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Local publishers bet big on Columbus
At what might seem an inopportune time to launch a new print publication, a pair of local publishers are betting big on Columbus and its largest demographic with the launch of 614 Magazine.
“We call ourselves “Generation Columbus”. There is nothing that really speaks to our group and there are more than 150, 000 people in this city between 25 and 35. That is what got us started thinking about this magazine. We wanted something good to read,” said Wayne T. Lewis, publisher.
Lewis, along with Clark Gaines are the publishers of the new, free monthly that will launch April 1, 2009. Despite being five months away, the publishers have approached the launch of their new publication in a unique way. They have produced a 104-page pilot issue which displays the depth and quality of the magazine to potential advertisers.
“This pilot issue has given us the opportunity to invest early in the sales team that will help make this a success. If advertisers have learned anything in the last few years, it’s that targeted advertising gives them a better bang for their buck and 614 will deliver that,” said Lewis. “Plus, the quality of our content and the way we do business will reflect highly on our advertising partners.”
614′s high-quality, original content covers a wide range of interests from the city’s dynamic arts and cultural scene to its music, both national touring acts and local artists. From personal finance to real estate and from fitness to fashion, the magazine shines a light on all that Columbus has to offer its largest group of residents.
“614 Magazine isn’t just for young professionals. We have reflected the wide variety of tastes, styles and values that make up our demographic. We are a true niche publication, rather than a typical, general-interest, “city magazine”,” said Gaines.
The editorial staff includes a certified culinarian, Angela Theado. In her At Home Chef feature, she shows readers how to prepare a gourmet-quality dishes in their own home, from ingredient selection to presentation. Also setting the magazine apart are other unique features like Adventure Girl. Spunky Stephanie Reighart explores a variety of adventures close to home, from hang gliding to spelunking, and provides tips for do-it-yourself weekend-adventurers. Walker Evans of columbusunderground.com contributes his deep knowledge of Columbus with city and dining news.
“The magazine is large, it is gorgeous, and people are going to pick it up,” said 614′s editor-in-chief, David S. Lewis. “The content is focused and intelligent, the photos are beautiful, the layout is clean, modern and very Columbus. It’s going to fly off the racks.”
The magazine will be distributed at over 250 locations designed to effectively target the audience. Over 100 of those locations will receive custom-designed, stainless steel displays which will help push 25,000 copies into readers hands.
It is no secret that print media in general has not fared well in the face of the shift to online media consumption. That, combined with the general economic uncertainty has not deterred the publishers from making a considerable investment in the project they believe will pay off.
“During tough economic times, advertisers make a flight to quality, and we intend 614 Magazine to be the quality print media in Columbus,” said Gaines. “We realize that’s a high place to set the bar right off the bat, but we would have it no other way.”
Columbus-area businesses seem to agree.
“We’re delighted to be participating in the pilot issue of 614. We take a very targeted approach to marketing in Columbus and are always looking for ways to reach out to the upwardly mobile, tech-savvy 25-35 demographic, said WOW! Internet and Cable Marketing Manager, Denise Bauer. “It looks like 614 Magazine will fit the bill perfectly.”
“I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it in Columbus,” agreed Allison Sweeney, Field Marketing Manager for Buca di Beppo restaurants. “We are very excited to be involved with this new magazine and, from what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s going to be a huge hit.”
The company’s continued growth & success with their two other niche print products, Tiger Weekly at LSU and UWeekly at Ohio State, has reinforced their confidence in launching another niche publication in Columbus. The publishers have also enlisted the help of an advisory board made up of the demographic which will meet each month to help keep the magazine on target.
“April can’t get here soon enough. We have hired great people, we’ve developed a unique concept, Columbus is the perfect city and we have the experience to make it a reality,” said Wayne T. Lewis. “That, and I’ll finally have something engaging to read while I’m waiting for lunch.”
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614 Magazine to launch in April 2009
By: Walker
Related Posts:
Enzo, now you can find out why he won’t say “Hi” to you!
