Masthead News Archives
May 2006

May 31, 2006
Disticor to rep fleet of U.S. indy titles
AJAX, Ont.— San Francisco-based Independent Press Association has contracted one of Canada’s largest magazine distributors to bring member titles to market.  

Disticor Magazine Distribution Service will now handle all the IPA’s North American distribution, taking over from the association’s troubled in-house operation, Indy Press Newsstand Services. The association had purchased Big Top Newsstand Services in July 2000 from founder Ellen Sugarman and rebranded it as Indy Press, but couldn’t sustain the business. 

“We found ourselves really hitting the wall within our own infrastructure trying to manage a really complex, IT-intense operation with a non-profit’s budget,” said Richard Landry, IPA’s executive director. Disticor will handle more than 70 of IPA’s 500 member titles. The titles have circulations ranging from 1,000 to 80,000, which Disticor CEO John Lafranier called “a nice fit” for his company. Some of the more prominent titles include: Anthem, Heeb, The Ecologist, Snowboard, Yes, and Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola’s literary venture. 

Disticor’s Lafranier told Masthead earlier this week that the company is well-suited to magazines with these distribution levels, given its experience with smaller retailers through their direct-to-retail division, DisticorDirect. The titles “are in book stores and the secondary distribution stream,” he said, “and could break out into the mainstream.” U.S. sales account for about 70% of Disticor’s overall volume, the company says. 

According to its website, the IPA works to “amplify the power of independent publications so as to foster a more just, open and democratic society.” Members include Harpers, Ms. Magazine and Mother Jones. 

May 30, 2006
Searchability is main attraction of B2B digital editions
SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.—A recent survey conducted by Texterity has found that the ability to search content, archivability and environmental friendliness are the main reasons users are subscribing to digital editions of ink-on-paper magazines.

John Pickett has an "infectious" passion for strong editorial
(Photo source: IT World Canada)
Texterity, which provides an electronic publishing infrastructure to publishers, surveyed 6,546 mostly U.S. readers in April, however 334 Canadians also responded. Canadian account representative Martin Seto said the survey was skewed towards readers of B2B titles. Indeed, Texterity counts IT World Canada, Boating Industry, and Western Canadian Resorts & Investment as clients; Fashion 18 is also using Texterity. 

According to the survey, about 85% of readers said they spend either the same or more time with the digital edition; about 60% said they were more likely to visit an advertiser’s website while reading the digital edition, and 25% were “very satisfied” with the digital product, while 60% were “satisfied.” About 12% were “neutral” and 3% were “dissatisfied.”

Other highlights
Reader profile
93.1% - Male
49.9% - Professional or Managerial
40.1% - Technical
49.9% - More likely renew their digital subscription versus print
52.0% - Live in the USA

Why readers subscribe to a digital edition [multiple answers allowed]?
65.6% - Ability to search issues
59.6% - Easy to save
47.8% - Environmentally friendly
46.2% - Easy to send articles to colleagues
39.6% - More convenient than print
34.4%  -More timely than print
23.4% - Prefer reading on my computer

While Canadian ad sales are "just" $4.7 million, Vice's aggregate international revenue figure is estimated at C$21.9 million—making it one of the most successful Canadian exports in the history of magazine publishing.
Chatelaine exceeds $50 million in sales
TORONTO—Masthead's annual Top 50 ranking of the largest magazines in Canada reveals that Chatelaine is the first Canadian magazine ever to generate more than $50 million in advertising and circulation revenue.

The Top 50, contained in the just-released May/June issue, shows that Chatelaine's estimated ad revenue in 2005 was $41.9 million and circulation revenue was $8.5 million. Generally speaking, women's magazines remain strong while news, business and television-listings magazines are lagging. Here are the Top 10 revenue earners:




Title

Ad rev

Circ rev

Total

Annual change

1. Chatelaine

$41,916,716

$8,457,652

$50,374,368

8.6%

2. Canadian Living

$31,717,802

$9,323,520

$41,041,321

0.3%

3. Reader's Digest

$16,440,566

$21,051,613

$37,492,179

-5.4%

4. Maclean's

$21,885,178

$14,051,613

$$35,936,891

1.7%

5. Time (Canada)

$15,976,520

$8,997,004

$24,973,524

-10.7%

6. Canadian House & Home

$16,164,264

$5,472,873

$$21,637,137

7.9%

7. 7 Jours

$6,985,134

$14,360,110

$21,345,244

24%

8. TV Guide

$8,883,473

$8,858,073

$17,741,545

-18.4

9. Flare

$15,168,754

$2,242,614

$17,411,367

-3.5%

10. Châtelaine

$12,540,992

$3,337,412

$15,878,404

8.1%

Interesting to note that Vice magazine, with Canadian sales of $4.7 million, comes in at No. 49 on the Top 50. However, based on run-of-press ad page counts provided by associate publisher Erik Lavoie, when you tally up all of Vice's international editions (U.K., Japan, Australia/New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Scandanavia and the U.S.) plus Canada, total estimated revenue, assuming Vice gets 70% of its listed rates, would be C$21.9 million. That would make it one of the most successful Canadian magazine exports ever. The other title that comes to mind is Key Publishing's Where franchise of visitor magazines, which have over the years been sold to licensees. For the entire list, see the May/June issue of Masthead.

