Making the case
for Afar magazine
The new title is aimed at experiential travelers
By Diego Vasquez
Aug 13, 2009
During the first half of the year, when ad pages industry wide slumped by nearly a third, a record 279 magazines closed their doors, according to Media Finder, an online periodical database. And yet new magazines are still being launched. The new Afar magazine is aimed at experiential travelers, or those who go to a destination in order to learn about the people and the culture rather than whizzing to the nearest tourist attractions. The magazine launches next Tuesday with a rate base of 50,000, which it hopes to double by this time next year. The magazine has a cover price of $4.95 and is aimed at an affluent, high-end audience. Thirty-five advertisers will appear in the inaugural issue, totaling 25 ad pages. They include the Travel Channel, several tourism boards, airlines and Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates. Greg Sullivan, founder and chief executive officer of Afar Media and Afar magazine, talks to Media Life about the challenges of launching during a recession, his editorial vision for the magazine, and what would constitute success.
What do you think Afar offers that will help it stay afloat during this tough climate?
First and foremost, we are aligning the magazine with an emerging movement, that of experiential travel. We believe that this movement is accelerating in the current climate as more and more people move away from travel as a means of conspicuous consumption to experiences that are meaningful to them.
Experiential travelers are a fast-growing but largely untapped segment of travelers in this country. They are curious about the world and want to understand other people and cultures. They want to get below the surface and get to the authentic essence of a place.
Afar offers an approach to travel and seeing the world that experiential travelers are looking for, ranging from cultural and educational to adventure and geo-tourism.
I think a magazine is an excellent medium for inspiring people to travel like this, identifying models, and being the voice for experiential travel. We can tell wonderful stories that take readers inside a culture, and we can show beautiful photos that transport readers to a place and provide a variety of insights into various facets of culture, such as music, food, language, arts, crafts, etc.
How much more do you have to sell the magazine to potential advertisers in this environment?
I like to think we don’t have to “sell” them anything. What we do is tell them about what we are doing, about the people to whom this message resonates, and how it does so. I have been pleasantly surprised by how many advertisers have grasped our positioning and have seen its value to them.
There is really no one else doing what we are doing. And, as a result, we think we are reaching a very unique and valuable audience. They are engaged, they are highly enthusiastic, and they are at the forefront of a movement.
The way they look at travel and the world goes to their core; it speaks to who they are. To be able to tap into this movement is very valuable to certain advertisers.
What types of brands do you have advertising in the first issue? Why were they good fits for the magazine?
We had an excellent response from different types of brands, as we had 35 advertisers in the premier issue. I don’t think you want me to go through them all in this interview, but I will talk about three types of brands as examples.
One is national tourist boards. We are a great forum for them, as we celebrate what is distinctive about their destinations and their cultures. As globalization extends its reach, there’s a danger of cultures having their authenticity reduced to monotonous tourist traps or cookie cutter resorts with local accents. We focus on what the locals value about a place.
Our goal is to help readers see the culture of a place from the inside looking out, not just the outside looking in. So you can imagine that this is a perspective that the locals themselves appreciate.
Another is airlines. Once again, we are a natural for them.
One thing we found when we were out speaking to people in the travel industry and telling them about Afar’s approach to travel is that the travel professionals started completing our sentences for us. They would say, “This is the way I travel.” They travel all the time and they are looking for the distinctive, so they were quite enthused.
We also had success with purveyors of fine luxury goods. And this is one of the things I was most pleased about. Our audience is high-income, active travelers. Typically high-end magazines focus solely on expensive goods and services so that luxury advertisers are surrounded by nothing but high-end luxury content.
As a magazine determined to help people get to what is authentic about a place, we could not focus solely on expensive goods and services because much of what is authentic and treasured about a place is not expensive.
It takes a certain confidence on the part of a luxury company to put themselves in this environment. But that confidence comes through to the reader: Their product is not high priced for superficial reasons. Their value is authentic.
We saw the movement of experiential travel, but it is exciting to find that many see the movement extending beyond travel. People are looking for the distinctive, for the authentic, for meaning and alignment with their values in more and more of their experiences and products. Our messaging, our brand and our audience are natural fits for advertisers seeking to tap into this.
You're catering to a high-end, affluent reader. Have they been affected as much by the recession?
This downturn has had a big impact on high-end, affluent consumers. Savings were lost and incomes were cut.
I think this led more people to think about what is significant in their lives. What do they want to do with their time? What do they want to do in their travels? Do they just want to escape and spend time at the beach or spa? Or do they want to broaden themselves, learn more about other people, and create lasting memories?
So, although they had big financial losses, many have said this type of travel is too important to them to forego. It is part of who they are and what type of person they want to be. They are global citizens who are seeking to grow and connect.
What is the editorial vision of the magazine?
The editorial vision of Afar is to feed the curiosity of those who want to connect with the world and its people, to inspire them to travel, and to give them models for ways to get beneath the surface and find the authentic essence of the places they visit.
One of our challenges is that experiential travel is not something one does through a checklist. Instead, it is more of a mindset. So, we don’t tell people to do x, then y and then z to have an experiential trip. Instead we give them models of various ways.
As an example, in our first issue, we have a story by a business writer who is an amateur baker desiring to perfect his baguette. He goes to Paris to study with a master boulanger. We follow him on this slice into Parisian life and culture.
As another example, we have a regular department called Spin the Globe in which we send a writer to a randomly determined place with little to no prior notice. In the first issue, we sent the writer to Caracas, perhaps not the first place most people think to go on their vacations. And our writer comes away with some fascinating insights into Venezuelan people and culture.
These two stories show very different ways of getting beneath the surface of another place. One is a planned, in depth, dive into a particular aspect of life in another place. The other is spontaneous and random, letting events unfold and experiencing them for what they are. Both are excellent models for our readers to consider.
How will you be able to judge in the first year whether the magazine is a success or not?
There will be lots of quantitative measures, such as subscription renewals, newsstand sales and advertising revenues. But there will be lots of qualitative things as well, such as how enthusiastic our audience is, how much conversation we create, the stories that Afar helps inspire in the travel experiences of our readers, and the like.
We think experiential travel has a very positive impact on the individuals undertaking it and, through them, on society in general. We will know of our success with individuals through their feedback to us.
As for our effect on society, well, that will be much more incremental and difficult to detect. But we think it will come.
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