-By Lucia Moses

Media buyers and their clients have steadily beaten the drum for magazines to mash up their sales forces and offer up more than just pages. But with the economy in turmoil, many marketers have decided simplicity is the solution, and publishers are backing off the elaborate, multiplatform packages for which advertisers had originally clamored.

Condé Nast cancelled its glitzy Fashion Rocks and Movies Rock events, its marquee cross-platform programs, for 2009. Men’s Health parent Rodale folded Rodale Marketing Solutions, its integrated sales and marketing arm, back into individual magazine brands, because several big auto, packaged- goods and technology clients requested fewer custom-built ad packages in favor of off-the-shelf programs. And Meredith Corp. is filling fewer orders for larger integrated packages.

Richard Beckman, president of Condé Nast Media Group, said the company’s fashion and movie extravaganzas require raising $100 million in revenue, and that “in this market, I just didn’t think it was the best beast to feed.” Beckman said  interest in smaller, customized programs was as healthy as ever, though.

Meredith Corp.’s 360 unit—encompassing nine platforms, including experiential marketing, broadband TV and print—just axed its architect Jack Bamberger, the unit’s chief innovations officer; about 11 other salespeople at the company also were cut. Nancy Weber, chief marketing officer, said that while she continues to field interest from clients, a typical deal will involve three or four elements rather than the seven or eight of flusher times, with costlier elements like direct mail less likely to be used.

In a nod to the times, Meredith touts cost effectiveness in a pitch that pits its women’s titles against the newer, faster-growing lifestyle magazines like Time Inc.’s Real Simple.

“Things that don’t require a lot of additional production and expense and that are turnkey, where they’re already established, is probably where we’re having better success,” Weber said. “When the economy was better, everyone was willing to experiment and try things. Now, they’re just a lot more focused.”

Media buyers characterize the shift as a return to the tried and true.

“On our side, there’s going to be a conservativeness to show we’re spending our money wisely,” said Jeff Fischer, senior vp, managing director at Universal McCann, with responsibility for Johnson & Johnson’s print spend. “Given the uncertainty and how long we’re going to be stuck in this period, I think everyone is going to stick with the core things they know are driving ROI.”

Meanwhile, MaryAnn Bekkedahl, executive vp, group publisher at Rodale, bristled at the notion advertisers have not been getting their money’s worth. “They use the phrase ‘non-working media dollars’ to describe the funds required to build a new asset or create a new promotion,” she wrote in an e-mail, referring to clients scaling back. “I’ve respectfully submitted that these custom programs can and do work harder for the dollars spent, and when measured by research firms, it proves out every time. My suggestion is to rephrase the classification of dollars from ‘non-working media dollars’ to ‘non-media working dollars!’ The costs to build a custom tool, custom message, microsite, impact unit or event footprint are ‘working dollars’ that drive ROI—we’ve seen it every time.”

Buyers and publishing execs insisted the economy is the reason for clients scaling back integrated deals, rather than any shift in the perception of their value. Meredith’s Weber doesn’t see multiplatform deals going away for good. “I think with how consumers are digesting information,” she said, “they need integrated programs.”