Mental Floss Seeks More Than Hype

For a nearly two-year-old magazine, mental_floss would seem well on its way to publishing nirvana. It has received the type of euphoric PR reserved for marketing sensations like Red Bull and Starbucks, including two appearances on Friends (Courteney Cox Arquette is a big fan). It boasts well-heeled financial backers and a board of advisors that includes former Time and Newsweek higher-ups as well as magazine guru Dr. Samir Husni. And it has already forged plans to expand the brand via fact-a-day calendars produced in conjunction with retail behemoth Books-A-Million, a series of Harper Collins books (Mental Floss Presents Condensed Knowledge) and a CNN Headline News tie-in (the "Mental Floss Minute").

But then there's the small matter of advertisers. Put succinctly, Mental Floss doesn't have very many just yet.

It's a fact that is not lost on president and publisher Will Pearson, who is confident that the magazine will continue to evolve in that regard. "We're still a small- to medium-sized company," he says. "But we've got more than 10,000 subscribers and sell 60,000 copies per issue on the newsstand. At the major booksellers, our sell-through rate is 60 percent. Ultimately, I hope we'll sell [advertisers] on our potential."

advertisement

advertisement

This is not to say that advertisers haven't taken notice - Zenith and Subaru have been in recent issues, and Pearson is optimistic about eventually attracting A-list companies like Apple, IBM and other communication giants. "We're reaching a busy, educated, professional audience," he notes. "We think it makes sense for companies like that to advertise with us."

The strategy seems a risky one, especially since Pearson notes multiple times during a single conversation that he considers the magazine to be the "backbone" of the company. But the combination of sound backing, smart partnerships and - oh yeah - a killer editorial product has positioned Mental Floss as an up-and-coming multimedia force.

The publication, which touted itself as "only the greatest magazine ever" on a recent cover, mixes education and entertainment in a way that doesn't feel forced - think a smarter Who Wants to Be a Millionaire minus the kitsch and those godawful Regis suits. Recent editorial features have ranged from a compilation of "10 Things Your Teacher Never Taught You About Hitler" to pithy hints on how to distinguish Pepsi from Coke and Monet from Manet.

"Before we started the magazine, we went out looking for mag that blurred the line between education and entertainment, for purely selfish reasons," Pearson recalls. "There was nothing out there, so we started our own."

While the marketing of the Mental Floss brand may seem both calculated and shrewd, it was in fact motivated by the company's financial situation. "Financially we're doing well, but we're not Time Inc.," he explains. "If they want to launch a magazine, they can afford to spend millions on direct-mail campaigns and other things. We've yet to spend a dime, really, on marketing. We had to find new and creative ways to get the magazine out there."

As for the Friends plugs, one gets the impression that Pearson is almost a little tired of discussing them. "Anything like that which happens is helpful, but mainly because of the things that spin off as a result," he shrugs. "Courteney Cox holding the magazine doesn't give exposure directly to Mental Floss, but when Entertainment Weekly and Entertainment Tonight mention it after the fact, that's when we really start to hear the buzz." He laughs, then adds, "Hey, if it lends credibility to do what we're doing, it can't be a bad thing."

Next story loading loading..