FOLIO: Section Blogs by City and Regionals

Magazine to Moving Company: Lay Off My Logo!

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:49:18 -0400

What would you do if you saw a truck driving down the road with your magazine’s logo slapped on the side of it? Maybe think your publishing company is trying its hand at distribution and you didn’t know about it?

In the case of Dallas, Texas-based D magazine, its owners are taking legal action.

D founder Wick Allison, who in turn owns D Magazine Partners LP, is suing Allen, Texas-based moving company D Moving for trademark infringement. The magazine claims the company’s logo—a white ‘D’ in a red box—is confusingly similar to its own and is being used without permission.

And according to D magazine’s executive editor Tim Rogers, this isn’t the first time D Moving owner Edwin Bedford has landed himself in trademark trouble. He says Bedford was sued for trademark infringement by Major League Baseball because previously he ran a moving service called Major League Moving. A judgment was handed in that case barring Bedford to use “Major League” in his company’s name.

You know, since I was a kid I’ve wanted to open my own high-end restaurant and call it Vogue Café. Hm. Maybe I should think twice about that…

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What Happened to the Local 'Luxe' Publishers?

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:06:40 -0400

Five years ago, “luxe” publishers—glossy, high-end magazines that were freely distributed to select demographics, hotels and retailers—were all the rage in the city and regional market. Modern Luxury, 944 Media, Niche Media and Greenspun were boasting big city glitz and fat books full of ad pages from high-end national and international brands.

Today, however, several luxe publishers have fallen on hard times. In April, Modern Luxury announced it was on the block in hopes of either being acquired or finding a new equity partner. The company lost its founder and previous chief executive, Michael Kong, earlier this year after lenders including GE Business Financial Services took control of the company after Kong was said to have defaulted on $120 million in debt. However, In a memo announcing the sale, current CEO William Cobert said that Modern Luxury’s advertising revenues spiked 15 percent for its May issues and that the company has booked more than 2,100 advertisers in 2010.

Meanwhile, 944 Media, which covers markets from Miami to San Diego, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, spurred by “several potentially burdensome lawsuits,” including one around 944’s 2008 Super Bowl event that alleges mismanagement and even racial bias. According to the filing, 944 has between $1 million and $10 million in assets and $50 million in liabilities.

Too Much PE, Too Few Local Advertisers

Some of the problems can be linked to private equity investment gone bad—something plenty of national consumer and b-to-b magazines are familiar with as well. “Similar to b-to-b, there was suddenly a lot of money around for investing—Shamrock gave a ton of money to the Kong brothers at Modern Luxury, Greenspun bought out Niche Media and Ocean Drive,” says one observer. “A couple years ago, everyone was making money, the financial people were getting paid on time and they didn’t take an active role in the business. When things turned south, they came in with a very heavy hand.”

One of the biggest successes of the luxe publishers turned out to be one of their biggest weaknesses—national advertisers. “What fueled the expansion in luxury publications was national advertising—they came in droves, they paid higher prices than local advertisers and those publishers generated a lot of revenue very quickly,” says one publisher. “The problem with relying on that is when national dollars went away, these companies didn’t have a huge amount of local advertising. The typical CRMA magazine didn’t get the uptick these luxe publishers saw but they didn’t get hit as hard in the downturn either.”
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Cutthroat Competition: Breaking into a Monopoly

