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Maxim swipes
Rolling Stone's editor
Ex-laddie Ed Needham takes over for
Blanchard
Through the dark days of the ad recession, when many men’s
titles were suffering, the ever-brash Maxim seemed to be unstoppable, gaining in ad pages
and readers.
But with the ad economy now largely recovered, Maxim is hurting, with pages and
newsstand circulation both off.
So it was hardly a big surprise when Maxim went off and stole an editor away
from a magazine on the rise, Rolling Stone, hiring Ed Needham.
On Friday, Maxim announced that it had lured Needham to replace Keith Blanchard,
who is being kicked upstairs to become chief creative executive for television, film and
radio projects at Maxim’s parent company, Dennis Publishing USA.
Needham is certainly a logical choice. Before joining Rolling Stone two years
ago with the mandate of making the title over to draw younger readers, he had launched the
U.S. edition of FHM, one of the few so-called lad magazines to succeed in the U.S. market
following the initial success of Maxim.
Maxim could use the help from a solid laddie hand.
Its ad pages were down 12 percent through the first half of this year
as compared with last year, from 540 to 475. Maxim’s newsstand sales also declined by
12 percent through the final six months of last year, from 824,438 for the six months
ending in June 2003 to 724,179 for the six months ending December 2003.
Rumors that Dennis Publishing was sniffing
about for a replacement for Blanchard first surfaced in late May.
But today a spokesperson for the magazine went ballistic at the suggestion that
Blanchard was pushed upstairs, saying the editor had been looking to make the move for a
year.
"Maxim's voice is not going to change much," mouthpiece Drew Kerr told
Media Life when asked what the new editor's mandate might be. "It's not broken, so
why fix it?"
The spokesperson dismissed questions about newsstand and ad sales declines.
He said that even with the newsstand declines, Maxim remains the largest men's title and
that dips in newsstand sales are not uncommon.
Regarding ad pages, he said it's also not uncommon for ad pages to fluctuate,
noting as well that now there's more competition for ad pages with new entries in the
category, notably Cargo, the men's shopping magazine from Conde Nast.
Maxim, which began publishing in
1997, quickly grew to a circulation of 2.5 million with a bawdy mix of babes and beer
content. And interestingly, it managed to continue growing even as a raft of imitators
flooded the market.
The challenge for Needham will be to prove that Maxim's slump doesn't
indicate a longer-term trend.
At Rolling Stone, he introduced shorter pieces and lots of graphics, giving
the title more of a feel of a lad magazine. While critics were initially skeptical,
Needham's makeover caught with readers and advertisers.
Rolling Stone’s ad pages are up 9 percent through the first half of
this year, with its total paid circulation up 2 percent through December 2003.
But after two years, Needham was ready to leave, having clashed
repeatedly with founder Jann Wenner over the direction of the title.
The big question is who will replace Needham. The magazine says it is compiling a
list of potential replacements over the coming weeks.
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July 12,
2004 © 2004 Media Life
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