Recruiting the campus talent pool - Gates Publishing and Design Group Inc

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 1993 by Lori Marden

Despite lean economic times, Gates Publishing and Design Group, Inc., is setting out to prove that smaller, niche-oriented organizations that remain true to the markets they serve can not only survive, but prosper. This applies even when the audience in question is college students, a market often seen as long on potential but short on enthusiasm for titles devoted to chronicling the undergrad experience. In August, the Richmond, Virginia-based company will launch Gates, a regional magazine targeting more than one million students on college campuses in seven southern states: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The new publication is the outgrowth of a smaller title, Gates: For Virginia's College Students, launched a year and a half ago by 1989 Radford University grad C. Mason Gates. The expanded regional magazine is written and produced by students--five part-time staffers per semester. "They are thrown right into it, and they do everything--art, editorial and production," says the 28-year-old Gates, the only on-location, full-time employee.

Each issue of Gates will contain a special center section targeting each of the seven states, as well as outer sections with common editorial. The publication openly encourages any readers from the seven states who are interested in journalism, photography or publishing in general to submit their work and take advantage of this "real-world" opportunity.

Editorial focuses mainly on trends and issues affecting college students, ranging from minority relations and meeting the needs of the non-traditional student, to internships and health insurance. Also included are music and entertainment coverage, although Gates points out that the magazine doesn't cover the party scene or the 10 Best Ways to Drink Beer; instead, it delivers more practical messages to help students plan for the future. Standard columns include Career Track, which relates how graduates profit from their majors, and Bulletin Board, which allows students at the targeted colleges to communicate with one another.

Of course, the hardest part of publishing a college magazine, says Gates, is juggling the logistics of production and distribution schedules against college semesters and vacations. So, although there are six issues per year, Gates is not a bimonthly title--it follows the college academic year schedule with three issues per semester, and takes the summer off. Adding to these scheduling hassles are those infamous times of the year when students flock to the beaches or head to the ski areas for a week of partying. "Try organizing the March issue around Spring Break," Gates says. "Editorial has to address those who have already been, as well as those who are about to go."

Gates employs a full-time traveling sales rep, who has secured advertising commitments from some big-name companies, including Citibank, American Express, Ford and Columbia House, to name a few. The cost of a full-page black-and-white ad is $6,240; four-color is $7,800. Circulation is 225,000 nonpaid, distributed on 243 campuses. Address: P.O. Box 5181, Richmond, VA 23220. Telephone: 804-355-0999.