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:41:38 -0400

Every highly competitive magazine market is used to trash talk, undercut rates and the occasional sneaky gambit from rivals (remember the Pub Exec publisher trying to get the lowdown on FOLIO: newsletters by pretending to be a prospective advertiser?)
In the city and regional category, where barriers to entry are fairly low yet the clash for the limited dollars of local advertisers can be a life and death struggle week in and week out, competition can get especially cutthroat, particularly when a newcomer enters a highly concentrated market.
In 2008, Rena Tran founded Erie Life Magazine, located an hour and a half from Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Buffalo. Today, the magazine (which has changed its name to Great Lakes Life) generates between $500,000 and $1 million in ad revenue and is sold on more than 600 newsstands in three states and Canada.
Erie Life/Great Lakes Life faced many of the typical startup challenges (particularly as it launched just as the bottom was falling out of the magazine market). But it also ran up against what some observers have called a near-media monopoly in the local newspaper, Erie-Times News. (In 2006, a media watchdog group called The Media and Democracy Coalition protested the FCC considering loosening limits on media ownership, citing the Erie-Times News as one example of a potential problem.)
Erie Life's first marketing efforts included a billboard teaser campaign that said, "Erie Life Magazine. Now There's a Choice." Shortly after Erie Life announced it's impending launch, Erie-Times News announced it was launching its own magazine, Lake Erie Lifestyle.
During Erie Life's first year, former Erie-Times News publisher Jim Dible took over the Erie Chamber of Commerce (Erie Life subsequently quit the Chamber, and in a follow-up meeting, Erie Life vice president and partner Paul Loncharic says that Dible told him that the Erie-Times News saw Erie Life as its "greatest enemy.")
Loncharic says Erie Life ran up against a number of "exclusive partnerships" with Erie-Times News and local media outlets such as the local public television and radio station. Erie-Times News executives also sat on the boards of large hospitals, universities, and arts organizations, such as the Philharmonic, according to Loncharic.
"Some advertising agencies in Erie were even worse," says Loncharic. "They wouldn't risk their relationship with the Times. One agency had told us that if they placed with us they could lose their discounts for their classifieds."
Loncharic claims the Times resorted to huge rate discounts ($700 for a full page versus Erie Life's $2,500 yield for a full page), as well as old tricks such as hiding copies of Erie Life on the newsstand. Even Erie Life's ability to attract writing talent was threatened, according to Loncharic. "We lost freelancers because of intimidation," he says. "It was tough."
Once, the magazine sought expansion money from the local Economic Development Corporation. "They kept begging us to see our financial statements but wouldn't tell us what government loans or grants we were qualified for," says Loncharic. "Months later I was sitting in a meeting with a local businessman who out of the blue asked me, ‘So I heard the Economic Development Corporation wanted to see your books.' I said, ‘How did you know that?' and he said ‘Because the publisher of the Erie-Times News sits on one of their boards and was dying to know what your books looked like. I confronted the EDC about it later and they claimed she wasn't on that board and they are a pillar of confidentiality."
As of this posting, Erie-Times News hadn't returned repeated requests for comment. However, Joe LaRocca, a journalist and author of the blog Erie CounterNewsMedia (whose mission is to "countercheck the Erie news media for inaccuracy, errors of commission or omission, bias, incompetence, arrogance, chutzpah, excessive hubris, and other sins against ethical and professional journalism") says Erie Life's claims don't surprise him.
"Coincidentally, the inaugural edition of a new magazine put out by Marnie Mead Oberle, an heir of the Mead family which owns the Times Publishing Co., made its first appearance in last Sunday's edition of the Times-News," says LaRocca. "It deals with roughly the same subject matter as Erie Life, except that it has more the feel of an advertising supplement. Undoubtedly the Times is trying to force out Erie Life so that its magazine, which currently has the free circulation advantage of the 77,000 Sunday paper's circulation, may take over the field unchallenged. The Times' failure to respond is typical. As a newspaper monopoly, they answer to no one."
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Lawsuit Alleges Darker Side of Regional Lifestyle Publisher

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:04:44 -0400

Sometimes even the fastest-growing media companies hit a financial wall. Arizona-based magazine publisher 944 Media, which just last year said it was the largest and fastest growing lifestyle media conglomerate in the industry, has filed for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy code.

In the statement announcing the bankruptcy, 944 said the filing was precipitated by “several potentially burdensome lawsuits,” but didn’t offer any specifics. I spoke with a 944 spokesperson who told me the lawsuits involve the buyout of a former 944 partner/investor and the terms of a partnership surrounding 944's 2008 "944 Super Village" Super Bowl event. She said the event was not “financially profitable” but said its co-owner is “trying to monetize” the publicity 944 received for producing it.

