IT WORKED FOR OBAMA: Condé Nast and Hearst Corp. are going head-to-head to get a cut of the booming Hispanic market. Glamour is poly-bagging with its April issue a new supplement, the digest-size Glam Belleza Latina, or Latin Beauty, with a quarterly frequency aimed at its self-described Latina subscribers. Hearst had already branched out with Cosmopolitan for Latinas in May as a biannual, but it’s going quarterly in 2013, with the same on-sale dates as Glam.
To create a magazine catering to Hispanic women is a natural move, given the shifts in the United States’ demographic makeup. Time Inc.’s People en Español and Latina magazine got there first with launches more than 15 years ago. Condé and Hearst are playing catch-up. “The goal is to sit atop of the pyramid,” said Glamour publisher Bill Wackermann.
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The supplements are an acknowledgement of the increasing value of Hispanics to advertisers; their buying power is estimated to reach $1.2 trillion this year. “The reason advertisers are so interested now is because the market and the consumer are booming,” Wackermann said.
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For publishers, the supplements are a huge advertising opportunity.
Ads sold against Glam will also help shore up declines at the flagship, which finished the year 4 percent down. Ditto for Cosmo, which is down nearly 6 percent.
People en Español continues to be a juggernaut at the otherwise advertising-challenged Time Inc., up 11 percent in ad pages year-to-year, according to Media Industry Newsletter. Launched a year later, the monthly Latina, owned by Latina Media Ventures, doesn’t have as many ad pages — about 680 to People’s 1,055 — and is flat over last year.
Glam has a 250,000 rate base, with a newsstand presence in some top markets; Cosmo for Latinas has a 545,000 circulation target, with the majority sent to subscribers.
Glam has a narrow focus — beauty, whose marketers are big ad spenders. “Imagine if Allure and Latina magazines had a child together,” Wackermann said. From looking at focus groups and studies, Wackermann came to the conclusion it’s the subject that most interests Hispanic women. “She’s almost twice as likely to buy color cosmetics, twice as likely to be a fragrance consumer,” he said. “Beauty and celebrity are her two top interests.”
Glam will be edited by Veronica Chambers, a frequent contributor and author of the book “Black Women and Success,” though the supplement will share staff with Glamour, including art director Sarah Vinas. The magazine will be written in Spanglish, a combination of (mostly) English and Spanish. Designer Narciso Rodriguez and Hilaria Thomas, a yoga instructor and Alec Baldwin’s wife, are contributing.