Creating An M-Buzz

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct, 2000 by Caroline Jenkins

CMP hopes its newest launch, M-Business, will be the first to target the business leaders of a new, mobile economy, while simultaneously promoting its "M-brand."

In November, CMP, a division of United News and Media, will launch the latest and largest addition to its print family this year, M-Business. The publication will analyze the implications of a new, growing segment of the world market: the mobile economy.

The "M" in M-Business stands for "mobile" and refers to the new communications and information delivery model created when telecommunications and the Internet converge. Morwenna Marshall, editorial director and editor in chief for M-Business, says that successful mobile economies abroad illustrate how profitable m-business can be. They also demonstrate the need for a publication written exclusively for the leaders and businesspeople of this economy. "The U.S. is about a year and a half behind in terms of the mobile industry," she says. "In Europe, Asia and especially Japan, m-commerce has already taken off." In Europe, for example, m-commerce currently number about 2.5 million. According to IDC statistics, m-commerce will explode in the United States to almost five million by 2001 and will steadily increase to about 27 million by 2004, thus creating a unique group of potential readers for the magazine.

Targeting an emerging group

The magazine will be edited to meet the specific needs of future m-businesspeople. "Our goal is to give the reader a 360-degree view of what they're facing on a month-to-month basis," Marshall says. It will cover mobile-economy-related topics such as technical developments, mobile standards, players in the mobile economy, business models and the financial side of m-commerce. The premier issue will contain articles on 10 mobile markets, barriers to m-commerce adoption in the United States, and problems with Web portals.

M-Business' editorial mission, says Marshall, is "to be the publication of record for the mobile economy. Its strategic, leading-edge content gives business leaders the analysis and insight essential to gaining the advantage in the fast-developing mobile economy." But some believe that the magazine's audience for this debatably unrealized niche might not exist at this time.

Skeptical competition

"You could say that we have a lot of competitors and, at the same time, none at all," says publisher Eric Bergman. The magazine has no direct competition yet, he says. But M-Business' audience will probably overlap with those of the new economy magazines, "wireless" publications and traditional business books. Bergman quickly points out that although only 3 to 12 percent of the editorial of competitors covers the mobile economy, M-Business will find plenty of material to cover each month. "I see us growing along with that mobile market," he says.

But Brian Nadel, editor in chief of Mobile Computing & Communication, doubts if the mobile economy will take hold in the United States in the immediate future, if at all. His publication also covers mobility issues, but from a service angle. For growth of m-commerce to occur here, he says, there must first be a "reliable, ubiquitous phone network," which does not currently exist. "I think it is an interesting concept," says Nadel. "But I don't see this [m-commerce] happening right now in the U.S. Maybe in a couple of years the time will be right."

But Nadel admits that he will probably read the publication. "I think I'll be a subscriber," he says. "They might take a few readers away from the new economy books. But it's a tough market. A lot of magazines are squeezed."

Strong advertiser interest

Given the title's 100 percent qualified starting circulation of 100,000 and backing from CMP, Manny Sawit, M-Business founder and group director, seems comfortable with M-Business' finances. The magazine's profits will come from ad sales and later from marketing efforts. The "M" in the magazine's title may stand for the word "mobile," but it also represents a unique, branding opportunity, he says. He wants "to build M-Business into a major brand in the new economy--the 'M-brand.' "The publication will develop the M-brand through its Web site, spin-offs, and perhaps a technical system, among other things.

And so far, advertisers are buying into M-Business and the M-brand, says national sales director Joe Siart. Larger companies--Lucent, Oracle and Aether--have been purchasing plenty of spots, says Siart, but a lot of interest has come from "m-coms," as he calls them, or the start-ups of the mobile economy. "All the premium positions are taken," says Siart.

Sonya Fox, marketing communications manager for @hand Corporation, a software platform-developing organization, says her company decided to advertise in M-Business' first issue because "it is a good fit, editorially." "It seems like the editorial material is directed at our market," she explains. "It's more enterprise-oriented than consumer-oriented." The company normally advertises in more "targeted, vertical" books. M-Business' slightly broader audience will ultimately benefit @hand. "We anticipate that it will do really well in the future," she adds.