I managed to dig up the documents for that particular case against 944, which was filed in March 2009 by California-based Explosive Productions LLC. The complaint alleges that the "Super Village" event was a financial disaster, in part because 944 kept sponsorship money for itself and “secretly” gave away thousands of tickets (including more than $1 million in VIP tickets to “potential magazine models”), actually selling fewer than 1,000 tickets. It also alleges that 944 investor Eric Crown (also co-founder and former CEO of Insight.com parent Insight Enterprises) took $180,000 worth of tickets and cabanas for his own “personal, social purposes.”

Meanwhile, Explosive claims that 944 branded the event for itself and bragged in press releases about the 740 million media impressions it received about the event. “944 Media intended from the beginning to use the Super Bowl event as a massive publicity campaign for its 944 magazine, regardless of whether the event was profitable, to be paid for through Explosive Productions’ financial support…,” the complaint reads.

It gets worse. Most “insidiously,” the claim continues, 944 Media’s “racial bias” led to its refusal to allow marketing of the event to Hispanic markets. “944 media was, above all, concerned with its image with the white and affluent audience it covered,” says the complaint. “That bias caused 944 Media to insist that no advertising would be purchased if that advertising was directed, even partially, at Mexicans or Latinos.”

Explosive contends in the suit that it wanted to produce a series of boxing matches to take place at the event featuring fighter Hector Camacho Jr. But 944 Media execs shot down the idea of promoting the event or the fights on Spanish language radio in Phoenix, Arizona, the suit claims. Here are portions of two e-mails from 944’s business development manager about the fights, via the lawsuit documents:
Guys. No running commercial on the mexican radio stations please. What are u guys thinking! Please call to discuss immediately! I am not destroying this party for the sake of saving this boxing match.

We can’t promote on Spanish radio unless you want to kill this event entirely on Sat night. We will have a bunch of gang bangers and get shut down.
I understand the concept of and value in marketing to your audience, but—whoa. At the very least, this is a perfect example of how two very different ideas can clash with disastrous results. I’m sure it happens, even in publishing, more than I’d like to admit. Although, hopefully not to this degree.

Explosive’s claims against 944 also got personal. The lawsuit alleges that the only reason Crown invested in 944 Media was “the access it gave him to young, attractive models and other women, whom he hoped to date.”

Lawsuit or not, that’s a tough complaint to swallow.
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In This Wretched Economy, Magazine Conferences Are Like Group Therapy

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:47:10 -0500

In October, I came back from Santa Fe, New Mexico refreshed, rejuvenated, recharged, and ready to hit the ground running when I returned to the office. I wasn’t there for a spa weekend or a vacation; I went to the International Regional Magazine Association’s (IRMA) Annual Conference. But the experience there with other regional magazine pros was certainly as eye-opening as any skin peel could peel.

IRMA is not a typical organization and the conference is anything but run of the mill. The goal is to facilitate a free flow of ideas among peers. To that end, there are no competing magazines in terms of territory or potential advertisers. While at first blush, that might sound somewhat exclusionary but you would be amazed at some of the frank discussions and “trade secrets” revealed among the members. But I’m not telling any tales out of school.

Aside from the opportunity to learn from regional magazine compatriots, attendees got the chance to simply vent about struggles common to all publishing professionals in today’s roiling economy. Any topic that’s currently at the forefront was discussed, but in a way that dealt more with finding common solutions for everyone rather than trying to “one up” your competitor.

One of the hallmarks of these conferences is the lack of PowerPoint presentations. Experts get up and speak, but typically the sessions evolve into roundtable discussions rather than your typical follow-along slideshow. Telling your own war stories with others in the same battle goes a long way over a stack of stapled handouts that will simply go into a cabinet when you get back to your office.

