The Ivies get an audit - Ivy League Magazine Network's college alumni magazines - Brief Article

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct 1, 1993 by Susan Hovey

The education of college alumni magazines continues. In an effort to sell advertisers on the quality of their readerships, die nine tides comprising the Ivy League Magazine Network (from the eight Ivies and the Harvard Business School) have applied for a circulation audit from BPA International. "We're competing with magazines like Town & Country and The Atlantic. Reps from those titles come in with all the sales tools, " notes Jay Heinrichs, ILMN chairman and editor of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.

Alumni networks such as the ILMN have marketed themselves to upscale advertisers (see "Making the Grade," Folio:, March 1, 1993, page 56) by emphasizing their demographics: ILMN's median household income is $125,800. Apparently, that approach is paying off. Ad revenue for the ILMN's fiscal year ending in June was $1.9 million, up from $1.2 million the previous year.

For BPA, the addition of the ILMN brings the number of membership applications to 232 for the latest fiscal year, a five-year high. Says Peter Black, vice president/marketing services: "As we grow the business, we're able to spread costs over a larger customer base--and that keeps costs down for everyone.