Mr. Magazine

Q and A with Co-author David Sumner by Co-author Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni

The Mr. Magazine™ Interview

The New Yorker said of magazines: “And yet it’s notable that what made magazines appealing in 1720 is the same thing that made them appealing in 1920 and in 2020: a blend of iconoclasm and authority, novelty and continuity, marketability and creativity, social engagement and personal voice.”  David Sumner

“Yes, magazines originate when new interests emerge.  When people become interested in something new, a magazine pops up to serve those interests.” David Sumner

“The histories of individual magazines are micro-histories, and The Magazine Century is a macro-history.” David Sumner

This is a first for me: an interview with the co-author of my new book The Magazine Century, second edition.  The book is published by Peter Lang. You may say, but isn’t this a conflict of interest, and I will be quick to say, no.  In this day and age of overload information and fake truths, I have learned that if you are the best person to promote what you believe is your best work, just do it.  Let alone the work of  David E. Sumner, Ph.D., who wrote, alone, the first edition of The Magazine Century. David is professor emeritus of journalism at Ball State University where he taught magazine journalism for 25 years.  Two other books he co-authored are Magazines: A Complete Guide to the Industry (2006) and Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes (3^rd ed., 2013).  He has also written two football biographies.

David asked me to co-author the second edition of The Magazine Century and I thought that would be the perfect start for my newly established Magazine Media Center that focuses on preserving the past, present and future of magazine media.  A giant first step in preserving the history and role of American magazines in the last 120 years, from 1900 to 2020.  More steps are to come, but for now, let us hear from David himself on the ins and outs of The Magazine Century, second edition in this special Mr. Magazine™ interview:

Samir Husni:  In a nutshell, what is The Magazine Century?

David Sumner: Henry Luce, founder of Time Inc.,  wrote in a Life editorial on Feb. 7, 1941: “The world of the 20^th century, if it is to come to life in any nobility of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an American Century.” The idea for The Magazine Century  title came from Luce’s famous quote because the 20^th century was a magazine century and an American magazine century. Magazines were the first medium capable of reaching a nationwide audience until radio became popular in the 1920s. By the end of the century, the U.S. published three times as many magazines as any other country. Even accounting for population growth, the typical American read three times as many magazines at the end of the century as he or she did at its beginning. 

S.H. : The 20^th Century may have been the golden century of magazines; is this reflected in the book, and do you agree with that statement? 

D.S. Magazines will never again prosper and flourish as they did in the 20^th century. Some top print magazines have closed or reached their circulation peak before declining  But we have seen a rebound since 2000 and overall magazines remain much stronger in circulation and profitability than newspapers. Newspapers have tried to be all things to all people, and their public trust has increasingly declined. Since the 1950s, magazines have increasingly focused on offering specialized, curated content to targeted demographic groups. That is the reason for their enduring strength. In a 2021 article, The New Yorker said of magazines: “And yet it’s notable that what made magazines appealing in 1720 is the same thing that made them appealing in 1920 and in 2020: a blend of iconoclasm and authority, novelty and continuity, marketability and creativity, social engagement and personal voice.”

S.H. : I, for one, believe that magazines are the best reflectors of society; is this reflection echoed in the book?  

D.S. :  Yes, magazines originate when new interests emerge.  When people become interested in something new, a magazine pops up to serve those interests. The Magazine Century reflects those changing interests throughout the 20^th century. Each chapter in the book is focused on a decade. In the 1950s, magazines competed with television for advertising revenue and this chapter explains how that happened. In the 1980s, personal computers were introduced, and so this chapter describes the rise (and fall) of computer magazines. As the women’s movement gained strength, a group of women started Ms. magazine in the 1972. African Americans sought more career opportunities in the 1970s, so Earl Graves, Sr. started Black Enterprise in 1975. Every new magazine began with a new trend or interest.

S.H. :  There have been many books written about the history of individual magazines from the 20^thCentury; how is this book different?

D.S. : The histories of individual magazines are micro-histories, and The Magazine Century is a macro-history. Probably 100,000 magazines came and went during the 20^th century, so it can’t cover all of them. The book mostly focuses mostly on the best-known magazines that are still being published–who founded them, the interests they met, and their evolution to the present day.  The book also tells a broader story of trends and how they affected magazines—such as the Great Depression in the 1930s, World War II in the 1940s, television in the 1950s, and the “New Journalism” movement of the 1960s. Early chapters contain short profiles of leading publishers of their era, such as Edwin T. Meredith, Condé Nast, Harold Ross, Henry Luce, William Randolph Hearst, Cyrus Curtis, DeWitt and Lila Wallace, John H. Johnson, and J.I. Rodale. Later chapters have short profiles of well-known editors in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Martha Stewart, Tina Brown, Grace Mirabella, and Anna Wintour.

S.H. :  Who is the intended audience for this book?

D.S. :  The first is audience is magazine professionals who want to understand the history of their industry and the major magazines. The second is media historians, especially those who teach in universities.  Many journalism schools have media history courses, and The Magazine Century makes an excellent supplementary text. I was quite surprised to learn how many scholars and doctoral students around the world are interested in U.S. magazines.  According to Google Scholar, the first edition of The Magazine Century was cited in more than 150 books, journals, and dissertations by scholars in more than 15 countries. 

S.H. : This is a history book about American magazines; how can it be helpful with understanding the current and future status of magazines?

D. S. : Magazines and newspapers made many mistakes when the internet first became popular during the 1990s.  First, they gave away all their content, then they begin to experiment with pay walls and revenue models, which they are still doing. At the same time, publishers discovered that the internet offered an excellent way to reach new audiences and attract potential subscribers to their print and online products. 

Chapter 13 contains a table comparing the 1990 and 2021 circulations of 25 leading magazines. Only six of those lost print circulation, while the remaining 19 gained. Martha Stewart Living, Men’s Health, Health, Entertainment Weekly, and The New Yorker doubled their circulation during those 30 years. Readers can look at these leading magazines to discover what they’re doing right.

S.H. :  Anything else you would like to add?

D.S.: The Magazine Century is the only book containing information about the history of American magazines in the last 30 years. Those have been turbulent years and understanding what happened is crucial to understanding the state of publishing today. I am proud of the work we did, and I think it will become a standard magazine reference for many years.

S.H. :  My typical final question is, what keeps David up at night these days?

D.S.:  On New Year’s day: I wrote on my Facebook page: “I am not making any resolutions this year. I’ve done most of the things I wanted to do in life, and what I haven’t done, I don’t care anymore.” Of course, I stay busy with writing projects; I go to the gym to run and work out; I’m active in my church; I’m always reading a book on Kindle, usually about American history. But there’s not much that keeps me up at night. I’m very fortunate.

S.H. : Thank you

You can order The Magazine Century, second edition, by clicking here.

“We very much think that the core print business, consumers want it; it’s an invited friend to their mailbox. It’s a wonderful opportunity when our magazines show up in a world where so many things that we get in our mail we don’t like and don’t want to see or is complete junk.” Eric Hoffman…

Bloom in the Midst of Gloom and Doom … Magazine Media 2021  Part 8: Eric Hoffman, President & Chief Operating Officer, Hoffman Media.

2020 is now behind us with a brand new year finally here. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, Mr. Magazine™ offers up his end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. Our next magazine media president has arrived. Please enjoy…

Family owned and operated, Hoffman Media is a leading special-interest publisher based in Birmingham, Ala. From Southern Lady to Bake from Scratch, Hoffman Media creates some of the most popular and iconic brands in the marketplace today. But like everyone else in 2020, the company had some major adjustments and shifts to contend with during the pandemic.

I recently spoke with Eric Hoffman, president and chief operating officer of the company, who along with his twin brother, Brian Hart Hoffman, and their mother, founder of the company, Phyllis Hoffman DePiano, runs a tight ship and saw many opportunities and blessings even through this pandemic year of 2020. 

So, please enjoy the eighth installment of the Mr. Magazine™ end of the year (2020) interviews with Eric Hoffman, president & chief operating officer, Hoffman Media.

