Tampa Tribune prepping launch of new luxury magazine, Blu
December 2, 2008 at 4:24 pm by Wayne GarciaAs Michael Hinman at The Business Journal so eloquently points out, the Tampa Tribune is just coming off an utterly destructive round of layoffs that claimed marquee columnist Dan Ruth and editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau and yet … its parent company is partnering to launch a new luxury magazine called Blu:
[Financial difficulties at the Trib haven't] stopped Tribune parent Media General Inc. from moving forward with new projects, including a luxury focused magazine the publisher created with a Tampa media group and expects to launch during Super Bowl XLIII.
Called Blu, the new magazine is a joint partnership between Media General (NYSE: MEG) and South Tampa Magazine publisher Fourthdoor Creative Group. The two organizations formed Rain Publishing Group in July and a sales team hit the streets to sell ad space costing between $1,800 and more than $13,100.
At the same time, Blu bought a sponsorship said to cost nearly $60,000 from the Super Bowl Host Committee, the group bringing the National Football League’s biggest game to Tampa in February. The sponsorship includes a kickoff event for the magazine during festivities leading up to the Super Bowl, said John Schueler, president of Media General’s Florida Communications Group and the representative for the Richmond, Va., publishing giant with Rain Publishing.
