'Us Weekly' is King And Queen Of The Interstate Highways

Imagine driving a lonely stretch of Interstate 5 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Oregon on a Tuesday afternoon and suddenly encountering a 9-feet-high/53-feet-long rig with the Us Weekly logo and covers emblazoned? “Quite a site,” says publisher (since September 2000) Vicci Lasdon Rose. “Wenner Media coo John Gruber had the idea to ‘brand’ Us Weekly on three trucks. The one based in Portland is heading to Los Angeles to get copies on newsstands each Tuesday night--the earliest in the country. We also have rigs in Wisconsin to serve the Midwest and in Pennsylvania to serve the East.

I know of no weather delays, and this spring or summer I plan to have a fun promotion with the truck in New York. Imagine the reactions that will come from seeing one on the street.”

(At Wenner Media, the trucks are Us Weekly -unique. The Rolling Stone rigs carry just the magazine’s logo.)

Rose’s ooohs-and-ahhs also come from Us Weekly’s +75% ad-page January. “That size a differential won’t continue,” she says, “but we are showing solid growth in every major category: automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, food, and tv/entertainment.” Year-end-2010 differential was down fractionally.