Being respectful of the Journal brand and reader

Brad Lindsay of MediaBistro interviews Tina Gaudoin, the editor of the new WSJ. magazine, about its launch and target audience.

Here is an excerpt:

How “British” is WSJ., in the sense that it borrows from the editorial sensibility of Luxx or How To Spend It? How do those magazines compare against luxury titles in the United States, and did you set out to give your magazine that accent?
I was very aware I was coming to a huge brand, and a hugely respected brand. I’ve tried to be very careful with that, and I’ve tried to be respectful of the Journal reader, who is intelligent, opinionated, and not afraid to share their opinions. The Journal reader is very discerning not only about what they consume in terms of words, but what they consume in terms of product. I have been very careful of that, and I have been very respectful of the Journal‘s American roots, because I think it would be a mistake to make anything too anglicized. So, no, this is not an anglicized magazine. Does it have an arch sense of humor in some places? Yes it does, which might be slightly more surprising to an American reader who is used to consuming general interest magazines. But no, it is not an Anglophile’s magazine

What’s your favorite story in the first issue, or what story is most representative of what you’re trying to do?
What we tried to do was use people we think Journal readers would be interested in who exemplify the way they might want to live their life. So, for example, I have a piece about a trial lawyer who changed his life entirely and became a chocolate maker. I have a “Humorous Review of the Mundane,” and starting off we’re doing a review of airline safety videos. I have a bigger piece about competition, which is called “The Competition,” knowing full well a lot of Journal readers are in business and that their whole mindset is in doing better or succeeding. I have a piece about [Oracle chief executive] Larry Ellison and [aerospace engineer Ernesto] Bertarelli going head-to-head for the America’s Cup. And I have a piece about collecting, and why American folk art is the new collectible.

Read more here.