YQ Northwest Magazine is moving into bigger offices at Salford University Business Park in early January.
The company, which is co-owned by Greg Bamber and Peter Lever, has had what it describes as a ‘phenomenal year’. Lever told How-Do that revenues had increased by over 100% over the course of the year as pagination rose from 90 pages in January 2007 to 140 pages in December.
Spencer
The company is also planning to relaunch its website in January having been reworked by the editor Kerry Spencer.
YQ was launched three years ago as Your Quarter magazine, a lifestyle title for the North West. It subsequently split its publication into three separate editions for Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire but at the start of 2007, reverted back to a single edition targeting the whole North West and increased its frequency to monthly.
Lever told How-Do that over 35,000 copies of the title are now circulated every month, the overwhelming majority of them are free but Lever and his team are keen to increase the number sold through newsagents and supermarkets.
The magazine – when purchased – sells for £1.95 and is distributed through Smiths News, Menzies News and Dawson News. Stockists include Tesco, Booths, Waitrose, the Co-op and independent newsagents. Lever added that he expected the title to be available in all North West M & S stores from March 2008.
The magazine is also available at all five executive lounges at Manchester airport through Dawson Media and a further 2,500 copies are mailed out to advertisers, agencies, PR companies and subscribers.
December issue
The bulk of the copies can be found at bars, restaurants and retailers across the North West and most recently in Merseyside, where the title hadn’t previously been available.
Lever said that in time he’d like the title to become a “Solely paid for title as the editorial content is of an exceptional standard”. Whether advertisers will allow that to happen though might be more difficult to achieve as it is primarily volume that advertisers seek.
Bamber also owns the networking operation Ten and has just recruited Martin Mongan as a director.
Mongan had previously been working with his wife Marcie Incarico at Out There Events in Manchester but with the imminent arrival at OTE of Laura Wolfe from the Institute of Directors, he felt the Ten opportunity was too good to pass up.
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