Irish publication goes down a new `Avenue'

Magazines, and particularly Irish magazines, tend not to be the most innovative sector of the media but Avenue, a new Irish bi-monthly, is an entirely new publishing concept. It is a cross between a glossy women's magazine and a mail-order catalogue where readers can not only look at products, which range from candles to cosmetics, but can order them directly from the publishers.

The idea was the brainchild of three experienced marketeers, Ms Jackie Clark and Mr Howard Walsh who worked together in the marketing department of the Irish edition of the Sunday Times; and Ms Roisin Joyce who was the MD of Marketing Network. Last year, they formed a company, Magalogue, to publish Avenue. Their first recruit to the title was not an editor or even advertising sales staff as would be usual in mainstream publishing, instead it was buying consultant Mr William Seaman who has retail buying experience for A-Wear and Champion Sports.

"It was important that we offer a range of products that people actually want to buy and equally importantly when they wanted to buy them," said Ms Joyce. Certainly the 164 products in the first issue cover most consumer categories. Several of the items are seasonal, gift-type products, and Magalogue has guarantees from product manufacturers that delivery will be made before Christmas. There is also an emphasis on well-known designers so, for example, fashion items by Ms Mel Bradley, Ms Deirdre Fitzgerald, Mr Michel Ambers and Ms Roisin Gartland can be bought through the magazine as can jewellery by Ms Vivien Walsh, Mr Alan Ardiff and Orna Jewellery.

Irish monthly magazines traditionally make their money from advertising, with a relatively insignificant portion coming from cover sales. Avenue's advertising target is to sell 38 pages out of a total of 132, a low advertising to editorial ratio as compared with other Irish magazines. The magazine is also free and, beginning tomorrow, the first four issues will be distributed by The Irish Times as an insert into the Saturday paper.

Magalogue will generate revenue in three ways - from advertising, from product placement fees and from sales of the products. Thanks to its extensive distribution, the first issue of the magazine should have a readership of more than 500,000.

The editor of Avenue is Ms Jacinta O'Brien, an experienced magazine journalist. Contributors include Mr Tom Humphries on sport, Mr Tom Doorley on wine and the fashion editor is one of Ireland's best known stylists, Ms Catherine Condell.

"The editorial is entirely separate from the product placement," says Ms Joyce. "It's the only way a magazine like this could work and maintain its high quality."

Because of this editorial independence, not every product shown in every shoot or mentioned in every article is available through mail order; instead, a small graphic of a shopping trolly indicates those items that can be bought through the publisher.

Mail order in Ireland is highly undeveloped but one mail order catalogue, Grimes & Co has shown that when it is done properly it can work. Launched last year by Irish-American Ms Jennifer Grimes, the Dublin-based homeware catalogue has proven successful in breaking down Irish people's traditional resistance to ordering a product that they have never seen or touched. Her catalogue is now distributed in Britain and on the strength of its popularity, she is due to open a large retail outlet in Dublin later this year.

Irish consumers are becoming increasingly receptive to home shopping whether it is via the Internet, or through television infomercials. Avenue will test whether the market is now ready for interactive magazines.