A new monthly women’s magazine is launching next month with a free circulation of 700,000 distributed via direct mail to selected households.
iLove, which launches in July, will be sent to a pre-selected audience of what it describes as “affluent, urbane women” across the UK.
The magazine is published by digital marketing agency Digital Space. The company has previously developed mobile apps for other titles but the new venture marks the first time it will have published a magazine in its own name.
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Director James McIntosh labelled the distribution model “direct response publishing" and told Press Gazette that the company was already looking at replicating it for other new titles.
The magazine will feature fashion and beauty products available to buy immediately through an accompanying mobile app.
McIntosh said: "It’s a hybrid between a traditional magazine and one that is fully interactive so we can understand what readers are interested in."
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He added that advertisers will benefit from direct sales through the magazine and the app, while also gaining a better understanding of consumer habits.
iLove has worked with the Royal Mail to create a profile of what McIntosh described as “the perfect audience”.
“We want advertisers to have the best sort of people for their brand,’ he said. “They should be fashion conscious, have the propensity to buy and the means to buy.”
The magazine will have an editorial staff of up to 30, he said. It has made its first senior appointment in the shape of former Look associate editor Jill Wanless, who joins as beauty and fashion director.
Wanless said: “iLove is set to turn the industry on its head. By using advanced data profiling, we have developed a very detailed picture of our reader that informs the content we are developing. The interactive nature of the content will bring a whole new experience for readers.”
The launch comes during a turbulent few weeks in women’s publishing. Bauer has announced plans to close More! in April and last week Condé Nast revealed it was to close its monthly print title Easy Living and take it digital-only. Meanwhile, Libertine, a quarterly high-end magazine for women, launched this week with a limited print run of 1,500. And there are plans to relaunch feminist title Spare Rib next month as a website and bi-monthly magazine.
iLove’s initial circulation will be more than twice that of established paid-for titles such as Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire.
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