Sara Angel
May 26, 2006
Chatelaine appoints new editor
TORONTO–After being deserted for nearly 9 months, the editor’s chair at Chatelaine has finally been filled. Sara Angel will report to work at Canada’s largest consumer magazine on June 1.

Publisher Kerry Mitchell had been courting Angel since March. “When she offered it I accepted (the position) right away,” Angel said. “To me it’s such a tremendous privilege and honour to be offered the role.”

In an interview with Masthead, she said she regarded Chatelaine as one of the few iconic institutions in Canada. “I’ve always been a very strong Canadian nationalist.”

The editor position at Chatelaine was made contentious by Kim Pittaway’s sudden departure in September, 2005 over what she claimed was a lack of editorial control.

Of the controversial nature of her new post, Angel said Chatelaine had become Canada’s top women’s title through “strong editors with strong voices who have been given the autonomy to create a remarkable magazine.” She said she was not concerned about editorial interference. “I expect my vision will come through.”

When asked what her editorial vision for the magazine would be, she said it was “to deliver to Chatelaine readers…the very finest editorial content and packaging, i.e. graphic design, that reflect the passions, the goals, the objectives of Canadian women living in the twenty first century.”

She said she has no immediate plans to make changes in either editorial direction or personnel. “I’m looking forward to familiarizing myself with the editorial team here and getting to know Chatelaine readers. We’ll see an evolution from there.”

Much of Angel’s publishing background was filed under her maiden name, Borins. She is the daughter of Edward and Eva Borins who owned Edwards Books & Art, an independent chain of bookstores specializing in art and design. Sara’s career also started in the non-fiction book arena. She was once an editor at John Macfarlane’s publishing house Macfarlane Walter & Ross. She has since worked for famed designer Bruce Mau and art book publisher Phaidon Press in the U.K.

When she got the call from Chatelaine, she was running two self-started book publishing companies, Otherwise Editions and Angel Editions.

Her magazine experience comes from Saturday Night where she was the visual features editor. She also wrote a regular food column and articles on fashion, gardening and art.

hub:ce will have an initial circulation of 60,000 in street boxes in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa.
Lifestyle mags to use new attitudes towards consumer electronics TORONTO–Two new Toronto-based technology magazines will both tackle the consumer electronics audience with similar philosophies, but through different demographics.

hub:ce, a spin-off of Piccolo Publishing’s HUB: Digital Living with which shares its national free distribution model, will look at consumer electronics as a lifestyle rather than a geek niche. “(Technology) is an accessory now…you have to make sure your mp3 player has the right accessories,” says Scott Piccolo, hub’s publisher.

The free magazine uses service articles and an editorial focus on smart shopping to target urbanites in their late twenties “who are up-and-coming in their career,” Piccolo says. The 60-page glossy debuted across Toronto on May 23 as a precursor to a nationwide launch in September, at which point it will become a monthly.

While it shares its tech-as-lifestyle outlook with Canadian Smart Living, which launches in August across North America, CSL targets a more financially established readership by focusing on home décor.

Publisher Joe Tersigni says that means including women in your target demographic, another deviation from the geek niche mentality.

"When you're buying a big screen, a home theatre, it involves both people in the household,” Tersigni said.

Editorial content will feature home automation, indoor climate control, security and electronic entertainment. It will be distributed to Style at Home subscribers. Coincidentally, CSL is published by Transcontinental Media, which shares corporate parentage with Transcontinental Printing, hub’s printer.

May 25, 2006
INDAS allots a quarter of its new facility to new division
Markham, Ontario–Now that it has moved to a bigger facility, Canada's largest fulfillment company has expanded its in-house letter shop to enhance its client services.

INDAS spent more than $250,000 on new technology and set aside 13,000 square feet in its new Markham, Ont. headquarters for INDAS Mail, its improved letter shop operation.

With the purchase of a Spedo 2100 Cutter, an MBO Folder and two Bell & Howard Pinnacle Inserters along with a new postage meter and continuous laser printer, the company has “gone from a traditional cut sheet environment to now offering both continuous forms with cutting and folding as well as cut sheet and roll capability,” said Marc Tomei, INDAS’ vice president of operations.

The upgraded technology more than doubles the number of pieces they can insert per envelope, upping their production to 9,000 pieces per hour. INDAS has been competing with list-management firm Cornerstone since it entered the fulfillment market in 2003 and lured staff and clients–most notably Rogers’ trade publications–away from the larger, more established INDAS. While Tomei said the new facility was being planned before Cornerstone joined the fray, INDAS Mail is seen by the company as an opportunity to both get new clients and deepen its involvement with current ones.

“We’ve had clients approach us asking us specifically if we can do this functionality because right now they have to manage multiple vendors. This will allow them to keep everything within one vendor.”

FIPP's Guy Consterdine compiled Routes to success.

May 24, 2006
Lessons learned, profits up
LONDON, England–A recent survey of b2b magazine publishers from around the world showed that more of their websites are turning a profit than four years ago. These publishers also offered lessons they’d learned from their online experiences.

