The Woman Plugging the Holes at Fairchild Publishing

More than a year ago, Mary Berner, the publisher at the uber-woman's magazine, Glamour, decided that it was time to broaden her horizons. Actually, S.I. Newhouse Jr. at Advance Publications made that decision for her. Berner now helms the advertising space for such magazines as Women's Wear Daily, Details and Jane. Even though these magazines seem to have a lot in common -- fashion, beautiful people, Calvin Klein ads -- Berner is actually doing some fancy footwork in keeping these varied magazines -- trade vs. consumer, men- vs. women-oriented -- healthy in the predicted recession.

In an interview with Inside.com, Berner said that by offering both consumer and trade magazines, the trades rub off on the consumer magazines, giving them an "insider" sort of feel that Cosmopolitan and Mademoiselle don't offer. In fact, the best-selling issue of Jane (a feminist, nontraditional woman's magazine) had the least sex stories in it -- a topic that are these magazines' stock and trade. On the other hand, Jane cannot even dream to surpass its main competitor (Vogue), which is the most "inside" magazine in the fashion industry -- it helps to have almost a century's worth of a reputation as a foundation, compared to a neophyte like Jane.

Berner will also have a busy time trying to plug up the holes of a leaking ship in the Fairchild fleet. By controlling the ad dollars at the volatile Details, Berner has a heavy burden on her shoulders. The magazine has faltered in the past year, including a brief moratorium at the newsstand as it was revamped to mimic the sexy Maxim and FHM in the men's magazine section. Details relaunched this past fall with Robert Downey Jr. on the cover, a man whose bad luck may foreshadow the future of this publication. Why? In the same interview with Inside.com, Berner stated the Details market is targeted to late-twentysomething, dot-com millionaires. However, so is every other men's magazine with a half-naked "girl" on the cover, featuring headlines like "The Internet Gurus of Tomorrow" and "Having It All, But Not Knowing What to Do With It."

In the magazine business (heck, in all of the media business), it's hard to stay afloat or even make a mark if you're not a dinosaur in the field or a novel, money-making concept. Luckily, the Fairchild publication Women's Wear Daily is the fashion industry's bible. Although, it will be interesting to see how well the 6-day-a-week paper will do as an online subscription -- at a cost of $995 per year. That's almost 10 times the price of the print subscription. Berner believes that the market overseas will appreciate the convenience of an electronic version, as well as the easily accessible online archives.

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