THE OREGONIAN; Tuesday, November 29, 1994
Like fungi attacking some hapless guest star on “The X File,” advertisers keep trying to glom onto the purported buying power of twentysomethings. The latest battlefield in the campaign for the hearts, minds and wallets of young consumers is surprisingly old-fashioned; magazine publishing.
Following in the footsteps of advertising agencies, moviemakers, software sellers and TV producers, magazine publishers are hoping to penetrate the notoriously thick hide of the elusive members of Generation X.
The newest kids on the magazine block gunning for young readers are Swing and Yolk. Swing is a monthly for “twentysomething dreamers and doers.” Yolk is a quarterly for Asian American, or, as the magazine’s banner says, “The New Generasian.”
Yet some experts in the field wonder if tailoring a magazine for twentysomethings is such a bright idea. “There’s a lot of smoke and sound and fury about the Generation X market,” says John Klingel, magazine consultant in San Francisco who has worked with Vibe, Martha Stewart Living and such regional titles as the now defunct Oregon Magazine and Pacific Northwest Magazine.
“I’ve never seen any national research that verifies that there is such a different beast.”
Certainly, readers in the Portland area don’t seem to be grabbing up 20ish titles such as Swing, Yolk or Ray Gun, an alternative music magazine known for its aggressively hip, all-but-unreadable design.
Elizabeth A. Hamilton, general book manager of the Portland Sate University Bookstore, says her customers-average age 26-tend to prefer a cross-section of magazines. Top sellers, include Ms., The Utne Reader, Entertainment Weekly, Z People, computer magazines and that perennial Northwest powerhouse, Sunset.
But the numbers keep tempting entrepreneurs. An estimated 42 million people fall into the 18 to 29 year old age group, with spending power of about $125 billion annually. That’s a lot of clothes, cars and cologne, to mention a few top magazine advertisers.
The two new titles go after this consumer motherlode in slightly different ways. Yolk speaks to Generation X’s concern with diversity, and promotes itself as a media voice for an underrepresented minority.
It’s a model that has worked well for Vibe, founded in 1993 to appeal to people interested in hip-hop music and culture, who tend to be predominantly young and black.
Swing, on the other hand, is a general interest magazine for an amorphous, broad audience-those in their 20’s.
Unlike Details, which has built a young male readership with its trendy mix of fashion and pop culture, Swing wants to explore what it means to be twentysomething.
The brainchild of 23-year-old publisher/editor David Lauren, Swing premiered boasting 104 pages, including 37 full-page ads. Six of the ads were courtesy of David’s father, Ralph Lauren, head of a reported $500 million design empire.
Lauren sees the magazine as a vehicle for people in their twenties-who have the power to “swing” elections and marketing decisions, he argues-to become empowered.
The first issue offered articles on “The Most Powerful Twentysomethings in America,” retirement plans for people in their 20’s and why young adults remain promiscuous despite fears of AIDS.
Lots of magazines debut with a glitz blitz. Hanging on is the hard part.
Just ask the people who lost their jobs when Egg, Wigwag, Dirt, Smart and Fame fizzled. Spy, the hippest magazine in America during the 1980’s died, has been reborn and is fighting to stay afloat.
In its second issue, which has just hit the magazine racks, Swing still seems to be struggling to define itself.
Stories include a brief profile of Nike shoe designer Sergio Lozano; an article about the still-unsolved murder of Seattle musician Mia Zapata; and a look at college grads stuck in low-paying internships.
Niche magazines-those designed with a specific reader interest in mind-are one of the healthiest segments of publishing. But the key to a successful niche magazine, as John Klingel says, is clearly identifying who you want to read it. Vibe, for example, was created for people who love hip-hop. It just so happens most of them are in their twenties.
“Swing set out to design a magazine for an age group, and it comes across as a terribly dull, unfocused product,” Klingel says. “It’s a terrible magazine.”
The challenge for publishers hankering after twentysomethings are steep, Klingel notes. For one thing, people in their 20s tend to distrust media images they sense are directed at them.
And then there’s lifestyle. “Generation Xers don’t subscribe to magazines,” Klingel says. Between moving around a lot and changing jobs, people in their 20s are more inclined to buy magazines for their newsstand appeal.
Echoing the words of many another would-be Generation X entrepreneur, Klingel says, “They’re a very difficult age group to deal with.”