IPC Challenges Highbury On Home Front

Magazine publisher IPC has intensified its competition against rival Highbury House with a redesign of its top-selling home interest title, Homes & Gardens, coinciding exactly with Highbury’s overhaul of its home interest portfolio.

IPC’s title will be given what the company claims is a “fresh, vibrant new look” along with a new format from its April issue. The restyled magazine will include extra pages, more features and will be printed in a slightly squarer, 275mm x 230mm format, which IPC states is more image-friendly.

Explaining the descision to update Homes & Gardens editor Deborah Barker said: “We like to think of it as a new look for a timeless classic. In the course of its 86 year history Homes & Gardens has seen it all – property highs and crashes, the DIY boom and the rise and fall of the TV makeover. Homes & Gardens has succeeded in maintaining its position throughout by always keeping one step ahead of the competition.”

She added: “The new look is intended to enhance newsstand impact while also delivering a more intimate environment that talks directly to the reader. We continue to evolve the classic Homes & Gardens brand so we can keep on delivering the very best product to our readers. 2005 will be no different, which is why you’ll notice a few changes in our April issue.”

Homes & Gardens currently ranks fourth amongst the nation’s home interest titles, with a circulation of 149,683 in the six months to December 2004, although this has dipped by 8.1 year on year.

The decision to undertake a revamp of the title coincides with the release of an updated home interest portfolio by rival publisher Highbury House, which yesterday announced that all three of its magazines in the sector, Real Homes, Inspirations and Home will receive a face lift in time for their April issues (see Highbury Revamps Home Interest Titles).

It is not the first time the two publishers have clashed over their home interest titles. Last year saw them in court after IPC claimed Highbury’s Home magazine was too similar to its Ideal Home title. IPC had complained that the design of Home‘s front cover and certain internal features of the magazine were too similar to its title, infringing copyright laws. However, a High Court judge dismissed the complaint (see Highbury Wins IPC Media Copyright Case).

IPC Media: 0870 4445000 www.ipcmedia.com

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