But, as we all know, just like all magazines are not created equal neither are magazine conferences. For example, I bypassed a similar conference when I saw the list of “experts” that were invited to speak. One in particular was a former colleague. I decided that if that person was considered an authority by the host organization, my company’s money could be better spent elsewhere.

Then there was the conference that was purely an ego-stroking exercise for the organizers. Rather than sharing ideas and presenting solutions, the editorial track consisted of the organizer sitting on various panels with previous employees, bosses, or just friends at other magazines where the first 15 minutes were spent letting the speakers regale the audience with tales of how great each other was. Pretty much every session was an excuse for a mutual admiration society.

As the conference wore on and I hopped from session to session, it certainly seemed that the entire program was tailored so that the editorial track organizer and his buddies could have a free weekend in the host city, all courtesy of the sponsoring organization, mind you. Then there was the vendor who was a presenter/speaker who used various magazines as examples of the right way to do things, touted the genius of their editors time and time again, but lo and behold … every magazine was the “expert speaker’s” client. No wonder they were so great. The speaker actually asked one of his clients—an editor-in-chief—about the process he used as it was “so genius.”

Needless to say, I won’t be attending that conference again. Aside from being a waste of time and money, the organizers and speakers did not interact with attendees at all. For a group of similar people thrown together, it was oddly cliquish.

But, as I mentioned, the tips I picked up and the ability to learn from my peers, not to mention the camaraderie and the much-needed laughter I found in Santa Fe was more than enough to justify my attendance … and it was certainly worth every cent I paid out of my own pocket to attend.
My only question now is: Can I submit my travel expenses to my insurance provider since according to my plan it covers psychiatric treatment? And believe me, the IRMA conference was the best group therapy session imaginable!
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UPDATE: Feeling the Pinch, Garden & Gun Skips an Issue

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:21 -0500

It’s been a whirlwind year for high-end Southern lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun. In January, rumors swirled that it was on course to run out of money and go out of business. Less than two months later, the magazine was acquired by Indigo Acquisition LLC, a company co-created by publisher Rebecca Darwin—effectively tossing the title a lifeline saving it from going out of business.

So why haven’t readers received their October/November issue? It was due out in mid-October and—nada. In an e-mail sent to readers Thursday, Darwin explained what happened:
To help shore up our business for 2010 and beyond, we recently made the difficult decision to skip our October/November issue. This was a painful thing for the G&G team, and we hate to disappoint you, our loyal subscribers. However, please rest assured that you will receive the full number of copies you ordered when you subscribed or joined one of our club levels. (We will handle that for you, so no need to call our customer service.) And know this: We will never compromise on the quality of the writing, the photography, or the beautiful paper that Garden & Gun is printed on.
In these tough economic times, it’s not unheard of (or unreasonable, really) for publishers to combine or skip an issue to cut production/distribution costs. What I haven’t heard of, at least off the top of my head, is a magazine that announces the elimination of an issue after the fact.

The next issue subscribers should expect is December/January [pictured], which is set to ship in late November and hit newsstands December 8. That is, if the magazine scrapes up enough money to publish it. UPDATE: In an e-mail, Darwin told me the December/January issue has indeed gone to press.

When we reported on its potential demise in January, and its subsequent saving in March, we received a number of comments praising the magazine (“the very best magazine I have ever had the pleasure of reading”). For its loyal readers, I hope Garden & Gun pulls through.
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‘You Should Be Able to Come to Work and Be Safe'

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:07:52 -0400

I know it’s a wild time in magazine publishing, but this is just crazy.

Lori Lippman, publisher of Tuscon, Arizona-based Fitness Plus magazine, is said to be considering shutting down the nearly 25-year-old free monthly after one of her employees was violently attacked outside the magazine’s office—twice.

On September 3, Lippman’s receptionist was stabbed in the parking lot by a man she said was trying to break into a co-worker’s vehicle. The receptionist was apparently attacked again on Monday, but was not harmed. The attacker, who she said again had a knife, ran off after she sprayed him with pepper spray. Police weren’t able to locate him.

