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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS
VAIN Mag Makes a Cross-Platform JourneyTuesday, July 7, 2009 Last fall, editor-in-chief Rachelle Gauthier had her launch issue of VAIN magazine at the plant and ready for printing and .jpg) distribution…then she pulled the plug. “It broke my heart to do it,” she says. A veteran of Rides and a participant in other niche magazine launches in the past, she had crafted a new women’s magazine that focused on successful “girls next door” rather than familiar celebrities. She had included in that first issue profiles of well-placed but otherwise un-celebrated executives along with survivors of adversity. The idea was to make a women’s magazine that readers could relate to their everyday lives and real world goals—inspirational as much as aspirational. But the plan hit the wall of the financial meltdown of 2008. “I wanted it to be a magazine to carry,” Gauthier says. “But the failing economy made us take a step back and put it up online first.” VAINmag.com now has the contents of that first issue, and it succeeded in attracting 65,000 viewers in a week. But the digital world is not quite what she had in mind for VAIN, she admits. “This was different for me. I had come from the print world. I love the production part and the editorial and art of it.” She retooled the original plan, which was to offer a quarterly print book and an online portal of daily updates and news. VAIN magazine will return, however. Gauthier is planning a book-like issue for the coming months with more photography and art. Advertisers like Charity Water as well as some cosmetics lines and Designers Against AIDS are on board. Gauthier is hoping her upscale female demographic will help attract financial institutions to a new money section as well. Despite the beleaguered economy and challenged magazine business, Gauthier plans to launch VAIN in a square bound format in late September but with a revised distribution plan. “We’re going to launch in select cities. We are hitting the major cities, New York, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, and a couple more. A small and new magazine trying to hit the mass market would be overwhelming to us as well as the dollars it takes.” The economy may have muted some of Gauthier’s ambitions, but certainly not that core passion for the platform. “I love making whole magazines out of nothing,” she says. VAIN has a New York staff of 15 and is funded by a silent investor. If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com
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