The survey, produced by the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) and called Routes to success for b2b publishers’ websites, showed that of those participants who tracked their websites’ finances separately from that of their magazines, 68% were turning a profit. Another 18% were breaking even.
This is a significant increase from 2002 when FIPP reported only 25% of surveyed websites were profitable. As part of the survey, publishers were also asked to share “principal lessons they would like to pass on about developing and operating a website strategy.” Some of the most common tips included:
* poll the readers to understand what they expect from your website
* invest money and time (years if necessary) in the pursuit of profit and higher readership
* update content and services constantly to remain timely and flexible
* keep it as simple as possible

The survey was conducted among 42 publishers who considered their sites successful according to their company’s own criteria (generating revenue, subscriptions, online branding etc.).The survey is available at www.fipp.com/publications.

Harvey Botting (left) and Colin Eicher, principal at Edmonton-based June Warren Publishing, catch up at Magazines University in 2003. Botting says he's resigning from Rogers because "it just feels right." Believe it or not,
he turned 62 on April 30.
May 23, 2006
Botting reflects on his 37 years in magazines
TORONTO—Greater than the invention of desktop publishing and even the Internet, women have had the most profound effect on trade magazine publishing, says Rogers Publishing senior vice-president Harvey Botting, 62, who announced last week that he was capping his 37-year career in publishing at the end of June. Botting oversees more than 40 trade magazines.

His story is a classic tale of an editor who made good in management. After a BA from University of Toronto and a journalism degree from Chicago’s Northwestern University, he took a job as assistant editor at Maclean Hunter’s Canadian Datasystems on September 18, 1969. “Oh my god, I remember the day as clear as a bell,” he recalls. “I was wearing a gray suit, I can see my desk…the first day of my professional engagement.” By 1974 he rose to the post of editor/publisher of Canada & The World, a nine-times-a-year educational supplement distributed to schools. He jumped to management when he successfully applied to become an executive assistant to president Don Campbell.

When Rogers Communications acquired Maclean Hunter in 1995, Botting was stationed in London overseeing MH’s extensive collection of about 70 European trade titles (including the workhorse media-rates-and-data publications in eight European countries), which Rogers subsequently liquidated. His contract contained a clause stating that if the business was sold or taken over, he was to be retained or provided with a severance. The publishing industry in Canada at that time was a “hurricane” Botting says, so he opted for a severance and six months later was back in Canada and recast his life with Quebecor, where he ended up vice-president of its retail flyer-printing operation. In 1997, he got a call from friend and MH veteran (then Rogers) vice-president Terry Malden to succeed him as head of Rogers’ trade titles as Malden was moving over to the consumer side of Rogers Publishing as executive vice-president and chief operating officer. Botting accepted and has overseen Canada’s largest collection of B2B books ever since. Because he’s resigning from Rogers, he must also resign as president of the Canadian Business Press, the industry association on whose board he has sat for years. He has completed one year of a two-year term with the CBP and his successor in that capacity—and in his capacity at Rogers—has not been announced. Rogers Publishing president Brian Segal could not be reached for comment.

Reflecting on industry change during the past four decades, Botting says “everything is dramatically better. The business I know today is infinitely more sophisticated and better in every way than the business I joined. The look of the publications is better because desktop publishing is so much richer. We’re putting a lot of money into colour and graphics. The quality of person we’re hiring is so much better, editorially. The kids on my floor [now], if I had been competing against them at the time I started out, they would have just eaten my lunch.”

The Internet “has been the most transformational event I have seen. But the most important thing of all has been the role of women. When I joined this business, it was clearly a male-dominated business. I absolutely revel in the transition when we started drawing from not just one gender but from all society. And all of a sudden this brilliant group of young women came in and really transformed the business in many ways. Of all of the things—forget technology, forget the Internet—it’s been the power of women and drawing from all society that has dramatically lifted the quality of our publications in every way.” It’s like baseball, says Botting. If you exclude a certain percentage of your populace, you only get the best of one group. Open it up to all, and you simply get more talent on staff.

“As well—and I can get into trouble for saying this—women are wonderful when it comes to dealing with intangibles. Advertising is an intangible. And they’re very good at dealing with nuance and sophisticated concepts. Now, it’s a generalization. I will get shot for it. I accept getting shot for it, but they are really good at nuance and just articulate things brilliantly and I see it time and time and time again. Some guys, if you have a Canadian Tire mindset, it’s a wrench, and it’s on/off, good/bad, black/white, yes/no. And many guys can think that way—I’m getting deeper in this,” he says with reluctance, aware of the political incorrectness of gender stereotyping, “—and women are very good with nuance and subtlety, and I just see it all the time. So, shoot me for that.”

So, what’s next? “Winston Churchill once said that university is a place to go to determine all the book you’re going to spend the rest of your life reading,” he says, suggesting he may take a few courses. “I can’t focus on what I’m going to do next until I’ve processed this. I just have to get through to the end of June. But I can assure you there is absolutely no hidden notion of declaring myself on the first of July that I’ve got some big, fancy gig because I simply don’t. It just feels right [to leave]…I know it sounds kind of hollow but it’s just the bald-assed truth.” 

