Mr. Magazine

“Some of those things were super-hot, red-hot at the time, and then they simmered down. They worked for a lot of marketers, and they worked for a lot of magazine brands to bring exposure to the consumers out there for both the magazine brand and for the advertiser that locked into and surrounded themselves with that. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to a lot of really beautiful creative, running opposite or within great content and I think hopefully that things are getting back to the basics of just smart marketing for marketers, and creating really smart 360 programs where you’re delivering on the print message and then you’re also doing something crazy-smart digitally for them.” Jack Essig (On whether he thinks all of the new toys and bells and whistles of today are here to stay)

Jack Essig joined Hearst Men’s group in 2011 when it was a newly formed idea to bring the Group’s audiences together to amplify their advertising partners’ campaigns across a broader spectrum of men’s interests. Jack came from a strong and diverse background; from Men’s Journal to Men’s Health to Women’s Health, serving as publisher at the majority of those titles. So, it’s safe to say he has a deep knowledge of how to best serve his advertising partners and the brands’ readers.

I spoke with Jack on a recent visit to New York and we talked about the Hearst Men’s Group, Esquire in particular, and Jack admitted that these days 80 percent of his energies are devoted to Esquire, as he had fabulous publishers at his other titles, Car and Driver, Road & Track and Popular Mechanics, that kept the magazines running, sales-wise, like well-oiled machines. We also talked about his passion for the Hearst Men’s Group brands and how he and his team value the advertiser and the reader in everything that they do. It was a deeply knowledgeable look into the business side of some very successful titles and at a company (Hearst) that has always valued their print product as much as their digital innovations.

So, I hope that you enjoy this glimpse into the world of magazine revenue and business, and how print and digital play their inimitable roles throughout the process – the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Jack Essig, Chief revenue Officer, Hearst Men’s Group.

But first the sound-bites:

Jack Essig

On how his role as CRO has changed over the last five years he’s spent at Hearst: Honestly, I think David (Carey) and Michael (Clinton) brought me over because they anticipated changes happening. You have to understand; we created the Hearst Men’s Group really before a lot of other groups started consolidating a bit. So, that was the goal; how do we maximize these great brands under one marketing department? And how do we get the best automotive sales reps in the industry to rep all of these magazines? And it’s working.

On whether those changes were easy and a walk in the Rose Garden for him: No, I wouldn’t say that it was a walk in the Rose Garden, but I do love a challenge. And there was a lot of great talent out there that we brought on who could see the way the business was going and they embraced that, understanding that print is alive and well, but that we also had this huge opportunity to go after digital dollars.

On whether he thinks grouping magazines together is simply going back to our roots or it’s a new trend in the states: I think each brand has to have its individual voice, but I definitely believe that there are big opportunities in shared resources, and many times it can work best for the overall brand.

On how he divides his energies between all of the brands: Right now, I would say that I am putting 80 percent of my energy into Esquire. And I’m able to do that because we’ve got a great publisher on Car and Driver and Road & Track, Felix Difilippo, and a great publisher at Popular Mechanics, Cameron Connors. So, as much as I have daily check-ins with them and we’re forever talking about different accounts and how we can group them together and leverage them to give us the most business, I really am focused primarily on Esquire.

On how his job was impacted by the change from David Granger as editor in chief to Jay Fielden: With Esquire specifically, David Granger did a fantastic job and deserves all of the credit in the world for everything he did in his tenure here. What Jay is doing is sort of keeping what was always great about Esquire, such as how it was always rooted in journalism, and he’s also been a subscriber, reader of Esquire since he was, I believe he said, fourteen-years-old, so he has this great passion; he bleeds the brand. Jay came in and he had a very clear vision of where he could see it going. I think what has changed in magazines is we’d be foolish in thinking that affluent, successful, cultured men have the time or desire to read five to seven different magazines based on all of their varied interests. And what Esquire does best is it puts this great Esquire filter over all of those things that I might be interested in and delivers it in one place. And that I think we do much better than anybody else does.

On how he is using that filter to bring in more products to the brand: When we look at our overall editorial mix, we have grooming now in every single issue. Grooming is a category that men are not like women; they’re not talking to each other day-to-day about their grooming regiments, but I believe Esquire has the opportunity to be the source that they turn to, whether it is in the magazine or online, to get their grooming tips.

On whether his passion for the brands he has worked for, both past and present, is a reflection of him or rather the brands themselves: It is me. I need to believe in the brand that I sell. When I was at Traditional Home, my wife and I had just purchased our first home, so we were sort of diving deep into that world. And I really got behind that and I believed in what Traditional Home was doing at that time. And it continues to be a good brand. I saw early on what David and Michael were doing here (at Hearst) and how anything I heard them speak about reflected how they embraced magazines and media, and wanted to stay ahead of what was about to happen next. And not only the opportunity to come to Hearst, but to work on these brands, and that was the most ideal thing that I could think of. And I’ve been thrilled here for five years.

On whether advertisers come to him asking to be on the websites or the apps, or whether print is still the cornerstone of the brands: I think it depends on the ad category and then it depends on the advertiser. We’re so fortunate; all brands at Hearst are fortunate that if budgets do shift to digital, we have a stronger digital story than most out there. So, we can collect on those dollars. I think that we lead with the brand – say the brand of Esquire, we lead and that’s the cornerstone. It’s not necessarily just the magazine that’s the cornerstone. The magazine is one of the biggest spokes that we have, but we really are a 360 brand.

On Hearst’s continued investment in print, even when they were delving into digital: And you look at their track record of what they’ve invested in when others weren’t, some of the bestselling magazines on newsstand right now are launches like Food Network HGTV, so I think that if they’re investing in print right now, it goes to show that here are experts in this field and they’re still investing, and others should take note that print is alive and well from that Hearst proven track record.

On whether he thinks men’s magazines are coming of age and finding a broader audience: Car and Driver and Road & Track are doing exceptionally well; 2016 was an exceptional year for Popular Mechanics. And when you look at Esquire magazine, I think what Jay has done a good job with, and continues to, is that it’s a magazine that a father and son can enjoy together. It’s much less about a demographic, but much more about a sensibility. And I do believe that there are young men who are 27 and then there are men who are 57 that are having a harder time finding really smart content out there, and that have an appreciation for great writing and journalism.

On native advertising: That’s a tough question. I do believe that everyone looks at the whole native advertising concept very black or white, when it’s really a very gray area. I firmly believe, and we have so many examples, of delivering an advertiser’s message either in or around great edit. Done right, it enhances the reader’s experience and really puts the product front and center. I think Jay Fielden is absolutely open to talking about creative ways to incorporate the advertiser’s message throughout a lot of the content. And we have to be careful of who the advertiser is and what the content is. As long as there’s value to the reader, we are absolutely open to it because that’s the win-win we’re all looking for.

On what has been the biggest stumbling block he’s had to face: If it was a stumbling block or a real opportunity is that a lot of our marketers turn to us to be their marketing department. They have less and less time. And we may have looked at that as a stumbling block, but it was really the opportunity to help them and go back to them with solutions.

On whether he thinks all of the bells and whistles of today are here to stay or merely passing fads: I think any advertisers that were smart enough to jump in on a first-ever got a lot of PR, whether it was the Live Inc. cover or if it was an augmented reality. Esquire has always been known for great innovation. And people continue to ask us what the new, big thing that we’re working on is.

On the most pleasant moment he’s had over the last five years: There’s no doubt that 2016 was a really challenging year for many of us, but it was a time that this team worked so incredibly hard and we sold so many really, really smart programs. And we used the downturn to sort of prepare for the upturn, which we are hoping is 2017. We feel really ready for that. We used it as a time to get out with our message, the new message of Esquire; it is a new era and a new day at Esquire. That alone was an exciting time, but every win that you have, large or small, I think you celebrate.

On anything else he’d like to add: If we had to do this interview again in one year; I think it would be a really exciting read to see just how we talk about the new era of Esquire. And how that is really going to come to life this year, because I do think 2017 is going to be the year for Esquire.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly to his home one evening: I have four daughters and a wife and two dogs; you’d catch me multitasking something. I think I’m always and forever checking emails, but I’m probably working on some homework assignment and half eating dinner; there’s always a lot going on in the Essig house. My oldest is a senior in high school; she just turned 17. Recently one evening, we were talking a lot about her college applications; it’s an exciting time for her. And then my youngest is in fourth grade, so we’re going through a lot of her math problems and talking to them about their day.

On what keeps him up at night: That changes on any given day, but I think overall it’s: how do you stay ahead? It’s so exciting that we are part of an industry that continues to evolve and I think our success comes from us staying ahead of the pack, leading. At any given time we have 10 big ideas out there. What keeps me up at night is wondering how I can close these big ideas.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Jack Essig, Chief Revenue Officer, Hearst Men’s Group.

Samir Husni: You just celebrated your fifth anniversary at Hearst, and quite a number of changes have taken place under your tenure with the company; how has your role as chief revenue officer changed over the course of those five years?

Jack Essig: Honestly, I think David (Carey) and Michael (Clinton) brought me over because they anticipated changes happening. You have to understand; we created the Hearst Men’s Group really before a lot of other groups started consolidating a bit. So, that was the goal; how do we maximize these great brands under one marketing department? And how do we get the best automotive sales reps in the industry to rep all of these magazines? And it’s working.

So, I think we had a vision early on and we’re always trying to stay ahead of what’s going to happen and embrace how our business continues to evolve.

Samir Husni: And was that a walk through the Rose Garden for you; was it easy?

Jack Essig: No, I wouldn’t say that it was a walk in the Rose Garden, but I do love a challenge. And there was a lot of great talent out there that we brought on who could see the way the business was going and they embraced that, understanding that print is alive and well, but that we also had this huge opportunity to go after digital dollars. No matter what the client was asking for, we wanted to create a group that could deliver on all of those things.

Samir Husni: Historically speaking, Esquire was always a part of a group. I did some research and went back to my vault and dug up the first issue of Esquire; the fifth anniversary issue, but they were part of a group of Coronet and Ken, which was an oversized, political weekly in the 1930s, published by David Smart. So, there was always this connectivity, and with some very big names as well. Ernest Heming way was supposed to be the editor of Ken magazine, but they had one article from him in that first issue and then they had a sidebar that read despite Hemingway’s promise to read and edit all of the articles, he never participated in any way, but they would keep him on the masthead as a contributing writer until he either resigned or they fired him. (Laughs) And then of course, he began writing for Esquire later.

