AskMen relaunches for the thinking man
Media publisher IGN Entertainment is relaunching its online men’s magazine AskMen.com in a bid to build awareness of the brand among male consumers.
AskMen is repositioning under the new banner “The better Man” to take advantage of the decline of lads’ mags.
Rich Keen marketing director of IGN says: “Men’s attitudes have changed in the past 10 years, and they’re moving away from the lifestyle of lad’s mags. They are more aspirational and want to be better men.”
AskMen aims to be the online destination to “equip men to think, know and live, better”. It claims to have the quality and values of niche titles but the reach of mass market titles.
The first stage of the relaunch is a “cleaner, more user friendly” site that launches today (8 December) followed by tactical campaign activity in January.
The online magazine claims to reach more male consumers than rival men’s titles ShortList, FHM, GQ and Men’s Health combined but wants to drive awareness and engagement of the brand on and offline through brand partnerships and live events.
Keen adds: “We’re pushing to create experiences, not just be an online portal and we’re working out how we can join up different media to build engagement and get brands in touch with our users.”
It has partnered with Energizer for the relaunch of the site and developed a co-branded “Guys Xmas Guide” which will run on the site for a month.
AskMen is also developing its mobile strategy and plans to launch an iPad app and mobile platform in 2011. It is also joining forces with location based social networking tool FourSquare to develop an AskMen badge as part of its strategy of finding “relevant ways to engage” with consumers.
