Free mag to join fitness fray

Garth Hill, a backer of Mind Your Own Fitness, believes there is demand for another fitness magazine. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Instead of hitting the shelves, New Zealand's newest mag for fitness fanatics will be given away right where its readers work up a sweat - the gym.

Mind Your Own Fitness is expected to shake up the fitness magazine market when it is launched in October, offering advertisers the chance to reach their market directly, without the barrier of a cover price.

The free, bi-monthly glossy will be published by three-month-old Mind Your Own Fitness Publishing, based in Milford.

Garth Hill, major shareholder and one of the minds behind the concept, said the content would particularly suit habitual gym-goers, and would include interviews with prominent sportspeople, advice on nutrition, work-out routines, corporate health and wellness, weight loss strategies, recipes and product reviews.

"There's every chance we could talk about other pursuits outside the gym, but the angle will be how gym work complements that," he said.

Hill, a personal trainer, disagreed with those who said the market for fitness magazines was saturated.

"There's a thirst for good-quality material on health and fitness ...

"Health and fitness can be very complicated. We want to cut through that with a strong how-to focus to make sure readers take away practical knowledge from each article."

More than 540,000 New Zealanders go to fitness centres, according to the Hillary Commission for Sport, Fitness and Leisure.

MYOF's research indicates more than 110,000 active gym-members, who make more than 600,000 visits each month, will be exposed to the magazine.

Females outnumber males in gym membership figures across all age groups, it said.

The company has negotiated distribution agreements with more than 80 gyms nationally.

Hill said there was no limit to the number of gyms they could distribute to, and he expected to quickly top the first-edition print run of up to 15,000.

The company anticipated drawing advertisers from beyond the traditional health and fitness market.

Sales director Maria Chapman said gym-goers tended to be active people with a high consumption rate of travel, automotive, finance and banking, recruitment, IT and entertainment products and services.

"We're confident advertisers will welcome this opportunity to access them directly," she said.

The first edition will have 50 pages, and the ratio of advertising to editorial copy has been set at 50:50.

Auckland marketing consultant Tony Andrews, who has advised the company, said rather than scaring advertisers away, any economic downturn would play into MYOF's hands.

The health and fitness industry was experiencing strong growth alongside greater awareness of the benefits of fitness.

That sort of activity historically defied economic slumps, he said.

"If the economy does slow down, that's when advertisers need to be more specific about media selection."

Although the magazine will remain free in gyms, subscriptions will be introduced next year for people who, for example, stop going to the gym but want to keep receiving MYOF.

Writers will be sourced from throughout the health and fitness sectors, and the title will be edited by Kate Gordon, who will work alongside an editorial board of industry professionals.

Matt Berry, client service director for media agency Carat New Zealand, said distributing copies of the new magazine free to gym members was a "great idea".

But its success would depend on content - which he had not yet seen.

Berry, whose clients include adidas, said fitness magazines were generally innovative in their distribution, but they had not fully exploited the gym channel.

"Gyms don't tend to push the magazine side", but the new publication would be "an added service they can give to their clients but at no cost".

Berry did not expect that MYOF would enlarge an already cluttered market, but he said its presence would shake things up.

"It's certainly got to have an impact. I think that market is already at saturation."