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Archive for March, 2014
Numbers Are Down, Prices Are Up… So Is This the Right Solution for the Celebrity Titles on the Newsstands? MagNet Experts Beg to Differ… The Mr. Magazine™ Interview
March 31, 2014
An ongoing series of interviews with MagNet’s Luke Magerko.
Luke Magerko was a consistent contributor to my blog in 2013. Luke has partnered with MagNet to provide retail analytics for the publishing industry. Today, we pick up our conversation from two two weeks ago and, going forward, MagNet will provide me with an interview with Luke every other week highlighting retail analytics.
So Here is my first question of this segment of the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with MagNet’s Luke Magerko.
WHY ARE WE FOCUSING ON CELEBRITY COVERS AGAIN THIS WEEK?
MagNet is reporting on sales results from the weeks of 2/10/2014 (“week seven”) and 2/17/2014 (“week eight”) to analyze cultural topics on regional sales. In light of recent celebrity price increases, we want to provide an alternative marketing/editorial strategy to increase sale.
WHO WON THE WEEK: THE ISSUE CATEGORY STANDINGS (“ICS”)
In week seven, there were strong performances by both People Magazine (1.28 Seasonal Performance Index) and Life & Style (1.25 Seasonal Performance Index).
Titles generally underperformed in week eight with only two issues showing average results: In Touch and Life & Style both garnered 1.00 Seasonal Performance Indices while all other titles were below average.
SINCE THE PERFORMANCE INDEX IS STILL A NEW CONCEPT, LET’S LOOK AT ONE EXAMPLE AND WALK ME THROUGH THE RESULTS:
People Magazine, Issue 7, posted great results in sell-through efficiency (50.0%) and both performance indices. Looking at the performance index (1.15), People indexed 15% higher than one year of previous issues. The seasonal performance index (1.28) indicates the 2014 issue 7 outperformed previous issue sevens by an index of 28%. This is a spectacular result and an early candidate for 2014 celebrity magazine of the year.
DID ANY ISSUE STAND OUT FOR YOU THESE WEEKS?
Yes, we will focus on InTouch (issue 7) and briefly mention that OK! Magazine results (issue 8) are similar. Both issues were average nationally, however when we mined the data, the results were anything but average.
At MagNet, we have been tracking cultural topics and regional sales. To do so, we produced performance indices at the regional level. We found the two country celebrity titles had specific areas of strength (the American South* and states of the West North Central United States*) and areas of weakness (The Northeast* and Pacific United States*).
For example, in the West North Central United States*, InTouch seasonal performance index was an incredible 1.44. Similar results were found in the American South. Unfortunately, while some areas did extremely well, others regions tapered off almost as much. The Pacific region showed double-digit declines in the seasonal performance index and the northeast season performance index was 0.79.
Although the national performance suggests an average issue, a lot is going on at the regional level.
Editors need a more granular level of detail to make informed editorial decisions. We are proponents of the split cover, especially when we can prove certain content significantly increase sales in certain regions of the country.
WHAT IF EDITORS DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH CONTENT FOR A SECOND COVER?
We understand there are editorial constraints on cover production. However, our findings might incentivize editors to consider ensuring there is enough content to provide a cover worthy of nearly half the population.
AND WHAT DID YOU FIND WHEN YOU ANALYZED THE CELEBRITY TITLES?
Our goal was to monetize different cover results. To do so, we needed to create an index that identified a yearly average sales index per store. We created Sales above Replacement (“SAR”). SAR is a formula that asks: what would happen to sales if we replaced the existing cover with average result or replacement cover? For this week’s analysis we analyze all 2013 – 14 cover results highlighting Kim Kardashian or Blake Shelton (including Miranda Lambert where applicable) on the cover.
DID THE REGIONALITY ASSUMPTION HOLD?
Yes. Blake Shelton easily outperformed a replacement cover in most of the Midwest and the Deep South from Arkansas to Alabama. His covers performed very poorly in the Pacific and New England. Other regions were essentially flat. Kardashian was average in all regions but one, the Mid-Atlantic (essentially the I-95 corridor between Washington D.C. and New York) where results were significantly above average.
CAN YOU MONETIZE THIS SUCCESSES AND POOR PERFORMANCES?
In order to monetize our findings, we looked at one title specifically. In 2013-14, one of these five celebrity titles carried both Kardashian and Blake Shelton multiple times. We found the Shelton covers would have provided a 12 – 25% sales gain in the Southern regions and a 12-13% loss in the Northeast and Pacific Regions. Kim Kardashian’s garnered 15% increase in all the Northeast and flat in all other regions.
SO WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THERE WERE TWO COVERS?
Knowing what we now know, MagNet would have recommended a split like this:
∗ NORTHEAST: Kardashian
∗ MIDWEST (West North Central): Shelton
∗ MIDWEST (East North Central): Kardashian
∗ SOUTH: Shelton
∗ WEST: Kardashian
The strength of Shelton in the Midwest and South plus the strength of Kardashian in the Northeast would compel shoppers to buy more copies. However, the weakness of Shelton in the Pacific would be masked by the consistently average results of Kardashian.
MagNet estimates that if the covers were split between the two celebrities, this publisher would have received an 11-16% sales gain.
YOU CAN’T JUST HAVE A CELEBRITY WAITING IN THE BACKGROUND, YOU NEED TO USE SOMETHING FROM THE MAGAZINE!
I couldn’t agree more! MagNet’s goal is to provide a regional sales above replacement number for any celebrity, topic or other attribute that has been on the cover of a magazine. This would allow an editor to cull their content and find the two best images for the week.
HOW WOULD THAT WORK?
Imagine the editor looking a simple index table that would show Miley Cyrus’s regional rating or Duck Dynasties’ regional rating (hint, these two celebrities are stronger in different parts of the country). Then the editor and newsstand team could create a galley reflecting the cover splits. MagNet would be happy to walk any publisher through this process.
OPERATIONALLY, CAN WHOLESALERS SHIP TWO DIFFERENT COVERS?
Yes, I worked for with a publisher which split covers more than 100 times over the years. Publishers cannot send two covers to one wholesaler location, but other than that restriction, there should be very little standing in the way of a cover split.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE PRICE TEST?
The publishing industry focuses on increasing revenue from the internet, mobile devices, and a myriad of other platforms such as print on demand. However, it seems as if the only strategy for newsstand is acceptance of newsstand declines and price increases. Samir, we will continue to mine the data, finding insights for publishers and editors but our editorial knowledge is limited. We ask editors to reach out to Josh Gary at MagNet jgary@magnetdata.net or me, lmagerko@market-analytics.com and we will confidentially consult with them. We understand that each title is unique; we will identify trends that are of specific interest to each individual editor. We look forward to those conversations.
∗ENDNOTE: CENSUS BUREAU REGIONS:
The United States Census Bureau provides a regional breakdown by state. There are four regions and nine sub-regions (sub-regions in parenthesis): Northeast (Mid-Atlantic and New England), South (South-Atlantic, East South Central and West South Central), Midwest (East North Central and West North Central) and finally the West (Pacific and Mountain).
You can visually see how each state is categorized here.
© Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, 2014.
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March 30, 2014
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Parade Still Pops Between The Pages Of Sunday Newspapers All Across The Country; The Mr. Magazine™ Conversation With Maggie Murphy, Editor of Parade Magazine and Its CEO Jack Haire As They Discuss The Future Of Parade And America’s Newspapers In General…
March 28, 2014
Maggie Murphy, Editor, and CEO, Jack Haire, talk about the more contemporary Parade and its focus on connecting with readers and surprising them with stories that both delight and inform, while at the same time entertain.
Today’s Parade is as bright, colorful and varied as its namesake. So join the excitement as you watch it float by within the words of the people who make it happen, Maggie Murphy, Editor and Jack Haire, the magazine’s CEO. The Mr. Magazine™ conversation with the leaders of Parade Magazine…
But first, the Mr. Magazine™ Minute with Maggie Murphy on the value and future of print:
And now for the sound-bites:
On some of the skills needed to publish a general interest mass magazine in today’s digital world: I think the skills you need are the ones you needed a century ago: curiosity about what’s going on in the world around you and that means every part of that world.