But first the sound-bites:

On the biggest challenge that Hoffman Media faced in 2020 and how the company overcame it: Where we’ve shifted, coming off the challenge of 2020, is we’ve shifted to having a lot more emphasis on video education, paid video, and we’ve done that both within our sewing business and also within brands such as Louisiana Cooking and in a broad way, we’ve done it with Bake From Scratch.

On the roadmap for Hoffman Media into 2021: We believe that with the vaccine and when things reach a certain point, and live events are able to come back, I think there will be an enormous pent up demand for those live experiences. We’re being very cautiously optimistic about the event business coming back, potentially in the second half of 2021. That being said, we’re investing heavily in our video platform. We just announced a renewed partnership with Williams Sonoma for an 11-week program kicking off in January.

On the future of print in this digital age: I oftentimes think that people are scared to say because they somehow think it’s going to drive their valuation and their business down. I could care a little bit less about that. As you know we have a family-owned business; we do not have institutional investors and we frankly think that the print business managed right can still be a remarkable business to be in. Having the quality of the customers rather than the quantity is something that resonates better today than maybe ever.

On the changes he sees on the horizon for magazines and magazine media: In respect to the larger media houses, I do see them making a fundamental shift. Certainly there are several brands and SIPs that have become a meaningful piece of their business and look to be doing quite well. I certainly see them in a leadership role in our industry, both really running that business in the right way to the consumer, but also creating the narrative to the advertiser of why these niche markets actually matter, because changing the conversation with ad agencies can be difficult. And I think you need industry advocates at the top that truly believe that. So, when we see that and I think we are, that’s going to be exciting.

On some of the things Hoffman Media is doing to implement more diversity and inclusion into the company: On the editorial side of the business we certainly have been vocal to that end. Take southern cuisine and food, for example, you go back to the cultural influences that drive the cuisines that we celebrate today, absolutely there’s a voice there and we celebrate that. Hoffman Media is a family business and we love our employees, we love our customers, and we love our clients. And we treat them like family.

On whether he thinks we’re erasing history or trying to learn from history: I’m of the mindset that erasing history is short sided because to celebrate where we are today, it means that much more when you know where we’ve come from. Within the Black community, to have U.S. presidents, to have Supreme Court justices, Fortune 500 CEOs, valedictorians at Princeton University, these are wonderful opportunities to celebrate. When organizations and municipalities choose to completely eliminate history, I question whether it long-term impacts the successes and the achievements that are actually there right in front of us today.

On what makes him tick and click: I’ve been spending a lot more time this past year on things that I would call “on” the business rather than “in” the business. I’ve read several books this year that were exciting to me. I read “Scaling Up,” “The Great Game of Business,” and “Built to Last,” and have really been thinking differently about the way we run our business. I think the intrigue over scaling is interesting and doing it the right way. So, the strategy side of our business is certainly what’s driving my ambition today.

On how unwinds at the end of the day: I’ve gotten into making a really good Old Fashioned. (Laughs) And I love to cook. I spend a lot of time barbequing and I’ve learned to cook a pretty mean gumbo.

On what keeps him up at night: As of recently, I would have to tell you that it’s the political unrest. I was deeply disappointed to see where we are as a country sort of play out on national television. I’m hopeful that as a nation and as a country we can find some unity and find ways to work together on both sides of the aisle. I believe we as a country have never been more divided, at least in recent years. So, I think there is certainly opportunities for us as business leaders in the community to carry that message. To the extent that I have the ability to do that within my role, I hope to do that in my own community.

And now for the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with Eric Hoffman, president & chief operating officer, Hoffman Media. 

Samir Husni: 2020 has been one of the most difficult years for all of us, on all fronts. What has been the biggest challenge that Hoffman Media has had to face this year and how did you overcome it?

Eric Hoffman: For us, as a business, if you go back and look, November 2018 we made a strategic acquisition where we acquired the original sewing and quilting expos from F+W, which is a wonderful business that’s been around for a long time. We have nine markets that we’re in. It’s a fantastic business and has great customer loyalty. We had gone into 2020 with projections of growing the business. Obviously, around March 13, give or take, the live event business was brought to a halt.

We were very fortunate in some other respects in that throughout the year we saw our subscriber base not only stay with us, but grow, so we had a remarkable year on the subscription front. Average customer value increased; retention rates were phenomenal; and direct mail performed at probably  the highest level we’ve seen in a long time. 

So, the core magazine business, if you think about the consumer first as a business model, a lot of our larger competitors in the marketplace are sort of speaking this narrative of late, that they’re looking at more consumer-driven businesses and less advertising-ended businesses, which you and I have talked now for the better part of a decade or longer that our business model seems to make a lot of sense. 

Through the pandemic we saw some things happen and one was that the newsstand held up very well in light of everything taking place. If you think about checkout for example, which drives about 70 percent of magazine volume sales in grocery stores, we originally thought that might be challenged, because standing six feet behind the next person might prevent you from perusing and making a last minute purchase. But we saw the newsstand perform well. 

I would say, that while we’re not an ad-driven business, one of the most remarkable things we saw through 2020 was our advertising business and our clients stayed with us. In fact, we were flat on advertising revenue from 2019 to 2020 and if you go back from 2018 to 2019 we grew the business 20 percent. So, we were able to deliver a remarkable year. 

And that was driven by CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies that we do business with, they stayed with us. We do a whole lot more than just sell ad space, most of our clients we deal with on a very custom boutique approach, we create a lot of content for our advertising partners. So, we’ve seen a lot of strength in the core business. 

We were very fortunate in being eligible for our PPP loan, which I think a lot of people would point to as a great thing to have. We were very fortunate not to have to lay off anybody, including within our event business.

Where we’ve shifted, coming off the challenge of 2020, is we’ve shifted to having a lot more emphasis on video education, paid video, and we’ve done that both within our sewing business and also within brands such as Louisiana Cooking and in a broad way, we’ve done it with Bake From Scratch. 

Probably the highlight of the year, and much to my twin brother’s credit who is the face of Bake From Scratch and also our chief content officer, Brian Hart Hoffman, we put together a seven week partnership with  Williams Sonoma, where we did Williams Sonoma’s baking academy. It was a live, one hour baking class on Monday nights during the fourth quarter. It was an incredible opportunity for us, for our brand-building, but also a very unique and interesting way to drive profit opportunities in a non-traditional format. 

All in all, Hoffman Media was able to thrive on a net-net for 2020 with obviously some misses coming out of some areas of the business and our consumers really carrying us in other areas. 

Samir Husni: What’s the roadmap for Hoffman Media as you move toward 2021?

Eric Hoffman: We believe that with the vaccine and when things reach a certain point, and live events are able to come back, I think there will be an enormous pent up demand for those live experiences. We’re being very cautiously optimistic about the event business coming back, potentially in the second half of 2021. That being said, we’re investing heavily in our video platform. We just announced a renewed partnership with Williams Sonoma for an 11-week program kicking off in January. 

We have advertising partners like Bob’s Red Mill that we’re doing other baking academies with. We’ve done some Instagram live work with iconic brands like Tabasco with Louisiana Cooking, where we’ve been able to use our chef relationships and do some interesting programs there.

We very much think that the core print business, consumers want it; it’s an invited friend to their mailbox. It’s a wonderful opportunity when our magazines show up in a world where so many things that we get in our mail we don’t like and don’t want to see or is complete junk. I still believe that relationship between our print customer is special and we believe in it and we’re committed to it. 

We will follow the consumer in how they want to interact with our business. We’ve seen podcasts as a growing opportunity; our book publishing business has actually grown and is doing quite well and we see that as still a growth opportunity. And then I wouldn’t put it past us to potentially even look at acquisition opportunities during this time. We believe long-term in the live event business to the extent that there are incremental opportunities to expand there. I think we’ll be doing that. 

Also, with just more pure play digital opportunities; a business like ours that publishes 11 magazines and has for quite some time, we have an enormous amount of content. So, being able to retool the experience of how perhaps new audiences interact with that content might lend itself to more pure digital opportunities. 

Samir Husni: What is the future of print in this digital age?

