A glossy women's magazine positioned as the definitive resource for all things cosmetic enhancement is now a reality.
NewBeauty offers news, advice and advances regarding age-fighting beauty products, laser surgery, facelifts, Botox, cosmetic dentistry, dermatology, liposuction and breast augmentation. The first 300-page winter/spring issue hit newsstands this month.
“We've identified a niche that's absolutely underserved,” said Adam I. Sandow, publisher of NewBeauty and president/CEO of Sandow Media, Boca Raton, FL. This is Sandow's third consumer magazine, after Honeymoon and Adventure Journal. He is also a former principal of weddings site TheKnot.com.
Sandow claims no beauty magazine on the market, including Vogue and Allure, gives much ink to this trend in cosmetic improvement. The market potential for such a publication certainly is there: An estimated 20 million people yearly have cosmetic enhancements in the United States. Television networks only whet the appetite with show after show promoting head-to-toe makeovers.
Priced at $9.95, NewBeauty publishes three times this year and four in 2006. It has one national edition plus 13 regional and local versions for markets such as Los Angeles, Florida, the Midwest and the Northeast. Total distribution is 500,000 copies with no immediate plans for auditing.
“We'll probably go quarterly next year because the magazine's positioned as a resource,” Sandow said. “It's designed almost as a book. We felt that four times a year will keep readers on the cutting edge and readers will not get bored.”
The NewBeauty brand supports a Web site at www.newbeauty.com, a planned book series and a national tour of live events later in the year.
The magazine cover is 8-point UV coating with 70lb stock inside. Trim size is 9-by-10 7/8 inches.
Advertisers in the first issue include Robert Coin, BMW, Platinum Guild, Whitney Boin, Babor, London Jewelers, Inamed Aesthetics, Bissinger's, The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, GoSmile, Ziering Medical, Bergio, Jane Iredale, SpaLook.com, Doctor D. Schwab, LVI and the Cosmetic Enhancement Expo 2005.
The magazine divides its editorial coverage by skin, face, smile, body and mind. A special section, like one called the NewMan in the premiere issue, augments the publication. Regular features include the beauty brief, innovations, Frederic Fekkai's Hair Apparent, Rx versus Retail and the Service with a Smile pages.
“We're very careful with our readers, not to give them unrealistic expectations,” Sandow said. “If you're newly divorced, you're not going to get your husband back. If you're overweight, this is not going to do it.”
The magazine devotes several pages to choosing a doctor. Each issue carries physician profiles without any endorsements.
An editorial board of advisers that includes physicians Robert Singer, Simon Fredricks, Leroy Young, Tina Alster, Ronald E. Goldstein and Steven Fagien vets NewBeauty content for accuracy.
“They're highly regarded among their peers,” Sandow said. “They vet every article and every ad that runs in our magazine. We give them a level of control that few magazines do. We do so to make sure our content is balanced and ethical.”
In sharp contrast to most magazines aimed at the general population, NewBeauty will focus on newsstand sales over subscriptions. One benefit is getting the full cover price as opposed to buying discounted circulation. Another is catching the consumer when she is in the mood for a makeover.
Copies are available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Walden, B. Dalton's, airports, grocery stores and select newsagents. Issues also are sent to physicians' clinics. That is not to say NewBeauty discourages subscriptions. The current offer is two issues for $19.95 and four for $29.99.
“Our strategy is very, very heavy newsstand, single-copy sales,” Sandow said. “What we want are newsstand readers that will maintain the highest possible ROI for our advertisers. We want beauty buyers, not beauty readers.”
Mickey Alam Khan covers Internet marketing campaigns and e-commerce, agency news as well as circulation for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