Hours after the attack Monday, Lippman sent her staff home and locked the doors to the magazine. The receptionist, understandably, quit.

Lippman apparently is thinking about relocating but said she may shut down the magazine altogether. "I just think you should be able to come to work at 9 in the morning and be safe," she told the Arizona Daily Star. "But instead, we are here with the doors locked. It should not be that way. It's not like we have big secrets in here—we're a fitness magazine."
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California Magazine Offers Promotion for Free Marijuana

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:15:21 -0400

Kush L.A., a free monthly Southern California title that bills itself as the “Premiere Medical Marijuana Lifestyle Magazine,” may have launched one of the most controversial—and, for some, most sought-after—magazine promotion to date.
The magazine has partnered with medial marijuana organization The Rainforest Collective to offer a coupon for free medical marijuana. Kush L.A.’s August issue will tout a coupon for the first 100 “new patients” of The Rainforest Collective to receive a free 1/8-ounce of medical marijuana. And, for those who miss out on being one of the first 100 people on the September 1 giveaway, the next 100 coupon holders will get with a free gram; subsequent new patients will be eligible to spin a "420" prize wheel to win marijuana cigarettes and edibles.
Certainly, the entire promotion is controversial. But it doesn’t seem to bother Kush L.A. and Dailybuds.com publisher Michael Lerner. “At Kush L.A., we are excited to be promoting this new patient giveaway with The Rainforest Collective,” he said in a release. “We have done similar promotions with our other great magazine and Web site advertising partners and look forward to our continued involvement in this movement.”
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Jack Kliger: ‘At Least I’m Not Running a National Magazine’

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:54:19 -0400

NEW ORLEANS—The City and Regional Magazine Association’s annual conference concluded here Tuesday. (You can read FOLIO:’s coverage of the show here.)

Some leftover but timely quotes from event:

Author and speaker Orvel Ray Wilson, in a session on guerrilla marketing, quoting David Nour: “In social media, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Former Hachette Filipacchi CEO Jack Kliger, who spoke in the last session on the second day: “That’s where I always wanted to be—speaking at the last session of a conference where all the attendees are struggling through a recession and after they took a tour of Hurricane Katrina sites. I never followed Katrina before. Still, my opening line is good: ‘At least I’m not running a national magazine.’”

Famed designer Walter Bernard was asked what he’d do if he were art director of the New York Times. “I’d look for another job,” he retorted.

Question to one vendor: “How was this event?” Answer: “Pretty bad. I’ve had the least amount of conversations and interactions I’ve had at a show in some time. I feel like a printer!”
[PHOTO: Tony Silber]
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How One Regional Magazine is Avoiding Layoffs

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:55:57 -0500

The recession has found its way into every aspect of publishing—and regional and city publishers are no exception. Thankfully, I have not had to lay off anyone in the editorial or art departments and—most importantly—we are still publishing Southern Breeze on its regular schedule, albeit in a more concise format. (We’ve reduced the trim size, changed paper stock, and cut each issue by 16 pages)

While I’m not overjoyed about any of these changes, I would rather make them than face the alternative that I’ve faced before and that so many magazines are facing now: folding.

Here’s the e-mail I sent to my loyal stable of writers:
Hello All:

As you know, the country is in quite an economic pickle at the moment and publishing has been especially hard hit. Southern Breeze is certainly not immune to these trends and that’s why I am writing you.

For the rest of 2009, any freelance assignments are going to be highly scrutinized as to whether or not they can be done in-house. Those that will be assigned will be assigned under a new fee structure. So, essentially if you get a freelance assignment in the future, we will unfortunately not be able to pay the same rates as in the past.

Any of the smaller features such as Dish, Words & Notes, Cheers, et al. will all be done strictly in-house.

Also please note that we cannot cover any travel expenses, including mileage.

Regarding other Compass Marketing projects, those instances will be decided on a project-by-project basis but the rates will reflect a similar decrease.

