, I go back to the my days in media planning when More Magazine and Mirabella and those were sort of way ahead of the curve in a way because boomers hadn’t started to turn 40 and 50 at that point. I think for marketers, it’s a big opportunity. For media companies, I think it’s a mistake.

Samir Husni: Wow. Talking about wow, can you please tell me what was the most pleasant surprise you enjoyed in 2023?

Shelagh Daly Miller: The most pleasant surprise of 2023. I would have to say that probably the continuation of our readership numbers going up. To your point, we read so much about publications shutting their doors, going out of print, moving to digital, going away altogether, and to consistently have both AARP the Magazine and The Bulletin as number one and number two in terms of most read magazines, that’s pretty incredible.

The magazine hit an all-time high in 2023. So I think that was, maybe not so much a surprise, but, you know, 39 million readers is nothing to sneeze at. And in a climate where print has an uncertain future for many, I think it’s just shown us that we’re doing a great job out there.

We are serving our members’ needs and they want to read these publications. And I think that’s exciting.

Samir Husni: And do you still practice what you preach in terms of like, you told me you don’t have a Kindle, you still like print?

Shelagh Daly Miller: I don’t have a Kindle. I still like to read. I do like to read paper. You know, I think one of the things about magazines that I know I like is that the ads are part of the experience, you know? They’re not popping up and hitting me in the face the way they sometimes do in other media. It’s actually part of the experience and it’s a very tactile experience.

You’re physically seeing the colors and touching the pages. And sometimes there’s unique executions that might be a little interesting. Or in our case we’ve had some success with flip covers where you physically have to turn. So you’re really engaging with the medium. And personally, I love that. I do think that’s part of the reason that our members are continuing to embrace print. It’s also quite portable. You can easily carry it from room to room.

As we age, I know that my eyes struggle to read long articles on my iPhone. So if I want to sit at my computer, I have to physically go into that room. Or I could just grab the magazine and go wherever I want to go.

I think partially it’s the same reason I’m still passionate about selling AARP’s properties. They are part of the audience. They understand the vibrancy around the 50-plus market and the life stage.

Samir Husni: Well, I mean, without getting political, but as we see our presidential elections with both candidates approaching 80, is there any, or over 80, is there any chance that we are going to see like a forced addition of AARP for 80 plus?

Shelagh Daly Miller: I don’t think so. We have our 70 plus version and that is actually our biggest, from a circulation standpoint, 70 plus is our biggest version. Obviously it covers multiple decades and we know people are living longer, but we have 70 plus edition. With Ringo on the cover.

I just started receiving as a member, the 60 plus edition. So I’ve aged out of the 50 plus as of October this year, last year. So, but no, I don’t think, I think that the 70 plus version is very relevant for the various stages of the older segment of our audience. So I think it’ll just continue to grow. I think as people continue to live longer and more and more boomers are getting into that 70 plus it’s going to continue to grow.

Samir Husni: You talk with such passion about the magazine and print and is your job like a walk in a rose garden?

Shelagh Daly Miller: No, definitely not. I celebrated my 23rd anniversary last week at AARP.

And as you may recall from prior chats, I had been at American Baby and Sesame Street Parents prior to AARP. So, and I was in my thirties, when I made that decision. And I would say it’s never been a walk in the park.

Partially because the brand doesn’t translate well to young media people. They think of us as old and marketers as well. One of the ongoing challenges is convincing people that 50 plus is viable and vibrant and a terrific opportunity to sell products and services to.

Another great challenge that came my way about a dozen years ago was getting into the digital space with aarp.org, which has grown into a tremendously robust and vibrant digital platform. So that kept me as a personally super engaged and always learning. But I think AARP has never been a media company where the phones are ringing.

We’re making them ring on the other side. So definitely not a walk in the rose garden, but I love my job and I feel very fortunate to have spent 23 years with a brand like this.

Samir Husni: You and I are having this conversation next year in March of 2025, what would you tell me you’ve accomplished or you hope to accomplish in 2024?

