Chocolat preview
Chocolat, the joint venture between Rogers Media and Canada Post, is previewed tonight (Wednesday) at a press bash at the tony, uptown furniture store Art Shoppe. The invited VIPs and press will see the first issue, which appears on newsstands September 12.In a release, publisher Kerry Mitchell, vice-president of Rogers Consumer Publishing, says: "We're very excited about introducing Chocolat to Canadian readers. Chocolat leverages Rogers' expertise in catering to both English and French readers and employs a unique distribution model to deliver those readers a home décor magazine with the shopping approach we know they love."
The circulation gimmick for Chocolat is that the magazine is sent to about 250,000 people who have just moved, as represented by the change-of-address file at Canada Post. (No word yet about people complaining that it's a bit rich for Canada Post to charge for a change-of-address package and then use the names to sell advertising in an magazine that arrives without being asked for.)
(The magazine is also available by subscription. A current offer from Rogers, which comes with 350 bonus Aeroplan points, says 6 issues will cost $12 a year, or about 59% off the cover price.)
The company statement says that what makes Chocolat different is that it is "a fresh take on the home décor category, Chocolat indulges readers' desire for delicious, accessible style for their space. The magazine is rich in new ideas and stylish solutions. Chocolat helps readers outfit their homes with the same passion and flair they bring to their wardrobes. Chocolat is not just your source for delightful style, it celebrates the joy of finding it - at prices in every range and in Canadian stores close to home."
While that may be so, the content of the premier issue ("what readers can do with colour") looks pretty much like any one of a number of other decor magazines:
- Easy colour makeovers like, "A colour with class: Whether it's chartreuse, emerald or forest, green is reinventing the meaning of chic."
- A dog's life: cool accessories for your pup.
- Housewife Chic: "I can't get enough of this season's latest trend - the hot housewife!," writes style editor Janette Ewen. "From retro-inspired cleaning products to sexy home accessories, this trend is definitely one of the hottest this season."
- Hot Chocolate: 24 hours in Vancouver - The shopper's guide to the city.
- 25 Fabulous Chairs.
- Simple cocktail party: all you need to pull it off.
- Hand me the pliers: a short guide on how to pick five basic models.
posted by D. B. Scott at
3:04 pm
6 Comments:
I'm sure "housewives" will just love knowing that they're the hot trend in a decor book. :rolls eyes:
And why is it only green that's deemed "a colour of class"? Geez, I feel badly for purple.
Agree that the poorly written press release (along with the other materials for this mag) fails to demonstrate how this book is offering anything new to the market. Wake me when it folds.
Like ohmigod, that hot housewives trend is just so hot! And like, ohmigod, those hot housewives have been just begging for a hot alternative to Wish and all the decor mags!
Canada Post as a publishing partner? Clever, but isn't that a bit of a conflict with all Can. Post's other publishing clients?
I've just flipped through Chocolat and I'm horrified to know I'll never get those 15 minutes of my life back. This is the worst magazine launch I've seen, well, ever. Rogers should be ashamed of itself. A roomful of monkeys with a typewriter, a digital camera and a can of paint could have done better.
Wow, this industry sure is jaded. It's actually a very professional-looking magazine and the business partnership with Canada Post is probably the smartest strategy in the pub industry in a while.
Successful launches are good for the Cdn mag industry as a whole. Geez, it's a decor mag, not a newsweekly.
I doubt this mag will fold cause Rogers plans these things better than most and I'm sure it will make decent money.
Am I jaded? Yup, and I'll tell you why. It's true that launches are good news and a sign of industry health. But since there are so few launches in this country, it annoys me to see a great opportunity wasted.
While we anonymous types are all entitled to our opinions, of course, I have to completely disagree about the magazine being professional-looking. There's a different font system for every section, large sections of text (not to mention display copy) do not make sense, supplied/stock images are poorly used and make edit pages look like ads, product pages are tough to navigate, etc etc.
Sure a lot of this stuff, as with the biz in general, is subjective but where's the quality control? Where's the fresh take this magazine promised? What I see instead is a product that looks like it was rushed to market without much attention to detail. And given Rogers' resources, there's really just no excuse for that. But then again, maybe it's just l'il old jaded me?
Professional? Which profession? The design in particular is a mess: like they just dumped the entire type suitcase onto the pages. Then there's the display and other copy that simply doesn't make sense. I think a magazine produced by a bilingual team is a great idea in theory--but it doesn't appear that this team is truly bilingual, because the English copy is a mangled mess. Where's Lise Ravary's guiding hand in this? I was expecting more from a team led by her.
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