• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 8, 2014

Cooking Light Products Come to Walmart, Target

Time Inc.'s Cooking Light is bringing its branded products to two major big-box retailers, with deals to begin selling its prepared foods line at Target, and its co-branded SodaStream flavors at Walmart.

The magazine’s branded line of healthy prepared foods, available at 250 Super Target stores across the U.S., includes six ready-to-eat meals developed and tested in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens: Seared Sliced Beef Sirloin, Sliced Turkey Breast, Beef Provencal Stew, Chipotle Pork Roast, Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, and Braised Kale.

Meanwhile, SodaStream’s branded Cooking Light flavors, including Passionfruit-Mango and Kiwi-Pear, will be available at 1,585 Walmart stores nationwide and www.walmart.com beginning at the end of May. The fruit-based syrups, designed to have less sugar than other soda flavors, will also be available at www.sodastreamusa.com for a retail price of $6.99. Separately, Cooking Light is expanding its product line at BJ’s Wholesale Clubs to include Flatbreads, which will be available in June 2014. Cooking Light’s licensing partner is Earthbound, LLC.

Cooking Light Group Publisher Diane Oshin stated: “Expanding the distribution of Cooking Light’s branded products into major national retailers like Target and Walmart is the next step in the overall growth strategy for our product portfolio. We’ve already seen tremendous consumer response with strong sales at BJ’s Wholesale Clubs and on SodaStream’s Web site, and are thrilled that even more consumers will have access to our delicious and healthy offerings.”

Nylon Sold

Nylon Magazine and its associated properties have been sold to Diversis Capital and investor Marc Luzzatto, who intend to merge the brand with FashionIndie.com, an influencer network in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle verticals, the companies announced this week. The combined media company will provide marketers with access to young adults through multimedia platforms spanning print, digital and video. The merged company will be led by veteran Internet entrepreneur Joe Mohen as CEO, and Dana Fields, who will serve as executive vice president, chief revenue officer, and publisher. Fields stated: “Our goal is to have all the touchpoints of Nylon presenting advertisers with the opportunity to interact with and engage style conscious 20-something ‘It Girls’ through all the media platforms they are consuming -- social, Web, mobile, video and print.”

T Magazine Editorial Appointments

The New York Times’ T Magazine announced five appointments to its editorial staff this week, filling the roles of senior features editor, critics at large, assistant managing editor and design editor. Tom Delavan has been named design editor; in addition to his most recent tenure as creative director of Gilt Home, he previously helped found the Armory Art Show and was also editor at large for Domino magazine. Andrew O’Hagan has been named critic at large; his accolades include the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Minju Pak has been named assistant managing editor; she previously worked at WSJ.Magazine and was also an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Departures. Jody Rosen has been named critic at large for music and culture; his previous work has appeared in The New York Times and New Yorker, and he also served as the music critic for New York, Slate and the Nation, as well senior critic at Rolling Stone. Finally, Emily Stokes has been named senior features editor; she previously served as co-editor of Harper’s Magazine’s Readings section, as well as editing fiction and features.

Johnson to Associate Publisher, Self

Eric Johnson has been named associate publisher for marketing at Self magazine, effective May 21^st, publisher Mary Murcko announced this week. Johnson previously served as vice-president of ad sales marketing at the NBC News Digital Group, overseeing properties including Today.com, iVillage.com, MSNBC.com and NBCNews.com. He was the launch vice-president marketing head for the digital news group under NBCUniversal when it migrated from MSN. He also held senior marketing roles at Gannett’s USA Today and Rodale Publishing.

Matz Out at More

Alison Adler Matz is leaving her position as publisher of More magazine, and is being replaced by Jeannine Shao Collins, who previously served as executive vice president and chief innovation officer of Meredith 360°, the publisher’s integrated marketing division. Meanwhile, Collins’ previous responsibilities at Meredith 360°, will be assumed by Meredith executive vice-president and chief revenue officer Michael Brownstein.