£2m backing for IFG’s Jack launch

I Feel Good’s (IFG) Jack magazine, the men’s title launching on April 25, is planning to appoint an ad agency to handle its &£2m advertising business. The media is bought by Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The A-5 sized magazine is being launched as a “limited quarterly edition”, before going monthly in November. The initial print run of Jack, priced at &£2.50, will be 100,000 copies. The second issue will be out on newsstands in August.

The search for an ad agency was confirmed by Jack publisher Ian Thorley, who says: “The launch of Jack is US-style. With the limited-edition launch, we want to build up demand for the first two issues and create the desire to own the brand, before going monthly.”

IFG is aiming for a circulation of about 70,000 for its first Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figure. According to the July to December 2001 ABCs, the total men’s magazines market was down by 4.7 per cent period on period and 12 per cent year on year. The leading title in the sector – EMAP’s FHM – dropped by 18.5 per cent period on period, and 20.4 per cent year on year to a circulation of 570,719.

Thorley adds: “The reason for a declining men’s market is a lack of choice and because readers are fed up with formulaic titles. Jack is for men who have achieved success in their career and are settled in their family life. Also with its A5 format, it will have that book-like quality, which most men would want to buy.”