The happy story of Frankie mag – but would it have worked on its own?
Want to know how you start a successful magazine?
If you get the right people and the right backing, you can make it sound easy.
Or that’s certainly seems to be the case, listening to Frankie founding editor Louise Bannister.
You may recall that in the last set of ABCs, Frankie had the biggest sales uplift. But considering Frankie has been on the go since 2004, it took more than five years to be an overnight success.
Anyway, in the above video, part of the ABC’s Big Ideas series, in a self-deprecating way Bannister tells the story. It’s nice to hear that a good idea can come good.
But what’s also thought provoking is her almost wistful line about “over the years we’ve talked about could we make it on our own…” (if they’d set it up indepedently).
On the one hand, it’s great that they worked for a company – Morrison Media – that backed them. But on the other, it’s not quite such a fairytale if you’re still working for the man.
Do you think they would have made it?
Tim Burrowes
I like Frankie’s content… it discusses interesting real issues. Unlike the other superfluous garbage you read in other youth mags.
A friend’s niece (she’s 15) was reading it …..and I also found a copy on my neighbour’s dining room table (he’s 31).
Quite a large difference in age between them. Perhaps that’s an indicator of success?
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Could they have done it alone? Not on your nelly. Having a great idea but being way undercapitalised is the number one route to failure in the mag game.
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I was there when she presented, it’s inspirational. As with any venture or ‘dream’ there’s always a chance it may fail. I personally thought they still could have made it on there own, although it would have take a bit longer. The mag speaks to an audience on a level like no other mags that are out there, and that’s what makes it a success.
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Well… they could have, but they’d probably have no hair, no savings and no staff by now. It would have been hard enough even with the backing of a bigger company.
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Probably not. There’s no doubt it’s filled a gap in the market, us Frankie readers thirst after the next installment and there’s nothing out there like it however keeping the right balance between advertising pages, advertorial and great stories must be difficult and I’m sure its current format of minimal advertising pages would have been impossible without a good deal of backing. Love Frankie!
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