Eric Hoffman: I oftentimes think that people are scared to say because they somehow think it’s going to drive their valuation and their business down. I could care a little bit less about that. As you know we have a family-owned business; we do not have institutional investors and we frankly think that the print business managed right can still be a remarkable business to be in. Having the quality of the customers rather than the quantity is something that resonates better today than maybe ever. 

If you think about print buying from an advertiser perspective, I think that reaching a quality audience over quantity, certainly that business model works better. I would be very nervous if I were running mass-reach brands that were running on a legacy business model that was large rate-based-driven and running sort of as a loss leader. I don’t see that as a viable business long-term. 

Samir Husni: In general, what do you see on the horizon for magazines and magazine media? What are some of the changes you see taking place?

Eric Hoffman: In respect to the larger media houses, I do see them making a fundamental shift. Certainly there are several brands and SIPs that have become a meaningful piece of their business and look to be doing quite well. I certainly see them in a leadership role in our industry, both really running that business in the right way to the consumer, but also creating the narrative to the advertiser of why these niche markets actually matter, because changing the conversation with ad agencies can be difficult. And I think you need industry advocates at the top that truly believe that. So, when we see that and I think we are, that’s going to be exciting.

I think there’s also opportunity for a lot of new entrants into the market in very niche ways. Magazines that I’ve seen and that I think are doing quite well: Okra Magazine, I’ve certainly seen them growing and I think it’s an interesting brand. So, the entrepreneurial side of this industry exists and always will exist. I’m an industry guy; I hope more people believe in launching their publications and doing things that serve our industry well. 

Samir Husni: Beside COVID, 2020 was a year filled with upheaval. Whether it was social injustices and Black Lives Matter, diversity, equality, or inclusion. And at last count in the past several months there have been over 336 magazines that have had Black subjects on the cover, which is more than there has been in the last 60 years. What are some of the things that you’re doing now to ensure that social responsibility, inclusion, diversity and equality are taking place at Hoffman Media?

Eric Hoffman: On the editorial side of the business we certainly have been vocal to that end. Take southern cuisine and food, for example, you go back to the cultural influences that drive the cuisines that we celebrate today, absolutely there’s a voice there and we celebrate that. Hoffman Media is a family business and we love our employees, we love our customers, and we love our clients. And we treat them like family. 

We’re certainly inclusive and we’re accepting of all. And I think that we demonstrate that day in and day out in our business. 

Samir Husni: Other companies are having seminars and hiring outside consultants on diversity and inclusion and then there are media companies like Condé Nast that I recently read are looking at their archives and erasing things that could be deemed offensive. Do you think we’re need to erase the history or learn from the history?

Eric Hoffman: I’m of the mindset that erasing history is short sided because to celebrate where we are today, it means that much more when you know where we’ve come from. Within the Black community, to have U.S. presidents, to have Supreme Court justices, Fortune 500 CEOs, valedictorians at Princeton University, these are wonderful opportunities to celebrate. When organizations and municipalities choose to completely eliminate history, I question whether it long-term impacts the successes and the achievements that are actually there right in front of us today. 

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click these days?

Eric Hoffman: I’ve been spending a lot more time this past year on things that I would call “on” the business rather than “in” the business. I’ve read several books this year that were exciting to me. I read “Scaling Up,” “The Great Game of Business,” and “Built to Last,” and have really been thinking differently about the way we run our business. I think the intrigue over scaling is interesting and doing it the right way. So, the strategy side of our business is certainly what’s driving my ambition today.

We are keenly interested in several structural things within the business. Just for reference, we have 12 months left on our lease of 31,000 sq. ft. of office space in Birmingham. We certainly believe that we will have office space that’s collaborative and creative, but what does that look like? We think that there is going to be a lot more emphasis around where the content is created, in terms of remarkable test kitchens and studios and wonderful space for that, but it also presents an interesting opportunity for us to do something maybe more dynamic than we are today. 

So, there are some things that I think will come down the pike in maybe the next year or two that I think will be exciting for our employees. At the same time, I also would say what allows me to tick also is the family. It’s been interesting working remotely in a lot of ways, but it’s given, not just myself, but all of our employees the time to do things within the home that they needed to do and still perform. And they have done a wonderful job with that. They have made a remarkable shift and are excited about the ability to still be a vital team member and do it in a new and modified format. I would expect to some extent that will continue long-term. 

So, those are the main things. It’s exciting. I believe in our industry and I think that COVID has proven the magazine business is resilient in general. And I think that when you look at our industry relative to a lot of the narrative you’re seeing around programmatic ad buying and some other digital ad tech, we may not be valued in the marketplace as high from your EBITDA multiple or whatever you want to measure us by, but it’s a phenomenal business that has stood the test of time. And I think the consumer, if you listen to them, I think we’ll be here to stay for a while. 

Samir Husni: How do you unwind after a day working?

Eric Hoffman: I’ve gotten into making a really good Old Fashioned. (Laughs) And I love to cook. I spend a lot of time barbequing and I’ve learned to cook a pretty mean gumbo. 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Eric Hoffman: As of recently, I would have to tell you that it’s the political unrest. I was deeply disappointed to see where we are as a country sort of play out on national television. I’m hopeful that as a nation and as a country we can find some unity and find ways to work together on both sides of the aisle. I believe we as a country have never been more divided, at least in recent years. So, I think there is certainly opportunities for us as business leaders in the community to carry that message. To the extent that I have the ability to do that within my role, I hope to do that in my own community.

Samir Husni: Thank you. 

The year of the pandemic, 2020, brought with it not only pain and suffering from the COVID 19 virus, but also saw major social upheavals on diversity and inclusion issues.  Magazines, being the leading reflectors of society, were in the forefront of covering and reacting to the year of the pandemic.

In fact, when it comes to diversity and inclusion, I was able to find and buy 336 magazines, from all categories and genres, that reflected diversity and inclusion by celebrating Blackness on their covers.  336 Black subjects appeared on the covers of these magazines, almost five times more than what has appeared in the last 100 years.

I reached out to the CEOs and presidents of the major magazine media companies to ask them about what they are doing regarding diversity, inclusion, and equality both in their magazines and in their workplaces. What follows are excerpts from the answers of the CEOs and presidents (in alphabetical order) who took my call and answered my question:

Debi Chirichella, President, Hearst Magazines

“Hearst Magazines is committed to being a workplace, and also creating media, that reflects the world we live in. We put new training programs into place and added some advisory groups across the company to help us with this. It’s a journey and we know it’s a journey. I don’t think you’re ever finished. We made progress in 2020, but we’re going to continue to build on that progress.”

Andy Clurman, president & CEO, Active Interest Media

“We created a Jedi task force, which is Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and is a cross-section of people from the company. We also brought in an ad hoc diversity officer who has been leading this in terms of sourcing, education, facilitating conversations, doing content and promotional audits, hiring practices, so really looking top to bottom through our organization and our messaging and content. And strategically are there different organizations’ approaches within a different group?”

Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlight’s for Children

“We’ve done surveys and really looked at how can we be better, because our feelings are, if we’re responsible for creating products that affect our society, we better look internally and make sure our company internally reflects well the society that we live in. And then we’re doing it in a way that creates the sense of belonging for everyone at our company.”

Bonnie Kintzer, President and CEO, Trusted Media Brands

“It’s very important to us and very important to our employees. We have a diversity and inclusion team. They have four pillars that spell out the word MORE within our diversity and inclusion and that’s Mentoring, Opportunity, Recruiting and Education. And honestly, I look at these initiatives and I think these are things that we talked about that we should have always been doing. And now we have so much employee involvement to get these things done.”

Steven Kotok, President & CEO, Bauer Media Group USA

“We’ve engaged with a consulting firm that specializes in diversity, equity and inclusion and we’re going through a process where we’re educating ourselves, meaning the whole company, the whole team. And we’re having some listening sessions as well to hear from the team. And whatever we do, actions or statements, it may take a little longer, but that’s going to come not as a top-down, written by our very excellent communications people, but more bottom-up as a company on where we stand and what we think.” 

