The logo has been completely re-worked, the sky bar area has been cleaned up, the type has been beefed up, large numeric benefit-oriented sell lines have been added, and more hooks have been squeezed in without cluttering up the cover.

“This has been a very exciting transition for us. Traditionally, we published in the middle of January in order to service the Seattle and Vancouver Boat Shows, but the appetite of our advertisers got us thinking about publishing earlier and finding greater reach. We were a bit nervous about bumping up our deadline by five weeks this year, but in fact it has already paid off. We had an increase of 12% in ad revenues and we can attribute it directly to reaching the BC, AB and Washington State markets. We also decided on a complete cover redesign and are looking forward to seeing how it performs on newsstands,” says Jason Tansem, publisher.

The Special Annual retails for $6.95, on newsstands December 10th.

Polar Bears are to Canadian Geographic what Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are to celebrity titles…i.e. sexy idols for their readers that really help sell copies.

This cover shows a mother Polar Bear with two adorable cubs in tow, staring us down. While the supporting sell lines may be a bit hard to read (all white drop out on ice and snow), the cover should still sell extremely well.

• Rule #2:  Subject Matter Matters
• Rule #30:  If it works, keep doing it

Check out these other great Polar Bear Covers:

1. SIP Cover from 2010 was Best Seller that year…an increase of 16% better then the overall average in terms of units, and 121% better in newsstand revenue as a result of the $12.95 cover price
2. December 1996 cover was the second best seller that year, and performed 18% better than the average of all other issues combined
3. December 2005 cover was the second best seller that year, and perfomed 7% better than the average  of all other issues combined

“Our goal was to capture the excitement of the newest food trend—high-end ramen, and the arrival of the much anticipated Momofuku Noodle Bar. We worked with photographers Raina + Wilson to achieve a look that is rich and colourful and an image so warm you could feel the steam rising from the page,” says art director, Una Janicijevic.

Mission accomplished.

I love the way Toronto Life keeps each years’ version evolving and looking fresh…here they are from 2013 back to 2010. 

It will be interesting to see how newsstand sales are impacted….we will check back in on this when the numbers start to firm up.

In the grand scheme of things, if the ad sales revenue was as big as is being suggested, does it really matter?  Great to see that a huge player in the digital space values print so highly to sell its new hardware. I guess they know how smart, savvy, sophisticated, and engaged the readers of print magazines really are.

Elegant, sophisticated, packed with benefits and having fun too…these covers are sure to get fabulously merchandised by retailers who know a winner when they see one.

The “Special Double Issue “tumble” cover: One side features yuletide style and holiday health. Flip the issue over, and a second cover leads into a whole new edition on festive food and doable decor,” says the press release.