Star Tribune Media Co., Minnesota’s largest media company, announced its launch plans for Star Tribune Magazine, a quarterly publication that will be delivered to more than 225,000 subscriber households. Star Tribune Magazine will be available in the 13-county Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area starting in April 2017.
The idea started about a year ago. Steve Yaeger, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Star Tribune, says they noticed the Boston Globe was doing a 52-week magazine and it spurred an internal conversation about whether there was a way for them to bring a magazine to life.
Star Tribune Magazine will be a quarterly, glossy, high-end tabloid and feature deep, compelling reads on the issues and characters shaping life in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, as well as more of the wide-ranging lifestyle content that Star Tribune readers value—spanning home design and décor, food, fashion and more. The magazine will be 64 pages, minimum, with a two-to-one content-to-advertising ratio.
“We liked the quarterly rhythm and it gives us an opportunity to make each issue special,” Yaeger said. “It makes it easier for advertisers to test our product.”
Each edition will have a theme, largely connected to the season. The content will be 100 percent new, created by the Star Tribune’s newsroom with no overlap from the weekday or Sunday editions.
Sue Campbell, assistant managing editor for features, will oversee the magazine’s content.
“The ideas for the magazine are coming from across the newsroom. I’ve heard from reporters in Metro and Sports, as well as Features, about stories they’d like to tackle,” she said. “Our framework for a magazine story is a bit different from what we use for the daily and Sunday papers, so we’re differentiating by approach. And, of course, I’m coordinating with our editors who oversee the front-of-book topics we already cover each week, looking for where we can bring fresh content. For example, in our weekly Homes section, we rarely cover new products, so that’s an area we’ll bring into the magazine.”
Looking down the pipeline, Yaeger says he hopes that in one year, the readers will have fully embraced the magazine.
Contributing writer
