Mr. Magazine

“So a beautiful, oversized print product that is delivered to your home can have the effect of connecting you to the sport.” Magnus Greaves, Publisher, RACEWKND

Never give up trying new ideas. The aforementioned can easily describe Magnus Greaves, the man coming from the world of finance and an entire Wall Street driven media magazine venture, Double Down Media, that went belly up when the entire market, and the American magazine business model that was based on that market, went belly up too! Magnus, the ever-dreaming and planning financier, found yet another way in this digital age to enhance print and ensure its success in a completely different way than his previous ventures at Double Down Media, MyMag, and Rev.

In 2021 Magnus Greaves founded RACEWKND, a magazine that celebrates the culture and lifestyle of Formula 1 and delivers the racing experience right into your home.

I asked Magnus seven questions about his new venture. My questions and his answers are below. Enjoy…

Q1:  In a nutshell, tell me what is RACEWKND?  When was it started and how often it is going to be published?
RACEWKND celebrates the culture and lifestyle of Formula 1, the highest level of motorsport which is also seen as one of the world’s most glamorous sports. Back in 2015 I started a similar magazine called Rev Journal but was inspired during the pandemic to make significant changes to the branding, packaging, distribution and overall business model. This resulted in RACEWKND which has been extremely well received and we are now on a schedule to publish four issues per year. 

Q2:  How is this launch different from your previous venture MyMag?
MYMAG was a personal publishing platform for famous people but was sadly a bit ahead of it’s time (which I know sounds odd for a print product!) The innovation was in how we worked with the individual and I’m actually revisiting that concept again as I feel it ties in extremely well with social media. RACEWKND is much different as the original premise was more about filling a void in the market (this sexy global sport had no media product that celebrated its sexiness) and the innovation this time comes through the business model and distribution plan. 

Q3:  Who is the audience of RACEWKND and how to you plan to reach them?
Formula 1 has been extremely popular globally for decades but it’s never been able to crack the US market. In recent years the sport was also having a very hard time attracting new fans. That all changed quite dramatically with the Netflix show “Drive to Survive” which explores Formula 1 through the personalities, drama and locations. As a result, F1 is now exploding in the USA and is attracting a far more diverse audience. RACEWKND is created to appeal to this new audience as our editorial approach and design sensibility is a perfect next step for these new fans which, given the size of Netflix, now outnumber the size of the old-school F1 fan base. 

Q4:  What are some of the obstacles, if any,  facing you with this venture and how do you plan to overcome them?
The biggest obstacle we face is in connecting with the American F1 fan base in an efficient way. I will never, ever go down the newsstand route again and that simply wouldn’t be effective with this audience anyway, particularly in the USA. And unlike sports such as basketball, there are no stadiums that host multiple home games and no chains like Foot Locker that sell team merchandise, snaking it hard to find alternative channels to fans. So we had to come up with a completely new plan and that lead to a genuine breakthrough- RACEWKND has adopted the modern direct-to-consumer business/distribution model that’s been so successfully implemented for products such as eyeglasses, clothing, mattresses, etc. I figured if this approach works for mattresses, then certainly a light, flat product like a magazine should be perfect and the results have been amazing. We start the process with targeted advertising and affiliate partnerships which connect us to F1 fans. We then sell every subscription on our Shopify platform and send magazines out very efficiently using AmazonFBA. In fact, I’m thinking about working with other magazines to show them how to implement this great business model which brings so many benefits. 

Q5:  Some say we don’t have a print problem, we have a business model problem in the magazine media industry, what do you think?  What is the role of print in today’s media landscape?  What is the future of print?
Well I 100% agree with this statement!! Per my answer above, studying the direct-to-consumer business model (as well as the subscription box business model) completely changed how I perceive the magazine business, and it’s completely changed the economics of running a magazine company. As for the role of print, I feel it’s more relevant than ever for publishers that use it in a way that truly takes advantage of the medium, which unfortunately not many do. But the flip side of that is that many publishers have done an amazing job of adapting their offering to beautiful new tablets, so growth for magazine brands can come in many forms. As for RACEWKND, a tangible print product has enormous value as Formula 1 hosts 23 races in 23 different countries resulting in 95%+ of fans not attending a race during the season. So a beautiful, oversized print product that is delivered to your home can have the effect of connecting you to the sport. When there is only one shop in the USA that is dedicated to selling F1 merchandise, having a product like RACEWKND come to your house is a nice experience that is hard to replicate. 

Q6:  Anything else you’d like to add before my typical last question?
Operating in this new direct-to-consumer business environment has really highlighted to me the value of print as a product in a fresh way as well as the need to create a brand that reflects your overall goals rather than simply what you aim to achieve with a magazine. As a result, I feel less exposed to the various direct threats of the traditional publishing industry and more connected to the innovative companies that are being launched and celebrated in different arenas. And you will have noticed there is not one ad in our magazines- this new business approach eliminates that hassle!!

Q7:  What keeps Magnus up at night?
I go to sleep every night thinking of new ways to connect with the potential RACEWKND audience and making sure that we are doing a good job communicating the attributes of our great print product across digital channels. The tools are in place to achieve all of this but you have to continuously seek out best practices (from outside the publishing industry!) to stay on top of it all. 

Indeed, and thank you…