Southwest Florida is blessed with a wealth of natural resources. That richness has drawn an extraordinarily affluent population to Lee and Collier counties. It has also spawned a bumper crop of three lifestyle publications that seek to capture affluent readers on behalf of purveyors of luxury products and services. And capturing the loyalties of readers and advertisers alike has become a very serious business indeed.

Within the lifestyle pages, all is chic, trendy, fun and social. In the marketplace, however, the three publications battle ferociously for advertising dominance. Not surprisingly, publishers, sales managers and sales reps fill the marketplace with enthusiastic hyperbole about their magazines. From the advertiser's perspective, sorting the salient from the sales pitch is difficult at best.

We'll examine the lifestyle landscape and the publications within it, by comparing the essential elements of circulation, editorial, quality, and likely viability. This would be a simpler task if there were two bad publications and one great one. It would also be simpler if there were more apples to apples comparisons available. And it would really be simpler if any objective readership studies existed--that showed the relative readership of each publication among the target demographic. That said, it is possible to provide some objective benchmarks and qualitative judgments on each magazine.

A Lifestyle Magazine: What's It All About?

Certain fundamental elements define a successful lifestyle publication in a market such as Naples, Palm Beach or Boca Raton:

**A focus on the people who read the magazine. If they, their friends, and colleagues aren't included, they will lose interest.

**A focus on the activities that occupy the off-duty thoughts of affluent readers--fashion, interior design, dining out, travel, charitable events, the arts, and other leisure pursuits.

**Quality of writing, design, photography, paper, and printing. A great lifestyle magazine needs to reflect the level of sophistication of its readers.

**Efficient delivery of the publication to a critical mass of readers in the targeted demographic.

What is the market anyway?

Historically, the economic epicenter of wealthy readers was centered in old Naples, heading North to Pine Ridge. But with the entry of Pelican Bay in the mid-80s and the more recent arrival of new communities such as Quail West or Grey Oaks, the distribution of affluent Neapolitans has expanded significantly. Today, each of the lifestyle publications -- whether it has Naples in its name or not -- also embraces the high-end communities sprouting in Bonita Springs, such as Bonita Bay and Pelican Landing.

Essentially, we are dealing with a virtual Naples that includes a good chunk of Southern Lee County -- on the theory that affluent Bonitans have a Naples sensibility. To a lesser degree, the rest of Lee County is included. Gulfshore Life alone delivers a significant chunk to the Fort Myers area -- roughly 40 percent of its total.

Typically, the lifestyle publications target a reader with a home valued at a minimum of $200,000, an annual income in excess of $100,000, and a net worth exceeding $1 million (and preferably more in each case). In short, these folks have the money to spend on the upscale products being advertised.

Circulation: Where Does it Go, Who Gets it and Who Wants it?

An ideal circulation profile would include only readers who fit a targeted demographic, buy a lot of the products you sell, live in the area in which you sell and are avid readers of the publication they are receiving. In the Southwest Florida market, each lifestyle publication offers a diverse blend of circulation types. It is worth noting that both Gulfshore Life and Naples Illustrated have applied for a circulation audit -- this means that advertisers will have documented proof of exactly who their advertisements are reaching by mid 1999. N Magazine is not planning an audit. In addition, the direct-mailed circulation of N drops dramatically in the off-season months, from 32,000 to 20,000. Here's a comparison of the type and quantity of copies distributed.

How We Wound Up with Three

The Old Veteran, Gulfshore Life Lost Focus and Invited Competition

In January of 1995, only one serious contender filled the category -- Gulfshore Life, a publication with more than 26 years of local history. In March of 1995, N Magazine joined the fray. Naples Illustrated arrived this January. It wasn't just the phenomenal growth of the region that lured competition. It was the admitted misjudgments of Gulfshore Life's management team that left a gaping hole for two new publications.

In effect, Gulfshore Life took most of the editorial elements that comprise a successful lifestyle magazine and tossed them out the window. For example, GSL eliminated the ever-popular photo pages of social, business, and community leaders on the town. "That was one of the most foolish things we could have done," laments new publisher, Chuck Colletti. It also jettisoned fashion coverage and minimized coverage of interior design. With the heart of what had previously worked gone, GSL began a dramatic shift to environmental topics.

Making a bad situation worse, the former management of Gulfshore Life also took its advertisers for granted, says Colletti. They unfortunately assumed that their virtual monopoly on luxury advertising would continue without interference. The advertisers were not amused.

Strategic errors aside, GSL maintains a core of 11,000 paid subscriptions. These folks want to receive the publication and contribute a healthy income stream to the publication. GSL also sells copies in bookstores and hotel gift shops. In addition, the magzine distributes more than 3400 copies to hotel rooms in Lee and Collier counties. Their total monthly reach is more than 24,000.

Enter Competitor #1: N Magazine

Three Gulfshore expatriates, Janice Johnson, Lauren Bonaquist and Sharon Van Rite launched N Magazine in March 1995. Van Rite had earlier formed her own company, Gulf Coast Media, to publish a number of annual guides and custom publications. Each of the founders was close enough to the market to understand the crying need for a magazine that would recapture the hearts and minds of both readers and advertisers.

N was and is different -- really different. It is tabloid-sized and has lots and lots of pictures. It is colorful, accessible and a very quick read because of its preference of photography over print. It has fewer and shorter articles than its lifestyle colleagues. But the brevity of its articles is balanced by the variety of its content. In the most recent issue, October, N had a visual