Paulina Gretzky's first Flare cover in 2005 moved 27,000 single copies, compared to an average of 18,000, said Flare publisher Melissa Ahlstrand. Now Rogers Media's flagship fashion mag has gone back to the well with a bigger bucket, teaming with Rogers-owned City TV for a multi-platform Gretzky push across magazine, television, and digital and social media.


Gretzky, a model and daughter of Canadian hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, covers February's Flare and is featured in an eight-page profile, and is also the subject of "Entertainment City: Paulina Gretzky", a City prime-time special hosted by Breakfast Television's Dina Pugliese. Aired on Tuesday and available for streaming on the Flare and City websites, the half-hour program explores Gretzky's seemingly scandalous online activities and relationship with her father.

The digital iPad edition includes a bonus photo shoot video.

Ahlstrand said the collaboration, a first for Flare and City, originated on Flare's end. "We definitely had conversations internally about content sharing, content extension, and development," she said. "When Paulina came to the forefront for us at Flare, it became sort of an obvious fit for us to do this with City," she said.

While Ahlstrand was not able to share any concrete plans for the future, it's safe for consumers to expect more interplay between Flare and City. "There definitely is movement and an interest on City's part in the fashion and entertainment world," she said. "Based on what Flare does, certainly we're going to look at how those collaborations can come together."

Cross-platform options were not available to advertisers, but Ahlstrand said that is something the company is looking at for upcoming collaborations.

While the team-up is a first for Flare and City, it's not the first multi-platform effort from Rogers. Chatelaine, for example, extended its brand to television with hour-long City specials earlier this year, and Rogers launched Sportsnet magazine last year as an extension of the TV channel.