Sprinting Where Conde And Time Stumbled

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 2004 by Liz Borod

Byline: LIZ BOROD

Starting a magazine in an area where both Time Inc. and Conde Nast failed would stop most entrepreneurs cold. But perhaps the perils of publishing aren't so daunting if you're a determined athlete who competes in the Hawaii Ironman Triathalon. As publisher of Her Sports, Dawna Stone's latest challenge is a magazine that targets women involved in individual sports.

This friendly, no-nonsense bimonthly, which debuted in March, includes nutrition advice and training plans - like competitors Fitness, Shape and Self. But, unlike those glossies, Her Sports won't dole out weight-loss tips. The main nutrition story in the first issue, "Top 10 Energy Foods," ranked rolled oats as No. 1. And "Fast Food that's Good for You" is not a typical women's mag story about salads at Wendy's, it's about energy bars and trail mix. "There's really no need to diet at all if people are leading an active lifestyle and eating balanced meals," says editor-in-chief Christina Gandolfo.

SMALL AND SLOW

Stone won't accept any ads for diet products, or run editorials on cosmetics. The women who appear on the pages of Her Sports are mostly "real women." Real women with rock-hard bodies who work out for hours a day, that is. A section called "Women who Move" highlights a handful of female uber-athletes. So far, each issue has featured a photo essay on motherhood: triathletes who are mothers, and mothers and daughters who share a passion for the same sport.

Her Sports is aimed at female jocks but not in the same way as Time Inc.'s SI Women or Conde Nast Sports + Fitness for Women. Those titles included all sports and leaned heavily on profiles of celebrity athletes. This mag will do more in-depth service pieces. "We offer articles on how to be active in a specific sport with different training plans for the dedicated athlete and the weekend warrior," explains Gandolfo, a former EIC of Triathlete, a monthly from Encinitas, Calif.-based Triathlon Group.

A modest scale may help Her Sports go the distance. Stone is starting with a 50,000-copy print run and a full-time staff of five, and plans to grow slowly. "With my cost structure, I could be extremely successful with 100,000 subscribers," she says. Her Sport's predecessors took a mass approach. Conde Nast Sports for Women launched in September 1997, only to spend $40 million to relaunch within months, to incorporate the purchase of Women's Sports + Fitness. The resulting Conde Nast Women's Sports + Fitness achieved a respectable rate base of 650,000 in March 1999, but closed in September 2000. SI Women also debuted in 1997, but never found its focus and was shuttered by 2002. Its peak circ was 400,000. Neither ever became profitable. "The market for active women is there, but it wasn't there for Conde Nast and Time Inc. because they need such large circulation numbers," says AdMedia Partners Managing Director Mark Edmiston. "There's a category of women who have that whole lifestyle. It's just smaller than the big guys would do, since they want a half million."

Stone, 35, has an impressive sports herstory of her own - first in competitive swimming at University of California-Berkeley and later as a runner. What she lacks is a publishing background. Her only magazine experience was managing a custom pub as chief marketing officer at Marine Max, a national recreational boat dealer in Clearwater, Fla. She has an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School and dot-com experience from Active.com, an athletic event registration site.

GRASSROOTS MARKETING

Stone won't say how much money she's raised but acknowledges that she could use more. "If I had more money, I would spend it on traditional marketing" such as advertisements, she says. "Right now what I'm doing is more grassroots." She has a major partnership with Active.com, offering female members a free three-month subscription in the hopes they'll pay $16.95 for six issues. Marketing efforts also include putting the magazine in goodie bags for women who finish 5K races and sponsoring the Reebok Women's Triathlon Series in Chicago, St. Petersburg, Fla. and San Diego. Plus, she's been busy promoting the magazine on TV and radio.

Initial advertisers include Avia footwear and L'Oreal. Of the first printing, 10,000 copies were placed on newsstands by Ingram Periodicals at Barnes & Noble, Borders and REI, others at Books-A-Million by Media Solutions. Stone says sell-through in Barnes & Noble has been in the mid-30 percent range.

Will slow and steady win this race? Tyler Schaeffer, senior vice president and director of media brand planning for Foote Cone & Belding, praises Stone's frugality and measured growth strategy. "It sounds like she's taking all the right steps," he says. But will she have the endurance for the long-distance publishing competition?

MAG STATS

Her Sports