The Economist makes a stab at luxury readers

Aaron Patrick of The Wall Street Journal writes Tuesday about The Economist‘s attempts to attract more upscale and luxury readers with a new publication.

Patrick wrote, “This week, London-based Economist Group Ltd. put out the first issue of a quarterly general-interest magazine called Intelligent Life. The magazine, sold on newsstands and by subscription, is targeted at wealthy and well-educated Economist readers in the U.K., Europe, the Middle East and Africa.Â

“The magazine appeared once in 2005 and once last year. It has been spruced up to try to cash in on the growth of luxury-goods advertising. The previous version of the magazine looked similar to the Economist — the pages were the same size and articles were grouped together according to what they were about, such as entertainment or the arts.Â

“The new version is laid out more like a fashion magazine. The pages are about 20% larger than before, there are more photographs and more white space. Previous editions featured articles on how to travel into space and white-collar boxing. The current edition has 11 pages of photographs of a French boar hunt and an article examining the problems raised by inheriting lots of money. ‘We are lifestyle with substance,’ editor Edward Carr wrote in an editorial in the current edition.”

Read more here.Â