• by Larry Dobrow , January 1, 2004

Jungle Media Group, publisher of Jungle Magazine and Jungle Law, has emerged victorious in the bidding to revamp the National Society of Hispanic MBAs' member publication. Starting with the April issue of the twice-yearly Hispanic MBA, Jungle Media will add a host of business lifestyle content to the mag's current mix of career information and organization news. The company will also overhaul its marketing and circulation strategies.

The arrangement isn't an unfamiliar one for Jungle Media, which until recently produced Savoy Professional in conjunction with Vanguarde Media (in the wake of Vanguarde's recent filing for bankruptcy protection, that mag is in limbo). Similarly, Jungle is no stranger to publications that specifically target minority professionals. Jungle Magazine (targeting black MBA students) and Jungle Law (black law students) have recently expanded their editorial scope and circulation, and both have notched National Magazine Award nominations.

For those reasons and more, Jungle Media co-founder Jon McBride believes the affiliation with NSHMBA is a natural fit. "We'll be talking to a lot of the same advertisers and be able to offer bundled packages," he affirms. "It's a niche that makes sense for us to be part of."

He doesn't add that young Hispanic professionals represent a potentially lucrative niche for the company - but then, he doesn't have to. The readers that Hispanic MBA plans to target are the most affluent and business-minded people within the largest, fastest-growing non-white demographic in the United States. And given that the magazine has barely penetrated the market (McBride estimates that a maximum of 15 percent of the magazine's potential audience is currently receiving it), all parties involved see significant room for growth.

Circulation will start at 15,000, but McBride hopes to drive it up into the 40,000 neighborhood within a year or two. "We'll never hit 100,000, but there's certainly an opportunity to be significantly bigger than we are," he says. The magazine will be distributed through the NSHMBA, which has traditionally pushed to sign up MBA students when they enter business school and hold them for 10-20 years beyond that.

McBride admits that there are limitations in what Jungle Media can do with the Hispanic MBA, as a significant portion of its content will always be about NSHMBA programs and events. Along those lines, he says that the organization's Powers That Be are understandably eager to use the mag as a vehicle to convey the value of NSHMBA membership. "So far, it's been less a magazine than a conference guide," he explains, noting that its arrival has traditionally coincided with the group's biannual get-togethers. "What we can add is information about where [Hispanic businesspeople] can invest, where to live, how to give back to the community. You can't find that anywhere else."

While many of Hispanic MBA's pages will be occupied by the corporate diversity-recruitment ads that have helped fuel the growth of Jungle's other publications, McBride has set his sights on the fashion, financial services, consumer electronics, and auto categories. "Traditional advertisers aren't reaching this audience as well as they'd like," he says, echoing the oft-repeated refrain about targeting small but growing niches. "You can see brand advertisers trying to sell products to the Hispanic community, and [Hispanic MBA's readers] are the most affluent aspect of that community. The dollars are there."

McBride's goals for 2004 include growing the magazine to the point where it can "go comfortably" to four issues per year in 2005. He'd also like to see non-recruiting ads in the mag by its second issue, slated for November.