RODALE SET FOR OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF WOMEN'S HEALTH (MEDIAWEEK)
The magazine tested five issues on newsstands over the past year and sold over 200,000 of each edition, for a sell-through percentage of over 40 percent. The title also boasts 160,000 subscribers.
Women's Health Is a Go
October 10, 2005
By Stephanie D. Smith
Rodale will mark the official launch of Women's Health with its November/December issue, on newsstands Oct. 18. The magazine will publish ten times yearly and have a 400,000 rate base and a $4.99 cover price.
Women's Health tested five issues on newsstands over the past year and sold over 200,000 of each edition, for a sell-through percentage of over 40 percent, according to the company. The title also boasts 160,000 subscribers.
“We expect Women’s Health to redefine the category,” said Rodale presdent/CEO Steve Murphy, in a statement on the launch. “We believe this magazine has tremendous potential and is on the way to becoming a one million-circulation performer. The response from both consumers and the ad community has already exceeded our expectations.”
Kate Kelly Smith, who served as publisher of Women's Health during its test issues, has been named vp, publisher for the title. Tina Johnson, who was editor for the test issues, was officially named editor in chief of Women's Health last month.
Disney Is Expecting New Mothers Magazine
Oct. 10, 2005
By: Mickey Alam Khan
Executive Editor
mickey@dmnews.com
Disney Publishing Worldwide Inc.'s Wondertime next year will become the newest player in a competitive sandbox of magazines seeking the attention of mothers with young children.
Oversized like Real Simple magazine and with similar white space and a trapezoid logo, Wondertime is for women with children up to age 6 who are keen to nurture their offspring's love of learning.
"It's more about the joy of parenting and less about the job of parenting," David A. Mevorah, New York-based publisher of Wondertime, said of the magazine's positioning.
Wondertime will compete with magazines like Parents, Parenting, American Baby, Child and Scholastic's Parent and Child. It also will go up against Web sites like BabyCenter.com and books on pregnancy and baby care.
The quarterly launches Feb. 14 with a guaranteed rate base of 300,000 before going bimonthly in 2007. The introductory subscription offer is competitive at 10 issues for $10. A newsstand copy will cost $4.95.
Wondertime will be Disney's third parenting magazine after FamilyFun and Disney Adventures. Circulation will be built by tapping lists of partners as well as company properties like the Baby Einstein toy line and DVD brand Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Prenatal and first-book lists will mail, too.
Edited out of Northampton, MA, by Lisa Stiepock, Wondertime's editorial will have a mom-to-mom tone based on five years of research. Themes include fun foods, family travel, social responsibility, great gifts, obsessions, inspirations and instructions.
"This is not an angst-driven publication," Mevorah said. "This is a relaxing publication."
Disney hired ad agency Vitro Robertson, San Diego, to handle advertising that breaks this week with an insert in media trade publications. The insert's headlines and copy are engaging. It starts with: "Does the world really need another parenting magazine? We wonder." A baby is shown reaching out to a soap bubble. Another page shows a crouching little boy examining the grass. The headline says, "We wonder if knowing right from wrong is just as important as knowing right from left." Then there's a shot of a child peeping through a cardboard box. The headline hits home: "We wonder why learning happens at the least likely of times. Sometimes, when you're busy guarding the fort."
The insert is taglined, "Celebrate your child's love of learning." Copy at the end says that Wondertime will give moms "what they want -- the chance to see the world through their child's eyes and celebrate the wonder of this all-too-fleeting time."
Billboard ads, cross promotions with titles like FamilyFun and other Disney properties as well as targeted mail drops comprise the rest of Wondertime's marketing. Direct mail is to drop later this quarter after creative on the test package is completed. As is the case with most magazine publishers, mail is expected to be the marketing workhorse for circulation.
"That's the way we're going to grow our subscriptions," Mevorah said.
Albeit basic, the site at www.wondertime.com is already live and equipped to handle self- and gift subscriptions.
Mevorah was hesitant to disclose charter advertisers, but he said the magazine resonated with brands in logical categories and segments like baby care, diapers, food, entertainment, toys, children's television programming, automotive, travel, electronics and household products.
"What we're looking to do is be the launch of the year," he said. "We want to be the fattest-telephone-book-looking magazine of the year."
Positioning is key. The name Disney doesn't feature on the cover. But it will have this line below the Wondertime name: "From the editors of FamilyFun."
"We didn't want people to think this is a Disney magazine," Mevorah said. "It doesn't have Disney characters. We're looking to build non-Disney-branded properties. When you say Disney, you get different connotations from moms and different connotations from advertisers. It's just a magazine targeted at moms, but it's not Disney-branded. It's Disney-backed."
Mickey Alam Khan covers Internet marketing campaigns and e-commerce, agency news as well as circulation for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
RANDOM HOUSE STRIKES DEAL ON WRITERS' LECTURES (WSJ)
Random House Publishing Group struck an agreement with lecture agency American Program Bureau Inc. to help its writers get paid speaking
Random House Strikes Deal To Aid With Writers' Lectures
By JEFFREY TRACHTENBERG
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 11, 2005; Page B4
Bertelsmann AG's Random House Publishing Group struck an agreement with lecture agency American Program Bureau Inc. to help its writers get paid speaking engagements while lifting their public profiles.
Random House said a variety of authors, including such big names as Salman Rushdie, Gail Sheehy and Jonathan Harr, will be represented by the American Program Bureau, which is based in Newton, Mass.
The agreement reflects Random House's efforts to keep its writers in front of readers at a time when books are competing with DVDs, the Web and videogames.
"It's a way to extend the life of each book," said Carol Schneider, a Random House spokeswoman. "There is a small financial upside for us but this is about promoting our writers. It could even help boost paperback sales."
The deal is also significant because it gives writers one more reason to sign a contract with Random House, since many are accustomed to speaking free.
Write to Jeffrey Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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