On how you hook people to pick up Parade from between the pages of a Sunday paper: Well, we pop out in Parade. I always think about what Jack Haire, our CEO says about Parade when he compares it to the prize in the box of Cracker Jacks.
On whether she feels the burden of delivering content each and every week: This is the best job ever, people just don’t realize it. I get to do my job 52 weeks a year and I still don’t do all of the covers that I would like to.
On checking the nation’s pulse, from one coast to the other, when it comes to what they want: I love the opportunity and I do think the staff that works here now also loves the opportunity, to write about a variety of things.
On whether or not she thinks newspapers are going to disappear: I don’t think there will ever be a day we won’t have newspapers. I don’t know if I want to live in a country that doesn’t have a newspaper.
On whether or not he (Jack Haire) can envision a day where Parade exists without newspapers or without print: I think individuals choose whether they’re going to read print or not. I think there’s a collective out there of people, who like to share in an experience.
On how Parade can reach those individual clusters of readers that the mass audience has become: They are narrators of their own story, but they also don’t just want their version of events. They need other voices. I think one of the great things that has happened is information has been democratized, and I think that people actually understand the responsibility of that.
On what newspapers can learn from magazines like Parade: Inspire them. For instance, we’ll do what people learn nationally until many of the papers join in and do it locally.
On what keeps her up at night: It’s making sure that the people who are working here who are giving their best are also getting the best out of it.
And now the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Maggie Murphy, Editor of Parade Magazine and Jack Haire, CEO…
Maggie Murphy: I think the skills you need are the ones you needed a century ago: curiosity about what’s going on in the world around you and that means every part of that world. For instance, whenever I’m somewhere I always ask people, who are you, how did you get here, where did you go to school, or tell me about your kids. And certain themes come up again and again. And listening closely to the people you’re working with.
I really think it’s curiosity, being curious about things and realizing there is a story there. And I think that transcends any medium. And if you’re curious and can ask enough questions to deliver interesting answers it doesn’t matter what format it is; you engage people.
Samir Husni: So how do you hook the people to pick up Parade from the vast pages of the newspapers? It’s getting a bit easier, since the Sunday papers are getting a little bit smaller.
Maggie Murphy: Well, we pop out in Parade. I always think about what Jack Haire, our CEO says about Parade when he compares it to the prize in the box of Cracker Jacks. People who are readers of the Sunday paper, of which there are still many, many millions, appreciate that pop of Parade and I think the fact that we’re simply color and we’re also going to be delivering something that will be optimistic.
I think I said to you once, and it still holds true; after my very first story meeting here, and Parade has gone through so much iteration through various editors; there was a time and a place where we were the newsweekly for little papers across the country that didn’t have those resources and so the magazine was allowed to be a very serious news-driven magazine and it certainly was under my most famous predecessor, Walter Anderson.
But in the years after Walter and the other editors leading up to me; the world changed, you can get that news at your fingertips. So my goal is to surprise people and to put something on the cover that they have been thinking about and we got there and articulated that before they even realized they wanted to read a story about whatever it was.
We were talking before about rebuilding America’s schools, that was a story we did last fall, actually two years ago where when I was walking by a crumbling school, and we’ve all talked about this and we said these schools were built primarily after World War II, if not before and we’ve not put any money into infrastructure and we said what would it take and how could we make schools more efficient and we set out to do that story and I think that’s the kind of story that people connect to because everybody walks past the school whether they’re sending their children there or it’s the place where their children once went.
So I think the goal is to really just find stories that are stories of consequence, delight and stories that inform. Some of our best covers are things like: the science of siblings which we did, where we actually used a Simpson’s illustration background and did a special illustration of the Simpson’s for us growing up. Because who knows? Maybe on Sunday you’re about to spend three hours with your siblings and wondering how to get through it. It’s very intuitive, I think.
I believe the people look for Parade because they do view it as: OK – it’s Sunday morning and maybe I’ll look at the front page, I know I’m going to get to that, but I want to start with something light first. And I’m perfectly comfortable with that. My goal is to kind of catch people feeling something that they didn’t expect; a little bit of emotion and that piece of information. And I think that’s the trick; that’s the magic.
Samir Husni: You are the conductor of this vast train that has millions of people waiting for you on Sunday; do you feel a burden to deliver?
So every week you get to be something different and I’ve worked at genre magazines; I loved when I worked at Entertainment Weekly and looking at the world through the prism of entertainment. And I loved working at People, where you could look at the world through the prism of celebrities.
But here it’s like every week we have a different prism. Now the challenge is generally that sometimes there’s a real knock against general interest magazines, I think. I think that advertisers get a little like: well, what are you? But I think the ability to be so many things is great. It’s like everybody’s Facebook page where 80 things are there and at least some should reflect what our publication should be.
I think with the demise of Newsweek, sometimes you’ll say: well, that’s kind of a Newsweek story or has Time done that story yet. So we compete. I mean, I love Nancy Gibbs; she’s an incredible editor that I’ve always admired, since I was at Time as a younger editor myself. And I think she has done an amazing job so far; but I would look at those covers and say: could I do those or how I could do those covers differently.
So we just have a great time here. It’s just a great audience to have.
Samir Husni: The reason that I asked you that question is because of late the success or demise of a magazine has fallen on the shoulders of the editor. When you have the freedom with the weekly to do what you want every week; how do you keep your hand on the pulse of the nation, on someone say, in Memphis and then someone in L.A.; how can you check that pulse when we have this nation of audiences of one?
Maggie Murphy: You’re absolutely right and that’s a great question. I think there are a number of things first. I love the opportunity and I do think the staff that works here now also loves the opportunity, to write about a variety of things. But make no mistake; there are also huge responsibilities that any editor faces.
I remember very early on in my career at Entertainment Weekly, it was right at the beginning of the magazine’s success and the magazine got rated; people who had been a part of the early start-up like Barbara O’Dair, who ended up going to different publications had the editor, Jim Seymore, worried. I had just arrived there, and I said, well, people leave; what’s the big deal? He was a Time Inc. person and had been there a long time, but I was of a generation that said, what’s the big problem? And he said to me, “I’m trying to keep 117 people employed.” And that was the first time I realized what that part of the job was. That wasn’t a part of the job that the editors all talked about when we’d go to ASME and it was an eye-opener. And I feel very strongly about that. Having a positive business story is important to me and the success and viability of the magazine.
And the second part is how do you stay in touch with people? In so many ways the digital age has provided a way for Parade, which has never been able to have a day-to-day relationship with its readers, because it came through newspapers, to be able to through our Facebook initiatives, Twitter and Parade.com, to have an engagement with a reader we’ve never had before. So we’ve been able to leverage both.
I just think you go out and talk to people and writers and editors go out and talk to people and salespeople who are out there communicating with people and they hear them say, hey, this is what’s happening now. And that’s how you stay in touch.
The truth is whether or not people out there people actually think the magazine speaks to them or not; I’m not sure that I can be the judge of that.
Samir Husni: You hear everybody preaching about the audience of one and everybody wants their own specialization and they can’t find exactly what they want; yet we have a lot of examples of magazines that are still general interest, whether it’s Parade or Reader’s Digest. And there is an audience out there. But in your gut feeling, forget about the business, just your gut feeling; do you think you can exist without the newspapers? Do you feel like if newspapers are gone, I’ve lost my job and does that keep you up at night? Do you feel like there will ever be a day we won’t have newspapers?
Maggie Murphy: I don’t think there will ever be a day we won’t have newspapers. I don’t know if I want to live in a country that doesn’t have a newspaper. Whether a newspaper is delivered in paper; I think that could be debated.
But there is always going to be contact and there is always going to be certain basic connectors to contact. And one of the things that I think keeps Parade relevant is our value, which is what we celebrate. We celebrate families and the act of taking time off on Sunday or any day during the week. We celebrate food, we celebrate personalities; all these things.