Jack Essig: (Laughs too.)

Samir Husni: Do you think this is the future; are we taking a page from the past? There is nothing new in grouping those magazines, and David Smart was the publisher of all three. Are we going back to our roots or is this a new trend in the States?

Jack Essig: I think each brand has to have its individual voice, but I definitely believe that there are big opportunities in shared resources, and many times it can work best for the overall brand.

Samir Husni: With all of these different brands, how easy is it for you to shuffle between them, or not to be tempted to put more energy into one than the other?

Jack Essig: Right now, I would say that I am putting 80 percent of my energy into Esquire. And I’m able to do that because we’ve got a great publisher on Car and Driver and Road & Track, Felix Difilippo, and a great publisher at Popular Mechanics, Cameron Connors. So, as much as I have daily check-ins with them and we’re forever talking about different accounts and how we can group them together and leverage them to give us the most business, I really am focused primarily on Esquire.

And that’s what’s super-exciting; it’s a whole new era at Esquire. There’s so much that we need to do, but we have the product to do it and the voice to make some noise. And people really want to hear what’s going on at Esquire, so that’s taking up the majority of my time and excites me.

Samir Husni: You’ve been here since David Granger was the editor, but now with Jay Fielden as the new editorial director and editor in chief; did that impact your role at all? How did the market react to the change?

Jack Essig: I’ve always been a huge Esquire fan. And that was why it was so easy to come, not only to Esquire, which is a brand that I’ve always loved, but all four of the brands that are in the Hearst’s Men’s Group, I’ve always had a great respect for, and really liked. So, it was easy for me to come over here.

But with Esquire specifically, David Granger did a fantastic job and deserves all of the credit in the world for everything he did in his tenure here. What Jay is doing is sort of keeping what was always great about Esquire, such as how it was always rooted in journalism, and he’s also been a subscriber, reader of Esquire since he was, I believe he said, fourteen-years-old, so he has this great passion; he bleeds the brand. Jay came in and he had a very clear vision of where he could see it going. I think Jay has an incredible pulse of what our readers want from this brand and he is going to deliver on that promise.

So, I wouldn’t say that everything has completely blown up and changed. I think Esquire is always going to be known and rooted for the best quality. If it comes from Esquire, it’s got to be true journalism. I just think that we’re incorporating more. The idea being, we’re not trying to be everything to everybody; we’re trying to be most things to this one particular, sophisticated guy across many different categories.

I think what has changed in magazines is we’d be foolish in thinking that affluent, successful, cultured men have the time or desire to read five to seven different magazines based on all of their varied interests. And what Esquire does best is it puts this great Esquire filter over all of those things that I might be interested in and delivers it in one place. And that I think we do much better than anybody else does.

Samir Husni: And how are you using that filter to bring new products to the magazines?

Jack Essig: When we look at our overall editorial mix, we have grooming now in every single issue. Grooming is a category that men are not like women; they’re not talking to each other day-to-day about their grooming regiments, but I believe Esquire has the opportunity to be the source that they turn to, whether it is in the magazine or online, to get their grooming tips.

I think the same is true around fashion. We are a trusted source, men don’t want to know what just came off of the runway; they want and they have the propensity to spend on brands they believe in, but they want to turn to Esquire to see how they can dress it up or dress it down.

Samir Husni: You talk with such passion about Esquire and about what’s happening with the magazine. I have to ask, when you were at Traditional Home, did you always have that same passion, or when you moved to Men’s Health or Women’s Health; is that you or is it the reflection of the brand on you?

Jack Essig: It is me. I need to believe in the brand that I sell. When I was at Traditional Home, my wife and I had just purchased our first home, so we were sort of diving deep into that world. And I really got behind that and I believed in what Traditional Home was doing at that time. And it continues to be a good brand.

But then I really did set my sights on following other passions that I had. I went from there to Men’s Journal, which was a magazine that I subscribed to, and I loved my time there. And then I went on to become the publisher of Men’s Health magazine. I was big into triathlons and fitness is a part of my life. And then we launched Women’s Health, which is also a great magazine.

From there it was the opportunity to come to Hearst. I saw early on what David and Michael were doing here and how anything I heard them speak about reflected how they embraced magazines and media, and wanted to stay ahead of what was about to happen next. And not only the opportunity to come to Hearst, but to work on these brands, and that was the most ideal thing that I could think of. And I’ve been thrilled here for five years.

Samir Husni: When I used to speak with CEOs and other industry leaders back in the ‘80s, the Golden Age of magazines; magazines were always referred to as a printed product, and that is still my own definition of a magazine today; if it’s not ink on paper, it’s not a magazine. Find another name for it. It’s a great platform, but why should we call it a magazine? Nobody ever called television radio with pictures. The editor of Forbes, Randall Lane, recently said they’ve made the magazine more magazine-ier, and that’s why he believes that their print readership is the highest now than it’s been in their 99 years. With Esquire and Popular Mechanics, there is a lot of history behind all of these titles; do you now differentiate when you’re selling these brands? Do advertisers come to you and say they need to be on the websites or on the apps or is print still the cornerstone of the brands?

Jack Essig: I think it depends on the ad category and then it depends on the advertiser. We’re so fortunate; all brands at Hearst are fortunate that if budgets do shift to digital, we have a stronger digital story than most out there. So, we can collect on those dollars. I think that we lead with the brand – say the brand of Esquire, we lead and that’s the cornerstone. It’s not necessarily just the magazine that’s the cornerstone. The magazine is one of the biggest spokes that we have, but we really are a 360 brand.

And I think what advertisers are turning to us for is big ideas, because they know that we can deliver and we have the proven track record to deliver on these ideas. We spend a lot of our time showing advertisers case studies of others who have felt the same way and have had the same issues, and here’s how we problem-solved for them.

Samir Husni: I give David and Michael credit anytime I write or speak about Hearst; it was the only company that did not abandon print when they began to dive into digital.

Jack Essig: You’re absolutely right.

Samir Husni: They upsized the magazines and upgraded the paper; Hearst was one of the few companies that invested in print at the same time they were investing in digital.

Jack Essig: And you look at their track record of what they’ve invested in when others weren’t, some of the bestselling magazines on newsstand right now are launches like Food Network HGTV, so I think that if they’re investing in print right now, it goes to show that here are experts in this field and they’re still investing, and others should take note that print is alive and well from that Hearst proven track record.

Samir Husni: As a chief revenue officer in charge of the men’s category, are men’s magazines as a whole coming of age? Women’s magazines have previously been recognized as the ones that have the huge, thick issues and special editions; nobody ever talks about the “Seven Brothers.” People in the industry always refer to the “Seven Sisters.” Are we seeing a change in the marketplace?

Jack Essig: Car and Driver and Road & Track are doing exceptionally well; 2016 was an exceptional year for Popular Mechanics. And when you look at Esquire magazine, I think what Jay has done a good job with, and continues to, is that it’s a magazine that a father and son can enjoy together. It’s much less about a demographic, but much more about a sensibility. And I do believe that there are young men who are 27 and then there are men who are 57 that are having a harder time finding really smart content out there, and that have an appreciation for great writing and journalism.

And the idea that we respect their time enough to curate this magazine and deliver all of the information in one spot is not only appealing to readers, but also to our biggest advertisers and marketers and that’s what they love about the brand.

Samir Husni: I was reading a speech that Henry Luce gave in 1937 for the Connecticut Ad Club. He was struggling with life after one year of publishing and he said to the advertisers, and I’m paraphrasing somewhat, “You’re the only one I can come to; if you don’t support me, LIFE will not exist. I need you to buy X-number of pages.” Of course, I found out that someone wrote in Fortune years later that he’d had a few too many drinks before he gave the speech. (Laughs) And I found a lot of native advertising in the old LIFE magazines and in Esquire, they never called it native advertising, but it was there. Who has your mantra quote; if you were to appear in the magazine industry court, who would be your defender and prosecutor?

Jack Essig: That’s a tough question. I do believe that everyone looks at the whole native advertising concept very black or white, when it’s really a very gray area. I firmly believe, and we have so many examples, of delivering an advertiser’s message either in or around great edit. Done right, it enhances the reader’s experience and really puts the product front and center. I think Jay Fielden is absolutely open to talking about creative ways to incorporate the advertiser’s message throughout a lot of the content. And we have to be careful of who the advertiser is and what the content is. As long as there’s value to the reader, we are absolutely open to it because that’s the win-win we’re all looking for.

It’s not easy; because I think too many people might do it much like advertorials. Advertorials, early on, were smart. And then people starting getting loose with them and they didn’t look as great. And consumers were smarter than that. With a lot of this native advertising, some brands have diluted it to a point where the reader could see through it, and frankly I thought that the marketers should have realized that it did more harm than good. Done right, it is the win-win that we’re looking for.

And that’s what good communication with your editor, being in lock-step with what the editors are doing, and then in the big, big ideas, incorporating the seed of an idea before anything is flushed out. Working with your advertising partner in incorporating their DNA right in the big overall initiative; the editorial initiative that you’re doing, so that the editors are right there with you and the advertiser, talking about how this is all going to look. And then managing their expectations and setting real goals, because at the end of the day, if you help in achieving and surpassing what the advertiser’s original goal was and you sell product, you’re only going to become that much closer to your marketing partner.

Samir Husni: I saw a picture in the office of the editor of Western Horseman magazine in Colorado Springs a few years back when they were still there He had an ad that he’d framed from some old magazine and the words: If you create a great magazine for the readers, you’ll be creating a great magazine for the advertisers.

Jack Essig: I totally believe that.

Samir Husni: People buy the magazines for both. You’ll never find anybody tearing the ads from a magazine before they start reading the articles, like we do with the DVR. What has been the biggest stumbling block that you’ve faced in these last five years and how did you overcome it?