Yeah, I “know” someone who had to hassle you for months until they got paid…and it’s a true story, despite your use of quotation marks. It’s a done deal now though, but it’s nice of you to step up and offer your email address, for whatever reason.
Why did you decide to use your 614magazine url’s to list and rate columbus strip clubs? Certainly you’re free to do what you want with them, but it makes you guys look kinda sleazy. Hats off to you for taking them down, now that the cat is out of the bag.
Someone should do one of those fake Kevin Kurgis style videos about all this magazine drama. Hilarious.
Thank you, CU for the comedy gold that is this thread. I assumed that I was the only one who found Roopan to be a little, uh…”douchey,” but it’s a whole subculture! Oh, the stories I could share, but I think the horse is already dead. In fact, I’ll even point out that his mother is a very nice woman.
Again…comedy GOLD!
Dear 614 Magazine,
I wish you the very best in your big launch. I love quality print media. There is so much talent here in Columbus, I am excited to see a new outlet for our writers and photographers.
I read in Business First that your parent company is U Weekly.
Just so you know, U Weekly has been dropping off obscene stacks of papers to my restaurants for over a year now. I have been calling religiously for at least a year, begging them to please stop dropping papers to our restaurants. I have also asked my Bar Manager to make it a regular practice to also call and ask U Weekly to please stop sending papers. For whatever reason, my patrons have absolutely no interest in reading U Weekly and they sit in a large, messy stack for weeks. In the Short North, space is at a premium and we pay top dollar for it, I don’t have space for unread papers. Unfortunately, each week, the papers show up again.
Each month I haul the untouched pile of unread papers away and recycle them, a task I simply do not have time for. The stack of papers is wasteful and the advertisers are sold a disservice as no one in my restaurant is reading the damn magazine in the first place. Frankly, it’s poor business for everyone involved.
I really hope that you only drop papers to outlets that want them and in places they will get read. I also hope that you will encourage folks to recycle the papers, as I have no doubt that stacks and stacks and stacks of U Weeklys sit rotting in piles in our overcrowded landfills.
Again, I am excited for more quality print media in Columbus and really look forward to your launch. I only hope that the bad business practices of U Weekly doesn’t end up tarnishing your great start. As a potential advertiser, I cannot support a company that abuses mine.
Best,
Elizabeth Lessner
Betty’s Family of Restaurants
Ms Lessner
First off, I would like to thank you for your interest in 614 Magazine. Wayne Lewis & myself as publishers are very excited about its launch, and think that it will be the type of publication that will fill a much needed void in the Columbus print media landscape. After reading your lengthy post, allow me to issue a few remarks of my own:
1. After doing some digging online, I found that you have 3 local restaurant/bars. I checked our distribution list, and we do not distribute any copies to Tip Top restaurant, or Betty’s Restaurant. In addition, we drop a meager 15 copies per week at Surly Girl, in the back area of your bar along with the “obscene” stacks of other weekly newspapers. The only reason we even drop copies at this bar is because we were requested to do so by your staff. UWeekly has done some promotion for the Roller Girl circuit in Columbus (which I believe is something you support as well) and because of our coverage, we were requested to leave 15 copies per week at Surly Girl. If more than that are being dropped, please let me know.
2. To imply that we engage in “paper bombing” the Short North, you are mistaken. You would be hard-pressed to find a copy of UWeekly in the Short North area between Skully’s and Hyde Park. Why? Our readers are not there. We’ve been in the distribution game for over 10 years now and know how to target readers, which is why UWeekly has been so successful. To make sure we better manage our distribution, please provide me with the name of the restaurant(s) you are complaining about. Also please provide me with the name of the person(s) you spoke to at our office over the last year so I may bring this matter up with them.
3. Again, to imply that our papers sit “rotting in piles” in a landfill is also erroneous. We recycle not only leftover copies of UWeekly, but recycle paper within our own office as well. As newspaper publishers we understand the possible waste issues relevant to our business and strive to act in an environmentally conscious manner.
4. I am sincerely sorry that you do not hold the high opinion of UWeekly as all of our satisfied readers & advertisers do. If you have any further complaints you wish to address, kindly email me directly at cgaines@614columbus.com
Clark Gaines
Publisher – 614 Magazine
Edited because wow, a response on CU from a principal before I could bloviate, pontificate, or otherwise do what I usually do …
Hi Clark,
My restaurants do a weekly paper/cardboard waste audit as we are committed to being green.
The stack of papers do show up weekly at Betty’s as my Bar Manager, Otis and I have to log in the waste and personally recycle them. We are happy to leave the papers for your company to pick up. In fact, we call your distribution office regularly and ask them to please do so. They continue to ignore our frequent requests.
As for Tip Top, they do show up there, less often, but still nonetheless.
And yes, Surly Girl is the least abused with the smallest stack. We requested over and over you leave us no more than 15. It took a minute, but it got worked out over a few months. We would prefer not to receive any. Our support of the Roller Girls does not automatically mean we support any specific magazine.
My management team is charged with helping recycle the old, unread papers. I can assure you, no one is requesting any more papers. In fact, we all complain about the wasted papers. I have called your distribution office many, many, many times. My Bar Managers also began calling to complain too. They still show up.
In the interest of conservation, we keep a close eye on all of our papers and we do regularly call the distribution centers when we receive too many of any one paper or a paper we do not want at all. For example, Alive was dropping off 4 stacks of papers but we realized we only go through 2 stacks per week. We called them and asked them to please adjust and they did immediately. I have had similar results with all our other media partners. This has not been the case with your company.
Had your company responded to my calls well over a year ago and ceased dropping them off, I’d be a bit more patient and understanding. I have been complaining over a year now. It takes a cu.com post to get your attention? Perhaps you should pay better attention to your customer service calls than a message board. Whatever, thank you, Walker Evans.
In any case, I want to support your 614 venture. I have no problem with the U Weekly, my clientele just doesn’t read it so it’s wasteful to have them here. I am just tired of cleaning up the mess that U Weekly leaves in my foyer every week. I have better things to do than recycle papers we don’t want and complain about it on a messageboard because my frequent customer service calls go unanswered. Really, dude, all I want is the papers to stop.
Elizabeth Lessner
Elizabeth
I am glad to see that your bars make a conscious effort to reduce waste and recycle unused papers on a weekly basis. Every little bit helps. As for your continued distribution problems, I spoke with the gentleman who handles our distribution. He told me that he never drops copies at Tip Top, therefore any copies that end up there are being brought in by your staff or your customers. I would assume they’re allowed to bring those things into your places of business, but having never been a customer I do not know for sure.
In addition we initially had Betty’s on our distribution list. Per my conversation with our person, he said that Betty’s requested for us to take them off the distribution list, which we did, over 6 months ago (he says it was closer to a year ago, but for argument’s sake I’ll split the difference).
Finally, as for Surly Girl like I had stated, we only drop 15 copies there as a courtesy to you. I will have them removed from the list immediately.
This is the first time that this issue has been brought to my attention, and obviously I would like to fix the problem in a courteous & professional manner.
Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at the email address I provided earlier. I would have hoped that you were going to address those issues to me personally rather than on a forum. Once you can provide me with a name of the person you spoke to at our office over the last year, I will be more than happy to get to the root of the problem. I’ll make sure that no copies of UWeekly, or 614 Magazine are delivered to your bars in the future.
It’s really a shame that you have this obvious pent up anger over UWeekly for some reason. Had this distribution situation been a more pressing concern I’m sure you could have gotten in touch with myself or Mr Lewis much earlier.
On a side note I think this is the first time I’ve ever been called ‘dude’
I will consider this matter closed.
Clark Gaines
Publisher – 614 Magazine.
Betty’s is on your distribution list as of 5 minutes ago when I checked UWeekly’s ad rate website http://uweekly.com/advertising . Surly Girl is on there too. So, if you’re not delivering to Betty’s, you’re falsely advertising to potential ad clients that you are.
ETA because this just keeps pissing me off…
Really? Aside from being completely out of date I’d say you have the neighborhood covered very well.
Short North
Betty’s
Bodega
Embirelco’s Ice Cream
Happy Greek
High Five
Legs Diamond
Mac Bar
Planet Smoothie
Press Grill
Rojo
Skully’s
Surly Girl
The Chamber
The Garden
The Joint
Union Station
Z bar and Grille
duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude
Here’s the link…
http://uweekly.com/advertising
I think the “.” got included in your link somer…
Short North
Betty’s
Bodega
Embirelco’s Ice Cream
Happy Greek
High Five
Legs Diamond
Mac Bar
Planet Smoothie
Press Grill
Rojo
Skully’s
Surly Girl
The Chamber
The Garden
The Joint
Union Station
Z bar and Grille
Hahaha, OK glad I wasn’t the only one who saw this and thought it was absurd. This is the glossy one right? If so I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it at Tip Top before. I was just there this weekend, but I’m half tempted to go there for lunch and see if any are there now.
No. C is the glossy one. U Weekly is a newspaper. I’ve seen it lurking at Betty’s though.
I read it once.
I felt old.
The Columbus Alive is the absolute worst of the “paper bombers”. They also paper bomb private residences.
I live on High and every Thursday two stacks of Alive papers (probably double the amount of people that live in my building) show up laying there right on the sidewalk at the foot of the stairs.
The bums really enjoy wiping their ass with them (and I’m sure appreciate the gesture) and the drunken post college crowd loves coming to the ‘Sho No’ gettin’ crazy and throwing them around, but for the rest of us it’s a serious source of litter on the street. Not to mention just F’n annoying. I’ve called three times to stop the papers and it does absolutely no good. For anyone else leaving piles of shit up and down the street they’d be cited. In this case it’s just marketing? Distribution?
This is truly juvenile I am sure he provided that E-mail so concerns could be sent there yet people pick a forum to go back and fourth with the issue ? If I were him I would not bother responding because someone is going to make a stink you can’t please everyone.
That being said he does and did list a E-mail for questions to be sent to.
:?
That being said he does and did list a E-mail for questions to be sent to.
:?
bearing in mind, this is the person who chose this forum to make a public stink about the whole Roopan thing earlier in this very thread…
;)
I apologize that the website distribution list is not up to date. As you can understand, these lists change quite often, therefore time does elapse before a new list is updated on the website. Obviously some of the places you listed are not even open (rojo, legs diamond) now, which would reflect a dated distribution list.
As to your claim that we falsely advertiser to potential clients, we sell them on our overall reach, which is 18-24 yr old readers in the OSU area, which we reach quite well. To date, no one has bought an ad because we distribute copies at Betty’s, or any specific location.
UWeekly is not a glossy magazine, it is a newspaper. Again, our target demographic for that newspaper is 18-24, so if you don’t enjoy reading it, that would surprise no one (unless you are an OSU student). If you do enjoy reading it, then we’re glad to have you.
@ JonMeyers, I agree. On Wednesday I had lunch at Press Grill and was walking to my car and there were two fresh bundles of Alive that had been dropped in front of the door to a 2nd floor apartment building. As I kept walking the man who lives there approached his door, took the bundles and threw them down the street in disgust!
@ MissKitty I couldn’t agree more :)
So I maybe we all need to remind ourselves that we all love Columbus and want it to be a win/win for everyone, so lets all just kiss and hug and do great things!!!
What about XMagazine? Who is it related to?
I wonder who is going to have the pictures from Dj DFUSE at Mynt?
That being said he does and did list a E-mail for questions to be sent to.
:?
bearing in mind, this is the person who chose this forum to make a public stink about the whole Roopan thing earlier in this very thread…
;)
lol at first I thought you were talking about me but I only remember noting that if the mag don’t fit a lifestyle or age range don’t complain just don’t read it.
It’s worth a note to add on that age thing that I read a study that said seventeen magazine was read but 21-28 year olds mostly.
:lol: