The Cover of "Rolling Stone"

I taught my weekend intensive class at NYU this past Saturday, part one of a two weekend class.  It's such a pleasure meeting new students from all over the world and from so many different marketing perspectives.  I always say that I learn as much from them as they do from me, and it's so true.

The hot topic was of course Rolling Stone, and the inclusion of the alleged Boston Bomber on the celebrated cover.  We talked about it on and off all morning!  The general consensus was that this was a publicity stunt to get the brand on people's lips again.  Not many have thought of the magazine in quite some time, and here we are talking about it ... passionately!  This could certainly be the case, and in that regard it worked ... or perhaps the publisher has a different sense of the brand than many of us do.

In my day, if you made the cover of Rolling Stone than you were either a musical legend or well on your way to becoming one.  So to see this kind of "news" figure featured (and some would say celebrated) is somewhat shocking.

I explore the topic in an article on Huffington Post if you'd like to check it out.

Thanks students!  See you on Saturday!  What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, The Experience Effect series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post