While much of the the magazine industry continues to cost cut its way into irrelevance, a new publication, Lucky Peach, has sold-out the first two printings of its $10, 174-page "streetwise" celebration of food and its preparation. Read the article to see how they did it (Hint: They essentially disregarded all accepted wisdom pertaining to magazine publishing).
A circulation of 42,000 is no People Magazine but this was the first issue. Profitably exploiting a niche is easier as connecting with your audience has never been easier - especially when the audience does a lot of the connecting for you through social media.
Lucky Peach is another example of the exceptional overtaking the ordinary. Breaking conventions to make something "insanely great" (Thank you Steve Jobs) seems to prevail more often over models where marginally pleasing the largest number at the lowest cost is the rule.
As marketers we should look at our own brands in this context. What's the next tired category to be transformed by the Lucky Peach approach? Can legacy brands or products be re-engineered to be insanely great or are they destined to be replaced?
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