Outspoken Rogers Publishing editorial director Lise Ravary will participate in ad-edit debate
May 18, 2006
Another church-state debate
MONTREAL—The Ad Club of Toronto wrestled with the issue at its Magazine Day in Toronto in April and now L’Association Quebecoise des editeurs de magazines will examine the shifting line that separates advertising from editorial content. The debate will take place during AQEM’s annual professional development day, Journee Magazines, on May 31 at Montreal’s Centre Mont-Royal. The French-language event will begin with a panel discussion on the ad-edit issue. Panelist Sylvain Bedard, Transcontinental Media’s business magazines publisher, will argue that a clear division between editorial and ad content is necessary to maintain credibility with readers. Ad agency executive Marc Hamelin of Carat will advocate an artistic, rather than editorial, approach to ad integration, using visual examples of how art teams should be the ones creating opportunities for advertisers without violating readers’ sense of propriety. Other panelists include Diesel Marketing’s Jean-Francois Bouchard and Lise Ravary, vice-president and editorial director of women’s titles and new magazine brands at Rogers Publishing.

The panel will be followed by seminars focusing on: art-directing tricks; the Internet’s impact on magazine publishing and readership; and arts publications in the Quebec market. The day will conclude with cocktails and the announcement of the association's Grand Prix Award winners. See www.magazinesquebec.com or call 514-499-9847 for more info.

Eric Bérard, editor-in-chief, L'Echo du Transport
May 17, 2006
Canadian trucking mags haul awards
LOUISVILLE, KY—Quebec-based L’Echo du Transport took best-in-show honours at an industry event south of the border. The Truck Writers of North America recently lauded the French-language publication as offering the Best of Magazine Writing. “You don't know how proud I am,” said L’Echo publisher Pierre Gravel. “It’s tough when you have a French magazine—to present that to North America, to people who don’t read French.”

Despite the language barrier, the presentation speech was made partially in French, something Gravel said made the honour even more meaningful.

Producing the content behind the award was editor-in-chief Eric Bérard for his piece, “Les Américains subventionnés pour rajeunir leurs vieux moteurs diesel” (“Americans get grants to modernize old diesel engines”), which took gold in the environmental/regulatory category, as well as the overall best-article honour. Bérard also won bronze for in the news category for his “Mon moteur est melleur que le tien!” (“My engine is better than yours”).

The 18,000-circ glossy has twice earned honourable mention at Canada’s National Magazine Awards, most recently in 2004 in the Science & Technology category. It’s currently celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Other Canadian winners:

Magazine Writing - Investigative – Them’s the Brakes - Today's Trucking - Silver to Marco Beghetto (Toronto-based Newcom Business Media)
Magazine Writing - Feature - Sounds Like a Plan - Today's Trucking - Silver to Marco Beghetto
Magazine Writing - Column/Series - Rear View - Today's Trucking - Silver to Peter Carter, editor
Magazine Writing - Interviews - La grandé seduction - Transport Routier - Silver to Steve Bouchard - Peter Carter (Newcom)
Magazine Writing - Technical General - Cold Facts - Truck News - Bronze to Adam Ledlow (Glacier’s Business Information Group)
Magazine Writing - Feature - Trucker Buddy International Matches Tots with Trucks - Truck News - Silver to Adam Ledlow (BIG)
Magazine Writing - News - Bullets Fly as Port Strike Ends - Truck News - Silver to James Menzies (BIG)
Magazine Writing - Product Applications - Adopting Automation - Motortruck - Bronze to Julia Kuzeljevich (BIG)
Magazine Writing - News - Strength in Numbers - Motortruck - Silver to Julia Kuzeljevich (BIG)
Magazine Writing - Pamphlet - Are You Secure? - Bronze to Lou Smyrlis (BIG)
 

Canada Wide VP Karen Foss
May 16, 2006
SFU offers new mag workshops
VANCOUVER—Simon Fraser University has broadened the magazine stream of its Summer Publishing Workshop program this year by adding new seminars. The new workshops are What You Need to Know Before Launching a Magazine, and Advanced Magazine Writing. Freelance Writing for Magazines has been expanded. 

Sessions are run by industry experts such as Karen Foss, vice-president of operations at Canada Wide Magazines & Communications Ltd., Vancouver Sun editor Denise Ryan, and Connie Wilson, who successfully launched niche lifestyle title Modern Dog without prior publishing experience in 2002.

The summer courses complement the university’s full-time writing and publishing program at the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing. The one- to three-day courses run throughout July and admission costs range from $200 to $450 per workshop. Registration is open now and runs until the week prior to the seminars’ individual start dates. For more, visit www.sfu.ca/pubworks.

George Bain was the first dean of journalism at University of King's College in Halifax
Former Maclean’s media critic dies
HALIFAX—Magazine and newspaper columnist George Bain, who for more than 10 years wrote the Media Watch column in Maclean’s starting in the mid-1980s, died Sunday May 14 in his sleep at age 86.

An obituary in yesterday’s Globe and Mail quoted former Maclean’s managing editor Geoffrey Stevens describing Bain as “one of the great journalists of the day.” Bain had Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition to his media criticism column in Maclean’s, Bain also wrote Gotcha! How the Media Distort the News, (Key Porter Books: Toronto, 1994).

