The Dirt: Why We Do It

Features — By John Prusak on March 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm

In the 15-plus years that I’ve worked with magazines here at what was formerly Ehlert Publishing, now Affinity Media, I’ve been involved in machine-of-the-year discussions every year. It’s a process we take very seriously, as we realize it’s likely the most historic thing we do around here.

I mean, nobody really remembers who won our middle-weight shootout 11 years ago, but there are people who will still bring up and debate our selection of the Honda Foreman ES as our 1998 ATV Magazine ATV of the Year. There really are.

Depending on the year, the model chosen and the relative passion in the given market, we’ve gotten heated phone calls, letters and emails here at the office and had countless face-to-face conversations at shows, events and rides with folks who question our selection.

That’s just with consumers. You wouldn’t believe the heat we’ve received some years from manufacturer officials and folks at dealerships over our choice. I mean, if the marketing executive, brand manager and P.R. person at Brand X thinks they’ve got a sure fire winner, and then one of their rivals gets the award? Oh yeah, we’ll hear about it.

One of the opinions I’ve long heard and I am sure I’ll see on Internet message boards again this year is, “It’s all politics, they just do it to make an advertiser happy.”

Well let’s do the math on that.
Using this year as an example, I’m sure the folks at Polaris will be very pleased with our selection. They’ll likely include the honor in their advertising and marketing efforts, they may make it part of their in-store marketing, and more than anything they’ll use it to congratulate themselves on building a fine product that received third-party recognition.

But the brass at Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Suzuki and Yamaha? They probably won’t be terribly pleased that we’re making such a big deal out of a competitor’s product. And history tells me that I’ll be hearing very directly from some of these folks who think we should have chosen their latest and greatest model instead.

So, one is happy, eight are not – that doesn’t make much political sense, does it? In fact, selecting one over eight others is about the worst political decision a magazine could make – and that’s why most magazines won’t stick their neck out and do it. Ask a mother standing in front of her nine children to publicly select her favorite – she’d be a fool if she answered the question, right!

So it’s not based on economics or politics. Why do we do it?

We feel it’s the role of a magazine to give our readers insight they can’t gain from reading brochures or visiting manufacturer web sites, or by reading somebody else’s wishy-washy publication.

We hope you pick up our magazine to be informed and entertained, whether we’re telling you about a great trail system in Idaho, providing tips on spring deer scouting, giving you feedback on a big attachment like a mower deck or testing seven four-wheelers in the same price category and ranking them in order.

When we do shootouts and name winners, or when we select just one ATV as our ATV of the Year, we’ll get some abuse. But if we do our jobs right and keep you as a reader, it’ll all work out in the end.
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