The truth is; I can go to a playground anywhere in the United States and talk to a mother because a mother knows a mother. You can ask about the schools, you can ask about what stage they’re in and I think there’s a kinship of that. As Americans we can collectively agree there are certain things that we love to talk about. We love to talk about food, celebrities and sometimes politics and what is the essence of American pride; what is capturing America’s attention. So I think if you put it in that perspective, it’s kind of easy to figure out.
Samir Husni: Without putting words in your mouth; are you telling me that you can envision a day where Parade exists without newspapers or without print?
Maggie Murphy: I don’t know. Jack, do you want to try that one?
I think it’s going to be a while before the printed newspaper goes away. If you took a look at the percentage of 60-year-olds today who read a newspaper; it’s a smaller percentage than the 60-year-olds of ten years ago. It’s a smaller percentage of 50-year-olds. But it’s still a big percentage. Is Time magazine going to go away; are you going to experience it only on the web? Are books going away? I don’t know.
I think you can walk around with an iPad or you can walk around with a phone. But is everybody going to want to do that? Is that a better way of doing it? I think that’s a little more into the future.
Maggie Murphy: I also think that if it is an audience of one, you want it whatever way you want it. And the reality is that you and I spent two days with editors, some of whom wanted nothing to do with the print and many of whom relished it.
I mean, I don’t know what’s going to come next. The goal is to know what’s right now and be connected.
Jack Haire: Let me answer it in a slightly different way; I mean this is way more business side than editor. Is there an evolution to digital products; absolutely. But people say to me when they find out that I work at Parade, well, it’s really got to be tough for you with what’s going on in the newspapers. And honestly our distribution in the newspaper channel is a very productive and stable part of the business.
When you compare that to what’s going on in the advertisement side, let me give you just one little bit of an explanation. Years ago when Parade set up its distribution panel we could be in the Chicago Tribune, but we couldn’t be in any newspaper within 35 miles of Chicago. And a lot of that still exists. In Minneapolis, for years, well, in the twin cities, I should say; for years we were in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and by contract, we could not be in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Well today we’re in both. And the reason we’re in both is because, in my view, both players wanted the best content for their audience and they realized that if you live in White Bear, Minnesota, which is a St. Paul suburb, and you want to get local news, you’re going to get it from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, you’re not going to get it from somewhere else. If you live in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb right outside Minneapolis, you’re going to get it from the Minneapolis paper.
So in a way they weren’t competing. In a world where the newspapers are forced to be far more local, to deliver for schools, sports and maybe some national things, depending on their aspirations, but I’m sure you remember not long ago where the notion of I want my paper to be the statewide paper; I want to be the journal of record for the state of New Jersey or I want to be the paper of record for Oklahoma, by contrast in those days, we couldn’t go into a paper 90 miles away because of the contract. But now we can.
But what that’s meant, being in Minneapolis, which has a circulation on Sunday of almost 500,000; we now, in my view, have a better circulation. We have more papers and more drop-off points, the Rubik’s Cube is a little more complicated, but we’re in both. And we deliver far more in that metro than ever and I think that’s a positive side of the more locally-focused, the more server-oriented focus of newspapers today.
Maggie Murphy: When you talk about the audience of one, my sense is…well, there’s an audience of one, but then they turn around and share it with as many people as they can. I think human nature requires communal sharing of information and connectedness. And that’s what we try to do right now and that’s what we’ll continue to do in all forms that exist now and will exist.
Samir Husni: In the old days where few media companies beamed the information on the masses, we now have more media companies doing it, but the masses are now clusters of masses. And as you said; we have to get that 25 million audiences of one and they start sharing with each other, so although there is an audience of one, there are the clusters now. And the question is: how do you reach them?
Maggie Murphy: They are narrators of their own story, but they also don’t just want their version of events. They need other voices. I think one of the great things that has happened is information has been democratized, and I think that people actually understand the responsibility of that. We built a contributor network this past year and really found some wonderful people who write about food across the country and just write about lots of different topics and we’ve empowered them to be part of the voice. In a previous universe all the information came from here and it went out.
Now that information comes from there and it comes back to us, we bubble it up, give it Parade’s brand and it’s a great partnership. And I think that lots of companies are working to empower everyone to have a voice.
The way I put is it used to be one type of table and we sat at it and we sort of dictated and the information went out. Now everybody is sitting at that table and it’s a big boisterous long table, kind of like the one I grew up at with my loud Irish family. And I think that that’s challenging, but it’s fun and it’s also diverse in a way that maybe there was a certain amount of east and west coast elitism to media and I think our Parade of voices comes from all over the country and that helps us also really then reflect what should be on the cover and channel it back.
Samir Husni: What can newspapers learn from magazines like Parade?
Maggie Murphy: I saw a presentation, and Jack laughs when I keep mentioning it; the presentation by Alan Rusbridger, from the Observer and how it created a virtual circle of connectivity.
Jack Haire: Virtual reporters, voices in the field covering a story or a tragedy; can they be on the scene sooner…
Maggie Murphy: And also just the journalists themselves, rather than going out and pursuing the story without asking before they got on a plane: I’m coming to cover the story about X, can anybody provide me any sources? Publishing a story and taking information if you think it is valid and correcting your story; there’s a link to it. He gave this talk at NAA last year and it’s really informed the way that I think about it. It’s an empowering place for everyone. Journalists are not the only experts.
Here’s one of the examples: he talked about for instance, the critic for The Observer goes to see a play on the East End and publishes his review and anybody who was there could also publish their review simultaneously, right?
So there is The Observer East End critic’s review, but there is also another one. And I think the truth is, what people want are conversations. And we now have the technology to have those conversations and I don’t think that we’ve done as good a job as we will in the future by incorporating those conversations into the content. And some of that is just difficult.
Our print brand has specific needs and a finite amount of space and is published three weeks ahead of when you actually see it. But anyway that we can have conversation is what we’re charged with doing. And that’s what newsrooms need to do. I think it was the Naples paper; they have this gorgeous newsroom, there is a television studio in it, but there’s also a community meeting place, so a lot of meetings involving the community take place there. To actually create the place where people come and they have discussions – wow.
Jack Haire: But I think to answer your specific question, we try to interact with the editors and publishers of the papers. We were getting ready for a meeting that we had last spring in Phoenix and I was calling around and asking some of our partners and colleagues how was Parade doing with their readers and one of the guys I talked to said Parade allows us each to do what we do better, to focus more.
You know if Maggie is going to do a story on a new movie that’s breaking and she has access because people in Hollywood value the broad reach of a first person interview of George Clooney or whoever it might be, one of the lead stars, that in turn enhances what the Minneapolis Star Tribune delivers to its readers.
But he also is saying, honestly we can’t get that unless Clooney lives in St. Paul or nearby and it’s a special kind of a thing. So we value that color and that access. You know a lot of papers have moved away from food because it’s hard to do and it’s hard to do well. If you’re in a university town, you might have a thriving food culture, Providence, Rhode Island or something, so maybe you’d do it in the form of reviews, but we’re not doing the local story and increasingly in the area of popular culture that are less geographic, but still of high interest, the readers that we have, but that’s what we bring to the party. So we have what we hope complements what the papers are doing.
Maggie Murphy: Or inspire them. For instance, we’ll do what people learn nationally until many of the papers join in and do it locally. At NAA next week, we’ll bring our social media editor and one of the goals is to give them a sense of what we’re going to do and say, here is maybe what you want to join in on and just keep broadening that conversation so that we can complement each other.
One of the things that I do like about ASME and the judging is that you get a lot of people in the room doing similar things for different people and the coming together and having that conversation and I think everybody is better for it. And I think that’s what we keep trying to do with our newspaper partners. What do you need or how can we help; how does what we want to do nationally dovetail with what you’re hearing and seeing locally? I think it just boils down to conversation.
Samir Husni: What keeps you up at night?
Maggie Murphy: I think what keeps me up at night and there are lots of different ways I could respond, but I think I am going to answer that question in a very personal way.
