Marquis Magazine has folded after less than a year in publication. The bimonthly lifestyle publication targeted affluent professionals who enjoy “an exquisite lifestyle,” according to its outdated Web site, and boasted of being mailed to households with an income of $120,000 or more.
That might have been an attempt to give the publication a certain cachet. But it never managed to establish a foothold in the Baton Rouge market, which is already saturated with several well-known lifestyle and social magazines.
Part of the problem lay on the cost side. It’s expensive to publish a high-end magazine with lavish photo spreads on thick, glossy paper. La Vie, the last local magazine to test the affluent publications market, learned the hard way.
The bigger problem, however, was on the revenue side. Advertisers are cutting back and more carefully measuring where they spend their limited dollars. Upstart magazines have the hardest time competing in a crowded field. Sources familiar with the situation say Marquis Magazine’s problem was due in large part to bad timing.
It didn’t help matters that the magazine’s father-daughter owners—physicians Kelly Cobb and John Cobb—are novices in the publishing world and are based in Lafayette. Neither Kelly Cobb nor John Cobb returned calls for comment.
Bucking the trend
Times are tough in the publishing world, but one local company is bucking the trend. Louisiana Business Inc., which publishes Business Report as well as 225 and 10/12, announced earlier this month it has acquired InRegister, Baton Rouge’s premier social magazine.
It might sound self-serving for this column to toot the horn of Louisiana Business Inc., but its continued growth is truly noteworthy, especially at a time when so many other publishing companies are scaling back. In contrast, LBI has charged ahead—recession, what recession?—as though it were the only game in town, launching several new online products this year alone.
The InRegister acquisition makes good sense and is a perfect fit for the company. The magazine is the city’s oldest and most established social register, and it’s a true niche publication, which is what LBI knows best. Publisher Chris Russo Blackwood will stay on in her current capacity but will be able to spend more time concentrating on the editorial content of the magazine, which is what she enjoys most.
Since her partner and co-founder Wanda Horn died several years ago, Blackwood has been doing it all. Now LBI can take over the business side of the magazine, a transition that will happen gradually over the next few months.
Once that transition is complete and InRegister moves into LBI’s new office on Jefferson Highway, look for some subtle changes to the magazine. Sources say it will narrow its focus and return more to its roots as a social register as opposed to a lifestyle magazine.
Working overtime
Kudos to WAFB-TV for a recent investigative report on the amount of overtime being racked up by some state workers. The hard-hitting report by Caroline Moses was well researched, thoroughly documented and presented with the use of graphics that were truly impressive for a market this size.
It’s refreshing to see good old-fashioned journalism, especially in a market where taking on a sacred cow is discouraged and stepping on toes is considered impolite. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a new trend at WAFB, one that will be followed by competitors across town.
Grymes honored
WAFB’s chief meteorologist, Jay Grymes, heads to Austin, Texas, next month for the National Hurricane Conference, where he will receive its Outstanding Achievement Award for his efforts before, during and after Hurricane Gustav last fall.
Grymes was nominated for the award—without his knowledge—by the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, where he served as an in-house adviser during the storm, in addition to performing his round-the-clock, on-air duties.
“It’s great to win,” Grymes says. “But the fact that they nominated me means even more to me than winning.”
