• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 5, 2009

PGA Expands Multimedia Focus

The Publishing Group of America, which produces newspaper-distributed magazines including American Profile, Spry and Relish, is expanding its operations to offer advertisers more multimedia options across local markets

Barbara LaPlaca is joining PGA as senior vice president and marketing director. She previously held roles including executive director of marketing for Prevention and Prevention.com, and associate publisher of marketing at More magazine. Kathy Goodman is joining PGA as Midwest director, leaving her previous role as Midwest director for Conde Nast's Bon Appetit. Erica Queen is joining PGA as health manager; she previously worked as account manager for Hallmark Magazine and Hallmark.com. Finally, Paul Mallon, formerly the Detroit director for Conde Nast's Bon Appetit, is joining PGA as Detroit director.

In addition to the new hires, PGA shuffled some execs to support the new multimedia sales focus. Shannon Hay was assigned the new role of advertising manager, Amanda Greene has been named business director, Frank Zier was named Southeast director, Erica Schultz has been appointed Midwest sales development director, Leigh Diana was named food manager, and Becky Laub was named consumer products manager.

In October, PGA unveiled a new research partnership with SDI offering pharmaceutical advertisers the ability to track their ROI in terms of brand trials, product sales and prescription compliance. The service, offered by PGA to pharmaceutical advertisers for free, measures the impact of pharma ads in PGA titles in all three areas.

Vogue Gets New Publisher: Susan Plagemann

Conde Nast's flagship fashion publication is getting a new vice president and publisher: Susan Plagemann, who joins the company after four years as publisher at Hearst's Marie Claire. Previously, she also served as publisher of Cosmopolitan. Like other high-end fashion mags, Vogue has seen a steep drop in ad pages during the current recession, with total pages falling 33% from 2,204 in the first three quarters of 2008 to 1,478 in the same period this year.

McDonald Heads HFM's Jumpstart Auto Group

Dillon McDonald has been named the new CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media's Jumpstart Automotive Group. The former COO will take on responsibility for creating an integrated marketing solutions business serving the automotive industry, which includes the company's wholly owned brands Road & Track and Car and Driver.

Bloomberg Will Keep Most BusinessWeek Employees

Contrary to rumors that widespread layoffs were planned, Bloomberg LP plans to retain most of BusinessWeek's roughly 400 employes, according to a Thursday memo from Bloomberg's chief content officer, Norman Pearlstine, which circulated in the trade press. Publisher Jessica Sibley will stay on under new ownership, along with Tania Secor, vice president of finance, and editors Ellen Pollack, John Byrne, and Ciro Scotti.

New Launch: Scrubs Lifestyle Mag for Nurses

Defying the recession and the downturn in magazine advertising, Strategic Partners and Mind Over Media are partnering to launch a new lifestyle magazine for nurses, called Scrubs, premiering Nov. 15 with a paid circulation of 350,000. The magazine will be sold exclusively at stores selling nursing apparel, numbering about 1,500 venues across the country. The magazine will cover beauty, style, finance and health.

Purpose-less: RDA Axes Rick Warren Magazine

The Reader's Digest Association has canned its quarterly magazine for mega-church pastor Rich Warren, author of the "The Purpose-Driven Life," after one year. The magazine, titled Purpose-Driven Connection, was supposed to be distributed to approximately 500,000 members of Warren's national club, which originally planned to charge membership dues of $29.99 per year. However, the club dropped the fee after a lukewarm response; the planned RDA custom publication was a casualty of this decision. Instead, the title will go online-only starting in January.