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday May 18 at the Mahone Funeral home, in Mahone Bay, N.S.

May 15, 2006
Pioneering IT editor to be honoured at KRWs
TORONTO—A fierce and vigilant awareness of the importance of editorial integrity and a knack for producing compelling magazines are qualities that belong to this year’s recipient of the Harvey Southam Career Achievement Award.

John Pickett, editorial director of IT World Canada, is set to receive the honour at the Kenneth R. Wilson Awards gala on June 5. Pickett is the guiding hand behind the company’s stable of five titles—CIO Canada, CIO Government Review, ComputerWorld Canada, Network World Canada and IT Focus. Born in Liverpool, he came to Canada in the early 1970s after working as a computer programmer and systems designer. But he was no geek; previously, he’d been carving out a living as a bass player and singer with a rock band in the early 1960s. “If you wind him up, he’ll start to sing,” kids partner Michael Atkins, who on a more serious note says that Pickett has served as a mentor to many young journalists over the past two decades. 

Pickett worked in IT as a consultant and manager up until the mid-1980s. His journalism career began in 1984 when he partnered with colleague Andy White to launch Direct Access, a fortnightly tabloid for an IT industry on the cusp of tremendous growth. In 1989, Michael Atkins’ Laurentian Media (now IT World Canada) acquired Direct Access with Pickett and White coming aboard as partners. It was Pickett who sliced and diced the company’s editorial products into today’s targeted offerings. In 1993, Pickett gave editorial birth to CIO Canada—a monthly glossy for chief information officers, many of whom are said to regard Pickett as “one of them,” notes colleague Dan McLean, publisher of Computerworld/Network World.

“He adds a dimension that’s hard to find,” says Atkins, “which is a constant attention to excellence but with a sense of humour and enjoyment of life that’s really infectious. Over the years, John has developed that same relationship with the [IT] industry. People turn to him for advice and for guidance.”

May 11, 2006
“Journo” kiosk prototype launches
TORONTO—HDS Retail North America has opened the first of several “prototypes” of a newsstand-based retail space in this city. The new Journo banner joins HDS’s existing shops, including Great Canadian News Company, Relay, Virgin Books & Music and Maison de la Presse in Quebec. HDS (Hachette Distribution Services) is owned by France’s Hachette Filipacchi, one of the world’s largest magazine publishers and has more than 3,600 retail stores in 19 countries.

Following is a recent Q&A with Gerry Savaria, HDSRN’s Toronto-based executive vice-president of business development:

Gerry Savaria
Q. Will all HDS stores be switching to this new concept?

A. Journo is a new banner developed by HDS to adapt to today's consumers’ tastes and needs. It combines full coffee service and attractive snack options with the convenience of the newsstand. To be successful, Journo requires a certain footprint, catchment area and customer demographics. As a result, it is not replacing all our CTN [cigarettes, tobacco and news] stores, although we may consider some retrofits. Rather, they’ll run parallel with GCNC and Maison de la Presse in Quebec. Both these banners remain our “large destination newsstands” and therefore continue to play a role in HDS’ development strategy. 

Q. So, Journo stores will have a food element (snacks/coffee) and seating?

A. Along with magazines, coffee and snacks are core to the Journo concept. Journo’s tagline is in fact: READ-SIP-TASTE and the concept will definitely accommodate seating. Our coffee partner is A.L. VanHoutte, which has an established track record of serving high quality, tasteful coffee. The beverage offering will combine to healthy snacking options (our pastries are transfat free, 100% natural and sweetened with brown sugar and maple) so definitely in synch with today’s consumer preferred lifestyle.

Journo entrance
We are also adding some novelty items such as a self-serve kiosk allowing customers to cherry-pick from a server of several thousand songs to burn onto a CD provided from within the kiosk or add directly to their MP3 player, print photographs from their camera's memory card and refresh the ring tunes on their cell phone.

Q. What does this mean for magazines? More or less space?

A. Journo will of course allocate significant space to magazines as they are part of its core offering. Our first store opened May 1st at 327 King St. West in Toronto. It’s actually a bit smaller than we would have liked so we had to compromise here and there, including on magazines. But we really liked the site and in retail, it’s all about the location!

Q. If all goes according to plan, how many Journos will there be at the end of 2006, and what's the stateside split, if any?

Journo store front
A. We're planning on opening two to three “prototypes” in 2006, all in the Toronto area but in various environments to really test the concept. After start-up adjustments, we are expecting to rollout the concept wherever appropriate (we have no magic number nor a US/Canada split in mind right now).

Q. Seems that Journo, the very idea of it, represents a serious intention to move some magazines (and tunes, ring tones, photos and java). Measured by percentage of total sales increase, at what level do you expect Journo outlets to outstrip the current benchmarks of sibling banners? In other words, this new marketing approach and suite of services will do how much better than HDS’s traditional retail models?

A. At this point, Journo is a vision for which we have a holistic approach. We feel that the concept will only be successful if the various elements of the core offering is embraced by customers. Past the vision is reality and that's when customers use their wallets to tell us what they're coming in for!

