Wagadon axes Deluxe after lacklustre sales
Deluxe, the men’s lifestyle magazine published by Wagadon, is to close in the new year. The last edition will be the January/February issue.
Deluxe is aimed at ABC1 men in their 20s and covers fashion, entertainment and general interest, with an emphasis on music.
Launched in March, the magazine was designed to bridge the gap between lads’ titles such as Loaded and the more élitist publications, such as GQ, Arena and Esquire.
Wagadon, which also publishes Arena and The Face, had hoped for initial sales of 90,000, working up to about 150,000. It is understood that Deluxe was achieving less than 80,000 sales.
Rod Sopp, the publishing director, says: “It didn’t look like the market could support a circulation figure that we could sustain.”
The publisher has also had a rough ride with its women’s title Frank, which was launched in September last year.
Despite sales of 120,000 for its first edition, Frank recorded a disappointing circulation of 41,548 when the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations were published in August.