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April 1, 1999
New Magazine Is So Crazy, It Just Might Work
Other Business ArticlesWall Street's Wild Ride All US Media Giants Merge Drug Market Mellow After Placebo Scare
By SONNY SANJOSE
SAN DIEGO -- Just when you thought the magazine business couldn't become any more specialized, here comes Martin Mango. Mango, a 12-year industry veteran is planning to launch "a magazine targeted at insane people" in Spring 2000. Mango says, "I first got the idea when I was a teenager; I realized that though my mother, who was bonkers, still made the purchasing decisions for our family." Mango had spied a businessman's Eldorado -- an underserviced market.
What's the magazine called? Good question. "We were kicking around a couple, 'Wacko,' 'Unsane,' 'Balmy.' But while we were focus grouping the test issue, some crank kept mumbling 'The Bubbling Blueberry Eyeball.' It was between that one and 'The CIA Has Implanted Something in Your Spine,' which is too long."
Ten months ago, Mango met Roberto Banana, a Brazilian tungsten magnate with a history of bad investment decisions and an unwholesome fascination with the mentally ill. "What a market," Mr. Banana, now Publisher, said. "They are the ultimate impulse purchasers: they don't know how much they're spending, what they're buying, even who they are."
Advertisers are equally optimistic. "Those in institutions are a captive market, as captive as you can imagine. At the same time, many of them do have credit cards. Lord knows how," says Janice Polyp, head of Polyp Worldwide, an agency in Chicago. Recent research has estimated that this nation's mentally-ill have over $15 billion in disposable income, not counting buttons. The Bubbling Blueberry Eyeball has already sold 75 pages of advertising for its inaugural issue.
"We're going to be reader-service oriented," said Mango. "A lot of magazines say that, but I think we do a better job addressing the very specific needs and interests of the nutty consumer. For example, a magazine for dog lovers might ask, 'Is Your Dog the Messiah?' Well, we don't care about that; our readers can't have dogs, and even if they did, they're probably long eaten by now. Our readers want to know whether they're the Messiah -- and we'll tell them, straight-out, no sugar-coating. Because if they are, you know, they'll have to buy all new outfits."
Articles slated to appear in the first issue include, "Earn Extra Income With Your Split Personality," "Scrub it! How to See Invisible Dirt," "Outsmarting Interpol Agents Who Look Like Your Family," "Five Great Vacations in Your Own Mind," "Lose Weight By Dancing Around Until You Black Out," and "Which Ten Bugs Are Best to Eat."
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Copyright 1999 The Yale Record
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