Where a hot-shot editor gets inspiration for his magazine’s launch
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Amidst falling subscription numbers and rising operational costs, perhaps this is the only sane way to launch a magazine in Canada these days: to complement, not compete with, other cheaper and easily distributed channels.
“With Sportsnet already on TV, radio and online, the magazine completes the loop,” says Steve Maich, formerly group publisher of Canadian Business, Profit and MoneySense magazines, and editor-in-chief of Canadian Business, which, like Sportsnet, are owned by Rogers (as is Marketing).
“No other media property in Canada has that sort of reach.” With a national, bi-weekly distribution of 100,000 copies, the magazine will be no small addendum to a sports empire when it launches in late September.
The proof is in the talent as much as anywhere. Maich quickly went after big-name writer and hockey blogger Gare Joyce as his features editor. His large editorial staff also consists of staffers from The Hockey News, Toronto Star and the National Post. Each one, he says, was hired knowing what advertisers are being told over and over: that nothing will be done in isolation and the ad buys are like nothing else available to a Canadian magazine. “That [convergence] helps us get very creative and ambitious, and talk to advertisers about ‘what’s possible’ rather than just ‘what’s available,’” Maich says.
But with that solid team behind him, Maich must now get his game face on to launch Sportsnet‘s debut issue. He’s readying himself with a few good luck charms of personal significance to his life as a sports fan.
“These are really personal items of significance for me,” he says. “They’re not talismans for the magazine itself. The magazine’s personality will emerge naturally from the talents of the writers, designers and editors. But here are a few things that have been bubbling in the background for me as we’ve been conceiving of this thing.”
Hartford Whalers Jersey
“As a kid I was like the patron saint of lost causes in sports. I cheered for the Whalers, the Seattle Mariners, and the New Orleans Saints when they were the worst franchise in football. I think about that a lot because the passion of sports fans is more emotional than rational. It’s about appealing to peoples’ hearts as much as their heads. These were teams that rarely won, but there was something in the struggle of an underdog that appealed to me, even as a kid. So while other kids were putting up posters of George Brett and Wayne Gretzky, I was asking my mom to find me posters of Mark Langston and Ron Francis.”
Music
“Like it does for a lot of people, music kind of serves as a soundtrack for different parts of my life. I find I’m listening to a lot of “pump up” music these days: “Ready to Start” by Arcade Fire, “Ahead of My Time” by Teddybears, and “Uprising” by Muse are all on heavy rotation on my iPod at the moment. That last one should blast out of the stadium speakers as a closer is coming into a ballgame. It’s all driving beat, power chords and angry lyrics. A great theme song to get your game face on.”
Magazines
“I’ve been reading a lot of the old Sports Illustrated mags from the ’80s that I kept over the years. I’m also looking a lot at European soccer mags like Four Four Two, and even Pro—a magazine that the NFL put out in the ’80s. They all have little bits of inspiration that we’re drawing on: high energy, amazing photos, great storytelling, compelling packages.”
Ticket Stub: Sept. 17, 1990, Yankees vs. Blue Jays
“That was the game that the Jays broke the regular-season attendance record for major league baseball, the first full season in the Dome. I just always kept it because it reminds me of a great time to be a Blue Jays fan, when that team really pulled the city and the country together. Two years later I was out on Yonge Street the night the Jays won the World Series, high-fiving and hugging total strangers and singing “OK Blue Jays” at the top of our lungs. Thinking back to that helps remind me of the powerful place that sports can hold in people’s lives. We’re trying to bottle that emotion and pour it into the pages of a magazine. It’s a pretty exciting thing to be part of.”
For more on why Maich thinks advertisers will flock to his magazine, pick up the Aug. 29 issue of Marketing.
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