Mag Spotlight: Living 101

Sunset Publishing, publishers of the West Coast lifestyle magazine Sunset, is launching a newsstand-only test magazine that could be described as a junior version of the 100-year-old title.

Living 101, set to debut this summer, will be a lifestyle and home magazine aimed at twentysomethings who are making their first foray into home improvement and domesticity. The magazine's tagline will be "Getting Started in the West. Nest, Cook, Plant, Go."

Sunset Magazine's Editor in Chief Katie Tamony will oversee the magazine's content. According to Tamony, Living 101's mission will be "tapping into that desire of young people to go West--living the Western lifestyle."

These Generation Y-ers represent an emerging trend, says Tamony. "We've been seeing a trend among twentysomethings really being interested in domestic skills and entertaining." (Unlike Gen X-ers, who were more into going out, says Tamony).

"Their parents were working baby boomers--they didn't teach them to make that easy cobbler recipe," she said.

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Publisher Tom Marshall said that the concept for the magazine was actually raised by a group of young staffers at Sunset last year. "They said, 'we like Sunset, but we need a pre-Sunset.'"

Marshall had been noticing that demographic shifts among younger adults were making it more difficult to reach them in traditional home and lifestyle magazines. "We used to think, 'we'll get you when you get married and buy your first home,'" he said. "Now there are quite a number of years after college before that happens."

Tamony said that to engage readers enduring those post-college years, Living 101 will highlight the casual and outdoor-oriented lifestyle inherent on the West Coast (the debut cover shows three young women holding surfboards), while providing service geared toward younger people planning dinner parties and making space for their apartments.

"This group is not quite into ripping down walls yet," she said. "We will cover subjects like home bargains, nightlife in Portland, beginner wine tasting, and learning to surf."

To attract advertisers, Marshall said that Sunset will be offering many package deals initially, while hoping to go after younger brands that did not fit into the 40-something-aimed Sunset. Thus far, Visa has already signed on.

Besides hoping to increase advertiser demand, Marshall acknowledges that long-term thinking is driving this test. "We want to make Sunset a lifetime brand," he said, adding that the size of Generation Y--said to be 60 million--represents a huge opportunity. "It's a good long-term business strategy."

While initially launching as a test vehicle (with a rate base of 200,000), Sunset plans to monitor reader interest in Living 101, with the possibility of increased frequency down the road.

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