I just want the people who are working here to really feel they are getting the best experience, because I think that’s what really matters. These guys here are coming in every day, inventing different things, taking chances and my best times as an editor was, the single best times I had, up until this job, at EW was when we were like, “OK – this thing may not work, but we’re going to throw this against the wall and see if that works.”
So for me it’s making sure that we remain a culture of experiment and that they’re getting a chance to do things that they may not have before in a bigger-structured corporation. Obviously, the wellness of Parade itself and its vitality is important as well.
But it’s making sure that the people who are working here who are giving their best are also getting the best out of it.
Samir Husni: Thank you.
Eradicating the Apostrophes in the Lives of People with Developmental Disabilities is the Mission of Apostrophe Magazine
March 26, 2014A Mr. Magazine™ Round-table Conversation with the Magazine’s Editor, Jim Tracy…Publisher, Larry Noonan…Business Manager, Bryon Higgins and Circulation Manager, Jacquie Peterson
And that is the mission of Apostrophe Magazine – Apostrophe promotes inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, showcasing that they too can become a productive and important part of our society. The good people at Apostrophe Magazine believe that no one with a disability should be forced to live, work or learn in a segregated setting and that is the focus of the magazine, oftentimes their editorial contributors being developmentally disabled individuals themselves.
The title comes from the 70s album by Frank Zappa of the same name, more specifically from a song “Stink-Foot,” where a dog begins to talk to a man and says, “It should be easy to see…The crux of the biscuit…Is the Apostrophe.” Of course, the man then assures the dog that he can’t say that. And the dog replies, “But, I do it all the time.” Hence, turning the “can’t dos” into “can do’s”. It’s a milestone in concepts and a magazine title that is much more than just catchy in its meaning; it’s inspiring and proves that no obstacle has to stand in a person’s way; no matter what their circumstances.
So sit back and be inspired and moved by the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with the great people from Apostrophe Magazine: Publisher, Larry Noonan…Editor, Jim Tracy…Business Manager, Bryon Higgins and Circulation Manager, Jacquie Peterson as they enlighten us and show us all that sometimes life is best-lived without the “Apostrophe.”
But first the sound-bites:
On the secret to Apostrophe magazine’s longevity…
The secret ingredient is our publisher. We’re published by a human services company in Montana. The name of the Company is Aware Incorporated, and they have underwritten the expense of the magazine over these six-plus years. The secret to our success is a generous publisher.
On whether or not Apostrophe is a business, a mission or both…
I think latter, business/mission entity, and we’re doing everything we can to cover the costs of producing and printing the magazine but we’re not there yet.
On Apostrophe’s mission…
So people with developmental disabilities have been told the things they can’t and shouldn’t do and Apostrophe tells them the things they can and should do and to ignore the naysayers and the folks that would tell them other things.
On the decision to go with print over other mediums…
The other nice thing about it is a magazine can sit in doctor’s offices for months. It can sit in all types of places where people will happen to have a chance to look at it. That’s not necessarily true with Internet.
On a stumbling block for the magazine…
From my perspective, the major stumbling block was getting the attention we needed outside of the state of Montana to get the magazine to a wider audience than just people in the state of Montana.
On the pleasant side of the Apostrophe journey…
For us on the editorial side it’s been getting to know the people that we feature in the magazine and the photographers and writers who‘ve done the stories.
On future goals for Apostrophe magazine…
We want to get the magazine into as many hands as possible and have as many people see it as we can.
On what keeps Editor, Jim Tracy, up at night…
You mean the thing that makes me sit bolt upright in my bed? I worry about advertising and circulation.
And now the lightly-edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with the forces behind Apostrophe Magazine…
Jim Tracy: The secret ingredient is our publisher. We’re published by a human services company in Montana. The name of the Company is Aware Incorporated, and they have underwritten the expense of the magazine over these six-plus years. The secret to our success is a generous publisher.
SH: Are you on a mission field or are you on a mission/business entity?
JT: I think the latter, business/mission entity, and we’re doing everything we can to cover the costs of producing and printing the magazine but we’re not there yet.
SH: So tell me briefly, if someone stops you on the street and says, “I hear you do this magazine”… What’s the magazine about?
JT: Well, I’m going to tell you briefly, and Larry is the one — this is his brain child — he can tell you about the beginning or the genesis of the title, Apostrophe, but Apostrophe is devoted to people with developmental disabilities. It’s for them, by them, about them and our tagline is — one of our taglines is —“Forget can’t and don’t and think can and do.” Apostrophe really means we want to help people take the apostrophes out of their lives. So people with developmental disabilities have been told the things they can’t and shouldn’t do and Apostrophe tells them the things they can and should do and to ignore the naysayers and the folks that would tell them they can’t do things.
SH: Larry would you like to add something?
Larry Noonan: Yes, I would love to. Back in 1970, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the album by Frank Zappa called Apostrophe…
SH: Yes, I am from that generation.
LN: OK, good. Yes, so one day I was driving to work listening to the album Apostrophe and listening to the song “Stink-Foot” and in that, the guy’s talking to his dog and the dog starts talking back and the guy says, “You can’t do that.” And the dog says, “Well, I don’t know, I do it all the time.” And then it goes into a refrain about just that — talking about the apostrophe in people’s lives.
Over the years I studied psychology and I came out of college and worked for the state of Montana for a number of years in services for people with developmental disabilities. Then when I came to Anaconda, the notion was that we could develop a better organization if we used that principle from Frank Zappa of eliminating the apostrophes out of people’s lives, that we could improve people’s lives tremendously.
And I think that goes for everybody, but particularly for people with developmental disabilities that have it pounded into them from the day that they’re born all the things that they can’t do.
JT: Well, our readership besides people with developmental disabilities of course includes families and friends and supporters and people that provide them services. But up until recently, a lot of people with developmental disabilities weren’t really plugged into the digital revolution so print was an obvious choice because it’s visual and tactile and if you don’t have email and you don’t have a computer and you don’t use the Internet then we would’ve been missing our audience, our readership.
LN: The other nice thing about it is a magazine can sit in doctor’s offices for months. It can sit in all types of places where people will happen to have a chance to look at it. That’s not necessarily true with Internet. We found a great response from people that are in doctor’s offices and other places where people’s families find the magazine and start asking questions about it. It just helps generate the whole discussion around what are the lives of people with developmental disabilities like and are there ways that we can help improve that.
SH: What was the major stumbling block in the six-year journey so far?
LN: From my perspective, the major stumbling block was getting the attention we needed outside of the state of Montana to get the magazine to a wider audience than just people in the state of Montana. We did that primarily by associating ourselves with a group called The Arc. And it’s a group that specializes in policy and advocacy for people with developmental disabilities all over the United States.
So we sponsored, as well as the magazine, we sponsored a chapter of The Arc in Montana. It’s the only chapter in Montana. We spend a lot of our time trying to organize families and other people that are interested in developmental disabilities — state employees, state officials, federal officials and all those folks to clue them into what we’re talking about for people with developmental disabilities.
People with developmental disabilities really aren’t hard to get into the mainstream. They’re dying to get along with the people around them and feel like they’re as normal as the other people. Those folks become real productive, helpful and nice people to be around. So our belief is the wider we spread the discussion, and the magazine helps us spread that discussion in ways that you can’t in other media, that’s one of the reasons when I was first looking around that’s what I thought would be good.
Plus the reality is that I’m a person that likes to go into a bookstore and get a magazine, maybe read it on the airplane or sitting around when I don’t have a lot to do and look at ads and things like that. That was part of what I wanted to do with the magazine is have it be something that if I’m a developmental disabled person I can pick it up and take a look at it and there’s stories that are important to me, there’s pictures that I can understand.
SH: What was the most pleasant surprise in that journey?
JT: For us on the editorial side it’s been getting to know the people that we feature in the magazine and the photographers and writers who‘ve done the stories. We’ve made connections all over the country and we can go and call on them if we need to. I think we’ve made friends with the people who’ve helped us put the magazine together.
