Under pressure from The Globe and Mail for having too similar a name, Woman’s Globe magazine, launched in October, has rebranded as Business Speak. President Wendy Broad notes, however, that ‘in the ‘post-feminist’ era, female readers had also expressed a desire for a more generic name.
Circulation began at 100,000 across Canada but since the rebranding was expensive, Broad says the circ will be 50,000 for the foreseeable future.
Targeting a demo of women 30-60 in business, finance and technology, the mag’s advertisers include Swiss Chalet, Outback Steakhouses and Medicard Finance. A full-page, four-colour ad runs approximately $4,150. The publication is scheduled to appear nine times in 2005.
http://www.businessspeakmag.com

– 87% of adults 18-plus report reading any edition of a community newspaper in Abbotsford; breaking out by gender to 88% of women and 86% of men

– 53% of adults 18-plus report reading any edition of a daily newspaper; 51% of women and 55% of men

– 89% of those with a household income of $75,000-plus report reading any edition of a community newspaper while 67% report reading any edition of a daily newspaper

Source: ComBase 2003-2004 Study

ComBase, the Community Newspaper Database, is a syndicated consumer-media survey of more than 400 Canadian markets that provides consistent and accurate, market-by-market information to assist in the buying and selling of community newspaper advertising space.
It is an initiative of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and its nearly 700 members across the country. For more information, contact Kelly Levson, kellylevson@combase.ca.
http://www.combase.ca

Sandy Muir has been hired as SVP of sales for the Sun Media Network. Muir, who previously worked at The Globe and Mail and ROBTV as VP of marketing and ad sales, joined Sun Media just as the media conglomerate finalized its purchase of the television station Toronto 1 with Quebecor sister subsidiary TVA. According to sources at Sun Media, Muir’s role will focus exclusively on the company’s print media and when asked last week if Muir might work with Sun Media’s new television property in the future, the response was that it is ‘too early to tell.’
At the time of the Toronto 1 deal close, Quebecor announced that Sun Media plans to use the Toronto 1 acquisition to generate numerous opportunities for cross-promotions between print and television advertising as well as for leveraging the two brands with consumers and advertisers in the GTA.

Maisonneuve, the Montreal based monthly magazine for the ‘eclectically curious,’ is celebrating the holidays and its own innovation this December. Designed as a 3D alternative to traditionally underwhelming magazine subscription card gifts, Maisonneuve has put together 1,200 handcrafted wooden gift boxes containing six issues and assorted premiums. The package had doubled as a successful promotional campaign.
The boxed set, which was originally launched last holiday season, has resulted in several hundred new subscribers, a big spike in Web traffic and increased exposure. Maisonneuve has seen such a positive response from its little wooden box that it has added it to its ad/partnership kit options. This year, Geist and the Pop Montreal Music Festival have teamed up with Maisonneuve for the box, which is available in select stores across Canada.
The majority of Maisonneuve’s circulation (14,000 for November’s issue) reaches a 25- to 34-year-old post-secondary-educated demographic. The magazine is also involved with events such as Visual Curiosity, an art show party that drew over 2,000 people last year, and it has developed unique sponsor relationships with Bell, Audi, Absolut and Moderno.

WestJet has announced March 1 as the launch date for its new in-flight magazine Up! The monthly, published by RedPoint Media Group, will debut on the heels of the airline’s announcement of new expanded routes to Florida and California. Calgary’s own Creative Intelligence Agency, WestJet’s AOR for the last nine years, is on board with Up!, as is fellow Cowtown agency McGowan Intermac/Publicitas which has been retained as the magazine’s national advertising representative. Up! will be available on all of WestJet’s flights, which serve more than 30 destinations. Advertising sales for the inaugural issue close Jan. 14.