Claude Laframboise
May 9, 2006
Rogers poaches St. Joseph style maven
MONTREAL—It was announced late last week that Claude Laframboise has been appointed executive editor of LouLou’s English and French editions. Before he joined LOULOU, Laframboise served as editorial director for Mariage Québec (since August 2003) and Montréal editor for Fashion magazine (since May 2001). Before that, he worked as a fashion stylist and a beauty editor at Clin d'œil magazine. A well-known TV personality in Québec, Laframboise has covered fashion and beauty news on several major television shows. ““I am absolutely thrilled with this challenge because I believe in shopping magazines, which reflect a new consumer reality,” says Laframboise.

Patricia Gajo
Other staff moves
In Montreal, Patricia Gajo recently joined Air Canada inflight title enRoute, published by Spafax, as the new Jet Set editor, responsible for the magazine’s front of book. Patricia was previously at Wish where she was assistant beauty editor. Prior to that, she had been associate editor at Highrise.

In Calgary, Shelley Boettcher, formerly managing editor at RedPoint Media’s Wine Access, jumped ship recently to become the new managing editor at Alberta Views.

Trafalgar to launch sports quarterly
TORONTO—Controlled-circ youth entertainment bimonthly Access, published by Trafalgar Productions, is about to get a sibling. Publisher Keith Sharp has struck a deal with The Forzani Group to distribute a 100,000-circ glossy called Replay to Forzani’s chain of 116 Sport Chek stores across the country. Newsstand sales as well as a “high-profile” subscription drive are planned. Editorial will include information on goods available at Sport Chek. The magazine “will work constructively with sports manufacturers and execute an extensive schedule of promotional activities that will link key corporate sponsors with major sporting events,” according to a released statement. The one-time, full-page, four-colour ad rate is $7,400.
The magazine will launch in October.

May 8, 2006
Newsstand award finalists announced
TORONTO—Thirty magazines, ranging from the small-circulation literary title This Magazine to mass-circulation Canadian Geographic, have made the list of finalists for the fifth annual Canadian Newsstand Awards/Grand prix d’excellence en kiosque.
The winners, one in each of five contest categories, plus the overall best newsstand magazine cover of the year will be announced Tuesday, June 6 at Magazines University. Winning magazines in most categories receive $3,500 each in credits towards promotional programs at newsstands owned by HDS Retail. The winner in the Small Magazine Category wins $1,000 in credits, plus $500 cash.
The Newsstand Marketer of the Year, recognizing an individual who has demonstrated passion and innovation for a newsstand project in 2005, will also be announced at the reception.
To see all the nominated covers, visit www.newsstandawards.ca. The finalists in five categories (in alphabetical order) are:

Best Newsstand Issue, Extra-Large Magazine
(total circulation over 200,000):

Canadian Geographic, Jan./Feb. 2005
Canadian House & Home, Oct. 2005
Canadian Living, May 2005
Chatelaine, Aug. 2005
Châtelaine, Oct. 2005
Maclean’s, 26 Dec. 2005

Best Newsstand Issue, Large Magazine
(total circulation 75,000 to 199,999):

British Columbia, Summer 2005
Canadian Business, 8 May 2005
Fashion, Oct. 2005
Glow, May/June 2005
L’actualite, Feb. 2005
The Hockey News, Yearbook 2005-06
The Hockey News, 12 Sept. 2005
The Hockey News, 4 Oct. 2005
Toronto Life, Nov. 2005
Toronto Life, Mar. 2005

Best Newsstand Issue, Mid-size Magazine
(total circulation 10,000 to 74,999):

Azure, July/Aug. 2005
Azure, March/April 2005
Dogs in Canada, May 2005
explore, July/Aug. 2005
LouLou (Francais), Dec. 2005
ON Nature, Summer 2005
ON Nature, Winter 2004-05
Pacific Yachting, Aug. 2005
The Beaver, Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005
TVWeek, 5 Nov. 2005

Best Newsstand Issue, Small Magazine
(total circulation under 10,000):

Cottage, July/Aug. 2005
Maisonneuve, Dec. 2005-06
Spacing, Spring/Summer 2005
This Magazine, May/June 2005

Best Newsstand Issue, New Magazine
(launched in 2004 or 2005):

Icehockey World, Jan. 2005
Weekly Scoop, 10 Oct. 2005
Western Canadian Resorts & Investments, Winter 2005
Western Standard, 8 Aug. 2005


Launching Spring 2007. Circ and frequency have yet to be determined.
Canadian edition will use the U.S. covers
May 5, 2006
Transcon/Meredith to co-publish glossy
MONTREAL-Are these the split-runs that never came? First it was Rogers licensing Canadian rights to Hello! Now, Transcontinental Media has announced that it has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Meredith Corporation to launch a Canadian version of More, a 1.12 million paid-circ women's glossy for the 40+ set. Launch date: Spring 2007. “More is the defining magazine of a powerful and empowered generation-a growing community of women over 40 who are more accomplished, more confident,more influential and more resourceful,” states the press release. “With features on health, beauty, fashion, food and lifestyle, finance, foreign and national affairs, the arts, travel and more, More gives established women more of what they want to get more out of life.”

Former Homemakers editor-in-chief Dianne Rinehart (1999-2003) will head up the editorial. “[It's] an incredible opportunity to launch a brand new venture in Canada that will inspire, motivate and celebrate women in their 40s and 50s,” she writes in an e-mail.