Bryon Higgins: One of our contributors was a man in Baltimore that was clearly developmentally disabled and he came up to our booth at a conference in Washington, D.C., and I happened to be manning the booth at the time and he walked up to me and he looked at me and he looked at the magazine and he said to basically “How can I get something in the magazine?” And I said really all you have to do is bring us some of your stuff and we’ll go from there. He had a staff person that was near him so I grabbed her and said, “If he likes to write then have him bring us some stuff.”
Literally about an hour and a half later he showed up with a whole pile of stuff that he’d written. At that point I gave it to Jim and we looked at and it really was insightful stuff coming from a DD person living in a big city on the East coast and trying to get around and trying to do things and the frustrations he feels and the things he wants to do and can’t do and things like that. He’s been a real contributor for us. Is he in every magazine now, Jim?
JT: He’s been in every magazine since that conversation you had with him.
BH: He does like a little advice thing. For us in Montana it’s a little bit novel because he is a black guy and I don’t say that racist in any way it’s just that we don’t have a lot of that diversity in Montana. And we need to have the guy featured in the magazine that we distribute all over the country.
JT: And another thing is that we pay him the same rate we pay any freelance writer.
SH: What’s the next chapter in the life of Apostrophe?
JT: We want to get the magazine into as many hands as possible and have as many people see it as we can. Going back to something Larry said a little while about The Arc; The Arc is the largest advocacy group for people with developmental disabilities in the country. They have 140,000 members in 700 chapters across the country. We’re working on several different ways to reach that readership and to pick up subscribers.
On the financial side, we’re trying to find more national advertisers and we’ve had some success lately. One of the big ones we picked up lately is MetLife insurance company, MetLife with the stadium, Giants Stadium in New Jersey. And they’ve agreed to a full page ad for a year and bought over…how many, Jacquie?
Jacquie Peterson: Over 100 subscriptions.
JT: They’ve bought over 100 subscriptions, so it’s kind of a model – if we can find people who have an affinity with our mission and get the magazine into the hands of their employees and their members then that would be a big boost for us.
SH: And in addition to trying to get advertising and wider circulation; what do you think is the social impact of the magazine on this specific community and the community at large?
JT: I say this and it’s not being boastful, we get nothing but positive from our readers and positive feedback from people we feature in the magazine. I think we’ve given some people, and I don’t want to overemphasize it, we’ve really given them a boost in achieving their social ambitions within their communities. There’s nothing like having your face on a cover of a magazine, story in that magazine and have it show up at Barnes and Noble magazine shelves.
So another part of the magazine is the policy issues that we cover. So everything from work to finances to fashion; I think that we’ve done our best to portray people in a normal, positive light and to make them a part of their community. I think that would be the lasting thing that we’ve contributed at least a little to the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in the lives of their communities.
SH: To give you credit where credit is due, when you go to a Barnes and Noble and you see the magazine, definitely don’t adhere to the consultant’s advice in regard to what should be on a magazine. And you know, you choose your audience on the cover rather than having a beautiful face or a celebrity star to push the magazine. With that approach of using true people, true audience; do you think you are doing it to send shock waves through the newsstand or are you doing it to be a true representation of what the magazine is all about?
JT: I think the latter. It’s just a true representation about what the magazine is all about. You know I don’t think we ever sat down and thought we were going to make an impact except in the back of our minds. And we wanted to get past the point where we used any picture, we used what we had. But we make a point now to make that cover a flattering, complimentary picture of the people that we’re trying to serve.
SH: For people who are reading the blog and people who are reading this interview, how can people help the cause? I mean you are on a mission — this magazine is very mission-driven — how can people help or contribute to this mission or help widen the circulation or reach of the magazine?
LN: The main thing, part of what we’re trying to do, is to expose people to people with developmental disabilities in ways they don’t normally seen. Being part of a fashion show or writing articles for the magazine and all the different things we’re doing there really kind of raises the person with DD to a level that’s equal to other people in their community and things.
And when you see the effects of either the people that know the individual on the cover or that their story is in the magazine or the person themselves, the parent, frequently we have the mother show up at a conference and want to buy 15 magazines and they’re sending them to all their relatives and that sort of thing so they finally have that thing that their kids are able to do just like other people’s normal children. Be in the newspaper in other places and that gets sent around to their relatives and everybody. That’s a big part of it.
JT: Well, one other thing. We try to portray people as normal as possible but we have met and featured in the magazine some truly outstanding people that are doing things most of us can’t do — artists and athletes and entrepreneurs. So going along with what Larry said, we’re just exposing them to a wider audience, a wider readership and let people know that they really have eliminated the apostrophes in their lives. And a lot of times of course with the really true and deep love of their parents and families.
SH: My last question… What keeps you up at night?
JT: You mean the thing that makes me sit bolt upright in my bed? I worry about advertising and circulation.
LN: Of course my concern is the federal government and at what point does one quit pushing and fighting the system the way that they are. It’s the DD system nationally; it’s under a lot of stress. I have a guy in the federal government telling me two years ago that the trajectory of spending on the federal level was heading towards a trillion dollars and that wasn’t going to happen and they were going to find other ways to push the system forward without it costing a lot of money. And I’m all for that because it will help us move people toward independence.
But at the same time, folks in the state and federal government can use a meat cleaver rather than a scalpel frequently in dealing with those kinds of cuts and that makes us nervous of course all the time.
JT: And one other thing… You know magazines and that we’re under constant deadline pressure and there are a lot of moving parts with a magazine. We have a lot of correspondents, we have a lot of freelancers and columnists and photographers to wrangle and so I think all of us are thinking about deadlines all the time too. More than circulation and advertising, deadlines are what keep us up at night as well.
SH: Thank you.
A Moment of Reality… The Social Media Guard?
March 25, 2014On my recent trip to Europe I was introduced to a wonderful YouTube video called Coca-Cola Social Media Guard. It is not your standard ad to sell you a soda, but rather, in the words of its creators:
… We have just started a conversation on a light-hearted look at how social media can dominate our daily lives and how it has changed the way that we ‘share’ moments with each other. This is not to downplay the value that technology brings to our lives, rather an invitation to enjoy every day’s uplifting moments as they happen. Let’s keep spreading the word and get everyone engaged. This is just the beginning :)
Click on the video to watch the new invention from Coke… The Social Media Guard.
Thank you Erik.
Mr. Magazine™ Monday Morning Newsletter Preview Issue 3 is Out…
March 24, 2014
Eating Naked, Living Naked and Adopting the Naked Lifestyle is the Mission of Naked Food Magazine Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Restrepo. The Mr. Magazine™ Interview
March 24, 2014New American Kind & Enlightened Diet (NAKED) Shows Us an Organic and Healthier Way to Choose the Foods that We Eat. The Mr. Magazine™ Conversation with Margarita Restrepo, Founder of Naked Food Magazine and Peter Walsh, Circulation Director For the Magazine…
After adopting the plant-based diet when her boyfriend was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer, Margarita saw a drastic reduction in the growth of the tumor through the food changes they made during the catastrophic experience.
Unfortunately, it was too late to save her boyfriend, but Margarita is now on a mission to teach others and get the information out there that a person’s diet can make a major difference in their overall health and wellbeing with the print edition of Naked Food.
So sit back and get ready to be “Nakedly Enlightened” as you read the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Naked Food Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Restrepo and Circulation Director, Peter Walsh.
But first the sound-bites:
On the aspirations and goals for the printed magazine: Of course the goal is to go out there and change the current paradigm that we have in regards to food, nutrition and health. I think that although there may be somewhat similar titles out there, there’s really nothing that will bring food as medicine and food as a tool to prevent and reverse disease.
On the name “Naked Food”: NAKED (New American Kind & Enlightened Diet) refers to foods that have not been tainted and are not toxic with genetically-modified organisms; in other words, the closer the food is to nature, the better it is for you.
On changing the style of the printed cover from the website design: Because not so many people know about the magazine yet, when they see it, there are a lot of people who would have to look into the magazine to see what it is about and I don’t want to turn people off. And sometimes when they don’t know, it’s easier for them to say, well…this is weird or this might be porn with the title, I mean, you never know.
