Canadian Business is back with a new look and a refreshed perspective.
Founded in 1927 and now owned by St. Joseph Communications after decades with Rogers Media, the magazine is returning to print for the first time since 2016 with a quarterly edition on Oct. 4, with the possibility of publishing more frequently in the future.
Editor-in-chief Charlotte Herrold tells Media In Canada that Canadian Business, whose new canadianbusiness.ca website launches October 7, is offering a focus on what she feels is a previously untapped resource: Canada’s “innovation economy.”
“There are a lot of really amazing stories of exciting, dynamic businesses in Canada that are challenging the status quo,” she explains. “There hasn’t been a dedicated publication that’s really looked at the innovation economy in Canada before. We’ve been, as a whole, very focused on that downtown Toronto, Bay Street, Big Bank corridor and we’ve been ignoring some of these up-and-coming success stories that are going to be the next big thing, the next big Shopify.”
As a result, Herrold says Canadian Business is going wider, deeper, younger and – by polybagging it with Toronto Life and Maclean’s for a combined 75,000 subscribers – national, in terms of reaching readers and rebuilding its subscription base.
“We’re trying to expand the audience that would even be interested in business journalism,” says Herrold (pictured, right). “Really, it’s just about reaching anyone who wants to do business better and show up in their jobs feeling inspired and that they’re more equipped to lead in the most effective way.”
As a result, Canadian Business, which partnered with Toronto design firm Studio Wyse for the redesign, is incorporating a number of new features: The Brief will focus on innovative ideas and people, news and trends; Design will be a photography-driven section that includes shoppable home office items, a designer spotlight and looks at cutting-edge workplaces; Strategies will offer “brilliant” ideas for the workplace via case studies from astute businesses that have figured out improvements.
The website will feature a CB Talent Board of curated job listings, and a new corporate membership program called CB Insider will offer discounted admission and access to signature events, virtual masterclasses and fireside chats, and invites to quarterly networking nights and thought-leadership salons.
Associate publisher Jason Maghanoy says another CB Insider attraction for advertisers are significant discounts for advertising in Canadian Business.
Another new offering is a New Innovators List, to be published in January in partnership with the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship. It’s an evolution of CB’s Growth 500 ranking that will include recognition through Innovators Award and a multi-day Innovators Summit.
Herrold says playing a crucial role in the revitalization of the magazine has been rewarding. “We’re bringing something new back into the media landscape. And that doesn’t happen very often these days.”
