Success is not enough

Today's lesson is that it is not always enough to be successful in this business. The announced demise of Elle Girl may give some pause to publishers on both sides of the border, particularly those who are aiming at the teen girl market.

Perhaps "demise" is too strong a word, since the brand is going to continue in an online form. But consider the metrics of this magazine, which in 5 years had grown to nearly 600,000 circulation. Ad pages increased 46.1% last year to 750 pages and its average paid circulation was up 17.9%.It was not enough for the owners, Hachette Filippachi.

"After running this magazine for the past five years and continually doing research on the teen market, [President and CEO]Jack [Kliger] is totally redefining the strategy," said Anne L. Janas, a Hachette spokeswoman. "The print magazine is closing down but there will be increased investment online and in wireless. He believes that's where he needs to direct the primary investment of the company."

Editor Christina Kelly had, since August 2005, introduced new, snappier cover design and introduced new topics (to be advertiser as much as reader-friendly). And,while keeping its core focus on fashion, she was faced with the paradox of being ideal for beauty products, but for the fact that most companies are pitching "anti-aging" formulations that are not of any interest to the smooth-faced audience (for whom wrinkles are unthinkably far in the future.)