On where they hope the magazine will be a year from now: I think a year from now the Naked concept is going to be a lot more known and I think it’s going to be a popular magazine. I completely believe in it because I know that it’s something that people need to know.
On what keeps Margarita up at night: The one thing that bothers me the most is that we’re trying to survive through a food system that is killing us. And I believe that there has not been a clear voice out there that teaches people why it is so important to choose the right things.
And now the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Margarita Restrepo, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Naked Food Magazine and Peter Walsh, Circulation Director.
Samir Husni: Congratulations on the new magazine. My first question for you has to be why now and why in print?
Peter Walsh: Margarita has a bit of a back story on that – the plant-based diet having been something she studied and is certified for and she also has a bit of a personal story with her boyfriend who contracted cancer, a GBM, which began her quest, the two of them together, of using a plant-based, natural and organic whole food diet to combat his disease. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late for him and he passed away. So it’s a mission for Margarita and a passion.
Margarita Restrepo: I think the most important part of this whole story is that going through that experience was extremely difficult, of course. But the most difficult part about it was that there wasn’t really any information that could have actually saved someone’s life or change their future, either reverse a disease or prevent it. There just wasn’t anything widely available.
And although there are a lot of sources on the Internet, as we know pretty much everything and anything is on the web, there’s really not a source that is proven and scientifically factual. And something that people can actually read and trust that has scientific purpose and is backed up by doctors and by evidence. The one thing that I found really difficult when I started this whole journey was the lack of information.
I’m a designer, that’s my background. I’m a designer and I’m in branding and I’ve done that for about fourteen years. My other background is in music and that’s actually what I was doing before this. I had nothing to do with nutrition and I probably knew what the regular Joe knows about nutrition; I knew about calories and not getting fat and that’s all wrong. It’s not about that. If you eat the right things you don’t have to worry about all that. Food can actually be treated as medicine.
I did start the magazine digitally; the magazine has been in digital format for about a year. But not everybody has access to digital, and although, yes, that’s where we’re going, there’s a lot of people, like myself; again, I’m a graphic designer, a web designer and a very good researcher; I love Google, but still when I needed the information to save somebody’s life or at least help them, it wasn’t there.
I think that having the magazine in print is going to allow us to reach out to a wider audience. This is not just for adults. Obesity is a huge problem right now; so it’s for parents, it’s for kids, elders and families. And it’s something that affects our country and our planet. It has a lot of potential to change our healthcare system because I think if we focus on it, it’s something that we can control ourselves and it’s not about healthcare reform.
Peter Walsh: I would add to Margarita’s answer on your question why print and why now. I think that there has been, as she’s done her digital issues and she has the Facebook followings, there has been a certain amount of demand for people who have said we would love to see this in print, the online looks beautiful, but we’d love to see it in print. And that’s kind of where I come in, being an old print guy myself. We will have a digital version and it will be on all platforms, including mobile, and yet, I really believe that, first of all, no one in print is doing exactly what we feel we’re covering editorially and secondly, I am a firm believer that in order to make a go of it and make a profit, to have a sustainable operation, print helps you to monetize the online audience tremendously. And I think a lot of other print publishers would share that opinion. So that’s “why” print.
Samir Husni: I was looking at your launch plan and I noticed that you’re starting very small. What’s your roadmap? Your first issue comes out in April with around 5,500 copies. What’s your roadmap for the future to make Naked Food a talked-about brand and a major brand? There’s a magazine called Clean Eating that you can find on all the newsstands. Is that one of your aspirations; to be everywhere or would you rather keep it limited?
Margarita Restrepo: Absolutely. Of course the goal is to go out there and change the current paradigm that we have in regards to food, nutrition and health. I think that although there may be somewhat similar titles out there, there’s really nothing that will bring food as medicine and food as a tool to prevent and reverse disease. Nothing that is really evidence-based.
There are a lot of magazines out there that will talk about something similar, but it’s really not the same as ours. Naked Food is more of something that people can apply to their lives. Whatever lifestyle they lead, this is something that can help them.
Because it’s a mission-driven endeavor and magazine; I think that the more people know about its actual mission, it’ll grab attention and it’s going to let people understand what it’s all about. And it’s really not something that is about dieting or anything like that; it’s about true health. And it’s already happened and I haven’t done really any advertising or promotion.
Peter Walsh: As someone who helps small publishers, I feel like my role is to avoid the landmines and I quote you all the time because a long time ago, you used to say things when, for example, there would be 850 to 900 new titles to come out in any given year, and after one year 80 percent would be gone. And after the second year 50 percent of the remaining twenty percent would be gone, so that makes a two year attrition rate of 90 percent.
And I don’t know if it still holds true, but I always think about that with regards to small magazines. And I think at the same time what you had said was: what makes a magazine good enough to last the two years and get to long-term growth? And number one is funding, capital. A lot of people get into the magazine publishing business with a great idea, but they don’t have any idea of the capital that is involved in investing for that first year until you turn cash flow neutral in year two and then cash flow positive in year three.
So I feel a large part of my role is a steward and as an experienced magazine guy is to teach my clients like Margarita, what things cost and when you get paid and how much per copy you get paid and how subs work and etc., etc. And knowing how you have to struggle to get advertising the first year; my goal for a publisher like Margarita is basically to run the circulation profitably in the first year.
I tend to advise toward keeping the cover price a little on the high end and we want to know when we’ve broken even and we want to get a high sell-through on the newsstand, so by design we’ve started out with the organic grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts, they’ve given us very nice newsstand orders through one source in Denver. So the standard shot approach and trying to be in every retailer would make you go broke very quickly.
We’re not afraid of the growth and we can scale it and we do have some capital that is available to us; it’s just that we wanted to make sure that we walked before we ran so we didn’t trip.
Samir Husni: Tell me about the name; it’s not every day that you’re going to find a magazine with the name naked in it and it has nothing to do with nudity. What does “Naked” stand for and Naked Food as a whole?
Margarita Restrepo: I’m not sure if you know about the Standard American Diet; actually it’s called SAD (Standard American Diet). I’m trying to move away from that and invite people to look at a different plan.
Peter Walsh: And NAKED stands for New American Kind & Enlightened Diet.
Margarita Restrepo: I’m trying to move away from the SAD diet and into the New American Kind & Enlightened Diet, which as Peter said, is what NAKED stands for.
Besides that, NAKED refers to foods that have not been tainted and are not toxic with genetically-modified organisms; in other words, the closer the food is to nature, the better it is for you. And that’s evidence-based fact. The more you eat foods that have not been processed or tainted, the better. Most of our foods are based in petroleum, believe it or not, and actual aluminum. There are so many carcinogens in the foods, it’s just ridiculous. Every day we’re just ingesting toxins.
Naked Food really refers to that. And it teaches and encourages people to make the right choices; for themselves and their families. So NAKED is really a lifestyle. You become acquainted with organic, non-genetically modified foods. And most of the Standard American Diet is an animal-based diet. Everything has butters, oils, creams and fats that are causing our veins to clog, giving people heart attacks and unfortunately cancer feeds off of fats and sugars. So it’s teaching people this: the more the food comes from the ground, potatoes, legumes, vegetables and fruits, the better it is for you.
Unfortunately, when man attempts to create food, there are a lot of things that is added to the food that are dangerous.
Peter Walsh: And it’s profitable for the food manufacturers.
Margarita Restrepo: Yes, it’s about how much money they can make and there are so many different dangers in the food that people are not aware of. This information needs to get out there, so people can make better choices.
Samir Husni: Having said that, I noticed looking at the website, you were really playing on the word “Naked” with the covers that you had. But now with the first print issue, it seems that you’ve decided to go with a more standard food/advocate/celebrity cover approach. Why did you change the style of design from what you had on the web to what you’re doing with the print issue?
