Does Family Circle Want to Be Good Housekeeping?

FAMILY CIRCLE has unveiled a “GOOD HOUSEKEEPING seal”-like award for use by advertisers.  Unlike the GH logo, there is no product testing or guarantee; but “our Circle of Excellence awards go to food, beauty, and household products that wowed us editors and you – we sent samples to readers throughout the country to test.  Only items that earned across-the-board raves made the final cut.”

The new program is really aimed at boosting ad pages.  The magazine is allowing marketers to buy the rights to use the seal in their own promotional efforts or buy incremental print ads if they want to use the seal in those placements.

The food products named on the magazine’s website as having earned the “Circle of Excellence” are: Skinny Cow Low-Fat Ice Cream Sandwiches, Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts, Arnold Select Sandwich Thins, Al Fresco All-Natural Chicken Sausage, and Mazola Pure Cooking Spray.

The Horse would like to know where he can vote for his carrots and apples.

Nine Magazines Added to AIM Equine Stable

EQUUS, HORSE & RIDER, PRACTICAL HORSEMAN, DRESSAGE TODAY, ARABIAN HORSE WORLD, DISCOVER HORSES, EQUIMANAGEMENT, SPIN TO WIN RODEO and TRAIL RIDER magazines, in addition to 7 websites, were all bought by Active Interest Media from Source Interlink Media and Horse Media Group to form AIM Equine Network.  AIM’s AMERICAN COWBOY magazine will join the acquired properties under the newly-created Equine Network.

All acquisitions will continue to be published and produced.  Some staff will be integrated.  Horse Media Group president Tom Winsor will serve as general manager, and Bill Garrels, publisher of American Cowboy, and David Andrick, associate publishing director of Source’s former equine group will serve as the new group’s publishers.

Websites included in the acquisition are Equisearch.com, Equine.com, HorseBooksEtc.com and DiscoverHorses.com websites, all from Source Interlink.  From the Horse Media Group, AIM purchased MyHorse.com, HitchUpMagazine.com and HorselinkMagazine.com websites.

Wooden Horse Monday Round-Up

THE ATLANTIC will revive its regular fiction section starting in May.  “We think-we hope!-we are seeing renewed interest in the short story,” writes Editor-in-Chief James Bennett.  In any case, between the short story section, a special fiction issue, and digital initiatives, “The Atlantic is now publishing more fiction than it has since the mid-1970s.”…

TENNIS is releasing its first all-digital issue this month, available only to subscribers and members of United States Tennis Association, but we found a preview at http://bit.ly/92JxGo. Miller Publishing Group magazine issue will include video, picture and editorial content and will focus on providing tips to readers and tennis enthusiasts from professionals…

American Media Inc (STAR, NATIONAL ENQUIRER, SHAPE) is looking for new New York City office space, according to a memo obtained by MediaWire Daily.  Famed CEO David Pecker writes that the lease at their current location at 1 Park Ave will soon expire, and he’s looking to move someplace “nicer.”…

Major Canadian Magazine Becomes More Optimistic

CANADIAN LIVING, a Canadian lifestyle magazine, is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a makeover.  It has redesigned its logo and changed its tag line from “Smart solutions for everyday living” to “Inspiring ideas for everyday living.”  And the April edition launched with an introductory price of $1.99, temporarily down from the usual $3.99.

The front-of-the-book has added a new section called “Everyday Matters.”  Content is now grouped under one of five “pillars,” including beauty, health, lifestyle, home and food.  However, in keeping with its more “optimistic” brand personality, these sections bear the headings “Beauty is everywhere,” “Health is happiness,” “Life is for living,” “Home is pride,” and “Food is love.”

The re-branding also extends to its websites and e-newsletters.  The editorial calendars of the print, website and e-newsletters have been combined into one standard platform for closer integration.  Canadian Living will also be encouraging its readers to participate in the online magazine via blogs, forums and contests.

Published monthly by media giant Transcontinental, Canadian Living has a circulation of just over half a million.  Editor-in-Chief is Susan Antonacci, santonacci@canadianliving.com.

More Magazine Wagers on Beauty More Than Brains

MORE chose actress Lauren Graham as their cover girl, errrrr woman, to usher in their redesigned March issue.

Does the “Gilmore Girls” actress epitomize “a woman of substance?”

That’s the look the new More seeks, according to their new tagline: “For Women of Style and Substance.”  Editor-in-Chief Lesley Jane Seymour said, “the tagline speaks exactly to who our reader is: A woman interested in substantive issues of politics, work, money and health, who also wants to look great.”

But it seems, ‘looks great’ is really the magazine’s focus for the 40-50 year old female target audience, since fully 26% of the editorial space will be devoted to fashion and beauty.  Health fills 17%, followed closely by culture and entertainment at 15%.  Food and home rank neck and neck with national and world affairs at 11% and 10%, respectively.  Career and finance will fill 9% of the editorial space just ahead of relationships and travel, which get the merest nod at 6% each.

As of February 2010, the rate base will be 1,300,000, which is up 100,000 from a year ago.  According to these numbers, women of a certain age apparently continue to support their favorite print magazine.

Canadians Get Their Own Cycling Magazine

CANADIAN CYCLING Magazine launched this month on the heels of the International Bicycle Show in Toronto.  Focused specifically on Canadians interested in cycling as a sport, Publisher Sam Cohen said the magazine was created to fill a void in the market that has only US “spillover” cycling magazines.

