Stylist magazine - it's not for blokes!

In a bit to make this world a better place for the female race (one step at a time) I have made an exciting discovery that will also help to lighten women's purses across the country in such financially difficult times...

That's right, this month's revelation for me is the introduction of a new and free women's lifestyle magazine called Stylist from the people that have brought us ShortList. I'm sure there will be plenty of guys right now screaming at the top of their lungs: "Not another one!"

Mike Soutar from ShortList, who announced the news this month, is fully aware that the women's consumer magazine market is not one to be messed with, especially when such titles as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Company dominate the news agent's shelves. But that's not to say that there isn't a gap in the market for new titles like Stylist to make their mark.

In a recent article on Marketing Week's website, Soutar explains two reasons why ShortList's soon-to-be sister title deserves its place in an already clogged up market - it's target audience and free of charge concept.

Soutar says his research has identified a gap in the market, “upscale working women” aged 20-40, leaning towards the older end of the bracket, who collectively make-up the “breakthrough generation.”

Marketing Week

It's hard to define with magazines already on the scene who they are truly catering for - we know with magazines like Cosmopolitan that they probably have a younger audience than what they set out to write for. So securing a magazine title's audience very early on is a tricky business. However, I truly feel Stylist is going to rise to this challenge - I'm a believer!

Stylist has also been able to challenge the already popular yet extortionate consumer magazine market by bringing us a weekly slice of the action for free. In these challenging credit crunch times we still need something to flick through that's not going to cost us the end of the earth!

Every time I dip into my purse to pay for three well-known national magazine titles that has now become part of my monthly reading regime, I'm still stunned at the total amount I hand over to the cashier, expecting them to go: "Oh sorry love, my mistake - I put it through too many times!" and bring it back into single monetary figures rather than double!

So what are you going to do now that you have saved up all those pennies I hear women across the nation say? Well, Stylist has given us ladies an excuse to shop - the magazine will be readily available at most French Connection stores across the country! So whilst you're picking up you free copy, you can have a peruse in store at the fashion labels' latest trends - fabulous darling!

I promise you that I do not do the PR for ShortList/Stylist, even though I have blown their trumpet throughout the course of this blog post. However, should they need anyone...