Media

Rich Intelligence

As a strategic business move to attract affluent advertisers (alcohol, cars, watches and other high-end products) The Economist is relaunching a  quarterly magazine called Intelligent Life. The new, magazine with fresh design that teters dangerously on a fashionesque glossy mag look/feel also has a content-rich website at More Intelligent Life.

News outlets and blogs are comparing Economist’s move with Intelligent Life to Tyler Brule’s content-rich book for intelligent readers, Monocle.

Ad buyers say magazines like Intelligent Life and Monocle reach an important audience: wealthy people, particularly men, who like expensive goods and dislike fashion magazines, preferring newspapers and current-affairs magazines like the Economist. - WSJ

What’s disturbing to me about developing magazine concepts to gain advertising, is that their first priority is not their readers or audiences. The magazine industry is unfortunately a balancing act but without compelling content, it’s just another glossy. Tyler Brule set the subscription and issue price for Moncole as high as $10 per issue to ensure, in a way, that the magazine wasn’t being run by their advertisers. He also believes that "Intelligent Life was relaunched to grab advertising that would have otherwise gone to Monocle. "For us to be on the newsstand alone, it could be a scary thing for [the Economist Group]," Mr. Brûlé says. Although Economist maintains that Moncole played no part in their decision.

It’s baffling to me that a magazine would launch with a real point-of-view and a clear distinction in the marketplace. I’m still rooting for Brule’s Moncole and hoping that intent will survive the moolah.