Footlights, a weekly journal for the theatre-goer. Philadelphia, October 10, 1896 - poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Issue-as-product mood sell.
Define
The issue is sold as a feeling: a face, a color field, a stance. Not as a table of contents.
Mechanism
Mood as SKU. The reader buys the atmosphere and trusts the articles will match. Zoning and figure do the listing's job.
Verdict
We publish a periodical or drop and the buyer chooses identity before they choose an article.
Why it works
The cover line is placed above the masthead and set heavier than it, so the week's specific reason to buy outranks the magazine's own name. That is the newsstand rule: the brand does not sell the issue, this issue sells the issue. The illustration sells identity rather than product, showing the reader as she wants to see herself, in a box with glasses up, so the purchase buys membership in the theatre-going class. One red ink over cream stock keeps the unit cost at a nickel while still reading across a street.
Steal this when
Use this when a recurring publication or newsletter needs each issue to earn its own sale. Put the single strongest item of the issue above the brand mark, and give the reader a picture of the person they become by consuming it rather than a picture of the thing itself.