Alison Tocci, President/Group Publisher, Time Out New York and Time Out ChicagoTime Out Group Ltd., whose first Time Out magazine was launched in London about 30 years ago, has since targeted young adults in other cities in the U.S. and abroad, including New York, where the first issue appeared in September 1995. Time Out New York (TONY), which began with just over 56,000 circulation, had an ABC-audited weekly circulation of nearly 134,000 last December, according to Alison Tocci, Time Out Group Ltd. President/Publisher. Tocci, promoted from TONY Publisher last spring, has been with the company for eight years. Time Out Chicago, launched last March and projecting 40,000 circulation by year's end, is among the company's wholly owned magazines, like those in New York and London. In addition, they publish 49 city guides all over the world, licensing magazines in locales ranging from Athens and Beijing to Istanbul and Tel Aviv.1) Q. You also publish a Time Out London. What impact have the July terrorist bombings had in terms of your staff getting the magazine out? A. London is the original Time Out, and has been the bible of listings there for over 30 years. They've seen it all, including strikes, IRA terrorism, you name it. They always manage to get the weekly magazine out. It's a stereotype, but the British maintain a stiff upper lip when it comes to adversity. They just get on with it, usually with very little drama. I think we've seen that in their reaction to these most recent troubles.
2) Q. Time Out New York recently began Time Out New York Kids. Any plans to expand that concept into your other cities as well? How do you decide on the markets for Time Out? A. I can see Kids expanding to other markets easily, as we do with our dining and student guides. Time Out New York Kids was launched in spring 2004 as a quarterly print publication with weekly online updates. Its frequency was increased to six times yearly and its circulation has grown to 27,500. We expect to hit break-even with it in 2006. We decide by doing our own research on the demographics of the city and the nightlife there. We go right down to counting how many nightclubs, bars, comedy clubs, movie theaters, theater groups, etc., exist and where, and how they currently advertise. Chicago was a natural for us, because it's a template like New York, with a very good, very large public transportation system that all feeds into a downtown entertainment center. And it's an active city, with lots of young people going out all the time.
3) Q. Time Out New York is celebrating its 10th birthday by giving gifts to its readers. What are a couple of the more unique promotion ideas?A. We have a major campaign in conjunction with American Express' IN NYC card. That's a card aimed at young people in the city who are interested in cultural happenings, so it's a perfect fit. We're also doing a series of stunts, offering a free gift with no strings to New Yorkers. In one stunt, we offered free manicures in Battery Park. It came with a unique branding opportunity as the company that makes the nail polish renamed the color "TONY Red." As with all our marketing efforts, we use humor and surprise to relay the celebratory nature of the magazine.
4) Q. You're from Brooklyn and I gather president of the Waterfront Museum in Red Hook. So, why no Time Out Brooklyn? A. There is a Time Out for Brooklyn - it's called Time Out New York! Part of our editorial mission is to cover all five boroughs. The feedback we get from our subscribers (over 100,000 of them in the city) is that they love how inclusive we are. If we write about the best places to eat, or hear music, or see art, we find it in every borough and across every culture, because that's what New York is, not just the glitzy stuff in Manhattan's upper circles. You will never see Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, or any society stories on our cover because we're not about the party readers can't go to; we're inviting the reader to take part in what New York has to offer everyone.
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