Jack Essig: If it was a stumbling block or a real opportunity is that a lot of our marketers turn to us to be their marketing department. They have less and less time. And we may have looked at that as a stumbling block, but it was really the opportunity to help them and go back to them with solutions.

We talk a lot in our sales and marketing meetings about the fact that we’re most effective when we listen more than we are if we just assume that we know what they’re trying to face, because the more information that we can get from these advertisers about what they need help with solving, the more we can go back and ideate and really come up with an answer that suits what they’re looking to do and can be delivered out to all of our readers.

So, a stumbling block would be, are we staying ahead of what the next new shiny toy is? I think we’re fortunate to be a part of Hearst because we are given the resources to arm everybody with whatever that new thing is. But we’re really focused on what the readers want and working closely with the editorial department to deliver that.

Samir Husni: You mentioned the new toys; do you think that all of these toys and gimmicks that we’ve implemented within the magazines, whether it’s augmented reality; the new things that Condé Nast said they were going to do, in terms of some visual AR. Do you think these things are fads or are they here to stay? And are they helping your job?

Jack Essig: I think any advertisers that were smart enough to jump in on a first-ever got a lot of PR, whether it was the Live Inc. cover or if it was an augmented reality. Esquire has always been known for great innovation. And people continue to ask us what the new, big thing that we’re working on is.

Some of those things were super-hot, red-hot at the time, and then they simmered down. They worked for a lot of marketers, and they worked for a lot of magazine brands to bring exposure to the consumers out there for both the magazine brand and for the advertiser that locked into and surrounded themselves with that. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to a lot of really beautiful creative, running opposite or within great content and I think hopefully that things are getting back to the basics of just smart marketing for marketers, and creating really smart 360 programs where you’re delivering on the print message and then you’re also doing something crazy-smart digitally for them. And perhaps it’s celebrated with a great event.

Samir Husni: What has been the most pleasant moment during the last five years?

Jack Essig: There’s no doubt that 2016 was a really challenging year for many of us, but it was a time that this team worked so incredibly hard and we sold so many really, really smart programs. And we used the downturn to sort of prepare for the upturn, which we are hoping is 2017. We feel really ready for that. We used it as a time to get out with our message, the new message of Esquire; it is a new era and a new day at Esquire. That alone was an exciting time, but every win that you have, large or small, I think you celebrate.

The most fun is having and building a team; it really is. The team here and you can feel it. And I love when people come to our floor and work with the Hearst Men’s Group and they see how everyone has a passion and conviction for what they do. And when you go in and you put yourselves in front of clients and you show that you bleed these brands and you really believe in the idea, that becomes contagious and they get super-excited about that and I’m told time and time again that we’re not only delivering a great idea, but that the entire team has passion behind that, which fuels us to go and sell the next one.

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

Jack Essig: If we had to do this interview again in one year; I think it would be a really exciting read to see just how we talk about the new era of Esquire. And how that is really going to come to life this year, because I do think 2017 is going to be the year for Esquire.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly to your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing; reading a magazine; reading your iPad; having a glass of wine; watching television; or something else?

Jack Essig: I have four daughters and a wife and two dogs; you’d catch me multitasking something. I think I’m always and forever checking emails, but I’m probably working on some homework assignment and half eating dinner; there’s always a lot going on in the Essig house. My oldest is a senior in high school; she just turned 17. Recently one evening, we were talking a lot about her college applications; it’s an exciting time for her. And then my youngest is in fourth grade, so we’re going through a lot of her math problems and talking to them about their day. I love my time with the girls.

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

Jack Essig: That changes on any given day, but I think overall it’s: how do you stay ahead? It’s so exciting that we are part of an industry that continues to evolve and I think our success comes from us staying ahead of the pack, leading. At any given time we have 10 big ideas out there. What keeps me up at night is wondering how I can close these big ideas.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

The Mr. Magazine™ Weekend Interview

“So, the printed magazine isn’t going away; it’s one element of everything else that we’re doing. And a very important element, because I’ll tell you, what Armando is being very humble about is that celebrities call him when they want to tell their baby stories, such as when they’re pregnant; or when they want to talk about divorces; illnesses that they’re battling. From the celebrity point of view, that magazine coverage is where they want their exclusives to appear.” Monique Manso

“In the beginning it was only the print. And then we created the website; the social media, we’re really growing in social media. We also have the 50 Most Beautiful Hispanics; the 25 Most Powerful Women, so we’re events, we’re print, we’re social media. People en Español is like a force right now in the Hispanic market.” Armando Correa

People en Español is the largest selling Hispanic magazine in the United States and it’s also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. For a project that was only given, according to its Editor in Chief, Armando Correa, a five-year lifespan, the magazine isn’t doing too bad at all. Published 11 times a year, People en Español reaches an audience of 7 million every month with its editorial mix of Hispanic and popular entertainment, fashion and beauty trends, and compelling human-interest stories. The brand’s social media footprint includes 1,320,000 followers on Twitter, over 3,960,781 “Likes” on Facebook and 1,300,000 followers on Instagram. And its live event Festival, a two-day event that has become one of the most-anticipated celebrations of Hispanic culture in the country is in its fifth year and growing annually. So, for a five-year prediction, this 20-year vet of the magazine industry is proving that the printed page, combined with all of the digital and live components together can far exceed expectations.

I recently spoke with Armando Correa, editor in chief and Monique Manso, vice-president and brand sales director about People en Español’s past, present and future. Armando has been there since the beginning and his faith in the brand has never wavered. And Monique’s passion and love for the brand is highly contagious. It’s no wonder People en Español shows no signs of resting on its laurels, as it prepares to penetrate the Latin American market even more with new extensions of the brand like Chica and Ponte Bella, in-book inserts that appear to be growing and taking on a life of their own.

So, I hope that you enjoy this Mr. Magazine™ interview with two people who work diligently and very complementary together to keep their brand at the top of its game, Armando Correa, Editor in Chief & Monique Manso, Vice-President, Brand Sales Director, People en Español.

But first the sound-bites:

Armando Correa

On whether Armando Correa ever thought the magazine would be celebrating its 20th anniversary (Armando Correa): When I came to New York in 1997, they hired me as a senior writer and I moved from Miami to New York. I sold my house and I left a steady job at the Miami Herald, the Spanish edition, and the editor of People en Español at that time told me the job was only going to be for five years. And now we’re celebrating 20 years.

On whether they’re seeing a larger Hispanic market opening up or just competition as more and more new Hispanic titles are being launched each year (Monique Manso): I wouldn’t say that we’ve seen a huge boom in the marketplace, but I do believe that there are marketers that have never been really focused on the Hispanic community before that are now suddenly targeting them and looking for an eye toward growth. But our growth has been so organic over the past 20 years that Armando and his team have grown this audience by giving the reader what they want.

On what role the print component of People en Español plays in editorial decisions (Armando Correa): People en Español is a Spanish magazine for the entire Spanish community. We’re talking about people who are English dominant, Spanish dominant, bilingual, multicultural and multigenerational. And the Spanish dominance of this audience is the unifier. We’re talking about people who are the stock in Univision and Telemundo, watching soap operas in the Spanish market in primetime: 7, 8 and 9:00 p.m.

On what role the print component of People en Español plays in editorial decisions (Monique Manso): We act as, not only the unifier, but the curator, the funnel for all of that to come together in one place, where a Latino could certainly go to multiple locations to get this information; we’re the curator of everything under one umbrella; as I said whether it’s Univision, Telemundo, Hollywood, music, or Broadway.

Monique Manso

On whether they feel the curation aspect of what the magazine does can be done anywhere else other than in the printed edition (Monique Manso): The printed edition is only one place where we deliver that information. We deliver to people at peopleenespanol.com, and certainly through our social and mobile products. Socially, our editors here at People en Español have a huge audience, as well as peopleenespanol.com, and so print is only one place to tell a part of the story. But just like everybody else who is in the celebrity-entertainment news world, we’re doing all of our breaking news and our timely information digitally.

On whether he ever imagined that People en Español would receive the accolades that it has over the years and retain such longevity (Armando Correa): I was sure that People en Español would live longer than five years. I remember when we started the magazine; we had instead of the 50 Most Beautiful, the 25 Most Beautiful and half of them were from the general market, people like Julia Roberts. Right now we have the 50 Most Beautiful, all of them Hispanic. And you can go from Jennifer Lopez to all the talent from Univision and Telemundo. And next year for 2017, we’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 50 Most Beautiful franchise and we’ll celebrate with a list of 100.

On a stumbling block that they face (Monique Manso): I don’t think it’s a stumbling block, but I think it’s watching the changes in our audience. I’m a first generation Latino born in the U.S. married to a Latino male, who is a foreign-born Latino, and I have twin boys who are Latino, born in the U.S., and Armando has a very similar story to my husband, if you compare him to my husband. My twins are eight-years-old and Armando has children ranging from 13 to 5 years old. And I think the real question on everybody’s mind is what are these kids who are playing soccer on soccer fields or Lacrosse in mixed communities whose jerseys read Gomez or Gorrea; how are they going to consume media? I don’t think it’s a black and white answer.

On whether they would have been able to do any of this without the People brand attached to their title (Monique Manso): I guess we’ll never know, because that’s all we’ve ever been. But the reality is that it’s a very powerful name. We have the huge benefit of being part of the People family and being part of the Time Inc. family.

On whether we’ll be seeing a larger portion of the newsstands carrying more Hispanic magazines with all of the political and media attention Latinos have received recently (Monique Manso): I don’t know. I think that the very early closure of Glam Belleza and Cosmo Latina was probably something that made people pause and wonder just what was the right recipe for success. I mean Hola!; again, a beautiful publication, but this isn’t their first time at the rodeo. They’ve tried this before and have been unsuccessful. So, I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that I could predict that there would be more magazines. I think the folks that we have to keep our eyes on are some of those millennial offerings that are out there and really trying to develop a completely new space in the Hispanic community.

On whether they feel there is a part of the audience that Time Inc. as a whole isn’t reaching or they have everyone covered (Monique Manso): I think right now we have them covered. You’re right; the Essence Festival is the largest celebration of African American culture and that just turned 21-years-old. It happens in New Orleans every Fourth of July. We have a huge live events business coming out of Sports Illustrated. We’ve got the market cornered on the empowerment of Latino women and then the cultural celebration with Festival. Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit is an amazing experience that just passed, and now they have something for the millennial which is coming up in San Diego.

