Magnus Greaves on The Rise, Fall and Rise of His Media Career

So how does your model differ?

Our model is different because we are taking content that already exists elsewhere and we’re pulling it in together, which is the content that the celebrity, that the taste-maker wants to share with their fans.  I don’t have 20-30 writers and editors in a room in midtown Manhattan.  We’re creating original content mixed in with the old.  We’re creating a really great product for a fan, and the fan is willing to pay for that. This is really important. We’re creating it in a limited edition basis. So, the real value within that magazine is what Deepak Chopra is sharing for the first time with his fan base. Or, what Olivia Munn is doing exclusively for this magazine. So, you know, the constant is different but it is something almost that money can’t buy which is exclusive access on a limited basis to somebody you’re a big fan of.

How is the distribution model different or the same? Is it going to be in bookstores or is it digital?

We actually created a print magazine, but we don’t go through traditional newsstands. We do most of the selling via our website. We also go through any website channels that the taste-maker has, and we set up a series of unique distribution points in different stores.  ABC Home in New York has a partnership with Deepak Chopra and we’re selling the magazine there. The Chopra Center has the magazines as well and Fresh is our brand partner and will be distributing the Deepak magazines through the Fresh retail outlets across the country. So, it’s very specific and it works within the network of the taste-maker.

So what you’ve been able to do, I guess, is leverage their brand and provide something that they ordinarily would not be able to provide themselves because they wouldn’t have thought about it.

Exactly. You’re absolutely right. So they have their own network, and we help create a product that can go through that network.

How many of them have you produced so far?

We have done five to date. We have done Stephen Aoki, the DJ. We’ve done Olivia Munn, the actress. Brent Ratner, the film director. We’ve done Deepak Chopra, the spiritual guru, wellness expert, and we have also created one.  We did one for 55 DSL which is a sub-brand of Diesel Jeans, and they liked the concept so much that they decided to use the MyMag format to replace their catalog for this season. So we have included concepts from other magazines, but also their original photos shoot of their collection, created a MyMag via their creative director, Andrea Rosso and then we’ve distributed 75,000 copies through their retail locations around the world.

Some people might have looked the shutdown of Doubledown Media as a failure, but you stayed within the same magazine marketplace so to speak. What would be your answer to those who would question your choice to continue in the same industry?

I started developing the idea for MyMag two years before I had to shut down my magazine company. There are a couple of ways of looking at it. One is the model is completely different. It’s a print magazine, but that is where the similarities begin and end. The way we put it together, the brand, the whole goal of it is completely different.

I have a theory. You can lose a hundred dollars and you can do two things. You can cry about it, which isn’t going to help it come back, or you can take the lessons as to why you lost that hundred dollars and treat that as if you’ve bought yourself an education. So if I lost a hundred dollars on having created Trader Magazine I’m going to use those lessons to make sure that I made two hundred dollars doing my new thing. So I spent a lot of time analyzing what went wrong, what we could have done better, what I would do differently, and I feel very lucky to have taken all of those lessons and now I’m enjoying working in this really cool business.

Considering that you did this right in the middle of a recession, was it the strength of the idea or the strength of the new profit model that made you comfortable starting again during a recession?

The idea had been evolving over a long period of time and with the changes in media habits, media consumption habits, digital trends, and the taste-makers that we were able to attract, the proposition to me just kept getting stronger and stronger. It wasn’t an advertising based business. We had one sponsor price. We didn’t have to go out and try to find fifty. It didn’t have to be a luxury brand so there was nothing to fear in that respect. The opportunity became more and more compelling even in the face of the financial turmoil.

What is the feedback from those in the industry about MyMag?

Magnus:    People love it. I mean in the industry we have received amazing feedback. A tremendous feedback in terms of the actual experience and the product. People just think we’ve created something really great and interesting. They love that we tried to create a different formula. People are really interested to talk about how we’re trying to challenge some of the distribution models, and we’re trying to do unique things there as well.  That has probably been the best part of this job is that people from the industry can really kind of reach down and say, “Hey good for you. That is really interesting. Let’s talk about that.” So it’s actually started up many really great conversations.

What are your next steps for MyMag?

There are many interesting people out there that we want to work with so we just keep getting approached and we continue to approach other people to try to work with them. We are exploring how we take it to the next level. How does technology impact it? We’re always exploring but we like where the product is and we like how fans respond to it. We’re pretty happy right now.

Any other media ideas that you have percolating right now?

Yes, good question. I keep my eyes wide open, wide open. Because we are doing something innovative with MyMag people contact us often and pitch ideas whether it’s a partnership opportunity or whether it’s something completely new. From a pure media standpoint, you know what? That is pretty much it. I like opportunities where it’s about getting a community together and doing it in an interesting way. But, no revolutionary new business models at this point.