Pates, left, and McKenzie-Price: go to US in March
The two IPC editors recruited by parent company Time Inc to move to New York are hoping to repeat the success they achieved with Ideal Home in the UK.
Isobel McKenzie-Price, former Ideal Home editor and currently editor of Homes & Gardens, and Sara Pates, editor of Practical Parenting, are due to fly out to the US in March.
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Time Inc is believed to have been working on the concept for a new women’s magazine for months, although it has yet to receive the official “green light”. McKenzie-Price and Pates worked on the successful relaunch of Ideal Home, IPC’s market-leading home interest title in the UK, and picked up a string of awards in the process. Time Inc is now planning to draw on their strengths in the US.
McKenzie-Price told Press Gazette: “It’s all a bit secret, but Sara is going to be working with me on what we are referring to as ‘women’s group initiatives’.”
McKenzie-Price has a background in general interest titles as well as home interest, having been executive editor of Prima for three years and deputy editor on the launch of Essentials. She said it was a long-term ambition to work in New York.
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“I love the way they work. There is a lot of synergy between IPC and Time Warner, so when the opportunity came up it was just too fantastic to miss,” she added.
McKenzie-Price went over to New York in March 2002 as a kind of “ambassador” for IPC and spent time with Time Inc’s interior titles in Alabama.
Given that the majority of magazines in the US are 90 per cent subscription and 10 per cent news-stand, McKenziePrice said Time Inc was also keen on strengthening its news-stand treatment. “The market here is so competitive that the sheer quantity of magazines we have has made us very good at news-stand delivery,” she said.
McKenzie-Price and Pates worked together on Prima and the relaunch of Ideal Home when McKenzie-Price was editor and Pates was art editor.
Pates, who was appointed editor of Practical Parenting in January 2003, said: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I’m sad to be leaving IPC, but knowing that I’m going to be working with one of the best editors in the UK has made the decision a lot easier.”
By Ruth Addicott
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