On any thoughts or worries about the upcoming election (Armando Correa): We have 27 million Hispanics right now with the right to vote and I think if that entire 27 million Hispanics go and vote on November 8th, we will be deciding who will be the next president.

On anything they would like to add (Monique Manso): From my end, I’m just really proud of continuing to be the number one brand in this country for this community, and having the most affluent readers. As the Latino community becomes more successful, they become more empowered and more affluent; we continue to serve that community.

On anything they would like to add (Armando Correa): People en Español is the number one brand in the United States and I think for the next year we’re looking for more penetration with Latin Americans. We’re working on it and you’re going to see that soon.

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening to either of their homes (Monique Manso): I have twin boys who are eight, so for me it’s all about spending quality time with them and making them feel special in the time that they have with me, whether it’s homework or watching a movie together. But if you caught me on a weekend, you’d also find me cooking, because it’s a real passion of mine and something very core to the Latino culture as well.

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening to either of their homes (Armando Correa): For me, taking care of the kids at night and during the weekends, and between 9:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., I write. I published my first fiction novel, and I’m still writing. That’s my therapy, some people meditate; I write.

On what keeps each of them up at night (Monique Manso): What keeps me up at night is how to best serve this community. If you’ve read the press recently, whether it’s around diversity in the workplace or Black Lives Matter; Corporate America, depending on how you look at it, can be struggling at times with how to be inclusive of our multicultural communities as a whole.

On what keeps each of them up at night (Armando Correa): I am very competitive and I am always trying to get all of the exclusives for the Hispanic market. Those exclusives have to be in People en Español. I’m fighting all of the time for all of the exclusives. People call me when they’re getting engaged or pregnant, and I want to know all of the exclusives, the biggest ones and the smallest ones.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Armando Correa, Editor in Chief & Monique Manso, Vice-President, Brand Sales Director, People en Español.

Samir Husni: Armando, did you ever in your wildest dreams think People en Español would be celebrating its 20th anniversary?

Armando Correa: When I came to New York in 1997, they hired me as a senior writer and I moved from Miami to New York. I sold my house and I left a steady job at the Miami Herald, the Spanish edition, and the editor of People en Español at that time told me the job was only going to be for five years. And now we’re celebrating 20 years.

Since the beginning I have believed in the market; I have believed in the project; and I have believed in Time Inc. and People en Español.

Samir Husni: This year alone we saw two new titles launching, Cara Mia from Argentina, and Hola! Made in USA; are you seeing a much bigger market for Hispanic magazines or are you just seeing more competition?

Armando Correa: It is a big market right now; we’re at 55 million Hispanics in the States. And we’re not exactly competing with Hola!

Monique Manso: No, we don’t view them as our competitor. I wouldn’t say that we’ve seen a huge boom in the marketplace, but I do believe that there are marketers that have never been really focused on the Hispanic community before that are now suddenly targeting them and looking for an eye toward growth. But our growth has been so organic over the past 20 years that Armando and his team have grown this audience by giving the reader what they want.

Hola! is one of the newest launches that you’re talking about, but two years ago we had Glam Belleza launch and Cosmo Latina, both of which folded and I think that they were beautiful products, but weren’t really studying their audience to see where that organic growth was coming from.

So, we play in a very different space; everything that we do at People en Español is through the filter of celebrity and entertainment. We are an entertainment news publication, we’re not a fashion magazine and we’re not a lifestyle publication; although we do incorporate some of that. So we do live in a unique space.

Samir Husni: Armando, in both celebrating 20 years and looking into the future, we know that the entire entertainment field has exploded, from TV to the Internet to social media. What role does a printed People en Español play in your editorial decisions of what to showcase in the magazine?

Armando Correa: People en Español is a Spanish magazine for the entire Spanish community. We’re talking about people who are English dominant, Spanish dominant, bilingual, multicultural and multigenerational. And the Spanish dominance of this audience is the unifier. We’re talking about people who are the stock in Univision and Telemundo, watching soap operas in the Spanish market in primetime: 7, 8 and 9:00 p.m.

Monique Manso: So, we’re the only place where they can get their Univision talent news and their Telemundo talent news and it could live side-by-side with stories from Hollywood and those celebrities that are coming, whether it’s the Eva Longoria’s of the world; the Salma Hayek’s, or the J Lo’s of the world. And that’s coupled with music that ranges from Mexican-regional to global pop, such as what Ricky Martin does.

We act as, not only the unifier, but the curator, the funnel for all of that to come together in one place, where a Latino could certainly go to multiple locations to get this information; we’re the curator of everything under one umbrella; as I said whether it’s Univision, Telemundo, Hollywood, music, or Broadway. You’ll see all of the coverage we’ve just done of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and that all comes with a very different point of view, because the editors of People en Español aren’t just telling the stories that a Hollywood Reporter can tell; their doing it with the DNA of the Hispanic community. So, our readers expect to see a very different side; a very personal side; a very culturally-relevant side of those stories that they wouldn’t get anywhere else.

Armando Correa: People en Español is defined by the access we have to the celebrities. We open the conversation with the celebrities and the audience trusts us.

Samir Husni: Do you think the printed magazine can be replaced when it comes to delivering that curation aspect, or do you feel that as long as we have that audience we will continue to have the printed edition of People en Español?

Monique Manso: The printed edition is only one place where we deliver that information. We deliver to people at peopleenespanol.com, and certainly through our social and mobile products. Socially, our editors here at People en Español have a huge audience, as well as peopleenespanol.com, and so print is only one place to tell a part of the story. But just like everybody else who is in the celebrity-entertainment news world, we’re doing all of our breaking news and our timely information digitally.

We also launched a product a few years ago in-book called Chica, which is an English-language insert and we did that because in studying our audience we realized that about 30 percent of our audience were millennials, so when Armando went on the road with the editors to talk to the audience about the redesign, he heard more and more from this millennial audience not to change a thing about their magazine; don’t change a thing about peopleenespanol.com, but they wanted more content, which would appeal to all of the aspects of their millennial lifestyle. And so we launched Chica in-book, but what you will see happen over the course of the next several months is you’ll see it really evolve into a much bigger digital play that will be predominantly English, in some cases bilingual.

The same will happen with another part of our brand called Ponte Bella, which is becoming more and more successful with that millennial audience online. So, the printed magazine isn’t going away; it’s one element of everything else that we’re doing. And a very important element, because I’ll tell you, what Armando is being very humble about is that celebrities call him when they want to tell their baby stories, such as when they’re pregnant; or when they want to talk about divorces; illnesses that they’re battling. From the celebrity point of view, that magazine coverage is where they want their exclusives to appear.

Armando Correa: In the beginning it was only the print. And then we created the website; the social media, we’re really growing in social media. We also have the 50 Most Beautiful Hispanics; the 25 Most Powerful Women, so we’re events, we’re print, we’re social media. People en Español is like a force right now in the Hispanic market.

Samir Husni: Armando, when you left your full-time job at the Miami Herald and People en Español told you it was only going to be a five-year project, did you ever dream that, one; you would be selected by myself and min as one of the hottest launches of the last 30 years, and two; that you would not only be celebrating 20 years, but looking forward to the next 20?

Armando Correa: I was sure that People en Español would live longer than five years. I remember when we started the magazine; we had instead of the 50 Most Beautiful, the 25 Most Beautiful and half of them were from the general market, people like Julia Roberts. Right now we have the 50 Most Beautiful, all of them Hispanic. And you can go from Jennifer Lopez to all the talent from Univision and Telemundo. And next year for 2017, we’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 50 Most Beautiful franchise and we’ll celebrate with a list of 100.

Samir Husni: What do you see as a major stumbling block that you’ll have to face and how will you overcome it?

Monique Manso: I don’t think it’s a stumbling block, but I think it’s watching the changes in our audience. I’m a first generation Latino born in the U.S. married to a Latino male, who is a foreign-born Latino, and I have twin boys who are Latino, born in the U.S., and Armando has a very similar story to my husband, if you compare him to my husband. My twins are eight-years-old and Armando has children ranging from 13 to 5 years old.

And I think the real question on everybody’s mind is what are these kids who are playing soccer on soccer fields or Lacrosse in mixed communities whose jerseys read Gomez or Gorrea; how are they going to consume media? I don’t think it’s a black and white answer. I believe we’re still living in a time where the average age of these young women who are reading our magazine and migrating to the U.S. came when they were 13, if they were foreign born. So, a lot of their DNA; a lot of who they were became already established, and they’re fully bilingual and they’re still really immersed in living in two cultures.

I don’t think this is a trip through the rose garden, but I do think that if anybody has proven themselves in the way that they can keep a finger on the pulse of what their audience wants, it’s this editorial team. And so they’re continuing to do that.

Twenty years ago, Armando’s predecessor may have rolled over and said are you crazy? I would never put an English language insert in my magazine, and here’s Armando 18 years later not only putting an English language insert in, but also developing an extension of the brand online in English and bilingual to give more content. And I think that over time we’ll continue to measure the appetite for that. I don’t think it’s one size fits all, because we’re never going to alienate our core audience, and even the youngest millennial, the 18 to the 24-year-olds, have said to us that Spanish makes them feel an emotional connection.

And the stories that we tell are emotional stories, whether it’s the birth of a new baby; a divorce; a human success story; these are all very emotional stories and there’s something attached to them that we appeal to.

Armando Correa: I remember when I talked to Benjamin Bratt during the ‘90s at the beginning of the magazine, he told me that when his mom came from Peru in the ‘60s and ‘70s, they tried to be integrated in the United States, but it was completely different than it is right now. And she said to him that he had to have an American name and he had to forget Spanish; he had to be fully integrated in this society if he wanted to be respected in the U.S.

Today, my children speak Spanish; Monique’s children speak Spanish, because now Hispanics are a force in the United States. We’re 55 million and we can keep our culture and be integrated in this society.

Monique Manso: The other thing that I wanted to talk about, and it’s sort of couched in a franchise that we’re focused on and developing is our 25 Most Influential Women franchise. This is a piece that started in-book in the magazine, where every editor of People en Español would celebrate the 25 Most Influential Women and year after year we’d look at very similar celebrities and entertainers, musical acts, etc. As time has gone on, we realized that our readers are incredibly focused on their careers. Never before in the history of Hispanic women have they been this successful and they’re really starting to shape the labor force for two reasons, one is pure volume; numbers and growth in this country, and the other is because they don’t come from the kind of financial stability that allows them to drop out of the labor force, so life-changes like babies and marriage or having to care for an elderly parent or parents; those two things, coupled with their success is really helping them to shape the labor force.

But interestingly, what we’ve learned after much research is that they don’t feel completely at home in their own homes because they may be more successful than anybody in their family and they don’t feel completely in place at work because of gender biases and racial biases, not malicious, just very subtle, and they feel like they don’t bring their true selves to work. So, again, that’s an example of how we show them (our readers) that success story.

And now with the 25 Most Influential franchise, we’re actually creating workshops and consumer-facing experiences where we bring females to speak about careers and entrepreneurship and empowerment. And many of these celebrities who show them another side of themselves as businesspeople, not just as the beautiful woman they see on the screen.

So, again, those are very emotional connections for women who are living in a predominantly English-language society at work during the day, but come home to a very culturally centered, relevant home.

Samir Husni: Would you be able to do any of this without the People brand attached to the title of the magazine?

Monique Manso: I guess we’ll never know, because that’s all we’ve ever been. But the reality is that it’s a very powerful name. We have the huge benefit of being part of the People family and being part of the Time Inc. family. When you look at Hispanics across all of Time Inc. by the way, just before you get to our third party partners and before you layer in the data-driven offerings that we have now through our new acquisition, Viant, we’re over 14 million Hispanics, so when you look at the Hispanic audience and at People magazine, Real Simple, In Style and Health; and at People en Español and many others here at Time Inc., you tie it altogether; we’ve go the largest Hispanic audience out there, bigger than Univision and Telemundo, and certainly bigger than any traditional Hispanic competitor in the field.

There are a lot of benefits in being a part of the Time Inc. family. We were born out of the People name; I’m sure you know the history and the story, Samir. During the tragic death of Selena, People covered the story and actually put Selena on the cover and that was way before my time here, but Armando still remembers the numbers. It sold over a million copies and everyone realized that this was an audience that was important. And that was way before the news that we saw in the last census.

Armando Correa: When they created People en Español, at the same time they created Teen People, but Teen People is gone and 18 years later we’re here celebrating our 20th anniversary. And Teen People grew faster than us. I remember we started with 120,000, and they went from 100,000 to 250,000, from 250,000 to a half million. And then, unfortunately, they disappeared a year later.

Samir Husni: I think they hit 1.6 million before they died.

Armando Correa: Exactly.

Samir Husni: Today, there is a lot of attention toward the Latino audience, whether it’s from the political right, left, or from the media; do you expect to see more magazines coming to the marketplace that will be integrated with all of the general interest magazines on the newsstand? Are we going see a bigger chunk of the newsstands carrying Hispanic-focused magazines?

Monique Manso: I don’t know. I think that the very early closure of Glam Belleza and Cosmo Latina was probably something that made people pause and wonder just what was the right recipe for success. I mean Hola!; again, a beautiful publication, but this isn’t their first time at the rodeo. They’ve tried this before and have been unsuccessful. So, I’m skeptical as well as to whether or not it’s going to happen. It’s also imported. There is no original content in Hola! Latinos are not stupid, so to give them a European-based publication with repurposed content that they can find on the web time and time again before it even hits the newsstand, I don’t think is the right way to go either.

So, I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that I could predict that there would be more magazines. I think the folks that we have to keep our eyes on are some of those millennial offerings that are out there and really trying to develop a completely new space in the Hispanic community. And they’re starting small, but with very good products and quite frankly, those are the kinds of folks that Armando and I are most interested in partnering with, because the other stuff; we have that down pat, right? Many people come to us looking for the scale that they can’t get on their own and we’re looking for ways to continue to develop new offerings, so I’m more focused on those kinds of spaces.

Armando Correa: And all these new products, they are concentrating on part of the market; we’re seeing the market as a whole.

Monique Manso: We’re branching out a lot in the digital space; as I said, with Ponte Bella and definitely Chica, keep your eye on those two, for sure. The other place is in the live events space. I told you about the 25 Most Influential Women experience, which I believe in addition to this consumer facing day of empowerment, careerism and professionalism can become so much more through E-learning series, networking events, speakers, bureaus and things like that.

And then in Hispanic Heritage month, we’ve created, quite frankly, the only one of its kind and the largest of its kind; a curated content experience with our Festival. So, there are amazing cultural events out there, such as Fiesta Broadway, and they are all phenomenal sampling opportunities. There are also amazing musical experiences out there, whether it’s the iHeartRadio Tour, etc., and those are all just concert experiences, but are phenomenal.

But what we’ve done is really bring together an entire experience during Hispanic heritage month that not only entertains, even though we’re People en Español, but in addition to entertaining, we inspire and inform and motivate. So, you’ll see us develop that more and more over time. It’s two full days of activities and we just celebrated our fifth year of this experience. So, five years later, again, many of our competitors have tried to launch live events’ experiences and they haven’t made it past year one or two. We bring the best and the brightest of Hollywood and Hispanic television, so whether it’s Wilmer Valderramam, who was there to inspire and motivate people to vote, to the most popular Univision and Telemundo talent; really, this live event experience is something that we continue to grow and that generates even more digital and social media content. And that’s really the space that we’re focused on.

Samir Husni: When we look at Time Inc. as a whole; the Essence Jazz Festival is one of the largest in the world, in terms of live events that’s hosted by a brand. And then you are doing live events and Time and Fortune are doing something on an international basis. From your experience and your work at Time Inc., is there any segment of the audience that you’re not reaching? Or do you feel you have it all covered?

Monique Manso: I think right now we have them covered. You’re right; the Essence Festival is the largest celebration of African American culture and that just turned 21-years-old. It happens in New Orleans every Fourth of July. We have a huge live events business coming out of Sports Illustrated. We’ve got the market cornered on the empowerment of Latino women and then the cultural celebration with Festival. Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit is an amazing experience that just passed, and now they have something for the millennial which is coming up in San Diego.

And then People is launching the Pro Beauty Tour and that will be focused on beauty, beauty, beauty. And EW has launched Pop Fest, which is all about pop culture. So, I think we’re pretty covered right now. I’m sure we’ll think of more. With Tasty we just did a breakfast event; it’s one of our new digital launches. Everything from epicurean to empowerment to sports to the Latino community to the African American community; we’ve got it all. And it’s becoming a real growing business for us.

Samir Husni: As we head toward electing a new president, any thoughts or worries about the upcoming election?

Armando Correa: We have 27 million Hispanics right now with the right to vote and I think if that entire 27 million Hispanics go and vote on November 8th, we will be deciding who will be the next president.

Monique Manso: Those Hispanics who don’t understand their rights or feel empowered to vote or feel as though their vote doesn’t matter; that’s the most important thing for us. It’s why we made it such a crucial part of our message during Festival on October 15th and 16th, because we feel the responsibility to use our power to convene; the power that Armando has to convene Latinos in such large numbers either through the printed page, through social media, or through digital. It’s our responsibility to use that power to convene to make them all understand how important their vote is.

Samir Husni: Is there anything that either of you would like to add?

Monique Manso: From my end, I’m just really proud of continuing to be the number one brand in this country for this community, and having the most affluent readers. As the Latino community becomes more successful, they become more empowered and more affluent; we continue to serve that community. We’ve got more moms, more homeowners, more millennials, than any of our competitors out there and I would just say that the listening tool that our editors have used has led to our success, and I think you’ll just continue to see us listen.

Armando Correa: People en Español is the number one brand in the United States and I think for the next year we’re looking for more penetration with Latin Americans. We’re working on it and you’re going to see that soon.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly one evening to your home what would I find you doing; reading a magazine; reading your iPad; watching television; having a glass of wine; or something else?

Monique Manso: I have twin boys who are eight, so for me it’s all about spending quality time with them and making them feel special in the time that they have with me, whether it’s homework or watching a movie together. But if you caught me on a weekend, you’d also find me cooking, because it’s a real passion of mine and something very core to the Latino culture as well. That’s me, but Armando just released a book, so I’m sure you’ll catch him writing. (Laughs)

Armando Correa: For me, taking care of the kids at night and during the weekends, and between 9:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., I write. I published my first fiction novel, and I’m still writing. That’s my therapy, some people meditate; I write.

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

Monique Manso: What keeps me up at night is how to best serve this community. If you’ve read the press recently, whether it’s around diversity in the workplace or Black Lives Matter; Corporate America, depending on how you look at it, can be struggling at times with how to be inclusive of our multicultural communities as a whole.

And so I think it’s really important that people in roles such as mine, which is the brand lead for People en Español and in such an important company like Time Inc., really sort of wave the baton loudly and proudly in front of everybody to ask, are we listening; are we including? And if we are to speak on behalf of our marketers to the community out there who is shopping for the products of our partners and who is watching their movies and driving their cars; let’s make sure that our inner organization looks like the external.

Armando Correa: I am very competitive and I am always trying to get all of the exclusives for the Hispanic market. Those exclusives have to be in People en Español. I’m fighting all of the time for all of the exclusives. People call me when they’re getting engaged or pregnant, and I want to know all of the exclusives, the biggest ones and the smallest ones.

Monique Manso: Yes, he’s about breaking the story fast and making sure that we’re the only ones to break it.

Armando Correa: And that’s my fight every night. At the same time, we run a business and I want to be in budget and those are some of the things that keep me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“I can tell you the obituary for the death of magazines has been written way too soon. We can see the longevity of magazines, not only with Gulfshore Life, but with all of Open Sky’s magazines; Austin Monthly, Marin Magazine, San Antonio Magazine and Oklahoma City. We can see a bright future for the regionalism of magazines.” Brett Wilson

Becoming involved in the community you live in has always been a good idea for everyone, magazines as well, and when you’re a regional publication; the more involvement, the better. Gulfshore Life magazine takes that theory to heart. Since 1970, Gulfshore Life magazine has captured the vibrant spirit, style and natural beauty of Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast, from Fort Myers and Cape Coral down to Naples and Marco Island. And they show no signs of slowing down now.

Around a year ago, the powers-that-be at the magazine decided to bring a seasoned veteran of the publishing business to its table by hiring Brett Wilson as group publisher and president of the longstanding read. With Brett’s experience at titles such as Sports Illustrated and Southern Living and a host of other national titles, Gulfshore Life gained a coup when they brought him onboard. However, when I spoke with Brett recently in my office at the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, he told me in his own words that adjusting to a regional title after so many years of working at mass market brands was a bit tough. But it didn’t take him long to get into the swing of things, and now he describes Gulfshore Life as a Godsend to him.

Along with his past magazine experiences, Brett and I talked about the growth of regional magazines and how he felt that they had a very bright and promising future. And not only Gulfshore Life, but all of Open Sky Media’s titles, which include San Antonio Magazine and Austin Monthly, to name a few. And when it comes to native advertising, the accompanying boutique-sized magazines, Celebrate and Holiday Wish Book, are beautifully-done creations in and of themselves that offer advertisers a wonderful option for an artfully-crafted environment for their products. And there’s also a Gulfshore Business magazine that complements the creative brand nicely. It’s a win-win situation for everyone concerned.

So, I hope that you enjoy this very insightful trip into the world of regional magazines with a man who has now ran the gamut of publisher – from the national titles to local brands, and will tell you in a heartbeat that while he certainly believes in promoting and offering digital into the landscape of his brand; the death of print was highly exaggerated – the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Brett Wilson, president and group publisher, Gulfshore Life.

But first the sound-bites:

On why he is still doing print in this digital age: Well, it’s interesting. First I show them, Samir, my 450-page magazine from January and I say if print is dead then we must be in the wrong business, because we just cut down a lot of trees for our January issue. We’re a seasonal company, primarily dependent on the seasonality of the southwest Florida region. So, we can tell you with tangible facts that year-round we publish a magazine 12 times per year. As the season kicks in, starting in about September or October, you’ll see our magazine double and triple in size. So, there’s still a large demand for it. We’re selling a large percentage from off of the newsstands and we have demands for subscriptions.

On how the role of publisher has changed over the years: I think it’s come full circle. The job of a publisher today is more important than ever, because you have to understand both the church and state divisions, and understand how to monetize your product both digitally and in print without sacrificing the integrity of your journalism.

On whether he believes that imaginary wall between church and state exists today or it’s becoming more like the Berlin Wall: No, it’s not the Berlin Wall. I can tell you that in the early days you had to almost whistle by the editor’s office so that he wouldn’t catch you just walking by. Today, the wall has lowered to maybe fence status, where there’s a lot more handshaking and more cooperation. Good editors understand the need for, obviously, monetization of what they sell. There is a fine line. And the fine line is what the publisher can keep them from crossing.

On working for a regional publication versus a national one: It’s been a Godsend for me personally. The national business, the last 12 or 15 years of my career, I felt like it was pretty much a yearly undertaking to downsize my staff. It was death by a 1,000 cuts in the national space, well-documented by yourself and others. I’ve worked everywhere from USA Today to Time and Sports Illustrated, and in each one of those jobs we had to do more with less, which is what all businesses have to do. In the regional world, I think we’re seeing resurgence in the interest in the magazines. We think of ourselves as craft beer or craft cheese; it’s handmade in a region, and people love the handmade aspects of what we do in the magazine business in the region. They’re passionate about it.

On whether the print product showcases the “handmade” aspect better or it’s hand-in-hand with digital: It’s hand-in-hand and it depends on the user. We do know that a lot of people depend on our digital assets to plan their weekends. Since we’re a monthly, we’re not as timely in the print product, so they definitely use our digital aspects to plan what restaurant they’re going to review, when they look at past issues of our magazine. But they still curl up with our magazine and I think in many ways they like having it on their coffee tables.

On what has been the most pleasant moment for him since he became publisher and president of Gulfshore Life: What has been so pleasurable that I haven’t experienced in the last five or six years of my life was sitting down at a table and having the chef of a restaurant come over and introduce himself and try to provide me a free meal or try and buy me a drink because he’s so enamored of the magazine that we publish. The love and the attention that our magazine gets in our region makes you feel very special.

On the biggest stumbling block he’s had to face and how he overcame it: I came down about a year ago and I had starry eyes, thinking that I could bring a lot of my “big” magazine experience to make it work in a microcosm like what we do in the region. And I stumbled a little bit. I have to be sure that what I do now is not just because it worked in a big magazine format. A lot of what we did in the big scale; it’s not just as simple as scaling it down for the local. And so I’ve had to adapt the way I look at business and be much more attentive to what my existing staff tells me, and to listen more. It’s been humbling for me.

On anything else he’d like to add: I can tell you that we’ve redesigned the magazine, which was a great process for all of us on my staff to go through. We increased the size of the magazine; we gave it a new, modern, fresher look. But I can tell you the obituary for the death of magazines has been written way too soon.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly at his home one evening: I am very proud to say that I’m 53-years-old and almost every day I go to an outdoor community swimming pool and take 45 minutes to exercise in an outdoor pool and that’s year-round. I couldn’t do that in Connecticut. (Laughs) And you may catch me with a glass of wine, watching a beautiful sunset off of the Gulf Shore coast, which is also something that can’t be missed and I try at least twice a week to catch one of those sunsets.

On what keeps him up at night: Making sure that my staff and our business model is looking ahead and being as bright as we possibly can be for the light that we need to shine on our community. And making sure that we don’t get complacent and making sure that we don’t turn into only a fashion magazine. That we talk about what’s important in our community and that’s a broad reach of topics.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Brett Wilson, president and group publisher of Gulfshore Life magazine.

Samir Husni: You’re the publisher of Gulfshore Life magazine and a host of other magazines in the Florida region; why are you still doing print in this digital age? What do you say to people when they ask you that question?

Brett Wilson: Well, it’s interesting. First I show them, Samir, my 450-page magazine from January and I say if print is dead then we must be in the wrong business, because we just cut down a lot of trees for our January issue.

We’re a seasonal company, primarily dependent on the seasonality of the southwest Florida region. So, we can tell you with tangible facts that year-round we publish a magazine 12 times per year. As the season kicks in, starting in about September or October, you’ll see our magazine double and triple in size. So, there’s still a large demand for it. We’re selling a large percentage from off of the newsstands and we have demands for subscriptions.

But we haven’t walked away from digital; we have digital as a supplement. We use a lot of social media. We have a lot of events. We’re still targeting our normal demographics, which are 55+, but we’re also going after incognizant, because there are a lot of younger families staying in Florida.

Samir Husni: You have a history; you’ve been on the business/publishing side since your days with Southern Living, Sports Illustrated, Time, Parade, just a host of titles.

Brett Wilson: I can’t keep a job, Samir. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too). How has the job of publisher changed over the years? Are you still doing the same job that you did on the West Coast for Southern Living selling ads?

Brett Wilson: I think it’s come full circle. The job of a publisher today is more important than ever, because you have to understand both the church and state divisions, and understand how to monetize your product both digitally and in print without sacrificing the integrity of your journalism.

In the early days of Time Inc. and certainly Southern Living, it was taught and hammered into me that we would never sell our soul; never sell the integrity of what we do. But today with native advertising and with a lot of the other social media pushing the edges of integrity, I think a publisher’s job is to be a Solomon-like, benevolent dictator who is making sure that while we still monetize the product, we keep that product with strong editorial integrity.

Samir Husni: Do you think that imaginary wall between church and state still exists today, or do you feel it’s becoming like the Berlin Wall?

Brett Wilson: No, it’s not the Berlin Wall. I can tell you that in the early days you had to almost whistle by the editor’s office so that he wouldn’t catch you just walking by. Today, the wall has lowered to maybe fence status, where there’s a lot more handshaking and more cooperation. Good editors understand the need for, obviously, monetization of what they sell. There is a fine line. And the fine line is what the publisher can keep them from crossing.

It depends on the magazine you work in. Obviously, we’re a lifestyle magazine, but we also kind of fancy ourselves as the Vanity Fair of our region. We’ve published award-winning stories; we’ve published stories on heroin addiction recently and what it has done to the region. We’ve embedded a reporter in the Dunbar section of Fort Myers, which is an impoverished section, primarily African American, and we report on all of the struggles that that community has had.

So while we’re a lifestyle magazine, we’re also not afraid to be hard-hitting journalists. And as a result we have to make sure that we still keep that fence up, but we also want to make sure that we handshake with both sides of the business.

Samir Husni: How is it to work for a regional publication versus a national one?

Brett Wilson: It’s been a Godsend for me personally. The national business, the last 12 or 15 years of my career, I felt like it was pretty much a yearly undertaking to downsize my staff. It was death by a 1,000 cuts in the national space, well-documented by yourself and others. I’ve worked everywhere from USA Today to Time and Sports Illustrated, and in each one of those jobs we had to do more with less, which is what all businesses have to do. But it’s been a difficult time in the last 10 or 15 years. Time Inc. was where I spent 21 years of my career and as stories will be written and have been written, changes they are dramatic.

In the regional world, I think we’re seeing resurgence in the interest in the magazines. We think of ourselves as craft beer or craft cheese; it’s handmade in a region, and people love the handmade aspects of what we do in the magazine business in the region. They’re passionate about it.

Samir Husni: Do you think that print showcases that “handmade” aspect more than digital or it’s hand-in-hand?

Brett Wilson: It’s hand-in-hand and it depends on the user. We do know that a lot of people depend on our digital assets to plan their weekends. Since we’re a monthly, we’re not as timely in the print product, so they definitely use our digital aspects to plan what restaurant they’re going to review, when they look at past issues of our magazine.

But they still curl up with our magazine and I think in many ways they like having it on their coffee tables. They like the fact that they’re part of the community, even though they may only live in that community eight months out of the year.

Samir Husni: What has been the most pleasant moment for you since becoming publisher and president of Gulfshore Life?