Margarita Restrepo: Because not so many people know about the magazine yet, when they see it, there are a lot of people who would have to look into the magazine to see what it is about and I don’t want to turn people off. And sometimes when they don’t know, it’s easier for them to say, well…this is weird or this might be porn with the title, I mean, you never know. And I didn’t want that connotation with the magazine because it’s going to be in Whole Foods, it’s going to be in Barnes & Noble and there are kids there; I didn’t want parents to feel weird about something like the title.
I think the essence of the point stands. In other words, I do want people to understand that, quite honestly, if they eat healthy, they can look great naked, that’s for sure, because that’s what happens. It’s something that occurs naturally. When you eat healthy, you don’t have to worry about being fat or calories; you don’t even have to own a scale and that’s true. I don’t have one, because I don’t need it.
Naked is one of the concepts that apply to a lot of things. It applies to our lifestyle, because you’re getting rid of toxins, chemicals and carcinogens, etc. and you’re also picking better foods and you’re demanding better food, which is going to hopefully help change the food system. And you’re also doing great things for your body. So it all goes together.
Everybody loves the name and everybody gets it. Everybody knows that it’s about clean eating, which is great. We just went a little different with the cover, because we didn’t want to turn anybody off.
Peter Walsh: We have heard from different people about cover treatments. My own opinion is that we don’t want to show just a food or a recipe on the cover because there are a lot of other magazines, like Clean Eating, Eating Well and Allrecipes that are already doing that.
We’ve heard from people who say food on the cover sells well, yet we have a dual mission. Do we want to start out looking like a medical magazine; no, we really don’t. We really feel like the first step of our two-part mission is to introduce people to food that is good-tasting and that you can make, and yes, there are recipes inside.
A core part of what we’re doing is showing that recipes are no longer the traditional recipes; we’re introducing people to a whole lot of food that they’ve never eaten before. And it’s wonderful.
There is a movement out there, the fastest growing supermarket chains in America are the organic ones like Whole Foods and Sprouts. So there is a movement and a trend and we feel like we’re answering that market demand and we’re kind of leading with the food part of it. As to whether there is a celebrity or not; we could have a celebrity on the cover on every issue probably, but I think what we’re going to do is test different covers in different ways. That way we can read the results of what the market is going to react to the best.
Whether it’s a celebrity or a non-celebrity or a close-up of a food dish, or like our current new cover with Laura Prepon, who is kind of our target audience and she has obviously embraced this lifestyle. If you read the article, it’s actually been her salvation, more or less, regarding her own health, which was really pretty poor beforehand and she really raves about how the nutritionist that she was working with introduced her to this type of diet and she is so much healthier because of it.
So, I think that we’re still small and we’re still growing and we still have things that we’re testing and that we want to learn along the way.
Samir Husni: A year from now, if I’m doing this interview with you; what are you going to tell me about Naked Food?
Margarita Restrepo: I think I’m going to tell you: thank you, Samir, for being the first industry interview that made us go everywhere in the market because of something here, hopefully.
Honestly, I think the magazine has had a tremendous growth, even in one year. The magazine started from nothing to what you see today.
I think a year from now the Naked concept is going to be a lot more known and I think it’s going to be a popular magazine. I completely believe in it because I know that it’s something that people need to know, people really need this information and I do know that once somebody knows about it; they can’t wait to tell someone else. They can’t wait to tell their parents and friends, so I think that there is already growth that we’ve seen in a year. And it’s been pretty much word of mouth.
And I also think that now that we’re going to be in stores with a wider approach and a wider audience that the growth is going to double.
So when you interview us again in a year, we’re going to be celebrating success.
Peter Walsh: A year from now we want to thank you when we’re awarded the Title Launch of the Year and we’ll dedicate it to you, Samir.
As the circulation guy on the business side of the equation, I would say that I really am confident that we’re going to run the magazine sensibly and ethically and we’re going to hit circulation milestones and achieve higher circulations. But that’s something you really can’t do the first issue, you have to kind of grow into it and add-on the Safeways of the world and Wegmans and wherever else we end up.
We’re going to grow immeasurably and sensibly. So we feel like we will be adding a much higher milestone in that our advertisers will be getting lots of responses throughout the next year.
Samir Husni: What keeps you up at night?
Margarita Restrepo: The one thing that bothers me the most is that we’re trying to survive through a food system that is killing us. And I believe that there has not been a clear voice out there that teaches people why it is so important to choose the right things. It’s not just for your body; it’s also for the greater good. And the greater good means sustainable living for everyone around you: the planet, the animals, the trees. It’s just seriously so important, because every time that you choose something that is bad for your body; you’re increasing the potential of damaging our oceans, our soil and our planet in general.
I think that the only way for people to be able to make a sustainable choice is education, just like with everything else in our country. The more that we educate people regarding a more conscious, more enlightened way of living, the better off we’ll be.
It’s a Catch-22 really, because the more you eat these dangerous foods, the sicker you’ll be. Unfortunately, the healthcare system wants you sick because they need your money. If everyone ate really healthy, they wouldn’t be making a lot of money. And if we are to be healthy, we need to stop buying all these crappy foods.
I believe it relies on education, so my goal and my purpose is to empower people with information and have them be instrumental tools themselves for their own life and the planet. I do want to be able to help people in ways that I was not able to help my boyfriend. Unfortunately for me and for him, it was too late. It was a very advanced cancer and in Stage IV when they found it. He only lived eight months after that.
However, when we started the plant-based diet, we did see a reduction of tumor growth. It was unbelievable. That never happens in that kind of cancer, in that particular stage.
So I have seen it with my own eyes, the difference that a diet can make for someone with a deadly disease like cancer. I’m hoping that people can see that and to be honest with you, that does keep me up at night. The more we can get that information out there, the more we can save people and teach them to take control of their health and hopefully keep them around for a long time.
Samir Husni: Thank you.
© Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, 2014
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Kruschel: A New German Ink on Paper Newspaper For Children. The Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Editor Eva Fauth.
March 21, 2014
Her premise for Kruschel:
Fewer and fewer people read newspapers? Not at all! In “Kruschelland” is different: As more and more children are looking forward to Saturday when the “Kruschel” comes – a newspaper specially for kids!, The Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main (VRM) was the first regional newspaper publisher in Germany to launch, in May 2012, its own subscription newspaper for children on the market targeted at very young readers (7-11 years old). A model that gives courage – because it shows that newspaper reading is again a family affair and children will be the readers of tomorrow.
So, for my benefit and the benefit of my English language reading audience, I asked Ms. Fauth what is the meaning of the name Kruschel? Click the video to listen to her answer:
Then I fired up my usual line of questions regarding print, newspapers, the future, children in a digital age, etc. etc… click the video below to watch my interview with Eva Fauth, editor and project leader of the German Kruschel children’s newspaper:
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Issue Preview 2 is now available. Click here to view.
Buying Newsweek and Bringing it Back to Print – The Story Behind the Acquisition and the Rebirth of the Printed Magazine. The Mr. Magazine’s™ Interview with Etienne Uzac, Co-Founder and CEO of IBT Media
March 20, 2014
“As soon as we purchased Newsweek, we had partners and businesspeople who wanted to work with us and we were open with them and we want this business to grow so we are willing to do deals, we’re willing to grow the brand based on a strong editorial core.” Etienne Uzac
Fresh life has been breathed into Newsweek with its purchase by IBT Media, a global digital news organization founded by Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis. I spoke with one half of the duo while in New York recently, Etienne Uzac who is also CEO of the company, and was met with enthusiasm for his Newsweek team and profitable plans for the future, including their reawakening of the printed edition.
In Uzac’s opinion, there was no reason not to revive the print product as long as it could be done profitably and provide a major service to their customers and he certainly feels as though it can. He knew there were people out there who loved and wanted the magazine back in print and was determined to give the customer what they desired.
The man and his company’s reasons for the purchase and the return to print follow in the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Etienne Uzac, Co-Founder and CEO of IBT Media. So sit back and enjoy Newsweek’s reemergence with a new company, a new future and a whole new leadership vision.
