7 x 7, a new glossy for San Francisco

7 x 7, a new glossy
for San Francisco

Lifestyle title for folks who still have their money

By Jamie L. Jones

With the dot.com boom a bust-out and its paper millionaires either gone from San Francisco or on bread lines, one would think this an awful time to launch a new city magazine.
   It may not be.
    In several weeks, 7 x 7, a so-called alternative city magazine, will launch in San Francisco, and publisher/owner Tom Hartle says he can make a go of it even with the dot.com crowd out on the streets.
   As Hartle sees things, the sort of readers 7 x 7 is seeking were around before the dot.com boom and they haven't gone anywhere. They are most assuredly not on bread lines.
"San Francisco is an enormously wealthy place, with or without those kids," said Hartle.
    7 x 7, named after the city’s dimension in miles, is a glamorous, glossy lifestyle monthly targeting affluent thirtysomething professionals.
   It is alternative in the sense that it is not attempting to provide the local service features of the tradition city magazines.
   Rather, the aim is to offer readers stories they might read in national upscale publications like Vanity Fair but with a local focus.
   Think San Francisco as seen through the eyes of W or The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
   7 x7 will be run by a staff of startup veterans like editor-in-chief David Weir, who comes from Salon.com and Wired, among other publications. In 1995, Hartle founded Hour Detroit, a similar glossy lifestyle title.
   But whether readers in the country’s fifth largest media market want to pick up another new magazine is the big question.
   San Francisco already supports four daily newspapers, including the new San Francisco edition of the L.A. Times, and a slew of magazines and alternative weeklies.
    Nonetheless, Hartle still sees a void in the market, with 7 x 7 as one of a whole new generation of regional magazines.
   "Most city magazines have an older readership," said Hartle. "We want a magazine that’s a little bit younger, a little bit more fun to read."
   The table of contents in the new magazine looks a lot like those in the national magazines that inspire 7 x 7 editors: arts and entertainment news, celebrity gossip, food, travel and design coverage.
    The new magazine may face its stiffest competition from San Francisco Magazine, now 30 years old and with a circulation 133,000, which claims it is far from suffering. Newsstand sales are up 45 percent this quarter, according to magazine publisher Steven Dinkelspiel.
   Dinkelspiel, moreover, challenges 7 x 7's whole notion of targeting a younger reader.
   He says that reading a regional magazine is not about how old you are.
    "We write for a frame of mind, rather than an age group," said Dinkelspiel. "We have an educated, involved, active readership that is interested in the fabric of daily life."
   Until five years ago, San Francisco was owned by PBS and was called San Francisco Focus. Then—and now, to some extent—the magazine was an example of the "service journalism" model of city magazine that dominated the genre.
   San Francisco Focus LLC and Dinkelspiel bought the magazine five years ago, changed the magazine’s name three years ago, and freshened up the image a year ago with a new editor and a redesign.
    When 7 x 7 launches, it will be with a far smaller circulation.
    The first print run will be 35,000—of which 10,000 will be direct-mailed, 10,000 will be distributed in "upscale establishments" like coffee-shops and hair salons, and another 10-15,000 will be delivered door-to-door.
   Subscribers will pay $20 for 10 issues—and the satisfaction of donating money to charity.
   Hartle is pioneering a subscriber donation plan as part of the subscription package. Subscribers can choose to donate $10 of their subscription fee to one of seven local charities—including environmental conservation, battered women’s shelters, local library services or the care of the homeless.
   "The donations will create an emotional bridge to the magazine," said Hartle. "San Francisco is so socially conscious, and this is a really nice way to show that we are part of the community."

-Jamie L. Jones is a staff writer for Media Life.

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