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Complimenting the practical articles found in All You is advice from real women, creating a unique dialog between magazine and reader.
“You’ll see photographs of our readers with their advice, sharing it with other women and that’s the kind of authenticity we have on every page. It’s a very subtle thing. We don’t over promise. A lot of magazines will say 'Walk off 10 pounds this weekend.' We don’t do that, but we do promise what you really can do. We give a solution that is achievable not a fantasy or a crazy dream.”
And this authenticity seems to come so easily to the editorial team at All You. Their experience and background, combined with the fact that they live the life they write about, make the voice of All You both intelligent and authoritative. Caring for four children and running her own home, Price herself can identify with the concerns and curiosities of her readers.
“There’s a kind of universal thing about real life and what really matters to you,” said Price. “It’s a language anyone can speak. It’s the details of my life: it’s the everyday pleasures like feeding my family or building a great home for them or meeting other women and supporting them in whatever they are going through, in the (same) way they have supported me. Those are the things that really matter to me. And they matter a lot more than having a $300,000 handbag. That doesn’t matter to me.”
While the success of All You seems to have come easily because of the prowess of its administrative staff, the shift from the European market to the United States was not an entirely seamless transition.
“In the UK, journalists do much more multitasking. They do much more to control the story on the page,” said Price. “Generally a fashion editor would do everything from choosing a photographer, to finding a location, to choosing models and booking the whole thing. But over here you have someone that books the location and someone who chooses the models. So I had to get used to people who weren’t controlling the whole story. They love to have that cradle to grave experience. It meant that I had to rethink the way I use people and slightly adapt it. Also I go for really young journalists who are willing to try new things. It is a really different way of working.”
Different or not, All You has done its job and continues to do it well. So well, in fact, that All You is garnering praise and gaining support in an industry that still views women’s titles in a less than serious light.
“I think there is a real contingency in the company that thinks any women’s magazine isn’t a real magazine at all. But that’s to be expected anywhere I think. All You, right from its launch, has had the highest reader satisfaction in the company. We get great sales and amazing reader reaction. It’s been a bit of a surprise to people and they say 'Oh, they’ve done things differently, and it’s worked.' So I think we’re a dark horse in the company. They look at what we do, and the results we get, and people are very positive. I think they think there’s something interesting going on with All You and it is different.”
Indeed it is. Just visit any Wal-Mart and see how those cover designs, with their vertical waves, come crashing to your hands as if they have landed on the calm shore of life….poetic, but real. You have to try it, assuming you haven’t yet done so. It is for all you, I mean All You!
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