Unveiling the latest Cosmopolitan spin-off, publishing director Liz
Kershaw claimed Cosmopolitan Hair would survive on only 20 pages of
advertising.
The quarterly title launches on 7 October with a print run of 130,000
and a cover price of pounds 2.95. Out of a total of 132 pages, it will
carry only 20 pages of hair product advertising. But Kershaw insists the
project is financially viable and will not cannibalise Cosmo’s revenue
streams.
’We can make money from it because we already have the infrastructure in
place,’ said Kershaw. ’And Marie Claire Health & Beauty has demonstrated
that a similar spin-off title doesn’t cannibalise its parent,’ she
added.
Cosmo Hair will compete with IPC’s bi-monthly Hair, which sells 152,602,
and a number of other smaller consumer titles.
Kershaw said: ’There are some brilliant trade magazines but we believe
there is a real opportunity in the consumer market.’
Cosmo Hair is the second spin-off title following Real Lives, a summer
special. Both were a result of Mandi Norwood’s move, earlier this year,
from Cosmo’s editor to editor-in-chief. Her recent resignation to join
rival Conde Nast in the US throws the brand extension strategy into some
doubt.
But Kershaw claimed she was looking at ’an enormous number of new ideas’
to expand the brand-extension strategy.
