Grazia attempts to broaden demographic to men
The Australian edition of Grazia magazine is to start publishing editions for men.
The fashion weekly will launch its first 34-page pullout alongside next week’s normal edition. It is planning “at least” two more men’s editions in 2013.
According to publisher ACP Magazines, the decision to create the men’s edition of Grazia comes “after much demand from its advertisers and readers”.
Grazia is licenced from Italian publisher Mondadori. It launched nearly five years ago with a ciruclation of around 70,000. In the last set of Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers, it recorded a figure of 43,872 which was a drop of 20% on the same time a year before.
This is exactly what the men’s magazine market has been missing – articles about Ryan Gosling, Rob Pattinson and Ricky Martin. I know personally I’ve been dying to know why Joel Madden sacked his stylist!
Are they sure this is for men?
Well considering magazine readership is plummeting you would think you’d think long and hard about launching a new magazine. They obviously haven’t, Grazia is a fashion magazine for women. Grazia men with Joel Madden on the cover is like FHM with Julia Gillard on the cover… It will surely bomb.
Would Cleo Men work? No! The brand is just too synonymous with women. Anyways, if men want this high-end fashiony guff (and I’m pretty sure 99.9% of Aussie men don’t) there are a stack of alternatives in most newsagents – UK and US Esquire, UK GQ, Nylon, not to mention the (largely uninspiring) Aussie variants – Men’s Style, M2 and GQ etc. And BIG note to Grazia – unisex magazines have one universal history – FAILURE!
Grazia Men? The phrase rudderless ship comes to mind… at least it’s a pull-out because it wouldn’t sell. If men were keen for style advice, Men’s Style and GQ would be top sellers.
This launch would make much more sense if it was taking place on April 1.
I can’t believe this. The magazine doesn’t appear to be going after the gay market so what is the point? What is the demo being targeted? It doesn’t seem to exist.
I don’t think Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness have anything to fear from this soon to be short-lived title.
Hmmm… All this talk about being hungry for style advice is making me hungry. Think I’ll have a burger.
Shouldn’t they have called it ‘Grazio’?…
This wreaks of desperation and was surely decided upon and the end of a really long lunch…..I hope it works for their sake….but I don’t like their chances.
Here is all the info these “men” need
Putting them on.. http://theillustratedman.com.au/
Taking them off…http://www.vanishingink.com.au/
Appalling! If this is the best Grazia can do they may as well just close up shop now. This is clearly NOT a men’s edition, it’s an edition put together by
(a) wanna-be hip trendy women who think they know what guys want or would rather turn guys into the kind of guys THEY want
(b) wanna-be hip trendy young blokes who are writing for themselves and their tiny segment of the w*nker market.
Women don’t even read Grazia, why the hell would men????
@ Jack B Nimble… Ha, good points….! And have you ever noticed “fashionable” people also tend to be the most tediously boring people you’ll ever meet in your life? (Other than gym junkies.)
Ha, you are right. Also I wish there was a bookie that took bets on media wins/fails. This has fail written all over it.
I don’t think many people bothered to read the article before pulling out the knives. A lift out with approximately two planned for 2013 hardly qualifies for a magazine launch. I don’t think I read the bit where they said it was going to be published with the same frequency as Grazia. I am also pretty sure no one is making decisions based on long lunches… A likely scenario: the commercial team canvassed and found enough advertising support for a supplement that at least broke even and will experiment with the concept to see if it can work. If they can make a bi-annual or quarterly product for men that works good on them. Magazine media needs publishers to experiment and take calculated risks. More launches in 2013 I say!
@Raff: Hahahahhahahahahahahaha! You win Mumbrella today. Witty-as-Wilde.
@Tom: Why thank you good sir.
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
@Raff – lovely quote.
Yeah right, “She said: “Men are just as hungry for style advice as women. We know many of our readers hand their Grazia to their other half when they’ve finished, so it seemed the natural next step to create a ‘his and hers’ issue.
It’s so the blokes can use it to light their barbies you dopey bimbo.
I can of want to read the article though even though I’m a girl. Just fun to read something about guys sometimes.
I kind of want*
Elbogrease, really? What on earth about this story warrants you calling the editor a ‘dopey bimbo’? Why does this make you so angry and offended?
It’s an awesome article in support of all the online people; they will take benefit from it I am sure.
If Joel Madden can be considered a ‘style icon’, there is something seriously wrong with the marketing. Sorry, but I wouldn’t myself buy the magazine with him on the cover.