Weight Loss Title Fattens Up

By the end of the week, many Americans will be focused on their midsection. The Thanksgiving feeding frenzy can only help to sell weight loss titles like the magazine put out by the diet giant Weight Watchers. After buying back the magazine that carries its name two years ago, Weight Watchers magazine has seen its circulation balloon to 5.7 million and its ad pages are up 28% so far this year. When its most-read January/February issue hits newsstands next month, it will also have a new look aimed at attracting younger readers.

In May 2000, Weight Watchers International reacquired the magazine that it started in 1968. It was four years earlier that the decision by then-owner H.J. Heinz to spin-off the title to Southern Progress Corporation was made. Its logic was that a company that was in the business to create magazines, not market weight loss clinics, could better handle the magazine. But by early 2000, the new European owners of Weight Watchers were not happy with the direction of the title. “They put out a beautiful magazine but in the view of people here at Weight Watchers headquarters, it didn’t seem to know who the target was. It was a beautiful book, very well done, great information, but the people in the meeting room didn’t see it as anything directed toward them,” says publisher Wayne Perra.

So Weight Watchers bought back its magazine but Southern Living kept the subscriber list, converting readers to its own Cooking Light. Says Perra, “We thought because of the brand name and what we represent, we could get the audience back.” One way they’ve done that is by selling the magazine and subscriptions to the 800,000 people that attend the thousands of Weight Watchers meetings nationwide. “You’re reaching people who are in a weight loss frame of mind, and they might subscribe to the magazine to continue getting it after they know they’ll probably no longer be attending meetings that is the real dream part from a circulation director’s point of view.”

Weight Watchers magazine targets women ages 25 to 54, many of whom have been dieting since their teenage years. Not surprisingly, it has historically had a higher rate of churn as readers went in and out of the diet mindset. Yet since Weight Watchers regained control of the title nearly three years ago that has been less the case, says Perra. “I don’t know if it’s a different perception of the brand of it is the quality of the magazine, but we’re seeing better renewal percentages, and a much longer percentage of two-year subscriptions.”

Of course, there is seasonality to the magazine with its January/February issue by far out-selling the rest of the year. So when the Dutchess of York Sarah Furgeson glosses the cover of next month’s issue, Weight Watchers will debut a new look with several new editorial features. Its rate base will also post its second increase in six months, climbing from 750,000 to 1 million – quite a feat considering it had no subscriber list less than three years ago. It has also announced its first Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) demographic data in years, showing the Weight Watchers reader has better qualitative numbers than most other women’s service titles.

The rapid rebirth of its magazine has all come with little or no money spent on marketing and without any celebrity covers. With each issue selling 250,000 copies at newsstands and at national retail outlets such as WalMart, 59% of its readers are not members of Weight Watchers. Yet far more copies are sold in church basements and classrooms around the country where Weight Watchers holds its weekly meetings, says Perra. “When people cross over that threshold to spend $12 a week to attend meetings, they’re certainly converted to your brand.”

New advertisers in the new year will include Keebler, Bird’s Eye, Campbell’s Diet V8 Splash, and Viactiv. As its circulation has increased, Perra says more advertisers have tested the magazines. “We had to wait for the advertising market to come back and it has. Now that we’re declaring a one million rate base and the MRI numbers are out, we should really take off.” Also helping the magazine has been a push on the membership side of the company to expand its membership to younger women. “There are more young media planners that actually have experience with the program and that has helped keep the advertising going,” he adds.

For as much as it has gained, Weight Watchers has had a difficult time breaking into cosmetic and fashion accounts, even though many of its readers are hoping to buy a whole new wardrobe of smaller sizes. One, JC Penny, has been exception, says Perra. “We will continue to approach that category. I would bet we would probably get more fashion than we’ll ever get cosmetics.” Those dollars, he says, are destined for beauty and fashion titles like Elle or Vogue.

Other advertisers have expressed concern about advertising in a magazine that seemingly is a house organ. “I suspect there will be that perception at least for the near future,” concedes Perra. Yet he believes as more planners and buyers sample their product, they’ll be more open to advertising in its magazine. “It’s a very thin tight rope that we have to walk sometimes. We want to be as unbiased as possible and not seem like a house organ, but there is the underlying focus of healthy lifestyle that is a component of the Weight Watchers program that is certainly puts the editorial focus on nutrition, recipes, food and fitness.”

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