But first, the Mr. Magazine™ Minute with Mr. Uzac answering my question whether he’d rather read Newsweek in print or digital. Click the video to hear his answer:
And now for the Sound-bites:
On why IBT Media bought Newsweek and why they resurrected the print product: There are several reasons we bought Newsweek. The first one is the excellence in journalism that it represents. When we purchased Newsweek we didn’t rule out going back into print. However, we didn’t think we would go back into print this soon.
On their involvement with international editions already in print: Newsweek has had foreign licensed partners. Those are typically in foreign languages and they are complementary to the global/English editions. We currently have about 6 partners and we are planning to continue growing that number this year with partners all around the world.
On their most pleasant surprise since buying Newsweek: I think working with the Newsweek team; I’ve rarely seen this much excitement in the people who work for the brand.
On their major stumbling block: I think as the team grows, as it integrates into a new company, as it integrates with IBT Media, there are technical hiccups sometimes and there are staff hiccups sometimes; I would say it has not been easy, but it has always been moving forward overall.
On his reaction to the media onslaught after the first print issue came out: There was a lot of talk about the cover story and that had a lot to do with editorial. So from a business perspective, I thought that we had a lot of great articles about the launch.
On the future of Newsweek a year from now: I think this passion and the quality of the staff that we have put together will make for really exciting content over the year. And I think it’s going to get better and better.
On whether he prefers to read Newsweek in print or on the app: Personally I prefer the print right now.
On what keeps him up at night: I think making sure that the customer who used the website, who logged into the applications, who subscribed to the magazines, since we’re just launching; they’re experience was great.
And now the lightly-edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Etienne Uzac, co-founder and CEO of IBT Media about his company’s purchase of Newsweek…
Samir Husni: Tell me first about why you decided to buy Newsweek and why did you choose to bring it back to print?
Secondly, I would say that Newsweek has an amazing global brand. IBT Media, from its inception in 2006, has always looked at the world to grow and develop. We want to end up making more of our business outside the United States than inside the States in the long run. So we thought that Newsweek was a great way for us to open up doors to meet new partners and that did happen. Since we bought the brand it has opened up a lot of doors internationally and we‘re glad that we bought it.
The third reason is that Newsweek had complementary business models to IB Times and some of our other digital properties. Even up until today, we make over 90 percent of our revenue from digital advertising. We saw in Newsweek opportunities to diversify that; we wanted to diversify that ahead of the purchase of Newsweek, but we thought that by purchasing it we could bring that know-how into the company. So whether it’s subscription revenues or user-based revenues; Newsweek also had foreign-licensing agreements and it also had great syndication deals with big university content aggregators. So it had complementary business models to what we were doing. That’s some of the reasons that we bought Newsweek as a brand.
When we purchased Newsweek we didn’t rule out going back into print. However, we didn’t think we would go back into print this soon. I think what really allowed us to make this decision was one day I essentially asked for the numbers, basically how much would it cost to do a magazine out of curiosity. And I received the numbers; we have a great team of people who work for us either on staff or as consultants.
I got the numbers and I looked at them and was not surprised or shocked by them at all. Because you hear a lot of fear mongering in the market, you hear losses of $20 million dollars, you hear losses of $40 million dollars; if you just read the news you think it’s really scary.
When I looked at the numbers I thought, yes, it’ll cost a few dozen cents to make and distribute, sure; I didn’t expect it to be free. Really, looking at the pricing and the cost of a yearly subscription, distribution and print as well as newsstand; very quickly we were able to see that there was a way for us to become profitable fairly rapidly based on as long as the pricing model made sense.
When we did decide to go to print, we were very clear in our minds that this would not be a loss-leader. That was very clear. We said if we’re going to do print, this is a new platform for us, we have the website and the apps; print is just another platform to reach our audience. There are people out there who do like and want print; we are printing for them, but it has to be profitable.
Samir Husni: One of the things that very few people noticed in the States is that internationally Newsweek did not stop printing; it stopped maybe for 3 weeks before different licensees started printing it in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Are you now involved in the international editions or is this going to be the national and international edition of Newsweek?
We’re also planning later on to launch an Asia/English edition. So you will have, when the Asian edition comes out; you’ll have your Americas/English edition, you’ll have your EMEA/English edition and you’ll have your Asian/Pacific English edition. So those are all owned and operated by us.
Now, as you said, Newsweek has had foreign licensed partners. Those are typically in foreign languages and they are complementary to the global/English editions. We currently have about 6 partners and we are planning to continue growing that number this year with partners all around the world. And they will typically be in their local language to reach their local audience. And they will probably share the majority of the content with us, they will translate it and there will be a portion of that content that we will allow them to produce on their own. So we will co-exist together; the global/English editions and the foreign licensing agreements in each particular country with their own languages.
Samir Husni: What was the most pleasant surprise in all this, from the day you bought Newsweek until today?
Etienne Uzac: I think working with the Newsweek team; I’ve rarely seen this much excitement in the people who work for the brand. I think just working with this team that’s so passionate about the brand and is trying really, really hard to bring back Newsweek to where it once was; we have really great people on staff. I think working together with them and seeing the level of excitement that we have internally and also externally.
As soon as we purchased Newsweek, we had partners and businesspeople who wanted to work with us and we were open with them and we want this business to grow so we are willing to do deals, we’re willing to grow the brand based on a strong editorial core.
So I guess my best surprise has been the level of enthusiasm that this has generated both internally and externally.
Samir Husni: And what was the major stumbling block?
Etienne Uzac: The major stumbling block? I mean, you have growing pains; we started putting out weekly digital issues, so there were technical difficulties putting out on different platforms: the iPads, Kindles and all that. And transferring the assets from the previous owner and making sure that we fulfilled the date of the digital issue on time for the customer that was stressful.
I think as the team grows, as it integrates into a new company, as it integrates with IBT Media, there are technical hiccups sometimes and there are staff hiccups sometimes; I would say it has not been easy, but it has always been moving forward overall. So I wouldn’t say there have been massive stumbling blocks yet.
Samir Husni: Were you expecting when the first issue came out that you were going to be under the microscope and the gates of the media would “open” at you and were you pleasantly surprised by it, were you upset; what was your reaction when you saw the media onslaught?
Etienne Uzac: There was a lot of talk about the cover story and that had a lot to do with editorial. So from a business perspective, I thought that we had a lot of great articles about the launch. I did several interviews and most of the articles turned out very well.
We did get a lot of media attention, but from a business perspective I was pretty satisfied. I thought that it went pretty well.
Samir Husni: If I sit with you here a year from now; what will you tell me about the year in the life of Newsweek?
Etienne Uzac: I think people will really love the content that we produce and I think they will like the vitality of the content that we bring. Again as I said to you; the team is extremely excited about working here. We have experienced editors that have been doing this for the greatest newspapers on the planet; we have junior guys with digital backgrounds; but really they’re all uniting under this desire to have Newsweek really be a strong editorial brand in media.
I think this passion and the quality of the staff that we have put together will make for really exciting content over the year. And I think it’s going to get better and better. We will continue hiring and investing in editorial. I think that we’ll continue revamping and renewing our apps and the website to give the best possible experience to the user. And I think those folks who are really print nostalgic and who like the medium will be very pleased with the quality of the magazine. They will see beautiful paper, design and images that look really, really high definition, great colors on the beautiful advertisements. So people who like print will be really satisfied by the product.
Samir Husni: Which do you prefer to read Newsweek on, in print or on your app?
Etienne Uzac: I prefer the print because I look at a backlit screen 8 hours a day, so I don’t want to go home and read more news on another backlit tablet screen. Personally I prefer the print right now.
Samir Husni: What keeps you up at night?
Etienne Uzac: Just making sure all the nuts and bolts of the subscription process is working flawlessly. I think making sure that the customer who used the website, who logged into the applications, who subscribed to the magazines, since we’re just launching; they’re experience was great. I think this is what I’m most focused on right now. Making sure that everything runs smoothly as the launch continues to extend.
Samir Husni: Thank you.
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Issue Preview 2 is now available. Click here to view.
Mr. Magazine