Shelagh Daly Miller: I’d like to hit our revenue goals. That’s always my first and foremost. And I hope that I can tell you that I’ve exceeded my revenue goals for 2024 in 2025. That we’re continuing to do what we do best, which is to really inform, educate and entertain and delight our members with really quality content and trusted environments that you just don’t find across the media landscape anymore.

I’m excited about 2024. We’re off to a really good start. I think we all know that the outlook is not super optimistic for print, but I’m feeling very optimistic in our properties in 2024. We’ve already closed a few issues and we’re up from where we were last year and, you know up is up and that’s exciting to me.

I think another thing is our industry, particularly on the agency side has been very slow to get back to personal interactions and, and those face-to-face meetings. I believe wholeheartedly that there is nothing like face-to-face. So I hope I’m able to tell you next March that I traveled more and that I was in, in our territories more frequently and, meeting with clients and really doing what we do best, educating and forming and influencing marketers to really take advantage of this tremendous market.

Samir Husni: I know you’re not a media company as AARP. However you have some of the strongest editorial folks creating that content, like Myrna Blyth, Bob Love and such. What do you think they make them tick and click? Why is your editorial team still excited about producing good journalism?

Shelagh Daly Miller: I think partially it’s the same reason I’m still passionate about selling AARP’s properties. They are part of the audience. They understand the vibrancy around the 50plus market and the life stage. They’re excited to write about it and to bring an amazing lineup of journalists, as you said, to really help bring our publications to life.

If we didn’t have good content, we’d have nothing to sell. So, I mean, those guys are rock stars in my opinion. I mean, the fact that we’ve got Ringo Starr and Robert De Niro.

When I first got to AARP, I remember they had a hard time getting folks on the cover. And prior to me being there, the covers were often cartoons. They weren’t pop culture.

So Myrna and Bob and Neil and Steve Perrine and all of those terrific journalists, they’re living the 50 plus life. And I think that they’re excited to combine journalistic expertise with an opportunity to kind of show everyone how great it is to be in the 50 plus life stage.

Samir Husni: Anything else I failed to ask you?

Shelagh Daly Miller: What we didn’t really talk about is how many of our advertisers are running in both print and digital. And that seems to be sort of the ideal combination.

And for us, and I think for other print vehicles as well print is really a chance to kind of get that purchase journey started and really hit them sort of at the top of the funnel, create that awareness. It’s really an opportunity to just create that journey to start that journey and make people aware of who you are.

And then you combine that with a really strategic digital piece and you’ve got the whole funnel. With our properties, what’s unique is that we can take someone through the purchase funnel with just our media, because we’ve got huge print, huge awareness, huge dumping people into the top of that funnel, and we can carry them through our digital properties. So I think we offer a great opportunity. I just hope that we can help the rest of the marketing world understand that 50 plus is a great opportunity.

Samir Husni: Let me shift gears and ask you my usual last questions: if all of a sudden I come to visit you one evening unannounced, what do I catch you doing? Reading a book, watching TV, cooking, listening?

Shelagh Daly Miller: Well, usually cooking at least a few nights a week. That’s definitely a passion for me. I would say it’s probably a combination of cooking and reading a book.

Probably watching some TV. I’m a real sucker for Bravo. I feel like it’s cotton candy for the brain. So when I really need to unwind a little, Real Housewives or Below Deck, might be where you’d find me.

The other thing is you might also find me on the pickleball court because I live most of the year in Florida and I’m an avid and passionate pickleball player.

Samir Husni: And my typical last question, what’s keeping you up at night these days?

Shelagh Daly Miller: As far as what keeps me up at night, you know what? How do we get the 28 to 35 year old media folks to really understand who this market is? That has been a challenge since the day I walked in the door. They might say, Oh, well, you know, my mom’s 55 and my dad’s 58. Oh, so where was the last trip that they took? Actually they love to travel. They did a wine country bike tour. Well, that’s who we’re talking about.

We’re not talking about someone sitting on a porch in a rocking chair, or maybe there’s some of them and that’s okay too. But there’s a lot of people that are in this market that don’t look the way that these young people think they look. And I’d love to be able to change that image.

That is a challenge from the day I walked in the door. And that’s probably what keeps me up at night from a business standpoint.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

This article originally appeared in Mr. Magazine.