Redbook: From Dolls and Grandmothers to Romance and Young Moms

As a number of titles in the woman’s service category are reinventing and redesigning their magazines as the battle for female readers becomes more intense, one magazine seems ahead of the curve. Five years ago, Hearst’s Redbook refocused to put a stronger emphasis on the thirty-something woman. Five years later, advertisers have taken notice. Last year was the most profitable year ever for Redbook in its 100 year history, while circulation has held steady despite a more narrow focus.

A symbolic change that sums up much of what has been changed is the cover shot. Six years ago was chocolate cake. Jump to today, and the current issue features Halle Berry on the cover. “Young women are reading Cosmo and Glamour and then they get married. Does that mean they have to jump to a magazine with a chocolate cake on the cover? It’s a pretty big jump to make,” says publisher Jayne Jamison.

“They’ve been trained visually to want to see things look great and fun and pretty,” says editor-in-chief Ellen Kunes, who feels service books are in danger of losing touch with their next generation of reader, adding, “Some of those magazines don’t have the contemporary look that feels comfortable to them.” To avoid that trap, she says they have aimed for more of a beauty and fashion lifestyle look, while at the same time remaining a title for wives and mothers.

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Ever since it was launched last century, Redbook has always seen itself as a magazine for the young mother. As part of its refocusing five years ago, the decision was made to focus on that demographic even more strongly. While its median age had crept into the forties, the decision was made to focus on young married women and moms in their thirties.

“We don’t want to be in a pack of magazines that everyone thinks of for this traditional, older woman who our readers don’t really identify with,” says Kunes. “It recognizes that this woman has evolved, and she continues to evolve, so the magazine must go with her and keep up.” Recipes have been replaced by romance, for instance, recognizing a wife and mother in 2003 probably thinks more about heating up her marriage than oven.

In 1999, Redbook cut all of its stamp sheet agent business, where many of the oldest, least affluent subscribers came from. “That was an incredibly bold move, but we decided that we want to go narrow and deep,” says Jamison. “You can’t edit a magazine for women who are 20, 30, 40, and 50.” The result was a reduction in its rate base from 2.8 million to 2.25 million and a subsequent 20% cut in ad rates. There was a fair amount of internal debate about whether it was the right move, but Jamison stuck to it, and it seems to have paid off, as its current four-color page now sells for $110,200.

Advertisers have reacted positively to the changes. Through April, ad pages are up 115 compared to 2002. Factor in Redbook’s Mother’s Day 100-th anniversary special in May, and it is pacing to be up about 150 pages. About a third of that has been from an increase in cosmetic and fashion advertisers. Says Jamison, “The cosmetic and fashion people look at us as a beautiful complement to a beauty buy schedule because we have very low duplication. We are also very strong in the middle part of the country, and those books tend to deliver the coasts. And when times are tough and budgets are cut back, the fact that we are so efficient and large also helps us.”

One example of an advertiser that has completely rethought its position on Redbook is Dockers. While seemingly a perfect fit for an “on-the-go mom” consumer, Jamison remembers four years ago not even getting an RFP for a Dockers’ campaign. This year, Dockers’ is spending more with Redbook than any other title.

By focusing on a younger reader, Redbook has also seen its household income increase 30% in the past three years, to $60,000. That has broken new business this year from advertisers including Estee Lauder and Prestige Cosmetics.

One thing you won’t find advertised in Redbook is ads for commemorative plates and porcelain dolls. Both are big advertisers in women’s service books, accounting for more ad spending than any other category in some titles. But Jamison says she decided three years ago that the ads hurt Redbook’s image more than it helped its bottom line. It also scared away some beauty and fashion accounts, since it left buyers with a grandmother, not a hip mom, mental image of Redbook’s reader.

Redbook sells about 25% of its issues on the newsstand, and sales there have been “very strong,” says Jamison. Combined with a 15% increase in its renewal rate, Redbook increased its circulation by 100,000 last year to 2.35 million – the first rate base increase in 25 years.

More changes are coming for Redbook in 2003, as well. Starting in April, Redbook will group its health-related edit under the “Redbook Healthbook” banner. In keeping with its thirty something focus, it will focus on preventative medicine and a monthly column featuring “anti-tired tactics” for young moms. The Hearst-owned title is also exploring extending its brand to television, something that should be easy to do, considering Hearst owns such channels as Lifetime, A&E and Biography.

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