Islands Media
6272 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93013
805.745.7100
www.islands.com
The Wind Up
Lisa Gosselin, who was recently tapped as the new editor in
chief of Islands, knows first-hand what makes a good PR pitch.
Although a magazine editor for most of her career - she's had
successful stints at Audubon and Bicycling - Gosselin spent the
last two years prior to joining Islands as a senior brand manager
with Burlington, VT-based brand management/PR firm Kelliher Samets
Volk. "One thing I really learned from our PR director is that the
person made the story," says Gosselin. "The New England Culinary
Institute was one our clients, and she [Claudia Renchy Morton]
would find a terrific chef with a ton of character and use him as a
peg for a story. I think she had three 'Today' show appearances
with three separate chefs."
Gosselin wants to bring a similar sense of style to the pages of
Islands (210,000-circulation), which is now published eight times a
year. "I want to hear about the best chef in the Caribbean or a
phenomenal nature guide who can show you parts of Hawaii that you
might not ordinarily see," she says. "We're delivering local
knowledge and, as opposed to some of the other travel magazines, we
go beyond palm trees and pina coladas."
Since its 1981 launch, Islands has focused exclusively on
worldwide coverage of islands and island lifestyle, with a
particular penchant for undiscovered locales. A solid percentage of
Islands readers -- whose median household income is $162,000 - are
avid travelers to the tropics: 50% go to the Caribbean; 30% travel
to the five islands in Hawaii and 30% travel to Mexico. "Our
readers are people in their 40s and 50s who may have gone
backpacking around the world when they were in their 20s, still
like that sense of adventure but now they want to do it right. They
want comfort," Gosselin says.
Gosselin was recruited to reposition Islands as a must-read for
upscale, experienced travelers. And, as with other editors seeking
to enlarge their subscriber base in a cluttered media environment,
she wants to add a lot more service-y types of stories. "If you
look at what Real Simple or Martha Stewart Living did is to take
the service information that all the women's magazine have been
delivering for years and brought a sense of style and a sense of
aspiration," Gosselin says. " We have the same sense of aspiration
with beautiful photography and writing."
The Pitch
Gosselin has already hit the ground running. The June issue
debuts several new features, all of them encouraging for PR pros
who are tied to the travel/tourism industries. Perhaps the biggest
change is the new "Escapes" section in the front of the book, which
covers myriad aspects of travel. These include Splurge, a look at
over-the-top vacations, such as a villa you can rent out in
Mustique; Save, with suggestions on more affordable trips,
including b/b lodgings in Dominica; Learn, with recommendations on
where travelers can go to learn a new skill, like guitar camp in
Hawaii and Taste, featuring profiles of local island chefs who use
native ingredients in their cuisine. Logbook is an exclusive
calendar featuring island-related events throughout the world, the
upcoming Mask Festival in Papua New Guinea and the Bonaire Dive
Festival, to name just two.
Stories in the feature well range from a photographic essay on a
hot, new (but hidden) island to boutique Hawaiian farms that are
creating new culinary trends. (The magazine is currently developing
a Living section, which will cater to readers who have second homes
or timeshares on islands.) "We're looking for something that is
unique," Gosselin says. "How does your property or trip differ from
what's being offered by other islands?"
E-mail is the preferred way of pitching. (See Contacts.) For big
features, leave at least a year out to pitch (since if the magazine
bites there has to be enough time to schedule a photo shoot, etc.).
For punchier items, a few months should suffice. Remember that the
magazine is singularly focused on tropical islands; cozy resorts in
Wisconsin that are surrounded by water don't cut it.
There's a few Special Reports planned for the remainder of the
year to keep in mind: Exploring the World, which homes in on exotic
travel destinations, runs in the July/August issue; November is all
things Caribbean and the annual Photo issue hits in December. While
Gosselin will be tweaking the edit as she moves forward, a
comprehensive redesign of Islands is planned for early 2005. Island
Media also publishes the newsstand-only Islands Weddings &
Honeymoons in the spring and fall run; the annual Resorts &
Great Hotels, a newsstand only coffee-table book with distribution
in January and June, as well as Spa, which is published six times a
year.
ISLANDS Contacts
Phone number for all: 805.745.7100
Lisa Gosselin, , Editor in Chief, [email protected]
Allison Joyce, executive editor in charge of features, [email protected]
Melissa Wilbanks, Research director, [email protected]
Brad Balukjian, Research editor; in charge of front-of-the-book
columns, [email protected]