A new ethical living magazine is to launch as a free title, distributed at supermarkets and targeted at an ABC1 readership.
GreenerLiving, the brainchild of husband-and-wife editorial team Peter Batt and Alison Shepherd, who run Whizzywig publishers, will launch next month as a bimonthly green lifestyle title. It will be distributed through selected supermarkets at front-of-shop distribution points. Batt said the launch edition will have a distribution of 30,000, through agency ALR, which has deals with Sainsbury's, Tesco, the Co-Op and Morrison's. Each supermarket will initially receive 200 copies.
On the decision not to go down the newsstand route, Batt said: "You are fighting for space against really established titles — it was too much of a risk. "But it's just our initial strategy, we are aiming to grow the print run and increase the number of outlets. "One advantage is that we get a lot of magazines in people's hands and cut out the administration of dealing with the distribution of copies. "Plus our advertising is being done by First Media in Kent."
GreenerLiving was conceived about four years ago, but the publishers waited until it was felt that there was a sustainable advertising base. The move follows a number of style mag ethical living launches this year such as Lunch and Sublime, while another, Project, is due next year. The sector is currently home to New Consumer and Ethical Consumer.
On the competition, Batt said: "There have been many attempts to get into this sector, but they have always been dreary and worthy — certainly not written for a mainstream audience. "We want to tap into the aspirations of its affluent middle-class readership, inject a bit of humanity and accessibility [to the market]."
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog