We’re not sure what you did yesterday, but APN will be hoping it included a bit of living. That’s because yesterday was the day Living, a new magazine that “reflects what Kiwis love doing on Sundays”, was launched as part of the Herald on Sunday’s offering.
“What we’ve tried to do is create a magazine that is centred on the mood of Sunday,” says assistant editor of magazines Estelle Sarney, who launched Living. Sarney was previously editing Weekend magazine for the Weekend Herald, which itself only launched last year.
According to Sarney, there is a different mindset between Saturday and Sunday and Living is tapping into that different Sunday mindset.
It’s a pretty eclectic ensemble according to APN, they’re following their readers’ wishes for a magazine that blends travel and food stories, property and real estate information pieces, with new articles on gardening, DIY, health and fitness. There’s also out and about tips on the best places to eat and drink as well as ideas on fun things to do.
Sarney says the cover stories will be focused on what you can do when you’re out and about as well as easy and fun things to do at home.
“That’s why we chose kids in the kitchen for our launch cover,” she says.
The new magazine signals the end for lift outs Sunday Homes and Detour, which have both been folded into the new Living. The decision to stop publishing Sunday Homes and Detour as separate entities came after reader research. While Sarney says readers liked magazine View and thought it should be retained as a separate entity within the Herald on Sunday, Detour and Sunday Homes were things they said could be blended together.
Sarney says by incorporating Sunday Homes into Living, the magazine will hopefully be able to pull in the passive readers from the front of the magazine into the real estate orientated section at the back.
To promote its new magazine efforts, APN says it is employing a multi-media campaign across press, online, magazines, radio and outdoor supported by point of sale and sampling activity (it was created by the in house art department lead by Graham Stride). And as extra incentive, giving away something for free always seems to work, hence Living’s giveaway of a trip to Sydney.
Of course, with the first edition only debuting yesterday, APN business marketing manager Stephanie Gray doesn’t have readership numbers or much public feedback yet, but she says internally, it’s been very well received.
