Lifestyle magazine unveiled

Editor Kate Coughlan and publisher Ken Cowley look over dummy pages of the new magazine 'NZ Life & Leisure'. Picture / Martin Sykes

The country's latest lifestyle magazine - unveiled last night as NZ Life & Leisure - will be launched on Anzac Day.

Branded as an upmarket lifestyle publication, the 160-page new arrival on the crowded magazine market will be edited by Kate Coughlan, formerly of NZ House and Garden and Cuisine.

"This is the magazine for the new New Zealander," she said.

"Life in New Zealand has changed substantially in the past 10 years. People are seeing beyond city life and the constraints of traditional businesses to a new way of living in this country.

"NZ Life & Leisure reflects the lives of these innovative people; their homes, their businesses, their philosophy and their aspirations for this country," Coughlan said.

The bimonthly's content will include arts, entertainment, business, property (featuring well-known New Zealand properties and their owners) motoring (a new approach where classic cars are restored and taken on journeys) and food.

Writers and contributors will include former Cuisine editor Lyn Barnes, Annabel Langbein and Dunedin writer Claire Finlayson as arts and culture editor.

Coughlan has been working on the magazine, described as taking a modern approach to the traditional elements of a lifestyle magazine, for four months.

Aimed at the readers in the 25 to 65 age category, she hopes it will be a gender-neutral publication.

She said people were time poor these days and wanted editors to make good choices for them across a wide range of subjects.

The new magazine's heavier-weight paper and matt satin finish would add to its appeal, she said.

NZ Life and Leisure also marks the first foray of Australian media icon Ken Cowley into publishing on this side of the Tasman.

"This is a great partnership as I believe in quality publishing and Kate and her team are the best in New Zealand at creating successful, high-quality magazines," Cowley said.

"I like heritage brands and this is what we will create with NZ Life & Leisure."

Cowley, a former longstanding chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's News Limited empire, is the chairman of Independent Newspapers. He and his family also own the well-known Australian clothing and boot company RM Williams.

RM Williams has a publishing arm, which is NZ Life and Leisure's backer.

Despite this ownership structure, NZ Life & Leisure will have no editorial link with the RM Williams brand.

"The relationship between RM Williams and NZ Life & Leisure is that they are both premium brands with strongly authentic roots owned by the same family," said Cowley.

Coughlan's career includes eight years editing NZ House & Garden during which time it became the country's most successful monthly lifestyle magazine. At the same time she launched and edited onHoliday and was acting editor of Cuisine.

Coughlan heads a small team of former Fairfax Magazines staff including the former national advertising manager of NZ House & Garden, Trudy Parsons-Smith. Parsons-Smith successfully launched NZ House & Garden, the Sunday Star-Times and onHoliday.

Also following Coughlan from Fairfax is creative director Yolanta Woldendorp, who has 20 years experience in the industry. Woldendorp is a former Magazine Publishers Association Art Director of the Year and has worked on a variety of books and magazines.

NZ Life & Leisure goes on sale on Anzac Day, April 25, costing $8.95. Printed in Auckland, it will have a print run of 30,000 and be distributed in major retailers nationwide.

The maximum advertising level will be 35 per cent, with advertising prices ranging up to to $11,000 for a one-off double page spread.