QUARTO COMMUNICATIONS GETTING READY TO EXPLORE
By Adnews Staff
Quarto Communications, the Toronto-based publisher of Cottage Life magazine, is relaunching Explore, an outdoor adventure magazine. Quarto began working on the magazine's relaunch soon after buying the 20-year-old Calgary-based magazine last year. In addition to a new logo and art direction, the magazine now has a completely new staff headed by editor James Little. Prior to coming to Explore Little held the same title at Outdoor Canada. Randy Craig, director of advertising and marketing for Explore, said 45,000 copies of the magazine are being printed. Of those, 24,000 will go towards paid circulation with the remainder being used to boost circulation. The relaunch, occurring with the magazine's March/April issue, is being supported with the distribution of 1,000,000 free trial-issue cards at consumer shows, a direct mail push, retail promotions, promotion at outdoor adventure events, advertising and cross promotions with Cottage Life, all handled in-house. Explore is published six times a year. An annual gear guide is also published as a special issue. The 2001 gear guide will be out March 29.