While I realize that this is not exactly good news for any of you, please note that these reduced fees are—I hope—only temporary until the economy straightens itself out. I understand if these new rates are not feasible for your own business, but please understand that the reduction in fees is a necessary cost-containment measure I am instituting at Southern Breeze and all Compass Marketing publications in an effort to preserve the future of these award-winning products. Whether it is cutting the freelancer budget or doing more of the writing myself, I will do everything I can to maintain the quality and ensure the future of these publications.

Also, take it from someone who has been there; these fee cuts are a much better option than what many other magazines are being forced to do. This will at least help ensure that Southern Breeze will remain the best source where readers can learn all about “the Good Life on the Gulf Coast” for years to come.

Thanks for your continued support and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,

Mark
Thankfully, the response has been very supportive from my writers. It seems everyone understands the current economic doldrums and is willing to sacrifice in order to preserve the future of the publications they care about.

If any other editors, art directors or publishers who’ve had to deliver similar bad news, feel free to share the methods (and memos) to your madness.
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Area Satirical Newspaper Launches Real Site to Compete With Other Area Sites

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:25:49 -0400

An area satirical newspaper calling itself America’s Finest News Source has unveiled something called the Decider, an online listing Web site that will help area men and women decide, among other things, where to drink heavily.

Via TechCrunch:
The site is initially launching with content for Chicago, with plans to support more cities over the next few months. The site has a clean (albeit somewhat generic) interface, with integrated Google Maps pinpointing each reviewed restaurant and a calendar for upcoming events. In addition to regular editorial content, users will be allowed to post their own reviews and comments.
Sound familiar? That’s because Citysearch has long owned this space, but has seen its grip slip in recent years as regional magazines have beefed up their Web sites to provide similar services to their loyal readers. (Earlier this year, for instance, Greenspun Media revealed it was building a “category-crushing” Web portal for the Vegas market which it plans to roll out to its other luxury regionals like Gotham and Capitol File.)

As fans of the Onion already know, it devotes roughly half of its weekly editorial space to music and film reviews and such cultural listings (see the Onion's A.V. Club). Still, that a satirical newspaper thinks it carve out a part of the listings space should be cause for concern for any regional magazine that hasn’t done this already.
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Emmis: Our Cuts are ‘Considerably More Thoughtful and Measured Than What We've Seen from Many of Our Peers’

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:13:17 -0400

As we reported late Thursday, Emmis Communications, publisher of the award-winning Texas Monthly, Los Angeles magazine and five other regional titles (I'm considering Country Sampler a Southern regional; you don't have to), is cutting roughly 40 jobs from its magazine publishing division. That's 4.5 percent of its workforce, which is a significant number when you consider Gannett, the newspaper publisher, just cut 3 percent—or 1,000 jobs—from its workforce, and I heard about that on a local morning radio broadcast driving to work.
More significant, though, was the announcement of Emmis’ 2 percent salary cut across the board for the remaining employees. We’ve heard about frozen salaries at plenty of publishing companies this year, but I can only recall one—Cygnus—that rolled them back, which was a bit of a PR and morale nightmare for them.
And this, despite Emmis reporting first quarter publishing division revenue of $22.6 million, up slightly from $22.2 million from the same period last year.
Here’s the official statement from Emmis:
Earlier this week, Emmis Publishing instituted a series of steps to better position its magazines for success. Those steps included a 4.5 percent workforce reduction, as well as a salary reduction for current employees, generally equaling two percent. Notified employees received generous severance packages and other support.
The publishing industry has seen a steady stream of staff reductions and expense cutting in recent months. We believe that the expense reductions we are implementing for the coming year are considerably more thoughtful and measured than what we've seen from many of our peers. Emmis Publishing employs some of the most talented people in our industry and is continually honored for excellence. We are very confident in the future of the city and regional magazine business.
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Obama Cover Causing Bad Blood in Denver

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:56:53 -0400

We work in an industry filled with some begrudging, petty, spitefully competitive people. Kind of like Washington.

