Canada Wide Media launches "multi-platform" lifestyle magazine BCLiving -- in print, too
The print magazine will have a total distribution of 31,000, including 15,000 inserted in the west coast edition of the Globe and Mail.
Despite its name, the magazine is resolutely urban and concentrates mostly on the lower Mainland, covering home decor, fashion and design, food and outdoor life. It has more than a passing resemblance to the Avenue magazines in Calgary and Edmonton (published by Red Point Media Group).
This launch is a courageous step for Canada Wide, whose last venture into consumer print and online publishing -- Granville -- petered out. It started as a classic city magazine, then shifted to a "green" magazine, then to online only and eventually ceased altogether in January 2012, after about two and a half years. When it closed, it promised that its content would now be found in BCLiving.ca.
There is probably room in the Vancouver market for another city magazine. Vancouver Lifestyles and Vancouver View both no longer publish in print and pretty much have left the field to Transcon's Vancouver magazine and sister publication Western Living's BC edition, plus Canada Wide's own BC Home & Garden. Another competitor is H&L (Homes and Living magazine), which distributes 40,000 copies in the Vancouver market.
Tom Gierasimcsuk, the vice-president, editorial of Canada Wide told Marketing magazine a few weeks ago:
“It’s essentially to fill what we feel is a gap in the marketplace. I think there’s a real lack of a 360-degree media lifestyle brand in this space. There are great local public publications, great local blogs, but there’s nobody that offers a higher-end audience.”He said that he felt its "robust" digital presence through the established BCLiving.ca site gave it a distinct market advantage, particularly in offering advertisers "multi-platform partnerships". (The website is Canada Wide's most popular digital product, with 500,000 monthly page views.)
Here's the promotional video shown at the launch:
Labels: launch
posted by D. B. Scott at
5:45 pm
3 Comments:
If Tom's Letter from the Editor is anything to go by, BC Living is in big trouble. He used the phrase "love letter" three times in it, and this was his opening:
"Most of us who live in and around Vancouver, whether we realize it or not, create frequent love letters to this playground we call home."
I'm fairly certain that most Vancouverites realize that they are, in fact, living in Vancouver. Some may not.
Actually, I used the term twice in the editor's letter to reinforce the brand's positioning in the local marketplace. And the term was used again in the video because most users are not the superfans that you obviously are and likely would not have read the editor's letter *and* watched the promo reel.
I *am* curious about how you arrived at the conclusion that local pride by a regional media brand equals "big trouble." Do tell... even anonymously.
Tom Gierasimczuk
Vice-President, Editorial
Canada Wide Media
Actually, Tom, there are three (yes, three: count 'em!) "love letter" references in your rather short editor's letter. (I never watched your promo vid.) Am I right? I believe so.
And it's not the emphasis on local pride that had me concerned for this new regional media brand. No, the phrase "Most of us who live in and around Vancouver, whether we realize it or not..." was the problem. Again: I think most who live in and around Vancouver realize that they do indeed live in and around Vancouver.
It's a misplaced modifier.
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