MARCH: THE RECORD BREAKERS
Byline: Lisa Lockwood
NEW YORK — March was golden for several fashion and lifestyle magazines, contributing to strong first-quarter results.
In fact, Vanity Fair, W, Allure and Elle all broke records for the month.
Vanity Fair’s ad pages shot up 38.8 percent to 163.7, W had a 42.1 percent gain to 266 ad pages, Allure’s ad pages increased 19.2 percent to 136.85 pages and Elle’s ad pages were up 23 percent to 294.6, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
It was the biggest March since 1991 for Glamour and since 1990 for Vogue; their ad pages rose 33.9 percent to 174.7, and 5.9 percent to 362.2, respectively.
Publishers said the fashion business really came through in March, and they credited the gains to the increased number of fashion portfolios from American and European clients, as well as an uptick in retail business.
The beauty business was tough for most publishers because there were fewer launches. But there was at least one exception: Allure credited the beauty business for its turnaround.
“Beauty was the big, big gain,” said Alexandra Golinkin, publisher of Allure, which was up 19.2 percent in March and 28.1 percent in the first quarter. “We’ll be up in the first half against a soft half last year,” said Golinkin, expecting a 22 percent gain. The magazine had a 20.1 percent decline in the first half of 1996.
Allure had solid gains in the cosmetics, fragrances and hair care categories, said Golinkin.
Golinkin said there haven’t been as many beauty launches this year as there were in the second half of 1996, but there was some new activity from Avon, Revlon, L’Oreal and Estee Lauder.
Mitchell Fox, publisher of Vanity Fair, attributed the March gains to “doing business with a lot more advertisers this year than a year ago.” Fashion and beauty continue to be strong areas, said Fox, “but automotive, corporate, financial services and technology are still very important.”
Fox said VF also will have a record-breaker in April, when its Hollywood issue carries 240 ad pages, a 24 percent gain from a year ago.
“Our increases were across the board — in fashion, beauty and retail,” said Stephanie George, executive vice president and group publisher of W. She attributed the gains in March to several projects, including the Neiman Marcus Art of Fashion portfolio, a South Coast Plaza polybagged outsert and a Saks designer catalog.
For the quarter, George noted, W carried a lot of new fashion and beauty business from companies such as Mossimo, BCBG and Nicole Miller.
“The second quarter looks extremely strong,” added George. One significant contribution will be a joint project with the London Sunday Times that will appear in May. It will be distributed to 400,000 readers of the Sunday Times and 150,000 W readers in New York, Florida and California. It’s a custom-published magazine about London, which will carry $1 million worth of advertising, primarily from designers who are opening boutiques in London, said George.
She expects the May issue to be up 25 percent in ad pages, April to be ahead 10 percent — due to more men’s pages in W’s Men’s Portfolio — and June to be up about 5 percent.
“Everything looks pretty damn good,” said Ronald A. Galotti, publisher of Vogue. He noted that after a 7 percent increase in the first quarter, “April is up big-time — 22 percent.”
Discussing the first-quarter results, he said beauty was flat and retail was up 21 percent. Fashion, jewelry and optical ad pages were up 12 percent.
Elle continues to report solid increases, and an 18.7 percent gain for the first quarter.
“If things continue the way they’re going, we’ll have a fabulous first half,” said Carl Portale, senior vice president and group publisher of Elle. He said he expects to be up 24 to 27 percent in the half.
“Apparel, cosmetics and retail have been driving the increases,” said Portale.
Glamour, which was up 24.4 percent in the quarter, had its biggest quarterly increase in at least 16 years. According to Mary Berner, publisher, increases came from the apparel, health and fragrance categories. New fashion advertisers in the first quarter included DKNY Accessories, Dana Buchman and Emanuel.
Harper’s Bazaar, which was virtually flat for the first quarter, was up 11.9 percent in revenues, said Jeannette Chang, publisher. She noted apparel and footwear ad pages rose 13 percent; retail increased 10.2 percent, due to portfolios from Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, and beauty was down 8.6 percent.
Chang attributed the beauty decline to the fact that the magazine was up against big launches a year ago from Dior and Allure.
“The Italian business continues to be very strong, with lingerie and footwear leading that category,” said Chang.
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