The UK version of The Apprentice TV show last week had the contestants create a magazine reports The Guardian. Unfortunately, the BBC website blocks us from accessing this episode from Australia. From what I have read, the show would have been interesting to those of us with an interest in magazines and the challenges and opportunities around the product category. I was especially interested in the success that one UK publisher is having in the free space as reported by The Guardian:
They visited the offices of Shortlist Media, a company that has prospered through a simple formula – free magazines aimed at broad demographic groups – men (Shortlist) and women (Stylist). The model is profitable, the titles picked up and read, demonstrating is that what matters in publishing is having a straightforward idea that is executed with imagination and verve even in a crowded marketplace. The contestants on The Apprentice might have struggled with that, but even they, when faced with printed versions of their own efforts, began to see what fun magazines, and indeed the media business, can be.