Modern Maturity: Lad Mag Publishing Grows Up

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 1, 2003 by Susan Thea Posnock

Byline: Susan Thea Posnock

In the 1993 cult classic Dazed and Confused , Matthew McConaughey plays Wooderson, a character who graduated long ago, but still hangs out with high school students. His friends rotate out of his life as they move on to the next stage, yet he sticks around. Wooderson, this cool man-boy is sort of a legend - and also kind of creepy.

Lad magazines, those rude boys who caused such a stir in England, then kicked ass here in the U.S., are a little bit like Wooderson. They're still cool - readers and advertisers like to hang with them. But they're getting older, even as their attitude remains (and must remain) in a state of arrested development.

The question is, will these magazines, Maxim, Stuff, FHM, and countless imitators "keep on livin," (as Wooderson would say), or will readers and advertisers get tired of the formula? Can these mags mature as businesses and stay immature at the same time?

Already, the titles have started to wear our their welcome in the fickle and more mature English market. In 2002, Loaded was down 6 percent; Maxim was off by 9.6 percent; and Front, also considered a lad mag, was down 7.4 percent. "In the U.S. we've seen some drop-off in interest in Maxim and Stuff...the content is the same every issue," says Simon Whitcombe, former Dennis Publishing employee and current group publishing director for Future Network USA. "I know people who read it at the beginning who don't pick it up anymore."

In Britain, only market leader FHM was up year over year in 2002 (by 8.7 percent to 620,226 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations). More recently, however, FHM caught flack for actually going beyond the bounds of laddie bad taste in its attempt to keep the audience engaged.

To boost sales, all the magazines are promoting heavily in the U.K., offering free gifts and supplements. "The men's phenomenon is dying a slow death in the U.K.," Whitcombe asserts.

Lad mag execs say there is no sign of Britain's incipient laddie fatigue spreading to America. Indeed, if you ask Keith Blanchard, editor-in-chief of Maxim in the U.S., the laddie books have accomplished something that gives them real staying power: They have become the mainstream men's magazines, marginalizing such icons as Playboy and Esquire. "We moved them away from the mainstream and we've sort of relegated them to specialty status," Blanchard says. "Before, GQ was general interest and now it's more of a fashion magazine. Certainly Details went that route, and Esquire has become a kind of literary magazine. We were able to seize the center ground."

But if the laddie magazines are the new establishment, that poses a whole new set of issues for the leading lads. For one thing, it may be hard to square being a successful, respected leader with the ethos of the Maxim product. "It's gone from unusual outsider to status quo," says one-time lad master and current Playboy editorial director James Kaminsky. He says that's what has made Dennis complacent in England, which he says has caused the deterioration in sales.

Then there is the changing dynamic of the business itself: Now that the lads are firmly established, they face the challenges of a maturing business. With its years of rapid growth in circ behind it, Maxim is increasingly turning to traditional brand extension strategies (from spin-off mags to Maxim brand furniture) to keep the top line growing. Even FHM, which arrived in the U.S. later and is still ramping up, is looking for new ideas to squeeze more growth out of its brand.

Not surprisingly, the old establishment is not buying the idea that Maxim has a permanent hold on the male general-interest readership. "They're funny magazines, they're very good at what they do, but they aren't the kind of magazines that engender long-term loyalty," says Kaminsky. "I don't know if there's anything they can do to change that." At best, he says, laddie mags can expect to hold their audience for a few years and hope that there are enough fresh 18- to 25-year-olds who want to take their place.

What is clear at this point, however, is that the top lads are consolidating their leads and it's becoming far tougher for the smaller titles and imitators to stay alive. Gear is on a forced hiatus as publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. considers his options. Razor is repositioning to be less of a direct competitor to Maxim, Stuff, and FHM by focusing on a narrower, more upscale slice of the young guy market. Gene Simmons's Tongue, another laddie wannabe launched with a great deal of buzz is still nearly invisible in the market.

"At this point you have such strong books in this field," says Dana Fields, publisher of FHM. "I think it's really hard to be a small or independent magazine like Gear or Razor or Tongue." Unless publishers have really deep pockets, chances are slim for the wannabes now. "Some of the fringe publications will drop off the map," predicts Steve Greenberger, senior vice president and director of print media at ad-buying agency Zenithmedia.