It’s hard to believe that the men’s magazine market in the UK is
ten years old this year. For all the fuss surrounding recent changes of
editor on just about every magazine in the market, you’d think these
people had been dictating our thoughts and lifestyle choices for
decades. Nick Logan - who started the whole thing with Arena in 1987 -
must be watching the market in the way Dr Frankenstein eyed his
monster’s stroll down to the village.
The latest journalist to pick up a ’lifestyle’ editor’s post is Nigel
Ambrose, fresh from editing Max Power, who’s taking over at Maxim. In
the tradition of James Brown and Ekow Eshun, Ambrose is a frustrated
intellectual.
Indeed, he got into journalism a few years before his Phd would have
made him Dr Ambrose.He opted for the life of a hack when he realised
that his funding would probably run out before he’d finish his
doctorate.
He’s yet to move down to London from Max Power’s Peterborough base, and
he is very cautious about expounding on his plans before he speaks to
his staff. He will admit to wanting to expand the magazine’s features,
but that aside, he won’t give much away at all. Ambrose won’t reveal his
hopes for circulation or which magazine’s audience he sees as vulnerable
to attack.
What he will concede, however, is that he quite likes being number one
in his market and that he believes that recent major editorial changes,
especially who is in the editor’s chair - James Brown to GQ, Mike Soutar
leaving FHM, Ekow Eshun still the new boy at Arena and Peter Howarth
still fresh at Esquire - can be an effective way of attracting readers
from different titles.
’Two years ago if I had said that Max Power would have been number one
in the motoring market against Top Gear - a magazine that has a half
hour weekly television programme to use as cross-promotion - you would
have laughed,’ he says. ’We became number one at the beginning of 1996.
We did it by having a unique style and laser targeting of what our
readers want.’
That ’laser targeting’ is something he’s clearly pretty proud of and he
wants it to work for Maxim. ’Publishing is becoming increasingly
sophisticated these days,’ he says. ’Magazine editors need to reflect
that. That’s why I’m keen to build a relationship with PR agencies,
particularly with regards to advertorials and promotions. No-one knows
more about laser targeting a magazine’s readers than its editorial team
and getting advertorials and promotions right can only be good for
everyone.’
Ambrose thinks the key to Maxim’s success will be in finding its
voice.
He believes men are facing confusing times and need a strong male voice
to guide them. ’Maxim’s for men, not lads,’ he says. ’It’s for men who
want to be entertained but they don’t believe you have to settle for the
lowest common denominator. It’s all about finding the right
attitude.
It was Max Power’s attitude that helped us overtake Top Gear, and that’s
what’ll get us to the top in the men’s market.’
HIGHLIGHTS
1993
Features editor, Max Power
1994
Consumer editor, Max Power
1995
Editor, Max Power
1995
Editor, Maxim