Catherine Levene, President, Meredith National Media Group

“We’re focused in two areas. One is the culture inside the company and our workforce and the other is what we show to our consumers and it’s not only the right thing to do, it’s good business to enhance our content and storytelling. To be more inclusive both in the content itself, but also in producing that content, whether that be in print, digital, video, in the art that we use, the photography. All of that has to be diverse because our audience is diverse.”

David Parry, President & CEO, A360 Media & Accelerate360

“It’s a topic amongst our senior executives every week, every day. We’re going to see more diversity in the workplace, but we have to also find ways to ensure that we are diversifying the talent pool so we can do so. We have to find ways to encourage students from all backgrounds to explore publishing and media as a career path for them. I think everyone is focused on tackling the challenge and because of that, meaningful changes can be made.”

To read the entire interviews with the seven CEOs and presidents of the aforementioned companies, please scroll down this blog for the full interviews.

“Magazines have always been, and continue to be, a great source of comfort for consumers during the most difficult of times. There is something out there for everyone, no matter your interest: celebrity, lifestyle, home, fashion, food, whatever special interest you may have. Your favorite magazine relates to you like a good friend, it shares your interests in the most authentic and authoritative way.” David Parry…

“There is a personal connection that readers have with magazine brands and that brand equity presents myriad opportunities to grow and diversify those brands. Expanding brands with experiential platforms, single-topic issues, audio platforms, and more feature-like video content allow magazine brands to build on what they have been doing for years, engage people deeply. That is an incredibly valuable foundation to be able to build on.” David Parry…

Bloom in the Midst of Gloom and Doom … Magazine Media 2021  Part 7: David Parry, President & CEO, A360 Media & Accelerate360.

2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, Mr. Magazine™ offers up his end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. Our next magazine media president has arrived. Please enjoy…

Accelerate360 is one of the leading wholesale distribution companies in the United States that provides turnkey solutions for retailers and brands. The company manages merchandising programs, featuring more than 600 SKUs in general merchandise and health and wellness, for national and regional grocers, and is the largest periodical distributor in North America delivering magazines to more than 55,000 retail locations weekly. But like everyone else during 2020, A360 found itself dealing with a pandemic, which presented challenges that the company used its experienced leadership to help handle.

That experienced leadership starts with President and CEO, David Parry, who has previously served as President and CEO of The News Group U.S. (TNG), after serving as President and CEO of MagNet, an international data management company. I spoke with David recently in his first interview since he became CEO of A360 Media. It was informative to hear from a man who has experience both in the distribution side of magazines and magazine media, and now also in publishing.

So, please enjoy the seventh and final installment of the Mr. Magazine™ end of the year (2020) interviews with David Parry, President & CEO, Accelerate360.

But first the sound-bites:

On the biggest challenge that A360 faced in 2020 and how the company overcame it: On the distribution side, I’ve got more than two decades of experience and have seen my fair share of challenges. This year definitely posed some new challenges. However, I was able to leverage my experience and ensure that all of our clients and retailers were able to receive publications without disruption and done in a way that adhered to the new COVID guidelines. Also, as we navigated the challenges, we were also able to communicate to our clients all of the potential sales advantages that the COVID environment created.

On the future of print in a digital age: I love digital and the print and digital pieces of our brands, when working together, help to deepen that bond for the consumer. Digital is a powerful tool for breaking news or providing that first piece of insight or inspiration that leads to delving even deeper in the magazine format that provides all of the details and depth. It’s an important collaboration that deepens the experience with all of our brands.

On whether print is still the major source of revenue for the company: Yes. This year, it represents 60% of A360 Media’s revenue, with 40% being digital. Two years ago, digital was just 10%.

On his thoughts on the future of magazines and magazine media: There is a personal connection that readers have with magazine brands and that brand equity presents myriad opportunities to grow and diversify those brands. Expanding brands with experiential platforms, single-topic issues, audio platforms, and more feature-like video content allow magazine brands to build on what they have been doing for years, engage people deeply. That is an incredibly valuable foundation to be able to build on.

On how he feels about diversity and inclusion within companies: It’s a topic amongst our senior executives every week, every day. We’re going to see more diversity in the workplace, but we have to also find ways to ensure that we are diversifying the talent pool so we can do so. We have to find ways to encourage students from all backgrounds to explore publishing and media as a career path for them. I think everyone is focused on tackling the challenge and because of that, meaningful changes can be made.

On whether he sees a bright side coming out of 2020: COVID has parked us in our homes and given us a chance to reunite with some of the things that we’ve lost touch with. I’ve watched my kids, and they’re in the 23 to 33-year-old range, I’ve watched them read magazines and books incessantly because they just couldn’t bear to watch television all of the time. Too much bad stuff going on; too much of the repetitive stuff being reported. People are reconnecting with print media.  

On what makes him tick and click: I believe in the product. So I spend my time thinking how do I preserve this; how do I grow it; how do I take advantage of it; how do I build an enterprise out of it? I’m a cup-half-full guy and I’ve been that way my whole life.

On how he unwinds at the end of the day: I exercise. That’s how I keep safe.

On what keeps him up at night: We are moving in so many directions right now, I want to make sure we are focused on the right opportunities. It’s a good worry to have actually, we have so many opportunities, I worry about missing one.

And now for the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with David Parry, president & CEO, A360 Media.

Samir Husni: You’re now the new CEO of the former American Media, now A360 Media. And 2020 has been one of the toughest years ever on all fronts for the media industry. You’ve been a CEO on the distribution side of the business for many years and now you’re the CEO on the publishing side. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in 2020 and how did you overcome it?

David Parry: On the distribution side, I’ve got more than two decades of experience and have seen my fair share of challenges. This year definitely posed some new challenges. However, I was able to leverage my experience and ensure that all of our clients and retailers were able to receive publications without disruption and done in a way that adhered to the new COVID guidelines. Also, as we navigated the challenges, we were also able to communicate to our clients all of the potential sales advantages that the COVID environment created.

In regard to A360, I was the distributor for these publications for 25 years, I know the celebrity titles which account for 70% of the business revenues and distributed the monthly titles like Men’s Journal as well. While I may be a bit more unfamiliar with the advertising and publishing aspects, I am learning at an accelerated clip thanks to A360 President Chris Scardino.

Samir Husni: Magazines have always played a positive role in times of crises throughout the ages, as opposed to newspapers and television that are usually the bearer of bad news. Do you think  magazines are a Prozac for society? And what do you see as the future of print in this digital age? Is it all going to be SIPs, like the majority of Meredith’s magazines or Topix Media or Centennial? 

David Parry: Magazines have always been, and continue to be, a great source of comfort for consumers during the most difficult of times. There is something out there for everyone, no matter your interest: celebrity, lifestyle, home, fashion, food, whatever special interest you may have. 

Your favorite magazine relates to you like a good friend, it shares your interests in the most authentic and authoritative way.

I love digital and the print and digital pieces of our brands, when working together, help to deepen that bond for the consumer. Digital is a powerful tool for breaking news or providing that first piece of insight or inspiration that leads to delving even deeper in the magazine format that provides all of the details and depth. It’s an important collaboration that deepens the experience with all of our brands.

For example, if Princess Kate is seen shopping for her children, you may see a social media post about it. One of the celebrity weeklies might have an image on the cover with further insights about where she went and what she bought, how she engaged with the store staff or other shoppers, giving a deeper picture of the whole experience in a 1,000-word article. 

So, in our view, the future is not SIPS. Those are one-time experiences. Our strategy is deepening the embrace of digital and using it to bring the story to life across all platforms.

Samir Husni: Is print still the major source of revenue for A360? 

David Parry: Yes. This year, it represents 60% of A360 Media’s revenue, with 40% being digital. Two years ago, digital was just 10%.

I believe that in 24 months’ time, we will be at a 50/50 balance of print and digital revenue much like many of the other publishers are seeing, or driving towards. 

Samir Husni: You mentioned that changes are on the horizon in terms of distribution, distributing direct from wholesale to the consumer, in addition to the retailer and the businesses. What other changes do you see on the horizon concerning magazine media? 

Davis Parry: As I mentioned above, there is a personal connection that readers have with magazine brands and that brand equity presents myriad opportunities to grow and diversify those brands. Expanding brands with experiential platforms, single-topic issues, audio platforms, and more feature-like video content allow magazine brands to build on what they have been doing for years, engage people deeply. That is an incredibly valuable foundation to be able to build on. 

Samir Husni: How do you feel social responsibility, diversity and inclusion is going to impact magazine media and how are you dealing with it in your own companies?

David Parry: It’s a topic amongst our senior executives every week, every day. We’re going to see more diversity in the workplace, but we have to also find ways to ensure that we are diversifying the talent pool so we can do so. We have to find ways to encourage students from all backgrounds to explore publishing and media as a career path for them. I think everyone is focused on tackling the challenge and because of that, meaningful changes can be made.

Samir Husni: Do you see any areas of “Bloom” in the midst of this gloom and doom ?

David Parry: COVID has parked us in our homes and given us a chance to reunite with some of the things that we’ve lost touch with. I’ve watched my kids, and they’re in the 23 to 33-year-old range, I’ve watched them read magazines and books incessantly because they just couldn’t bear to watch television all of the time. Too much bad stuff going on; too much of the repetitive stuff being reported. People are reconnecting with print media.  

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click?

David Parry: I believe in the product. So I spend my time thinking how do I preserve this; how do I grow it; how do I take advantage of it; how do I build an enterprise out of it? I’m a cup-half-full guy and I’ve been that way my whole life. 

Samir Husni: How do you unwind in the evenings after you’re done working?

David Parry: I exercise. That’s how I keep safe. 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

David Parry: We are moving in so many directions right now, I want to make sure we are focused on the right opportunities. It’s a good worry to have actually, we have so many opportunities, I worry about missing one. 

Samir Husni: Thank you. 

    A Mr. Magazine™ Editorial

    The “Bloom” in the midst of gloom and doom. Magazines and magazine media have mainly focused on the positive and been an advocate for easing the pain and stopping the hate, seeking to help their audiences both in print and online. For these uncertain times and an audience that is constantly bombarded with bad news, magazines are like trusted friends that you can visit with while they console and encourage you in the midst of a pandemic and social and racial conflicts. 

    2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, I offer up my end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on 2020 and what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. 

    Keeping the faith, easing the pain, stopping the hate, spreading the love and hoping that this too shall be behind us.

    Here’s to a healthy and happy 2021

    Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D.

“I think the adult magazine world should look at the fact that we need to think about the audience, do create great digital experiences, but also provide excellent experiences in print. Print advertising? That’s been the problem. But a print experience for a human, that’s still a strong experience. I think we need to focus on the relevance of the content and the experience we create with our print magazines, our print media. And the future I think looks bright.” Kent Johnson…

“We can all look at our social media feeds and think of it as digital candy, but when you want a meaningful experience, an immersive experience, sometimes you want to get off the screen and engage with the print magazine. And we think that’s really healthy for kids, to engage with print in a focused way as an alternative and not in place of digital, it shouldn’t be an argument of print or digital, it’s what are the experiences that human wants at that time. And how do they have a diversity of positive experiences.” Kent Johnson…

Bloom in the Midst of Gloom and Doom … Magazine Media 2021  Part 6: Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlight’s for Children.

2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, Mr. Magazine™ offers up his end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. Our next magazine media president has arrived. Please enjoy…

Highlight’s for Children was founded in 1946 by Garry Cleveland Myers, Ph.D., and Caroline Clark Myers, who just happen to be the current CEO Kent Johnson’s great-grandparents. And even though Kent is a direct descendant of the company’s founders, he initially had no aspirations to work in the family business. But as fate would have it, he officially joined the company in 2005 and continues to be inspired by the mission to help children become their best selves – curious, creative, caring and confident – and motivated by the challenge of carrying that philosophy into new markets around the world.

In 2020, Kent’s mission hasn’t changed, but his modus operandi had to with a pandemic changing the course of his company’s history. Learning a “new normal” has been a challenge but one Highlight’s has handled with aplomb and inspiration. I spoke with Kent recently and we talked about the company business during the daunting year of 2020. The supreme optimism Kent spoke with about all aspects of his business, from print to digital to the educational materials, was energizing and wonderful. While 2020 was a difficult time for all of us, Kent and Highlight’s display a motivational and aspirational way of handling it.

So, please enjoy the sixth installment of the Mr. Magazine™ end of the year (2020) interviews with Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlight’s for Children.

But first the sound-bites:

On the biggest challenge that Highlights for Children faced in 2020 and how the company overcame it: The word unprecedented has become overused when talking about 2020. Our biggest challenge, and I think it’s still my biggest focus, is the impact of 2020 on our people. As we moved to remote work, it was worrying about the social, emotional health and well-being, as well as the physical safety of our teams. And trying to stay connected and keeping people engaged. Working together, I think was the most important thing and the biggest challenge, our biggest focus. And I think that’s going to be ongoing into 2021.

On the roadmap for Highlight’s into 2021: For me what 2020 did and what we have to do for our roadmap forward is in a lot of ways it accelerated things; it accelerated the shift to ecommerce; it accelerated how we do things at work through video chats, through working remotely. And so what we talk about is not about getting back to normal, but how do we take the best of what we’ve had to learn during this very difficult year and apply it so that we can come out ahead and use it to our strategic advantage going forward.

On the future of print in this digital age: I am so bullish about the future of print for kids. We spend time in our magazine industry or in education thinking that print is going away, but I think the lessons of 2020 for me are that print is not going away, particularly for kids. What we see is, we in our jobs and kids learning remotely or being at home, we have so many great digital experiences, but there’s a human need for balance. There’s a human need for the tactile, physical experience of print. So, I’ve not been more bullish on print as a technology that’s great for kids in literacy development, in puzzling and engagement.

On whether he has seen an increase in Highlight’s subscriptions: Our subscription business is up as well. What’s interesting about our subscription business being up is that people who are buying those subscriptions through digital means have exploded. But grandparents who are responding to direct mail is also way up. So, there’s a diversity of people who I think are looking for something that is engaging and is a quality use of their time.

On his thoughts on the future of magazines and magazine media: I’m a big let’s-measure-what-happens-in-the-world-and-respond-to-it, as opposed to “let’s predict.” I think that magazine media, magazine titles, companies and verticals that really understand and focus on the consumer’s needs in their audience, for me I think the future there is bright.

On some of the things Highlight’s is doing to implement more diversity and inclusion into the company: Highlight’s serves kids and we create the products, the content that kids are consuming pretty young in their lives, we’re proud of our heritage of inclusion and the diversity that we’ve depicted in our magazines, but absolutely this year has caused us to double-down, reexamine, look at our structures, look at our approach, look at how we’re building content to be as inclusive as possible. So, we’re working on continuing to try to always be open and as we talked about, always evolving to make sure our magazines are as inclusive as possible. 

On anything he’d like to add: I’ve really learned during this pandemic, as a leader of an organization, I’ve realized how much more important it is for me to focus on how our people are doing than it is for me to focus on how they’re doing the work. The power of engagement, community, belonging, social and emotional well-being in an organization, that power will never cease to amaze me. And that’s what has gotten us through.

On what makes him tick and click: One of my focuses through this pandemic has been trying to focus on the idea of making sure I have enough gas in the tank. I think it’s emotionally and physically taxing to live under the stress of the pandemic, the stress of what’s going on, the divisiveness in our society and the concerns we all have for our teams and our business in this environment.

On how he unwinds after a busy day: Obviously, our house with two kids at home; I’m sure our Netflix bandwidth is pretty large. (Laughs) I try to watch some videos that allow you to escape. I’ve also increased my amount of reading. When we’re on the screen so much we need some way to unwind. I certainly like meditation apps, but I’ve been reading more nonfiction, more history.

On what keeps him up at night: It’s always people. I think our people are really stressed. I keep telling my team to take 10 days off this holiday. What keeps me up? I’m a little tired; I’m pretty engaged with work and life, but I’m nervous about the toll this is having on society.

And now for the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlight’s for Children.

Samir Husni: 2020 has been one of the most difficult years for all of us, on all fronts. What has been the biggest challenge that Highlights for Children has had to face this year and how did you overcome it?

Kent Johnson: The word unprecedented has become overused when talking about 2020. Our biggest challenge, and I think it’s still my biggest focus, is the impact of 2020 on our people. As we moved to remote work, it was worrying about the social, emotional health and well-being, as well as the physical safety of our teams. And trying to stay connected and keeping people engaged. Working together, I think was the most important thing and the biggest challenge, our biggest focus. And I think that’s going to be ongoing into 2021.

But I think by trusting our people and empowering our people, we’ve been able to get through a lot of the business challenges reasonably well. But with so much uncertainty it’s difficult to keep everyone aligned and energized. It’s very taxing to go through a year like this.

Samir Husni: What’s the roadmap for Highlight’s as you move toward 2021?

Kent Johnson: It’s interesting because while Highlight’s is a magazine business, we’re also a diversified educational publishing company, so in addition to magazines, we do subscription clubs and retail products that can be about puzzling and learning.

So, one of the interesting things that happened this year was that parents had to immediately become teachers at home and we stopped going to restaurants and we stopped traveling, and there became an increased focus on how do you create a quality experience at home? And for some of our business lines that actually helped us. We felt like we were able to come to the aid of parents, who like us, now had kids at home. So we started making free digital content for kids to try and give them things to do at home. 

But for me what 2020 did and what we have to do for our roadmap forward is in a lot of ways it accelerated things; it accelerated the shift to ecommerce; it accelerated how we do things at work through video chats, through working remotely. And so what we talk about is not about getting back to normal, but how do we take the best of what we’ve had to learn during this very difficult year and apply it so that we can come out ahead and use it to our strategic advantage going forward. 

So, the things we’ve learned about increasing employee engagement; how can we continue to focus on engagement in 2021? Being more relevant to our audience; providing solutions that really matter to parents in the home. Being consumer-focused and becoming more consumer-focused is 100 percent on our roadmap. We’ve also learned a fair bit about digital marketing, whether it’s through the platforms of Amazon or through social media or ecommerce and search. So continuing to refine those lessons and continuing to accelerate the digital communication we use to reach, particularly millennial parents, to purchase our products. 

We’re excited about the brand and we’re excited about being focused on being relevant to our audience with the services that we’re going to add in 2021. 

Samir Husni: What is the future of print in this digital age?

Kent Johnson: I am so bullish about the future of print for kids. We spend time in our magazine industry or in education thinking that print is going away, but I think the lessons of 2020 for me are that print is not going away, particularly for kids. What we see is, we in our jobs and kids learning remotely or being at home, we have so many great digital experiences, but there’s a human need for balance. There’s a human need for the tactile, physical experience of print. So, I’ve not been more bullish on print as a technology that’s great for kids in literacy development, in puzzling and engagement. 

And I think the adult magazine world should look at the fact that we need to think about the audience, do create great digital experiences, but also provide excellent experiences in print. Print advertising? That’s been the problem. But a print experience for a human, that’s still a strong experience. I think we need to focus on the relevance of the content and the experience we create with our print magazines, our print media. And the future I think looks bright.

Samir Husni: Have you seen any increase in your subscriptions at Highlight’s?

Kent Johnson: Our subscription business is up as well. What’s interesting about our subscription business being up is that people who are buying those subscriptions through digital means have exploded. But grandparents who are responding to direct mail is also way up. So, there’s a diversity of people who I think are looking for something that is engaging and is a quality use of their time. 

We can all look at our social media feeds and think of it as digital candy, but when you want a meaningful experience, an immersive experience, sometimes you want to get off the screen and engage with the print magazine. And we think that’s really healthy for kids, to engage with print in a focused way as an alternative and not in place of digital, it shouldn’t be an argument of print or digital, it’s what are the experiences that human wants at that time. And how do they have a diversity of positive experiences. 

Samir Husni: What’s your thoughts on the future of magazines and magazine media as the industry moves forward into the future?

Kent Johnson: I’m a big let’s-measure-what-happens-in-the-world-and-respond-to-it, as opposed to “let’s predict.” I think that magazine media, magazine titles, companies and verticals that really understand and focus on the consumer’s needs in their audience, for me I think the future there is bright. 

The key is to make sure that the magazine is responsive and relevant to the needs of the audience. A magazine is a cool thing compared to a book. You publish a book and it’s done. A magazine is always organically evolving and is interactive, you have dialogue with your readers, dialogue with your audience. So, you’re always growing and evolving with your audience.

If that’s a focus of the magazine industry, those titles that really stay relevant, evolve, and serve their audience both through the magazine and through the other ancillary experiences, such as products, the ways they interact with their digital, physical, with the things they build around the magazine and build around the audience’s needs, I think the future is great. 

Next year is Highlight’s 75^th anniversary. And we’re working on a book called “Dear Highlight’s – What Adults Can Learn From Listening To Children.” And it has samples of the letters we’ve gotten and our responses to kids over the last 75 years. And I think it’s an example of relevance here, if you’re in a dialogue with your readers, you stay in touch and you always evolve to grow with your readers. 

And I think for magazine companies that stay focused on their audience and on their readers, I think the future is bright. 

Samir Husni: Beside COVID, 2020 was a year filled with upheaval. Whether it was social injustices and Black Lives Matter, diversity, equality, or inclusion. And at last count in the past several months there have been over 318 magazines that have had Black subjects on the cover, which is more than there has been in the last 60 years. What are some of the things that you’re doing now to ensure that social responsibility, inclusion, diversity and equality are taking place at Highlight’s?

Kent Johnson: Our employees, our teams, experienced the same thing that everyone across the country experienced and it was an emotional process, an emotional reaction. There are two strands that we’re focused on. 

One is because Highlight’s serves kids and we create the products, the content that kids are consuming pretty young in their lives, we’re proud of our heritage of inclusion and the diversity that we’ve depicted in our magazines, but absolutely this year has caused us to double-down, reexamine, look at our structures, look at our approach, look at how we’re building content to be as inclusive as possible. 

To try to set that as kids experience content, that they see the world they really live in, which extends beyond race and ethnicity, it extends to disabilities, it extends to family structures. Do you have two parents; two parents of the same gender, just trying to show kids that people live in all different ways. Have children see themselves in the product and see the diversity that makes our society great. 

So, we’re working on continuing to try to always be open and as we talked about, always evolving to make sure our magazines are as inclusive as possible. 

The other reaction that we’ve had as a company is that we see clear and systematic problems in our society that people have long been aware of. One of our reactions was we need to look at our own house. So, taking steps to look at our employment policies; look at our diversity, equity and inclusion training internally. We’ve engaged external consultants to help build programs internally. We’ve created a diversity, equity and inclusion council to look at strands in our marketing, in our human talent practices, in our employee engagement practices. 

We’ve done surveys and really looked at how can we be better, because our feelings are, if we’re responsible for creating products that affect our society, we better look internally and make sure our company internally reflects well the society that we live in. And then we’re doing it in a way that creates the sense of belonging for everyone at our company.

Samir Husni: Is there anything you’d like to add?

Kent Johnson: I’ve really learned during this pandemic, as a leader of an organization, I’ve realized how much more important it is for me to focus on how our people are doing than it is for me to focus on how they’re doing the work. The power of engagement, community, belonging, social and emotional well-being in an organization, that power will never cease to amaze me. And that’s what has gotten us through.

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click?

Kent Johnson: One of my focuses through this pandemic has been trying to focus on the idea of making sure I have enough gas in the tank. I think it’s emotionally and physically taxing to live under the stress of the pandemic, the stress of what’s going on, the divisiveness in our society and the concerns we all have for our teams and our business in this environment. 

To be honest, I’m focusing more than usual on going to bed early; on making sure I get my exercise. And I know that sounds pretty basic, but I  think when we’re involved in an organization where we want to take care of each other, it’s important that we’re also taking care of ourselves and making sure that we have the energy and the emotional capacity to lean into those things that matter, our family, our work family and our extended family that we’re not seeing.

So for me, it’s been about just trying to stay engaged and trying to do those basic things right. So, I go to bed about an hour earlier than I do in non-pandemic times. 

Samir Husni: How do you unwind after a busy day?

