People To Watch

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan 1, 2004 by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt

What will the year 2004 bring for magazines?

A lot has to do with the people who are in critical positions. Folio: looks at a few of the magazine pros who will be in the spotlight this year. - Rachel Lehmann-Haupt

BEYOND SHELTER

In February 2002, Steve Bohlinger, the publisher of Cooking Light - published by Time Inc.'s Southern Progress - started work on a new title. Research found that covers with the word "cottage" were selling well, which he interpreted as a sign of a post-9/11 impulse to look inward. "People are returning to the dinner table with family, and the warmth and comfort of home has become the heart of what people really want," says Bohlinger. He and Eleanor Griffin, the editorial director for corporate magazine development, spent more than a year guiding a creative team on development of a prototype for a shelter magazine. Launching in September, Cottage Living will cover decorating, gardening, entertaining, and food and travel - but from a casual and comfortable viewpoint, says Griffin, who will be editor-in-chief. The initial rate base is 500,000. Bohlinger thinks the key is ad diversity. "For a magazine to be successful today, you have to go beyond the shelter category," he says.

"THE TIMES IS NOT LUCKY"

Stefano Tonchi, the new style editor of The New York Times Magazine, calls the overwhelming amount of products in today's fashion magazines "The Japanese Syndrome" - the legacy of Japan's decade-old magalog obsession. As he takes over the helm of style at the magazine of record, he says he plans to show more products - an unmistakable trend, of which Lucky is only the most obvious example. But the Times will also be discerning, he says, helping readers make critical choices. "The Times is not Lucky," he points out. Tonchi, who was previously creative director of Esquire, says he looks forward to not thinking as much about celebrities and what sells at the newsstand. He hopes the move will allow him to cover more design, architecture and contemporary art. "We are entering an age when consumers are more educated and much less seduced by advertisements and marketing," he says. "It's becoming less about buzz and more about substance. For 2004, he says there will be fewer stories about Hollywood and more that focus on New York and the state of the fashion industry. We're trying to be more down-to-earth."

THE GEM OF BRAND EXTENSION

A year ago, W publisher Alyce Alston asked readers what they wanted more of. The answer overwhelmingly was jewelry. At $20 billion in sales in 2002, jewelry dwarfs beauty, with just $6 billion, according to Monroe Mendelsohn Research. "People want to make investments in quality and in products that are long-lasting, which is why jewelry has become more fashionable," says Alston. For W, which flirted with 2,000 ad pages in 2003 (1,966 to be exact), jewelry was an easy choice for its first spinoff because it was already its top ad category. "I wanted to leapfrog the industry," says Alston. W Jewelry carried 202 ad pages in its three 2003 issues; in the second half of 2004 Fairchild plans to increase frequency to six times a year.

THE TOP OF THE CAKE

While it's still technically possible to get married in the U.S. without the blessings of Conde Nast, it's getting more difficult to avoid the fashion giant's long fingers in the bridal category. That, in large part, is the handiwork of Nina Lawrence, who is vice president of the new Conde Nast Bridal Group, which was formed after the company acquired Modern Bride from Primedia last winter. The group now consists of Bride's, Modern Bride, 17 regional magazines known as Modern Bride Connection, Your Prom magazine and related Web sites. Lawrence, who was publisher of Bride's before her promotion, had headed MB at Primedia before jumping to Conde, where she also served as publisher of the now-defunct Mademoiselle. In the past year, Lawrence increased Modern Bride's circ to match Bride's, which is 4.6 million. This year she plans more print and online extensions, including a one-off newsstand special called Bride Reception Ideas. Conde will print 600,000 copies. "We want to touch the bride in every place that she is," she says.

IDG Plays on its Home Turf ...

Everyone is looking at the digital home as the holy grail," says Colin Crawford, vice president of business development for IDG, the big tech publisher. The former CEO of MacWorld, Crawford has been put in charge of IDG's next big bet: helping consumers figure out how to incorporate a flood of digital gear into their lives. "It's clear the PC industry wants to take control of the digital home," he says. "What is not clear is how the consumer and buying public will react to this grand vision. So we're looking at a lot of different approaches." Whether IDG will approach the digital home market through the Web, a print magazine, custom publishing or conferences remains to be seen, but it's a $100 million ad market that should play to its strengths.

...AND ZIFF IS RIGHT NEXT DOOR

Robert Lee has never started his own magazine, but he has made a career reinventing and launching them for others. He did it as the publisher at Discover when Disney bought it, and he did it for Bob Guccione's now-defunct Gear. "Starting from scratch is my expertise," Lee says. This year's project is a yet-to-be named "digital lifestyle" property for Ziff Davis. "The magazine is about how consumer electronics impact us on a daily basis," he says. "It's less about the technology and more about how to show people how these products can bring more enjoyment to what they're doing." Lee won't define the new book as business or consumer, because he doesn't think it matters. But Ziff - which had to fold its big consumer mags, Yahoo! Internet Life and Expedia Travel, when the dot-com bubble deflated - is aiming for mass circulation. "The challenge for business and consumer is similar now,' he says.