Canadian content will exceed 80%, says Transcontinental spokesman Jake Brennan, so full tax deductibility will be granted to advertisers. That said, the U.S. covers will prevail, says Brennan, and they typically feature an American celebrity. In April it was Susan Sarandon. Circulation and frequency of the Canadian edition have yet to be determined; the U.S. edition comes out 10 times a year.

More's current Canadian circ is about 14,245, of which 12,776 is newsstand-based. Luc Desjardins, acting president of Transcontinental Media, said in a statement that the venture is consistent with the company's strategy to partner with industry leaders to develop new products and services, noting that this partnership “may foster further opportunities for both our publishing and printing activities.” That's an allusion not only to Meredith's other magazines (Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, Parents, Child, Fitness) but also Transcontinental's ability to print them. (It's one of the top 10 printers in North America and second only to behemoth Quebecor World in Canada.)

This isn't the first foreign partnership for Transcontinental. It currently licenses the right to publish its Elle products (Elle Quebec, Elle Girl, Elle Canada) from Hachette Filipacchi, shares a licensing arrangement with Power Corp.'s Gesca to produce daily commuter paper Metro, a franchise product hatched by Sweden's Metro International. Transcontinental also recently hooked up with The Yellow Pages Group to produce a series of hybrid magazines-directories.

Michael Burgess
Charity for media pros preps for gala
TORONTO-About 550 senior advertising and media industry executives will collect in formal attire a vast downtown hall next Thursday to help raise funds for hard-luck colleagues.

The National Advertising Benevolent Society's annual fundraising gala, to be held at Kool Haus, will feature esteemed stage actor Michael Burgess, singer Lorraine Lawson and former Triumph guitarist Rik Emmett. The Paul Mulvihill/NABS Humanitarian Award will also be presented, honouring an individual who has made outstanding contributions to those in need.

NABS is unique, says president Mike Fenton. “We may be the only full-time business-to-business charitable organization in the country.” It provides assistance to advertising, media and related industry professionals, who may need help due to illness, injury, unemployment or financial difficulties. This year's annual NABS ad auction, wherein media companies donate space and advertisers buy it, raised $904,000 last month. For more info, visit www.nabs.org

May 4, 2006
Gay biweekly publisher to service “style mongers”
TORONTO—Having been down this road once before, Michael Schwarz says he’ll do things a little differently this time around. The restaurateur and publisher of biweekly gay culture mag, Fab, is on the verge of launching Fab Style Quarterly. Schwarz’s previous venture in this category was Fab National, a bimonthly, perfect-bound glossy that he launched in 1996 but sold to Warwick Publishing in 1998, he says, “as we were short on cash. In its heyday it was pulling in $100,000 per issue.” Warwick folded it shortly thereafter. 

Launches in June
This time around, Schwarz will launch with a more modest frequency. Fab’s publishing schedule will decrease from 26 to 22 times per year but with four issues of Style Quarterly, the number of trips to the printer remains the same. Driving this launch is a perceived void in the market and the preponderance of what Schwarz calls “style mongers.” While gays in Quebec can at least turn to Décor homme (a shelter title that launched in 2004), their Ontario counterparts have nothing. “We sort of see it as an under-serviced market,” he says, adding that advertising clients were interested in the glossy, full-colour format. (While Fab’s covers are glossy, its inside stock is more akin to bleached newsprint.) 

The title launches in June with a controlled circulation of 24,000, mainly in Toronto and southern Ontario; an additional 6,000 copies will make their way to newsstands in Canada and the U.S. via Disticor. Editorial will focus on fashion, grooming, travel and cultural events and issues. A full-page, four-colour one-time ad goes for $3,500. According to the media kit, readers “are men aged 19 to 49, the majority of whom live in urban centers. They are highly educated and well-travelled. They are into physical fitness, are concerned about their appearance and spend a great deal of time pursuing leisure activities.” 

Prior to launching Fab in 1994, Schwarz was an account manager at ad agency FCB/Ronalds-Reynolds. He ended up developing an acute dislike of the agency business.

There's ink in her veins: Kathryn Swan's brother, mother, father and grandfather have all worked in publishing. Prior to her stint at Weekly Scoop, Swan was publisher of MoneySense and the now-defunct Channel Business
May 3, 2006
Ex-Weekly Scoop publisher pops up at Transcon
TORONTO—Kathryn Swan, the founding publisher of Weekly Scoop who resigned in February returns to the workplace today shaking the branches for a new consumer electronics title to be launched by Transcontinental Media. Not much is known about the title, to be called Canadian Smart Living, but Swan confirms she has joined Transcon as business development manager for the IT Business Group. Publisher of the new title is Transcon’s B2B group publisher Joe Tersigni.

Weekly Scoop hires new publisher
TORONTO—Torstar didn’t have to go very far to find Kathryn Swan’s successor. Advertising director Tracy Day has just been named publisher.

Atlantic journo awards announced
HALIFAX—The Atlantic Journalism Awards nominees were announced recently and three of 25 categories specifically honour magazine work. 

