Modern Maturity: when having it all is too much

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 1991 by Lisa i. Fried

At first glance, editing Modem Maturity, the largest paid circulation magazine in the country, seems like the dream job. But J. Henry Fenwick, editor of the 22.5 million-circulation magazine, is worried.

Since 1985, the magazine's circulation has grown by about two million a year, almost doubling in size. With so many readers, Fenwick says, it's impossible to meet all their needs, and he anguishes over being "too generic."

Selective binding, technology that enables a magazine to deliver separate messages to various parts of its circulation, may be his salvation.

By year's end, Modern Maturity will test selective binding for editorial use. Down the road, marketing applications may follow, according to deputy publisher Charles Allen. The staff learned just how diverse its readers' editorial interests are in an attitude/readership study completed last year. For months they have been poring over the data and wresting with how to apply it editorially.

For example, the December/January issue included articles written for both new and experienced grandparents. But in accompanying illustrations, the magazine portrayed a grandfather in his seventies, something that may have turned off younger readers, Fenwick now realizes.

So the April/May issue's special report on fraud was developed with different emotional and stylistic angles. one article reveals the experiences of con artists and victims, another tests readers' vulnerability to scams. A chart details the most successful scams, and two other pieces highlight telephone and mail fraud. "Not only does this approach make a large subject more accessible, but it breaks it into pieces that will appeal to different types of people," Fenwick says. The magazine can't do that with every story, of course. And when developing story ideas, the editors often debate whether a story's angle is broad enough.

Readers' interests do vary considerably, according to the 1990 study. Modern Maturity's readers are segmented into six different lifestyles, which all have separate information needs.

In general, research manager Cary Silvers says that health, food, finance, travel and Social Security issues are just some of the general editorial subjects about which readers want specialized information. For example, employed readers' travel interests are different from those of retirees, who often have unlimited time to spend away from home.

Selective binding would allow the magazine to customize editorial for these and other readers. Unfortunately, the 1990 survey did not identify readers by name and address, so to customize these editions, the magazine would have to collect fresh information on 22.5 million people.

Modern Maturity is now printed by R.R. Donnelley & Sons, which has a selective binding system in place. But the magazine's contract is up for renewal, and Allen was discussing printing arrangements with five printers at press time.