This story was updated at 12:35 on Sept. 19, 2013
She’s been dubbed Québec’s Oprah and Thursday marks another step towards that mogul status for Véronique Cloutier. TC Media has launched Véro magazine, named after the popular TV host and the publication’s “muse,” who is also its first cover model.
It all started at Cloutier’s wedding, last summer. The star and her husband agreed to give exclusive access to TC’s Elle Québec (instead of the usual gossip magazines) and permission to show their three children for the first time. As a result, the issue was the best selling in the publication’s history, with 108,122 copies sold (the magazine had about 61,000 subscribers at the time).
“A relation of trust and complicity was established, and Véro told us that she’s always dreamed of having her own magazine. So we decided to cease that opportunity,” says Lise Paul-Hus, vice-president of Montreal consumer solutions for TC Media.
The new title is overseen by editor-in-chief Sylvie Poirier, who’s previously been at the helm of Elle Québec and Vita. Cloutier acts like a “muse-in-chief” with content reflecting her “color, style and values.” Her own stylist, make-up artist, trainer and even her mother will each have one page to share their “secrets” in each issue.
Vincent Marissal, political columnist at La Presse, TV host Patrick Marsolais and singer-turned-food-blogger Marilou will also be regular contributors. The target is her fan base – average age: 37 – and everyone interested in “Véro’s universe.”
Published four times a year, Véro will print 120,000 copies per issue. In comparison, Elle Québec has just over 85,000 in circulation, Clin d’Œil has 71,000, Coup de pouce has 219,000 and Châtelaine has 178,000, according to the spring 2013 PMB numbers.
“Our strategy is mainly kiosk-oriented,” says Paul-Hus. “We measured the buzz around Véro – who’s been named ‘Personality of the Year’ three years in a row at Gala Artis and was featured in Yahoo’s top 3 most popular searches in 2012 – [as well as] her audience rating on TV and radio, and we came up with that kind of circulation.”
The iPad version of the magazine is expected by the end of September.
In an unusual step, while the magazine is 100% TC-owned, its website will be hosted on VeroniqueCloutier.com (Cloutier’s personal site) and she will handle the social media components using her own public Facebook page (currently liked by more than 76,000 fans) and Twitter account (which has more than168,000 followers). “She is one of the top three influencers in Québec, and she already had lots of traffic. It was natural to keep what was already working well.”
L’Oréal, Telus, GM, Lise Watier and Clarins are among those who advertise in the first 180-pages issue, which uses the augmented reality app Layar. “With their smartphone, readers will be able to access a video where Véro unveils the making of the cover page”, says Paul-Hus, adding they wanted to give a ”little extra” for this debut issue.
