Why Magazines Are Folding These Days at One of the Highest Rates Ever

David Breznau made a bundle by asking questions. He created the faddish “Book of Questions.” The question-filled book has since sprouted several clones. But Breznau lost $200,000 by perhaps not asking one vital question: Is this a good time to start a magazine?

With the royalties that rolled in from his “Book of Questions,” Breznau founded a magazine called Body Copy in mid-1989. It was sort of an Interview magazine for the ad industry. Last week, one year--and four issues--later, the Los Angeles-based magazine stopped publishing. But unlike a dozen magazines that have bit the dust in recent months, Breznau says, Body Copy, while in a coma, is not dead. “I almost wish the magazine was a bad idea, so I could walk away from it. I’m still hoping an investor will come along.”

These days, with many key advertisers slicing their budgets, a growing number of magazines are looking for investors--or folding. Magazines will always come and go but, analysts say, seldom have they left the scene at such a rapid pace.

Body Copy wasn’t the only magazine to stop publishing last week. Giant Conde Nast confirmed that it was folding Woman. Two weeks ago, Moxie, a magazine aimed at middle-aged, athletic-minded women, suspended publication. Since Jan. 1, a slew of other magazines have folded or suspended publication, including: Taxi (fashion), Model (young women’s fashion), Manhattan Inc. (New York financial), 7 Days (upscale New York), MIS Week (computer industry), Personal Computing, Long Island Monthly and Winners (ad industry). Earlier this month, even the literary Yale Review got the ax after 79 years because of high publication costs and sparse advertising.

At the same time, a handful of familiar magazine titles are said to be up for sale, including New York’s gossipy Spy magazine. Last week, after Woman’s Day gave up trying to find a buyer, its owner, Hachette Publications, said it had taken it off the block.

“We had a great time in the ‘80s, but now it’s the ‘90s, and the roller coaster is heading down,” said Robert Cohen, a New York-based magazine consultant. “Tobacco, liquor and automotive advertising are all in the toilet at the same time. So you’re seeing failures as a result.”

Indeed, the total number of ad pages sold in magazines fell 3.3% in the first half of 1990, reports the Publishers Information Bureau. Among the biggest drops were tobacco ad pages, which were off 27.2%, and the automotive category, which was down 12.6%.

But the problem isn’t just the current advertising slump. It’s also increased competition. Some 584 magazines were introduced in 1989--about 60% of which will likely be dead by the end of 1990, said Samir Husni, who edits the Guide to New Magazines. More than 3,100 consumer magazines are on the market, compared to 2,600 in 1985.

“If you have five magazines aimed at blue-eyed tennis players, the bottom few probably won’t make it,” said Jeff W. Marcus, editorial director at the trade publication Magazine Week. “The magazines lower in their markets will have a hard time surviving.”

Just ask Rebecca Darwin, publisher of Woman, which will cease publication after its September issue. “It’s a tough economy out there,” she said. “You don’t make a decision like this just because your ad lineage is not up 25%.”

Since Conde Nast bought Woman from Harris Publishing in late 1988, it has been somewhat of an outcast. A magazine with a recent feature article titled “What’s Your Sex Style? (The Same As His?)” found little comfort among the upscale publications owned by Conde Nast, such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour. S. I. Newhouse Jr., chairman of Conde Nast, said, “The magazine did not develop as we hoped it would.”

Joe Weider knows how Newhouse feels. Although Weider describes himself as a fitness buff--and not a publisher--his Woodland Hills company, Weider Health & Fitness, just suspended publication of Moxie, a fitness magazine that was generally aimed at women over 40.

The magazine was not profitable. “But even if it had made money from the first issue, we wouldn’t have continued it,” said Weider, the 68-year-old fitness maven. “We only published it to bring a message to the world of super-fitness. It wasn’t doing that.”

So Weider said he fired virtually the entire staff from Moxie, and he is considering introducing a newly named magazine with a different staff within six months.

All this probably sounds too familiar to John C. Thomas Jr., chairman of the company that publishes Adweek magazine, A/S/M Communications. A/S/M became a division of BPI Communications Inc. when it sold a majority of its outstanding stock to the company in June. Back in March, it folded six of its smaller publications, including Winners, a bimonthly magazine with a circulation of about 12,000 that was aimed at ad industry creatives. “They were good ideas,” he said, “but we couldn’t sustain them in such a hostile market.”

He, too, would consider reintroducing Winners--or a magazine like it--when the economy gets more friendly. “The pressure on smaller magazines right now is tremendous,” said Thomas. “There will continue to be a shakeout.”

Ad Clients Continue Musical Chairs Game

One of the most difficult things to predict in the ad business is how long a client will remain a client.

Last week, the Los Angeles office of Della Femina McNamee WCRS was told that one of its biggest clients might not leave after all. And the New York office of the Venice agency Chiat/Day/Mojo was informed that one of its big clients would review agencies.

Carl’s Jr., a $20-million client for Della Femina, indefinitely postponed its account review after its top marketing executive left. A spokesman for the fast-food chain’s Anaheim-based parent, Carl Karcher Enterprises, declined to say when--or if--the review would continue.

Also last week, $30-million client Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines tossed more bad news at Chiat/Day/Mojo’s New York office. The agency, which recently lost the high-profile Reebok ad business, must now contend with a review by the Miami-based cruise line. “We have not conducted a review for several years,” said Lloyd Axelrod, a spokesman for Royal Caribbean. “We feel it’s time to do one.”

Fat New Account May Lead to a Leaner Boss

Most ad executives would celebrate their agency winning a $10-million-plus client by throwing a party. But Jack Roth, Admarketing’s chief executive, celebrated such a win last week by going on a diet.

Of course, the client that his Century City agency won was California Slim, a relatively new La Jolla-based maker of diet drinks usually consumed as meal replacements. By next month, Los Angeles-area TV stations should be filled with ads boasting the slogan, “The beauty of California Slim.”

Roth said the ads will likely position the product directly against Ultra Slim Fast. The key to the strategy, he said, will be to point out that California Slim contains no sugar--while rival Ultra Slim Fast does.

“There’s nothing like a Jack Roth media blitz,” said Jeffrey Knight, president of California Slim. Roth’s agency also creates ads for Home Depot and C&R; Clothiers. Said Knight: “Admarketing knows how to move products.”

This Deal Is Apt to Suit a Lot of Folks to a Tee

Jim Winters found a terrific way to avoid the $175 green fee at one of the world’s top golf courses. Last week, his Los Angeles agency, Evans Advertising, won the $2-million Pebble Beach Resorts advertising business--which includes Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Now he plays there for free. And an upcoming ad campaign will try to inform consumers that, although they can’t play for free, they can play for less. The campaign will promote special holiday discount packages at the resort--including a Labor Day package.

One print ad features a picture of a golfer teeing off under the headline: “Occasionally, we cut something besides the fairways.”

Besides the Golf Links, his agency will promote two other nearby golf courses, Spyglass Hill Gold Course and the Links at Spanish Bay. And two hotels are part of Pebble Beach Resorts: the Lodge at Pebble Beach and the Inn at Spanish Bay. All are owned by Pebble Beach Co., which is owned in part by Los Angeles business tycoon Marvin Davis. Davis is negotiating to sell a stake in Pebble Beach to a Japanese company.

“A lot of people think they can’t get tee-off times or hotel rooms at Pebble Beach,” Winters said. “We’re going to prove to them they can.”