Brett Wilson: What has been so pleasurable that I haven’t experienced in the last five or six years of my life was sitting down at a table and having the chef of a restaurant come over and introduce himself and try to provide me a free meal or try and buy me a drink because he’s so enamored of the magazine that we publish.

The love and the attention that our magazine gets in our region makes you feel very special. So, it’s not just one moment, it’s a daily walk through the community, where they have a respect and it’s probably akin to the old-time newspaper publisher in a town where everyone needs each other and it’s a symbolic relationship. And it’s been great. That has been a very pleasurable part of all of this; the happiness that we bring to people.

Samir Husni: What has been the biggest stumbling block for you and how did you overcome it?

Brett Wilson: I came down about a year ago and I had starry eyes, thinking that I could bring a lot of my “big” magazine experience to make it work in a microcosm like what we do in the region. And I stumbled a little bit. I have to be sure that what I do now is not just because it worked in a big magazine format. A lot of what we did in the big scale; it’s not just as simple as scaling it down for the local. And so I’ve had to adapt the way I look at business and be much more attentive to what my existing staff tells me, and to listen more. It’s been humbling for me.

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

Brett Wilson: I can tell you that we’ve redesigned the magazine, which was a great process for all of us on my staff to go through. We increased the size of the magazine; we gave it a new, modern, fresher look.

But I can tell you the obituary for the death of magazines has been written way too soon. We can see the longevity of magazines, not only with Gulfshore Life, but with all of Open Sky’s magazines; Austin Monthly, Marin Magazine, San Antonio Magazine and Oklahoma City. We can see a bright future for the regionalism of magazines.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening, what would I find you doing; reading a magazine; reading your iPad; having a glass of wine; watching television; or something else?

Brett Wilson: I am very proud to say that I’m 53-years-old and almost every day I go to an outdoor community swimming pool and take 45 minutes to exercise in an outdoor pool and that’s year-round. I couldn’t do that in Connecticut. (Laughs) And you may catch me with a glass of wine, watching a beautiful sunset off of the Gulf Shore coast, which is also something that can’t be missed and I try at least twice a week to catch one of those sunsets.

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

Brett Wilson: Making sure that my staff and our business model is looking ahead and being as bright as we possibly can be for the light that we need to shine on our community. And making sure that we don’t get complacent and making sure that we don’t turn into only a fashion magazine. That we talk about what’s important in our community and that’s a broad reach of topics. That keeps me up at night. I like to think about what we can do better. And we can always do better.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“…We saw our own industry stand up and use words like “when the magazine industry goes out of business, we’re moving towards that with our digital products.” I will never forget that. And I think that that is crazy. This is the way I feel. We’re now seeing the slowdown of that kind of talk and simply accepting that magazines are a horizontal medium for some; for some they can be a vertical offshoot, but they have a place in the media world.” James G. Elliott (on whether he believes the magazine industry is slow to react to thing)…

The James G. Elliott Company, which began as a publishers’ rep some 30 years ago, has evolved into the nation’s largest national outsourced media ad sales company and full-service media solutions consultancy for print and digital publishers and organizations. Its president, James G. Elliott (Jim) and I have been friends and professional associates for years. So, when it came to taking the pulse of the buyers, sellers and marketing community in general, I knew Jim was my best resource.

For more than 30 years, he has worked on the business side of the magazine industry, offering solutions and publishing services to many, many in the media industry, across the spectrum, from B to B to consumer magazines. If it’s happening in advertising and marketing, you can bet Jim knows about it.

I spoke with Jim recently and we talked about some of the problems and some possible solutions for the world of magazines and magazine media. We also touched on his newly released third study, done with Kantar Media to understand the challenges today’s Media Planners, Buyers and Sellers face, and to discover areas where expectations are misaligned. It was a very interesting conversation. To access the study see link at the end of the interview.*

So, sit back and relax and enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with James G. Elliott as we discuss the complex, but fascinating world that is the business side of magazines.

But first the sound-bites:

On what he is seeing from the advertising/marketing aspect of magazines and magazine media: From the advertiser and agency perspective you’re seeing the desire to find the ultimate answer to turning around the advertising decline that they’re experiencing at the same rate or bigger than we are. And that’s creating the search for other new and exciting things. Virtual reality is an example that I think the industry will spend a great deal of time looking at in the next couple of years. From the standpoint of media, particularly of the magazine business, I don’t think the magazine business is driving the show anymore. I think they’re kind of following, attempting to create shiny objects at the same time that lead the industry, but often are following on deaf ears, because they’re not the leaders in this process any longer.

On why he says that when the magazine industry still brings in billions of dollars: I think the magazine industry isn’t focusing, some are, but many are not focusing on what they know how to do best, which is the creation, curation and development of magazines in the best way possible.

On whether he believes that the advertising-driven business model that he created his own company around 30 years ago is dead or no longer viable: I don’t think so. I think that this business model is declining a bit at the moment, because I think the advertising market as a whole is declining at the moment, regardless of the press reports. But advertising and sponsorship will always have a place in the magazine industry and the extended magazine brand industry. So, no, I don’t see that that’s going away.

On whether he thinks the business model where advertising was 90% of the revenue of a publication is coming to an end: This is primarily a consumer-driven question and I think that you, Dr. Husni, has said for a very long time and I’ve always bought into it; it’s not magazines that are broken, it’s the magazine industry. This reliance on advertising by having contrived circulation was always flawed. And I think it’s Warren Buffet who said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” And I think that happened in the recession. You had magazines that were two million or three million circ that were really only one million or 750,000 circ, or whatever that circulation really was. So, I think that model was always flawed and it was like the real estate boom; at some point it was going to explode.

On the B to B market and it’s 100% advertising-driven model: With B to B model, I think that they needed to expand their products to enhance their magazine business, such as data basing; using better metrics to help advertisers drive sales, things like that. And charge for those metrics. In the B to B market there was an explosion of B to B publications in single sectors, way too many. There are many sectors, special interest sectors that had five to ten magazines in really what should have been a two or three brand field.

On how his own business is doing with all of the changes going on: My business is made up of two things. It’s made up of representing magazine brands, and secondly, it’s helping companies that may not want our selling services on a consulting basis. And both businesses right now are doing well.

On how he adapted to these changes and what he’s doing differently in his own business than he did ten years ago: We’ve adapted to the changes in lots of ways. One of the things that we did was to recognize that you had to actually train people; you had to teach them about the new products that were coming out. And we’ve done a fair amount of that, both internally and by bringing outside folks in to help us do that, and that was the first thing we did to adapt.

On the biggest stumbling block that’s facing his business: I think the biggest problem in my business is my potential clients understanding the buying process and actually what the environment is now, and how one must adapt to that new selling environment. Unfortunately, a lot of people who fund media companies today. Either they didn’t come out of the ad sales business, or if they came out of the ad sales business they came out of it in a different era. They came out of it when sellers were more important to the process. And the reason they were more important to the process was that they were conduits of data to the advertiser and the advertising agency.

On whether he believes the magazine industry is too slow to react to things: I’m a former advertising agency person, and if you ask me the difference between the two industries, I can actually explain best by a story. And it actually involves you, Samir. It was a story that I have never forgotten. It was about three or four years ago, you and I went to a conference and we sat together, as we often do. In that conference, it was an industry conference, not a magazine conference; there was a conversation that came up out of the second screen I think, television folks. When we were sitting and listening to them, they were embracing the television industry and talking about how they augmented that, and how that was another business that could be equally profitable, but they needed both. And then we saw our own industry stand up and use words like “when the magazine industry goes out of business, we’re moving towards that with our digital products.” I will never forget that. And I think that that is crazy.

On what he would bring back from the “good old days” if he could: I’d like to see more integrated research back into the buying process and more time spent on analysis of what really is being purchased for brands. And I don’t think it’s happening; I don’t think it’s as good as it was back a number of years ago.

On the most pleasant moment in his career: Without going into specifics, when I see people who have worked at the Elliott Company, and there are hundreds of them, that have gone on to very significant careers; that makes me really, really proud. I think that’s the best thing; that I was able to help a lot of people move on, or in many cases, stay. We have a history of people staying with us for long periods of time.

On anything else he’d like to add: If you asked me what major industry concern I have from a tactical standpoint and from a selling standpoint, I would tell you that it was the disconnect, in many ways, between buyers and sellers. I think that there is really a gap between the ways that the two process what they’re supposed to do with their jobs. The study that we just completed points out a lot of those things.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly at his home one evening: Unfortunately, what I would probably be doing during the week after dinner is doing some more work. I think the requirements today on people like me are a lot harder than they used to be, there’s less time, which means that you have to end up doing more work. But for relaxation, I’m a sailor; I like to sail. I like to get out on the water on my boat.

On what keeps him up at night: What keeps me up at night is this industry moving to the next shiny object and forgetting things like where the money is, which is in the advertising and sponsorship business. I think the industry is too quick to grab onto the newest thing, thinking that that’s going to somehow solve its problems.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with James G. Elliott, president, The James G. Elliott Company.

Samir Husni: With the current magazine and media climate, suddenly no one is just talking change; everyone is saying that “change” has left the station. What are you seeing from the advertising/marketing aspect of the industry that either gives you hope or makes you want to close shop and head home?

Jim Elliott: From the advertiser and agency perspective you’re seeing the desire to find the ultimate answer to turning around the advertising decline that they’re experiencing at the same rate or bigger than we are. And that’s creating the search for other new and exciting things. Virtual reality is an example that I think the industry will spend a great deal of time looking at in the next couple of years.

But as we know from the numbers of people that come in here with new and shiny objects, there is no shortage of them; there will be plenty of new ones in the next couple of years coming forward, all of which will attempt to have an advertising or sponsorship component to it.

From the standpoint of media, particularly of the magazine business, I don’t think the magazine business is driving the show anymore. I think they’re kind of following, attempting to create shiny objects at the same time that lead the industry, but often are following on deaf ears, because they’re not the leaders in this process any longer.

Samir Husni: Why do you say that when the magazine industry still brings in billions of dollars every year?

