Emap’s Grazia Hits Shelves
The preview issue of Emap’s much anticipated first UK women’s weekly Grazia, was launched today, offering its readers a mix of fashion, news and celebrity gossip in a fast weekly format, contending with the larger monthly glossies.
Advertisements are, in the main, of an aspirational nature; Giorgio Armani, Tod’s, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace all grace Grazia’s pages. However, it is the number of pages given over to advertising that is startling; just fifteen out of a possible 116 pages have been filled with luxury goods to tempt us.
This advertising to editorial ratio is surprising and compares with its rival publication, Elle, which has a 45:55 ratio. Heat and OK! have lower advertising to editorial ratios but, at 25:75 and 30:70 respectively, still have a greater proportion of its pages succumbing to advertising. However, this copy of Grazia is a preview issue and it will be interesting to see if this low advertising to editorial ratio continues with future issues.
Grazia, aimed at women between 25 and 45, has a surprisingly wide target audience and faces a fine balance between the upmarket monthly glossies, such as Elle and Marie Claire and the saturated celebrity magazine market, including Heat, Closer and Reveal.
Grazia is a 67-year old Italian brand, oozing chic in its 30 pages of fashion and beauty. The calibre of stars mentioned in the magazine lends itself to an upmarket image, with Jennifer Aniston on its inaugural cover.
The traditional areas covered in women’s magazine are satisfied in Grazia, with around 10 pages dedicated to real life issues, including stories about a couple who were “lost in shark-invested waters” and the “women with billions to burn”. The 30 pages of fashion and beauty include the must have, “getting the look for less” and “celebrity fashion look of the week”, echoing rival women’s magazines content.
One of Grazia’s unique selling points has to be that it opens with 20 pages of news. Fiona McIntosh, editor of Grazia said: “The big advantage that we have, is that because we are a weekly, our stories are for the moment. We are skimming off the most glamorous news stories of the week.”
However,the news offered by the launch issue of Grazia includes of a four-page spread on the split between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pit, followed by a story on Kate Beckinsale giving up acting; hardly breaking news.
The latter section of the magazine sees four pages of dedicated to recipes, four on interior design, two about travel, one on property and three pages of TV, but without the usual TV listings.Grazia fulfils the traditional credentials of a women’s magazine, offering readers a mixture of serious issues, celebrity and fashion news, as well as travel, living and entertainment hints. However, its biggest selling point is the frequency of publication, enabling the editorial team to keep readers up to date with the latest trends and news.
In order to hold its own against rival competitors, this element must be upheld so that Grazia offers its readers something different from competitor magazines. Emap seems confident of its new venture success, pumping £16 million into its launch and aiming to achieve a circulation of 150,000 within the first 12 months of publication.