Kent Johnson: Obviously, our house with two kids at home; I’m sure our Netflix bandwidth is pretty large. (Laughs) I try to watch some videos that allow you to escape. I’ve also increased my amount of reading. When we’re on the screen so much we need some way to unwind. I certainly like meditation apps, but I’ve been reading more nonfiction, more history. Just taking that time that can be a little bit disconnected from this time, from media, from politics – let’s go back to the 1800s; let’s go back to an earlier time and continue learning. 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Kent Johnson: It’s always people. I think our people are really stressed. I keep telling my team to take 10 days off this holiday. What keeps me up? I’m a little tired; I’m pretty engaged with work and life, but I’m nervous about the toll this is having on society. 

Going back to virtual learning, the data we’re seeing across the country on what’s happening to kids in schools who are learning virtually or are not participating virtually, the disruption to schoolkids, which I think sometimes people focus on the math and reading, I’m not that worried about the math and reading, what I’m worried about is the social/emotional impact and how are we going to help kids recover and respond to the trauma they’re experiencing and get back into the learning track. That’s probably what I’m most worried about. And I do lose sleep.

If the world were right, our country would have to make a significant investment in helping kids recover from this experience and I’m worried we don’t have the will or the resources to do what we’re going to need to do for kids over the next five years. As we fight, we’re not talking about how much we’re going to have to invest in kids who have had a pretty hard go with this pandemic. 

Samir Husni: Thank you. 

Up next: David Parry, CEO, A360 Media

A Mr. Magazine™ Editorial

The “Bloom” in the midst of gloom and doom. Magazines and magazine media have mainly focused on the positive and been an advocate for easing the pain and stopping the hate, seeking to help their audiences both in print and online. For these uncertain times and an audience that is constantly bombarded with bad news, magazines are like trusted friends that you can visit with while they console and encourage you in the midst of a pandemic and social and racial conflicts. 

2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, I offer up my end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on 2020 and what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. 

Keeping the faith, easing the pain, stopping the hate, spreading the love and hoping that this too shall behind us.

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2021

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D.

“I’ll speak for ours (Print) and it could apply to others globally. We are like someone’s happy thought when we show up in the mail amidst all kinds of uninvited and unwelcomed material. We are the thing that is a moment, an opportunity for people to spend some time thinking about studying some of the things that they love best.” Andy Clurman…

Bloom in the Midst of Gloom and Doom … Magazine Media 2021  Part 5: Andy Clurman, President & CEO, Active Interest Media

2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, Mr. Magazine™ offers up his end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. Our next magazine media president has arrived. Please enjoy…

One of the world’s largest enthusiast media companies, Active Interest Media (aimmedia.com) produces leading consumer and trade events, websites, magazines, and films and TV shows that reach millions of readers, fans, and attendees in 85 countries. AIM powers the second-richest equestrian competition in the world, the World Series of Team Roping. Understandably, 2020 has been a different year for the enthusiast world as well as all of us.

Andy Clurman is president and CEO of the company and said the biggest challenge for the company this year has been remapping the way AIM conducted its business. I spoke with Andy recently and we talked about this difficult year and the way AIM handled itself during the onset of the pandemic and the successes and challenges they have had so far. 

It was an informative conversation and one that inspired hope and continued energy for the world of magazines and magazine media. So, please enjoy the fifth installment of the Mr. Magazine™ end of the year interviews with Andy Clurman, president & CEO, Active Interest Media (AIM).

But first the sound-bites:

On the biggest challenge that AIM faced in 2020 and how the company overcame it: I’d say the biggest challenge was just remapping our work life, our product portfolio, and emphasizing what we said about combining frequencies of different print issues because advertising had collapsed in the spring and early summer. We didn’t want to lay anybody off, that was always a high priority. So, we redeployed people and put them to work on a big ecommerce initiative that was showing promise around the company.

On the roadmap for AIM into 2021: As the business has evolved and we see other opportunities out there, it’s clear to us that there are some different opportunities and possibilities that aren’t all similar across all of our groups and finding investors who have a category-focused strategy and the capital to support it in some cases is better than us trying to ration resources and grow all things all the time across multiple different verticals.

On the future of print: I’ll speak for ours and it could apply to others globally. We are like someone’s happy thought when we show up in the mail amidst all kinds of uninvited and unwelcomed material. We are the thing that is a moment, an opportunity for people to spend some time thinking about studying some of the things that they love best. Like others, we have put more into print to make it an even better physical, tactile experience and a premium product, which I think serves a very different purpose than how people are engaging digitally.

On the changes he sees on the horizon for magazines and magazine media: The old tried-and-true business model was the magazine being the mother ship and the source of all other lines of business, whether it was licensing, a website, or what have you, now the magazine is just one of the planets in this whole galaxy of content and customer connections that you have. It’s continuing to evolve to where you’re able to think about that whole galaxy of content and relationships and grow and sustain all of the points of that as opposed to having it heavily skewed toward emphasis on print or emphasis just on digital.

On some of the things AIM is doing to implement more diversity and inclusion into the company: It’s education first. And that’s what we’ve been focusing on. How do we understand in a deeper way what we should be doing, could be doing, and how to think about it as opposed to the way we’ve all been trained and the structures and the conventions that have led to where we are right now. I think it’s energizing to not just respond, but to think about how we could do things differently that would bring in other kinds of voices and faces to what has been a pretty homogenous group.

On any active initiatives to educate employees about diversity and inclusion: Yes, we created a Jedi task force, which is Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and is a cross-section of people from the company. We also brought in an ad hoc diversity officer who has been leading this in terms of sourcing, education, facilitating conversations, doing content and promotional audits, hiring practices, so really looking top to bottom through our organization and our messaging and content. And strategically are there different organizations’ approaches within a different group?

On anything he’d like to add: We’re very grateful for where we are right now. I’ll say that this year has been and continues to be a major test, but I think if you went around and asked people in our company how they’re feeling, I believe they are feeling energized and gratified by the reinforcement for what we’re doing and that it matters to people and is something that people, no matter what’s happening in the world around them, will continue to value and make a place for in their lives. And that’s sort of the punchline to this terrible joke we’ve all been living through. 

On what makes him tick and click: I’ve always been an idea guy. I love working with our group to come up with the next thing or to activate someone else’s great idea, then watching it proliferate through the company, watching it proliferate through our audience and our community. I get a lot of weird satisfaction from that.

On how unwinds at the end of the day: I’m very fortunate to live in Colorado. So, right outside my door there is always opportunities for a long bike ride or a hike or all kinds of things. I just got a hip replacement recently, so now I’m focusing on physical therapy, that’s my release. I’m hoping to get back to the great outdoors as soon as I can.

On what keeps him up at night: You think you know the unknowns as you navigate life as we now know it. And every once and awhile, you can’t escape that uneasy feeling that you don’t know all the unknowns. Other than that, I tend to sleep pretty well.

And now for the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with Andy Clurman, president & CEO, Active Interest Media.

Samir Husni: 2020 has been one of the most difficult years for all of us, on all fronts. What has been the biggest challenge that AIM (Active Interest Media) has had to face this year and how did you overcome it?

Andy Clurman: It evolved overtime as we experienced, understood and reacted to all the things happening in the country and the universe. Normally, and I’ve been in this industry for a long time, you tend to have an outdated convention, but you used to have a Rolodex of ways to solve problems. You came to work, something cropped up and you remembered how you’d solved it in years past. But there was no Rolodex or no tried-and-true solution to the pandemic. It was of course something that none of us had experienced in our lifetime. 

The level of social and civil unrest, very few of us had experienced in our lifetimes, depending upon your age. So it was uncharted territory as we first began to understand the gravity and depth of what the pandemic was going to impact on everybody, personally, professionally and socially. 

We operate without a major financial net most of the time. And recognizing that businesses were shutting down, our customers in many cases were shutting down their brick and mortar storefronts, consumer demand was plummeting, people were shut-in and staying at home, we first went into a rapid situation of assessment modeling where we didn’t know if the business and demand would just collapse. Would people stop buying things if outlets for physical products were closed? Advertising was cascading downward. 

So, we did a lot of very quick what-if scenarios and looked at our whole portfolio. What are the things in different categories, things that would absolutely be negatively impacted very quickly? Things that might actually benefit from people buying virtually via ecommerce, consuming content virtually, still being able to get magazines in subscription form to people’s homes, and that led to a whole series of decisions that we made, which fortunately turned out to be successful.

Things like certain issues of certain magazines; other people have done this where you combine frequency, suspended some products. All of our physical events were shut down, so which events could we transform into a virtual experience, a hybrid experience. Is there another way to accomplish a similar task or put a different product out into the marketplace? 

Then we wondered what was going to happen to our workplace in terms of how we work, where we work. How are we technology-enabled and do we have all the tools in place; do we have the right support for the staff to do what they do; how are they feeling, are they healthy; can we help them financially? 

I’d say the biggest challenge was just remapping our work life, our product portfolio, and emphasizing what we said about combining frequencies of different print issues because advertising had collapsed in the spring and early summer. We didn’t want to lay anybody off, that was always a high priority. So, we redeployed people and put them to work on a big ecommerce initiative that was showing promise around the company. 

Samir Husni: What’s your roadmap for AIM as you move toward 2021?

Andy Clurman: We’ve been on a fairly traditional course since we started the company, which was to build a large scale, multimedia enthusiast business across multiple categories. And I think we’ve accomplished that very successfully, at least the initial strategy and roadmap that we created 15 years ago. 

As the business has evolved and we see other opportunities out there, it’s clear to us that there are some different opportunities and possibilities that aren’t all similar across all of our groups and finding investors who have a category-focused strategy and the capital to support it in some cases is better than us trying to ration resources and grow all things all the time across multiple different verticals.

So that led to the sale of one of our larger groups to a group that has a very focused category strategy, very focused category investment, and we thought that would be a good way for them to accelerate growth of that group and let them pursue their opportunities. So, meanwhile we’re doing the same thing with the rest of the company. We’re still very vested in horses, homes and the marine industry. And again, even though there are different opportunities there, we have the ability to put the resources we have against growing their lines of business. 

For example, I think one of the silver linings around COVID is people with more time and interest in our online education writer’s group and our woodworking group has really taken off. As well as digital woodworking plans and digital products for people who are at home doing the things they love. 

So, we really want to double-down on those categories. And even though post-pandemic, there’s a COVID bump, I believe, that we all have experienced in parts of the business that may secede as we get through next year, but this has showed us some of the opportunities of the products that we consider to be ancillary to other lines of business that could be much bigger if we put the focus on them. 

Samir Husni: What is the future of the print portfolio?

Andy Clurman: I’ll speak for ours and it could apply to others globally. We are like someone’s happy thought when we show up in the mail amidst all kinds of uninvited and unwelcomed material. We are the thing that is a moment, an opportunity for people to spend some time thinking about studying some of the things that they love best. Like others, we have put more into print to make it an even better physical, tactile experience and a premium product, which I think serves a very different purpose than how people are engaging digitally. 

We obviously have multiple, multiple platforms, but from what we’ve seen, there has been a surprising boon in print subscriptions this year. Things that were questionable, we are now even more convinced they have a long-term viability and a place in people’s media diet. 

Samir Husni: In general, what do you see on the horizon for magazines and magazine media? What are some of the changes you see taking place? 

Andy Clurman: The old tried-and-true business model was the magazine being the mother ship and the source of all other lines of business, whether it was licensing, a website, or what have you, now the magazine is just one of the planets in this whole galaxy of content and customer connections that you have. It’s continuing to evolve to where you’re able to think about that whole galaxy of content and relationships and grow and sustain all of the points of that as opposed to having it heavily skewed toward emphasis on print or emphasis just on digital. 

The words diversification and balance, and this year really was the biggest proof and test of that. What would your business look like if your advertising was down thirty, forty, fifty percent? Do you still have a business? And thankfully, we answered and have driven through that scenario pretty successfully. So, it’s given us a lot more confidence and enthusiasm for the fact that there really is a great business here, but you can’t think of it in limited dimensions.

Samir Husni: Beside COVID, 2020 was a year filled with upheaval. Whether it was social injustices and Black Lives Matter, diversity, equality, or inclusion. And at last count in the past several months there have been over 318 magazines that have had Black subjects on the cover, which is more than there has been in the last 60 years. What are some of the things that you’re doing now to ensure that social responsibility, inclusion, diversity and equality are taking place at AIM?

Andy Clurman: We, in the magazine media, have always thought of ourselves as fairly progressive, enlightened and have not really been at the forefront of accountability around social progression. I think what’s really been brought to the light this year is our audiences, whether it’s younger people or people in the outdoors within our broader audiences, which do have different levels of diversity, have called us to task, which is reasonable and appropriate. 

To think about not just how we present content and what’s the diversity in the content, but how our whole industry and organizations look. Which to be fair, there is a very low level of diversity that we’ve accomplished, both as an industry and in media. And some of the underlying industries that we serve.

It’s education first. And that’s what we’ve been focusing on. How do we understand in a deeper way what we should be doing, could be doing, and how to think about it as opposed to the way we’ve all been trained and the structures and the conventions that have led to where we are right now. I think it’s energizing to not just respond, but to think about how we could do things differently that would bring in other kinds of voices and faces to what has been a pretty homogenous group.

Samir Husni: Are you taking any active initiatives to educate employees about diversity and inclusion?

Andy Clurman: Yes, we created a Jedi task force, which is Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and is a cross-section of people from the company. We also brought in an ad hoc diversity officer who has been leading this in terms of sourcing, education, facilitating conversations, doing content and promotional audits, hiring practices, so really looking top to bottom through our organization and our messaging and content. And strategically are there different organizations’ approaches within a different group? 

People in the marine industry have a different approach than people in the horse industry, but all have their opportunities we’ve found to partner with different people. And a number of the groups have come up with very industry-specific categories, specific strategies, to bring in some new faces and voices.

Samir Husni: Is there anything you’d like to add?

Andy Clurman: We’re very grateful for where we are right now. I’ll say that this year has been and continues to be a major test, but I think if you went around and asked people in our company how they’re feeling, I believe they are feeling energized and gratified by the reinforcement for what we’re doing and that it matters to people and is something that people, no matter what’s happening in the world around them, will continue to value and make a place for in their lives. And that’s sort of the punchline to this terrible joke we’ve all been living through. 

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click?

Andy Clurman: I’ve always been an idea guy. I love working with our group to come up with the next thing or to activate someone else’s great idea, then watching it proliferate through the company, watching it proliferate through our audience and our community. I get a lot of weird satisfaction from that.

Samir Husni: How do you unwind at the end of the day?

Andy Clurman: I’m very fortunate to live in Colorado. So, right outside my door there is always opportunities for a long bike ride or a hike or all kinds of things. I just got a hip replacement recently, so now I’m focusing on physical therapy, that’s my release. I’m hoping to get back to the great outdoors as soon as I can. 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Andy Clurman: You think you know the unknowns as you navigate life as we now know it. And every once and awhile, you can’t escape that uneasy feeling that you don’t know all the unknowns. Other than that, I tend to sleep pretty well. 

Samir Husni: Thank you. 

Up next, Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlights for Children.

A Mr. Magazine™ Editorial

The “Bloom” in the midst of gloom and doom. Magazines and magazine media have mainly focused on the positive and been an advocate for easing the pain and stopping the hate, seeking to help their audiences both in print and online. For these uncertain times and an audience that is constantly bombarded with bad news, magazines are like trusted friends that you can visit with while they console and encourage you in the midst of a pandemic and social and racial conflicts. 

2020 is almost behind us with a brand new year just waiting in the wings expectantly. The hope is there for a return to normalcy, a return to sanity, where life doesn’t seem quite as different and complex as we all have recently experienced. With this in mind, I offer up my end of the year interviews with presidents and CEOs of major magazine media companies to get their take on 2020 and what they feel 2021 holds for each of their companies and magazines in general. 

Keeping the faith, easing the pain, stopping the hate, spreading the love and hoping that this too shall behind us.

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2021

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D.