American Express Publishing Corp.’s Travel + Leisure magazine partnered with online wedding site The Knot Inc. to launch a magazine that offers content on luxury honeymoons, destination weddings and trips for two.
The annual publication, called Travel + Romance, debuts in April. Its companion site at www.travel-romance.com focuses on luxury romantic travel.
“It’s a natural progression for our brand,” said Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, senior vice president and publisher of Travel + Leisure, New York.
The Travel + Leisure franchise includes five international editions and editions on golf and family. The flagship Travel + Leisure magazine has a monthly circulation of nearly 1 million. Other American Express Publishing titles include Executive Travel SkyGuide and Food & Wine.
A recent company survey showed that 88 percent of Travel + Leisure readers expressed interest in reading about romantic destination travel. Also, 76 percent of The Knot members plan to spend more on their honeymoon than they ever have on a single vacation.
Travel + Romance will have a cover price of $3.99 when 100,000 copies hit newsstands and bookstores. This spring/summer 2006 edition also will mail to 400,000 names from the Travel + Leisure subscriber files and The Knot members.
To extend the brand further, American Express Publishing will have a Travel + Romance bridal retail event hosted by a retailer.
Travel + Romance’s launch aims to meet a consumer need. It also comes soon after American Express and The Knot launched two credit cards. The Knot credit card from American Express is for couples planning their wedding, and The Nest card is for newlyweds.
“The opportunity for Travel + Leisure is to extend the brand into a very hot space — the destination weddings, the destination honeymoons market,” Asmodeo-Giglio said. “It’s one of the fastest-growing areas of travel right now.”
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