Case in point: it may not be of Hillary-Barack proportions, but it appears that the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention is causing a bloodthirsty rivalry among the regional magazines in Denver.

Just to give you an idea of how catty the magazine industry—even the relatively small, bucolic Denver, Colorado market—can be, look no further than this e-mail—anonymous of course—I received after posting a story about 5280’s August cover, one designed by Shepard Fairey, a famous street artist, for the Democratic National Convention:
Mr. Stableford,

Your recent blog and Google alert this morning caught me off-guard. What 5280 has done with their cover is pompous and lacks in journalistic integrity. When Dan says he shot off a blind email to Fairey to produce a cover for his magazine, he failed to mention it was after he found out the competing city magazine in town was going to have Obama on the cover. Once he and his top edit staff realized that their competitors had an exclusive interview with Michelle and Barack, and would be placing Sen. Obama on the cover, Brogan shot off that blind email to Fairey and paid him (what I'm sure was) a staggering amount to produce. Check out denvermagazine.com if you'd like to see the cover that came out a week before Mr. Brogan and his $8 million juggernaut decided to release theirs.

Thank you.
No, please, thank you.
This is the third such toned e-mail I’ve gotten on the topic. To me, if this is true, it sounds like Brogan is guilty of … well, competing. It’s the friggin’ Democratic National Convention. Of course Denver’s regional magazines are going to go with Obama covers in August. Same thing will happen with McCain in September, when the Republicans gather in Minneapolis. (Mpls St Paul, Minnesota Monthly—that means you!)
And, knowing Fairey did the iconic Obama poster earlier this campaign season, I’ll take Brogan’s word that Fairey cut 5280 a decent rate.
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With Help From Lohan, Spitzer, New York Magazine Reports Strong Newsstand Sales

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:30:44 -0400

As the consumer magazine world braces for the release of the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ much-anticipated Fas-Fax newsstand figures on Monday (early returns indicate it’s gonna be ugly), publishers with actual good news to report are already touting it. Take, for instance, New York magazine, which is reporting a 3.4 percent increase in single copy sales for the first half of 2008 over first half 2007.

And this, they point out, with a 20 percent cover price increase (to an average of $4.16, with regular issues at $3.99 from $2.99 and double or perfect-bound issues at $4.99 from $3.99). Total circulation, increased by about one percentage point to 433,289.

A few issues in particular helped New York’s newsstand cause. Its February 25 issue, featuring a nude Lindsay Lohan-as-Marilyn Monroe photo shoot, sold 43,791 single copies, more than any other cover during the first half and nearly double its average of 22,572 single copies sold. New York’s Eliot Spitzer cover, featuring the disgraced governor with the word “BRAIN” and a simple arrow pointing to his crotch, sold 34,426 single copies, second most during the first six months of ‘08.
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The Most Expensive Regional Redesign Ever?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:08:11 -0400

As we reported earlier this week, Manhattan Media, the community newspaper and magazine publisher that acquired irreverent Harvard alumni publication 02138 this summer, has hired legendary Esquire cover designer George Lois and noted Pentagram designer Luke Hayman to redesign the three-year-old magazine for a relaunch later this year.

The company also named former Maxim group publisher and Giant magazine founder Jamie Hooper as publisher and CEO, and David Blum as its editor-in-chief.

It's not unreasonable to say that this could be the most expensive relaunch for a city and regional magazine ever. But just how much are they actually spending? I tried to put that question to Tom Allon, Manhattan Media's CEO, but I gave up on the phone tag. I e-mailed Hayman—a speaker at the upcoming FOLIO: Show in Chicago (more info below)—but haven't heard back. I also asked a number of the industry's designers, most of whom declined to guesstimate.

One though, famed designer Roger Black, did:

I bet the number is 120K, 60 each. A workhorse studio like Don Morris's (cf: Bloomberg Markets) might do the whole thing for 40. I would ask for more, but I didn't get into Harvard. For any of us, back in 2000 it would have been double.

There you go.
Click here for more info on the 2008 FOLIO: Show ...
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