Following up on our fab homage to all things MAGAZINES (so many great suggestions from the Daily Q&A Community! - see link below,) Portfolio.com just released a sneak peek at the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ magazine report. Looks like some of the ol’ monthly favourites need to freshen up their offering.

I truly dig O Magazine, but it’s time to share the front cover with a featured guest or two. And VOGUE…Dear Vogue - give me a little more news I can use. There’s plenty of speculation as to why their circulation is waning.

I’m bummed to see that Marie Claire readership is down. Editor Joanna Coles took it over two years ago and she must be feeling the heat right about now. Twenty+ issues is a fair chance to prove yourself as a magazine Editrix, but she may still turn it around. (Carrie and I have met with Joanna and she seems to be a take-no-shit but warm-hearted business woman.)

I think Maggie Gyllenhal as covergirl twice in about as many years is a poor choice, she just doesn’t have the pull (even tho’ she most truly rocks on film - indies and the big Batman flick, Dark Knight.) And their celeb cover girls, as inspiring and gorgeous as some of them naturally are, are styled to be too tame - the cover has no design sophistication. It’s All American role-modeling and type facing at it’s most predictable. It’s not reflective of the smart AND stylish heart of Marie Claire. You can be both, but you have to be boldly both, or you end up dulling your power…and readers.

Maybe MC is trying to please too wide of a range of woman, and they should attend to the kind of woman they want to resonate with. It’s about going deeper instead of broader - that’s often where the vein of gold lies - and you can mine that into sales month after month after month. Depth, (and I’m not talking about subject matter necessarily, but depth as in focus,) earns devotion.

Related inspiration from C&D:
The Daily Q&A: What’s Your Favourite Magazine? Over 100 people vote for their best loved glossies.

Blog: The 51 Best* Magazines Ever *Smartest, Prettiest, Coolest, Funniest, Most Influential, Most Necessary, Most Important, Most Essential, etc. By Graydon Carter (Editor of Vanity Fair,) and GOOD Magazine

Blog: Creativity That Makes The Cut: An Interview with Chief of Orange Life Magazine, Susie Hutchinson - READ ABOUT HOW TO WIN A COMPLIMENTARY MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION…