There is no doubt about it. The cover is beautiful. The photograph, the model, the lighting, the clothes, the glossy paper. It is all beautiful. And when you open the magazine, you will find that the glossy beauty just continues. Page after page, your eyes are meet MET with the most eye-soothing commercials, mouth watering food and restaurant close-ups, pictures of the "who's who" in town, laughing and partying in dazzling clothes. The magazine I am talking about is from the publishing company Modern Luxury, a publishing company that despite the glossy surface of its products is looked upon by many in the magazine business as the "bad boy".But what is this Modern Luxury? Let's begin by looking at what is behind those glossy pages…
Spreading like wildfire
Modern Luxury is a publishing company that today prints no less than 30 magazines in 12 states. The magazines are divided into five subcategories: "Brides," "Imperious," "Men's Book," "Front Desk," – see note- and "City Magazines." Michael Kong and his brother Stephen founded the company in Chicago 1994 with the Magazine "Chicago Social." It is Kong´s niche for "luxury lifestyle" publishing, and his strategy of hooking up L.A.'s "influential" consumers to a glossy kaleidoscope of luxury-product ads that has put the company in the position it is today. (Article 5)
"Luxury magazines have been spreading like wildfire," said Peter Kreisky, president of Kreisky Media Consultancy recently to LA times. TIMES (Article 2)One reason for this is the controlled circulation, in which companies send free magazines to people living in affluent ZIP Codes—a model the company Modern Luxury uses strategically.
Luxury magazines appeal to advertisers and investors because they can reach a specific type of consumer in a way that general circulation publications can't. (Article 2)And this is really what Modern Luxury is all about. The company knows there is a need for advertisers to spend their advertising money on a target audience, and with the magazine they can give them such an audience.Modern Luxury is filled with ads from national luxury brands such as Hugo Boss, Neiman Marcus Group Inc., Cartier, Bang and Olufsen, Louis Vuitton and Roberto Cavalli. Because there has been an explosion of luxury goods worldwide these companies have advertising money to spend, and the advertisers wish to be as specific as possible to reach their target audience. In that way the success of Modern Luxury follows the success of the luxury brands worldwide.It is therefore wrong to think that the publishing company of Modern Luxury does not have a mission – they very much do – but the mission seems to be about providing the link between advertisers and consumers and making a whole lot of money.
When the controlling stake in Modern Luxury in November 2004 was bought by Shamrock, Modern Luxury published only three magazines: one in Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange County. That gave total revenue of $18 million a year.Today Modern Luxury has expanded into nine more markets and increased revenue to $70 million. This means that the company now reaches 645,000 households and 3.5 million readers a month. (Article 2)Modern Luxury and Clarity, a Beverly Hills-based placed company, which manages $1 billion in assets, plan to continue to grow by branching out into new markets nationally and internationally, and by acquiring other regional magazines. (Article 2)
Critique
The close relationship with the advertisers has, however, caused the publishing company some trouble. The company found itself under fire in some cities, including San Francisco. (Modern Luxury publishing bought San Francisco Magazine in 2005. (Article 4)
In January 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a story about how the magazine decided to pull an in depth story because the story could have offended an advertiser.In defense, the founder of Modern Luxury, Michael Kong, said that the magazines of Modern Luxury generally contain articles on lifestyle, fashion, arts and culture, rather than investigative journalism. (Article 2)"As a general industry statement," he said, "It's very hard to make your living in the news and information area as a monthly magazine.".
What now?
What is interesting about Modern Luxury is that the structure and business plan has proven to be very successful.
The question therefore is of course – what now?
Will other magazine companies follow the structure of Modern Luxury?
What will the buy-up of other magazine by few companies mean in the long run for the magazine business?
Will the development in the magazine business continue in the direction of synergizing with advertising companies?
Will the advertisers gain more control over the editorial in the future, and if so, what will this mean to democracy?What do you think?
Use the link below to write a comment and participate in the discussion.
Notes, links and facts:Note: ("Front Desk" is not a magazine as we know it. It is more like an advertorial that is made in association with selected upscale hotels in the 12 cities. "Front Desk" is full of suggested commercial restaurants and nightclubs.)
The 12 cities
Atlanta
Chicago
Dallas
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
Napa-Sonoma
Orange Country
San Diego
Washington DC
San Francisco
Links and resources:
The information given in this blog has been collected from the following articles and homepages:1) Modern Luxury homepage: http://mail.djh.dk/Redirect/www.modernluxury.comArticles:2) - "Defying slumo by pursuing the rich", Los Angeles Times, by Alana Semuels, Times Staff Writer, May 21, 20073)- Shamrock Capital Growth Fund Invests in Modern Luxury Media, LLCBusiness Wire, Nov 15, 2004 4) - Article "Done Deal" link: http://mail.djh.dk/Redirect/www.modernluxury.com/ml-web/press/wwd_2007-05-31.html5) To read an interview with the founder Michael Kong go to: http://mail.djh.dk/Redirect/modernluxury.com/ml-web/mbk-interview1.html
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