• by Michael Shields , January 7, 2005

A few years ago, Bruce Gibbs was laid off from his job at a consulting firm in Atlanta. After working on a book--a guide for students who are applying to college--the former professor began to consider a foray into publishing.

During that time, Gibbs had spent a lot of time at home with his two daughters, and took an interest in parenting magazines. He began to notice the lack of information for people like him.

And after talking with a number of other fathers, he kept hearing the same thing: "Where are our stories?"

"Parenting magazines are good magazines," he added. "But we don't usually hear the father's voice in these magazines."

So Gibbs decided to give these fathers a voice in launching Real Dad magazine last month. His hope is to provide practical advice to fathers who are not finding personalized content anywhere else.

"We are targeting fathers of all types: married, single, divorced, stay-at-home dads," he said. "We are trying to help good fathers become even better fathers. These people want to become more involved in their children's lives."

Gibbs plans to tackle of variety of issues unique to fathers, from basics like how to deal with being a dad when traveling on business and how to react to crying newborns, to more sensitive issues. "What do I do when my wife is more attentive to the child?" said Gibbs. "Fathers sometimes feel neglected. Or, with postpartum depression. Fathers want to know, 'How do I help?"

"These are really touchy issues. There is not one answer for every situation." Increasingly, one particular situation is starting to get more attention: stay-at-home-dads. At a recent "Marketing to Moms" panel hosted by the Advertising Women of New York and Family Fun magazine, Maria Bailey, author of "Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Share of the Trillion Dollar Market," commented on the speed at which this segment was growing. Just a few weeks ago, the New York Times did a piece on the unique dynamics of this demographic.

But there is still much room to expand on this often overlooked group, says Gibbs. "Stay-at-home dads --it's like they exist, but are not talked about."

Real Dad won't be entirely heavy in its subject matter. There will be features on fun dad construction projects, such as how to build a sandbox or a treehouse.

Gibbs acknowledges that there have been attempts at reaching the dads market in the past, including some failed magazines as well as a handful of existing fathering Web sites, like fathermag.com and dadsmagazine.com. Gibbs is starting slowly. Real Dad will launch at a circulation of 20,000, publishing bimonthly in 2005.

The hope is that advertising-wise, technology companies, auto manufacturers, men's grooming, and pharmaceuticals will each be natural fits.

Racing Fan Starts Its Engines

Time4 Media's anticipated Racing Fan will publish two special issues on March 28 and May 16, at a distribution level of 250,000. The photo-heavy title will be published on oversized 10x12 inch paper stock. The hope is to increase the title's frequency down the road.

Targeting Plane Owners

In April, look for the launch of Aircraft Owner, a monthly buyers' guide for aviation products and services. The new magazine will launch using a controlled circulation list of 125,000-plus owner-pilots and corporate flight departments.

Based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, Publisher Greg Herrick says that aircraft buying decisions are frequently made by pilots who not only fly aircraft, but also own the aircraft they fly, which should make the publication attractive to endemic and luxury advertisers.

Herrick, an owner-pilot himself, brings more than 30 years of direct marketing and publishing experience to Aircraft Owner. As president of St. Paul-based Sky Media, LLC, he oversees the publication of mail order catalogs such as Historic Aviation, Historic Rail, and The Civil War Standard.

Met Home Hire Donald T. Schmoll was recently named marketing director of Metropolitan Home. Schmoll was most recently marketing director of new magazine development at Gruner + Jahr.