Jim Elliott: I think the magazine industry isn’t focusing, some are, but many are not focusing on what they know how to do best, which is the creation, curation and development of magazines in the best way possible. So many magazine companies divert energies into areas that are not going to pay out for them over time, as opposed to really saying: we’re in the magazine industry, and yes we should use online tools and online extensions to enhance our magazine brand, but those extensions aren’t going to, in the long-term, be the replacement for the magazine or magazines that they own.

Samir Husni: In one form or another, you’ve spent your entire career on the business side of the magazine industry. Are you telling me that the advertising-driven business model; the one that you actually created your own business around 30 years ago to work and sell with the business side of magazines; are you telling me that business model is dead or no longer viable?

Jim Elliott: I don’t think so. I think that this business model is declining a bit at the moment, because I think the advertising market as a whole is declining at the moment, regardless of the press reports. But advertising and sponsorship will always have a place in the magazine industry and the extended magazine brand industry. So, no, I don’t see that that’s going away.

Samir Husni: But do you think the business model where advertising was, in some cases, reaching 90% of the revenue of a publication is coming to an end?

Jim Elliott: No, I can answer your question, but first let me say, I have represented many, many products. I’ve been in B to B, in fact, we have a large B to B player now; I’ve been in consumer, we have many consumer titles here; and I’ve been in the association world. And I’ve been on the web-only world. So, I have a very broad perspective of different media types, as opposed to just being consumer magazines or just trade magazines.

That being said, this is primarily a consumer-driven question and I think that you, Dr. Husni, has said for a very long time and I’ve always bought into it; it’s not magazines that are broken, it’s the magazine industry. This reliance on advertising by having contrived circulation was always flawed. And I think it’s Warren Buffet who said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”

And I think that happened in the recession. You had magazines that were two million or three million circ that were really only one million or 750,000 circ, or whatever that circulation really was. So, I think that model was always flawed and it was like the real estate boom; at some point it was going to explode. Real estate values don’t continue to go up. I think the same thing happened here with the magazine industry. There’s a balance between circulation revenue, real audience, which is based on real audience, and the advertising business, and how that relates into the consumer magazine world.

Samir Husni: You answered my question only from the consumer side; B to B is a 100% advertising-driven business model.

Jim Elliott: That’s true. With B to B model, I think that they needed to expand their products to enhance their magazine business, such as data basing; using better metrics to help advertisers drive sales, things like that. And charge for those metrics. In the B to B market there was an explosion of B to B publications in single sectors, way too many. There are many sectors, special interest sectors that had five to ten magazines in really what should have been a two or three brand field.

I think the better brands were creating better content for their readers, and if you were to do an analysis of just the advertising revenue in the top one or two books in various B to B fields, you’d find that their performance was far better than an entire category’s performance.

Samir Husni: How is your business? With all of these changes and everything else; have you been able to ride the wave? Are you swimming against the tide or with it?

Jim Elliott: My business is made up of two things. It’s made up of representing magazine brands, and secondly, it’s helping companies that may not want our selling services on a consulting basis. And both businesses right now are doing well.

The second business, the consulting business, is doing particularly well from the standpoint of presidents of companies wanting to get a better picture outside of their organization about what’s really going on in the revenue side.

On the sales side, we haven’t experienced the kind of losses in our business that many companies have simply because we have a number of very healthy association magazines that really had a connection with their audiences. And that really had assets. So, when times became rougher they didn’t lose their advertisers at anywhere near the rate that some of the consumer titles did.

We just completed our third study of media buyers and it’s now out. But more importantly, we’ve taken the same study basically and we’ve gone to a random sample of sellers asking roughly the same questions, and it’s pretty interesting stuff.

Samir Husni: How did you adapt to the changes in your own business and what are you doing differently today than you did ten years ago?

Jim Elliott: We’ve adapted to the changes in lots of ways. One of the things that we did was to recognize that you had to actually train people; you had to teach them about the new products that were coming out. And we’ve done a fair amount of that, both internally and by bringing outside folks in to help us do that, and that was the first thing we did to adapt.

The second thing was to automate our sales processes to become contemporary with the CRM (customer relationship management) systems. The third was to get a better sense of really what we were competing with when it came to the various brands that we were representing, and not from a magazine centric standpoint, but from a total media perspective.

And there have been a lot of other things that we’ve done to adapt, but those are the fundamental, most important things we’ve done. We’ve also recognized that there’s a balance between relationship selling and transactional selling. And the way that the online business is being sold is OK for some, but not OK for all. One of the things that I believe very strongly is when you go in to sell somebody you have to figure out the way that they want to be sold, not the way that you want to sell them. And we really stress that inside our company, to really recognize what the buyer is looking for. How do they actually want you to sell them?

Samir Husni: It’s my understanding that you’re expanding the company; you’ve incorporated Ads & Ideas. Can you talk a little about that?

Jim Elliott: That was really just a mechanism for the consulting part of this business, which is growing, so that we could run that separately, either now or sometime in the future. It’s recognition that that’s a growing part of my business.

Samir Husni: What do you think is the biggest stumbling block that’s facing you, your company and the entire business as a whole, and how do you think you can get beyond that stumbling block?

Jim Elliott: I think the biggest problem in my business is my potential clients understanding the buying process and actually what the environment is now, and how one must adapt to that new selling environment. Unfortunately, a lot of people who fund media companies today. Either they didn’t come out of the ad sales business, or if they came out of the ad sales business they came out of it in a different era. They came out of it when sellers were more important to the process. And the reason they were more important to the process was that they were conduits of data to the advertiser and the advertising agency.

Today that reason for a seller is much less important. Today the seller needs to be a brand advocate. They need to be able to articulate a brand in its many facets, which include all of its electronic products; its magazines; and a very short window of a very short period of time to an advertiser or advertising agency.

The reason for that short period of time is that the responsibility of buyers has become much broader; they’re looking at a whole lot of more things than they did 20 or 30 years ago. So they have much less time by which to do it, and the necessity to communicate effectively, to get attention rapidly, not in long 45-minute meetings because it’s rare that you’ll get those kinds of meetings.

Samir Husni: Do you think the magazine industry is too slow to react? When television came into being in the early ‘60s and when TV became the big mass media, magazines were blamed that they were too slow to react.

Jim Elliott: I’m a former advertising agency person, and if you ask me the difference between the two industries, I can actually explain best by a story. And it actually involves you, Samir. It was a story that I have never forgotten. It was about three or four years ago, you and I went to a conference and we sat together, as we often do. In that conference, it was an industry conference, not a magazine conference; there was a conversation that came up out of the second screen I think, television folks.

When we were sitting and listening to them, they were embracing the television industry and talking about how they augmented that, and how that was another business that could be equally profitable, but they needed both.

And then we saw our own industry stand up and use words like “when the magazine industry goes out of business, we’re moving towards that with our digital products.” I will never forget that. And I think that that is crazy. This is the way I feel; you are one of the few people who has always said, “Wait a minute, don’t do that. What are you doing?” And I think you’re going to be proven right again. We’re now seeing the slowdown of that kind of talk and simply accepting that magazines are a horizontal medium for some; for some they can be a vertical offshoot, but they have a place in the media world.

I think some of the reasons for that is that the broadcast industry has always been more inclusive of outsiders and outside thought. They’ve always used lots of independents for lots of things; they don’t have this industry-only attitude, in my judgement. And so they were probably in a better position to adapt to new things.

Samir Husni: If you had the magic power to bring something from the past back to today’s world, what would you bring back from the “good old days?”

Jim Elliott: That’s a really good question. I think that in the old days there was much better research about magazines, television, and the integration of those things than there is today. The research is not as deep and there’s not as much looking by individual media planners into the magazines they’re buying, online that they’re buying and things like that.

When I was in the agency business, which was a very long time ago, as a media planner, I had two assistant media planners per one million dollars; two. Today, based on the Kantar-Elliott study, the average media planner has the responsibility in excess of $30 million and they work on five brands. So, the climate is very different. And to answer your question, I’d like to see more integrated research back into the buying process and more time spent on analysis of what really is being purchased for brands. And I don’t think it’s happening; I don’t think it’s as good as it was back a number of years ago.

Samir Husni: What has been the most pleasant moment for you in your career; is there a specific moment in time that you look at now and say, “Wow?”

Jim Elliott: Yes, there is actually. Without going into specifics, when I see people who have worked at the Elliott Company, and there are hundreds of them, that have gone on to very significant careers; that makes me really, really proud. I think that’s the best thing; that I was able to help a lot of people move on, or in many cases, stay. We have a history of people staying with us for long periods of time. That’s the thing that I’m going to remember best when I write my book.

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

Jim Elliott: If you asked me what major industry concern I have from a tactical standpoint and from a selling standpoint, I would tell you that it was the disconnect, in many ways, between buyers and sellers. I think that there is really a gap between the ways that the two process what they’re supposed to do with their jobs. The study that we just completed points out a lot of those things.

I’ll give you one tactical example; the average seller believes that they have half the amount of time to sell out an RFP than the average planner believes that they’re giving that seller, which is from a practical standpoint a big difference. When you take a look at the importance of personal meetings, you see that a way that personal meetings make a difference really is at the client level, more so and at a higher percent, according to the sellers. There is a lot of data that talks about this within that study. The study has just been released and we’ll be talking about it more.

If I had a magic wand I would make it a requirement that a seller work in an ad agency for a certain amount of time to really learn what it is that those folks are looking for.

Samir Husni: If I showed up at your home one evening unexpectedly, what would I find you doing; reading a magazine; reading you iPad; watching television; or something else?

Jim Elliott: Unfortunately, what I would probably be doing during the week after dinner is doing some more work. I think the requirements today on people like me are a lot harder than they used to be, there’s less time, which means that you have to end up doing more work. But for relaxation, I’m a sailor; I like to sail. I like to get out on the water on my boat. That’s what I really like to do, besides the fact that I have two freshmen that I need to get through the next four years of college. That’s my other special interest here.

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

Jim Elliott: What keeps me up at night is this industry moving to the next shiny object and forgetting things like where the money is, which is in the advertising and sponsorship business. I think the industry is too quick to grab onto the newest thing, thinking that that’s going to somehow solve its problems.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

*Click here to see The Elliott/Kantar Media Study