From the Publisher
New Chapter For Pacific Magazine
It’s Back To The Future
Pacific Magazine has gone through a number of major transitions since it began publishing in 1976. Some of you may remember when this publication was called “The American Pacific.” A few years later, it was called “The New Pacific,” a name that a few long-time readers still use.
A little over a year and a half ago, in the January 2001 issue, we added “with Islands Business” to our banner. The addition reflected a unique partnership with Fiji-based Islands Business International, the largest magazine publishing group in the South Pacific, which published a monthly magazine called Islands Business. The IBI group published our “South Pacific” edition, focused on the island nations and territories south of the equator. PacificBasin Communi-cations put out Pacific Magazine’s “North Pacific” edition from Honolulu.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
In the 20 months since then, we’ve both learned from the partnership. As is the case in all relationships, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. Our experience—unique in contemporary Pacific Islands publishing, we think—has led us to go back to the future with this issue of our magazine.
As of this month, we are restoring the Pacific Magazine banner as it used to be. Our friends in Fiji are bringing back their monthly publication, Islands Business. We have agreed to continue working together on the Web: our companion Web site, at www.pacificislands.cc, has become a significant force in regional communications. It had, at last count, over 9,500 distinct users and over 205,000 hits per month.
Why the change? We discovered that some of our initial assumptions about our partnership weren’t accurate. We thought we could segment the region by countries with Commonwealth and U.S. ties. We discovered that we must include both regions in our magazine. We thought we could develop significant cross-sold advertising. That hasn’t been the case, mostly because our rates were pegged to the U.S. dollar and our South Pacific edition’s advertising rates were in Fiji dollars.
So we’ve agreed to revive our previous titles, work together in some areas, compete in others and continue our successful relationship on the Web.
What’s ahead? We’ve planning a number of major developments for Pacific Magazine in the coming months. You’ll see a broader focus on key areas such as regional security, economic development and the environment. We’re also going to beef up our coverage of culture and the arts, a long-neglected subject in most regional publications. We’ll also be expanding our coverage of the South Pacific, and boosting our distribution in those countries.
Magazines need to change and grow, reflecting the interests of the readers in the markets they serve. Our upcoming changes are part of that cycle.