The 80-page, full-colour, bimonthly magazine has sections on news, gear and product reviews, training and warm-up tips, bike repair advice, health and nutrition, and events as well as features on personalities and cycle-friendly destinations.  The magazine’s website will also carry news, blogs, buy and sell forums along with an events calendar.

The first issue is about 25% advertising with a distribution of about 25,000.  Newsstands and bike retailers across the country received close to 16,000 copies and the remainder was sent free to subscribers of TRIATHLON Magazine.

Canadian Cycling increases the titles of Toronto-based publisher Gripped Inc. to four, which also includes GRIPPED: THE CLIMBING MAGAZINE, CANADIAN RUNNING and Triathlon Magazine Canada.  Contact Editor Dan Dakin at dan@cyclingmagazine.ca for more information.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek to Reinvent Business Magazine Genre

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK has launched a teaser campaign to prep audiences for the April 23 launch of a newly designed magazine.

Publisher Bloomberg is boasting that the radical new look for the 80-year old publication will “reinvent” the business category and take on rivals by breaking away from the pack.

Changes include 20% more editorial pages with twice as many articles that are shorter than in the current edition.  There will be a more global focus and more lifestyle features including leisure and arts coverage done from a business perspective.  In a deliberate attempt to set it apart from rivals FORTUNE and FORBES, BusinessWeek also plans to have more articles with a storytelling slant.  There will be more photos of people on both the cover and inside.

The Bloomberg logo has been made more prominent on the front cover and skyboxes are being used to promote inside content.  BusinessWeek is also being printed on heavier stock and production has been bumped up to 50 issues per year-unlike other business magazines who have reduced publications.

Bloomberg LP bought BusinessWeek from McGraw-Hill in December 2009 for an estimated $50 million.  The magazine has a paid circulation of 900,000.

Jamie and Bobby Cookin’ Light for Fun and Family – and NOT Just for Men

DEEN BROS GOOD COOKING Magazine will feed into the trend to entertain at home and cutting costs in the current fragile economy.  It premiered in March with a 350,000 run.

Publisher Phyllis Hoffman DePiano in a phone interview quickly disavowed that this newsstand magazine was for men only.

“Light, laid back, easy cooking, fun dishes, and a fun way for presenting food, – NOT just for men.  I don’t know how that idea got started,” DePiano said.  She added that the magazine demographics were toward “young people” and families with a demographic sweet spot at the age 30-40 and middle income crowd.

DEEN BROS GOOD COOKING’S editorial focus will emphasize healthy foods, outdoor grilling, entertaining in terms of trendy fun and inexpensive, and casual living.  DePiano added that the magazine is all about colors and textures with future stories about great informal/casual places to eat.

This new publication from Hoffman Media (SANDRA LEE SEMI-HOMEMADE, SOUTHERN LADY) joins a stable of Food Network greats including the Deen Brothers own mama, Paula Deen and her magazine COOKING WITH PAULA DEEN.  The “boys,” – Jamie and Bobby – serve as Editors-in-Chief and are joined by Editor Cindy Cooper and Managing Editor Elizabeth Taliaferro.

Library Trade Titles Sold

LIBRARY JOURNAL, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL and LIBRARY HOTLINE (a weekly newsletter) were all sold to Media Source Inc by Reed Business Information (RBI).  Media Source Inc also acquired the online properties of each publication.

Media Source’s Vice President Andrew Thorne says he plans to continue publishing both magazines.

“Overall, Media Source is looking for growth from these titles and from other companies in the library market,” he said.

The magazines will remain in New York, but layoffs, staff changes, or publishing frequencies were not commented on.  Ron Shank, the group’s publisher, and Brian Kenney, editorial director, will remain with the publications.

The titles have a combined circulation of well over 150,000 with 200,000 online users.  RBI sold three of its trade titles to Canon Communications last month, in December three titles were sold to NewBay Media, and in January they shuttered VIDEO BUSINESS, MANUFACTURING BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY and INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION.

Redwood Communications Re-brands Itself

Canadian custom publisher Redwood Communications has rebranded itself as Totem Communications Group.  The company started the name search one year ago and the switch has been a gradual process.

“We didn’t want to lose any of the equity that comes from building up your brand and reputation so we have been doing the switchover gradually, first with Evolution Redwood.  We’ve planned events and done press releases to keep the market informed about the change so the market knows the new name,” said Joseph Barbieri, SVP Marketing and Business Development at Totem in an interview with Wooden Horse.

The Toronto-based company produces custom publications and media programs for a number of national and international clients such as Procter & Gamble, The Home Depot, Canadian Automobile Association, Frito-Lay, Sears, Sobeys, Mazda International, and Aeroplan.

Totem Communications hopes to push the envelope with custom publishing by fostering “marketing journalistm” and “brand stories.”

“Brand stories are a chance for us to put the best practices of journalism with a marketing overlay.  It’s still about the content but we are going to use those elements found in traditional journalism, such as fact-checking, interviews and telling a story, and combine them with a transparent marketing overlay.  This is something not often found in traditional publishing and media, since the two are usually mixed.  This is not critical journalism but more lifestyle journalism,” said Barbieri.

Totem also plans to use social media to engage their readers and encourage them to carry on more conversation about the products and people they have recently been introduced to.  Barbieri also said digital magazine will have an important role to play.

In 2008, the company was bought by media mogul Transcontinental.  For more information, contact Joseph Barbieri, joseph.barbieri@redwoodcc.com, Toronto: 416-847-8548, New York: 212-896-3849