Parenting Makes Ad Age's Magazine A-List

Parenting joins Harper's Bazaar, the Atlantic, Wired and Vice in Ad Age's annual magazine A-List. The list, awarded yearly to the top magazines of the year, was announced at the American Magazine Conference in Chicago today.

According to Ad Age, Parenting was singled out for its "versioning" strategy - taking the bold step of turning one magazine into two - taken during a time of financial turmoil and a decision that Ad Age said in its motivation for the award, "struck many as unnecessary and potentially self-cannibalizing." But Parenting executives stuck by their guns, and Ad Age was impressed enough to put Parenting at No. 6 on the list.

"Every mother, whether she was with the client or in media, thought what we did made complete sense in principle," said Greg Schumann, Vice President and group publisher of Parenting at Bonnier Corporation said to Ad Age. "But when you're putting in media dollars, when you're in a position where you have to justify the buy, it's a little different. The hope was, 'If you give consumers what they want, the rest will follow.'"

The proof is in the numbers with ad pages up 18.9 percent in Early Years and 25 percent in School Years compared to February through September 2009. The September issues of each title showed even more growth, with Early Years up 28.2 percent compared to September 2009 and School Years up 49.7 percent.

"The recognition is very rewarding as it serves as a tremendous acknowledgement of all of the hard work of our entire division," says Schumann. "It serves as another endorsement, albeit very significant, in our approach to how we go to market and operate our business. I think Parenting continues to distinguish itself by consistently innovating through new platforms, product extensions and ground-breaking partnerships."