They are:
Best Magazine Article
• Marine Life, East Coast Living Magazine, Amber Harkins
• Home Sweet Home, Saltscapes, Joanne MacPherson
• The Birth Of A Company, Progress, Joshua Samuel 

Best Cover
• East Coast Living, Fall & Winter 2005
• Progress, November 2005
• Shambhala Sun, January 2005

Best Profile
• Wayne's World, Business Voice Magazine, Trevor Adams
• The Man Who Prescribes The Medicine of the Moment, Shambhala Sun, Barry Boyce
• The Big Thinker, Progress, John DeMont   

Winners will be announced at a gala event this coming Saturday at the Halifax Marriott Harbour Front Hotel. For the full list of nominees, visit www.ajas.ca.

May 2, 2006
The Walrus dominates list of NMA nominees
MONTREAL—The “magazine professionals” who said that Ken Alexander had no idea how to edit a magazine may have been wrong. Judges with the National Magazine Awards Foundation made Alexander’s Walrus the most-nominated magazine in this year’s NMAs.

Not without detractors: Ken Alexander, editor and publisher of The Walrus, oversaw high staff turnover since the magazine's launch in September 2003. Ex-staffers said he misunderstood magazines. The NMA judges don't think so.
Nominations were announced yesterday at the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec in Montreal with the The Walrus garnering 50. Not since 2001, when then-weekly, now-defunct Saturday Night garnered 59 nominations, has a magazine attracted as many nods. Other multiple-nominees include: Toronto Life (24), Saturday Night (20) L’actualité (19), explore (14), Toro (13), Maclean’s (10), Report on Business (8), MoneySense (6) and the Ryerson Review of Journalism (5). 

Individuals with multiple nominations include: art directors Antonio de Luca (5), Dominic Macri (3) and Carol Moskot (2); writers Don Gillmor (5), Sylvia Fraser (4), Duncan Hood (4), Matthew McClearn (4), James Chatto (3), Gerald Hannon (3), Jonathon Gatehouse (2), Joshua Knelman (2), Paul Quarrington (2) and Jay Teitel (2). 

This year’s recipient of the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement is ageless Toronto Life editor John Macfarlane, who turned 64 in March. 

Winners will be announced at a gala event on Friday June 9 at the Carlu in Toronto.

May 1, 2006
Sponsored editorial and ad logos OK…sometimes
TORONTO—A Magazines Canada task force that has been working for the past five months to revise existing advertising guidelines has produced a draft document. more>> 

“The integrity and long-term viability of magazines depends…on a clear distinction between [advertising and editorial],” the draft document reads. “The guidelines have been designed so that both editors and advertising sales teams clearly understand them, and are able to confidently communicate them to customers.” 

Ad-Edit Task Force chair Patrick Walsh (who is also editor of Outdoor Canada) says the “members* of this task force should be commended for digging in and wrestling with what’s very likely the most contentious issue facing the industry right now.” 

The new guidelines largely embrace an existing set of recommendations adopted by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (see www.canadianeditors.com/adguides.html), but appear to make two significant concessions to advertisers. 

(i) Sponsored editorial’ “brought to you by” an advertiser (recall the recent series of Cadillac-sponsored features by Peter C. Newman in Maclean’s), was offside of CSME’s guidelines but would adhere to these new ones, which permit sponsorship of “one-off editorial extras, such as special features, sections, contests, inserts and onserts…provided the editorial content of the editorial extra does not mention or endorse the advertiser (and the advertiser does not have input in the creation of the editorial).” Sponsorship of “regularly appearing editorial” is unacceptable.

Controversial cover of three years ago would not breach new proposed guidelines
(ii) Some readers may recall the February 2003 cover of Flare, which showed a model leaning back against the hood of a Mazda, with the automaker’s logo clearly visible between her spreaded legs. The old CSME guidelines forbade such a cover since the logo was on the cover in exchange for which the magazine received a $31,000 car to give away to a reader in a contest. The new proposed guidelines would permit such a cover. “Advertiser logos should not appear on editorial pages, except in a journalistic context. Exceptions include editorial-driven contests.” 

A final draft of the guidelines has yet to be adopted. The draft version is available in both English and French and can be obtained by e-mailing Magazines Canada member services director Barbara Zatyko at bzatyko@magazinescanada.ca. 

*Members of  the Ad-edit Task force are:
• Patrick Walsh, chair, editor, Outdoor Canada
•John Macfarlane, editor, Toronto Life
• Gayle Taguchi, national sales manager, Homemaker’s, Canadian Living, Madame, Coup de Pouce
• Penny Caldwell, editor, Cottage Life
• Kirby Miller, vice-president, sales and operations, House and Home Media
• Lorraine Hoefler, advertising director, Maclean’s
• Douglas Thomson, president, Canadian Society of Magazine Editors; editor, Canadian Home Workshop
• Laurie Jennings, director, Canadian Society of Magazine Editors; associate editor, projects
• Tom Hopkins, former editorial director, Avid Media Inc
• D.B. Scott, magazine industry consultant, Impresa Communications
• Derek Webster, editor/publisher, Maisonneuve
• Ruth Kelly, publisher, Alberta Venture
• Peter Stockland, editor, Reader’s Digest
 

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