"So how is the magazine business?..."
...my friend whom I have not seen for more than a year asked me. What do you tell someone who has not been on the scene for more than a year. “Great! It has been great,” was my answer and I proceeded to tell him, in a true magazine fashion, what I consider as my 7 great magazine moments of 2007:
1. The launch of Condé Nast Portfolio: It single handedly brought back the faith in new magazine launches from a major media company who still considers magazine business as its core business. Thank you S. I. Newhouse Jr., David Carey and Joanne Lipman.
2. The reinvention of Time magazine: The weekly has gone through a major reinvention bringing relevance and intelligence to its contents and readers. The new Time set the stage for changes at both Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. Thank you Richard Stengel and Edward McCarrick.
3. The creation of a new genre of man’s magazines: The launch of Outside’s Go and Men’s Health Living magazines created a new genre of man’s magazines that cater to non-woman related issues in a man’s life. Both magazines are catering to a new niche that has gone unfulfilled for years: travel that meets the needs of the active man and interior design and home that meets the needs of the affluent man. Thank you Larry Burke and David Zinczenko.
4. Giving a new meaning to Garden and Gun: Through the launch of the new regional magazine Garden & Gun the two terms bestowed a new meaning on both of the words. One new longer thinks gardening or guns when they hear the two words, rather they think “21st Century Southern America.” Thank you Rebecca Darwin and welcome Sid Evans.
5. The Week is not for sale: With the sale of all the U.S. properties, Dennis Publishing did not include The Week on its “For sale” announcement. Felix Dennis once told me that he is a poor consumer of popular media. “I watch no television, see no movies and couldn’t, quite frankly, care less about magazines, with the exception of The Week…”
Thank you Felix Dennis.
6. The Mook, a new word in the magazine world: Monocle magazine launched in the London and few other international cities at the same time, added a new word to the English language and gave a brand new meaning and respect to the world of book-a-zines: The Mook. A magazine that looks and feels like a book, but reads as a magazine with all new content and non of the recycled content book-a-zines accustomed us to see. Thank you Tyler Brulé.
7. The launch of Everywhere and the re-launch of JPG: Both magazines, published by 8020 Publishing, show that a partnership can exist between both technologies: paper and pixels. Just give to paper what is paper’s and to pixels what is pixel’s. Thank you Paul Cloutier.
So here you have it, 7 great moments in the life of the magazine industry in 2007. Looking forward to a great 2008. All the best to all, and here’s for a great new year.
Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni
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