Transitioning the Brand: American Legacy to Launch ALXL

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. - Sept. 22, 2015 - PRLog -- When American Legacy, the magazine of African-American history and culture, shut its doors in December 2011 one might have thought it was the end of the success the magazine had enjoyed for nearly 15 years. Founded in 1995 by Rodney J. Reynolds, the magazine was published as a joint venture of Reynolds’ RJR Communications and Forbes magazine’s’ American Heritage division. In February 2009 Reynolds assumed full ownership of the magazine and the joint ventures assets after Forbes sold a minority stake in its business to a private equity company three years earlier.  A majority interest in Forbes was eventually purchased by an Asian company in July 2014.

The recession combined with the transition to digital hit the print industry extremely hard and forced many magazines to close their doors. According to Reynolds, American Legacy’s ad revenue and ad pages continued to increase but its major challenge after the Forbes partnership ended was the lack of operating and investment capital. “We raised some capital during the recession but not enough to sustain operations” said Reynolds. “It became very difficult to raise any capital from traditional sources. No one wanted to see a magazine coming in the door.”

Armed with a strong 15 year-old brand and very little capital, Reynolds had an important decision to make. Close the magazine’s doors for good, or build on the brand equity the magazine had established in the community as a resource for African-American history in America. Reynolds chose the latter. Fortunately, through Reynolds leadership the magazine had developed several ancillary products that enhanced its overall brand that he could build upon.

In January 2012 Reynolds began marketing the American Legacy Black History Curriculum Guide to the K-12 school market, and the brand’s “Know Your History” mobile truck exhibit continued to visit school districts, colleges and universities, and African-American festivals and churches across the country. “Because of the support of our mobile truck vendor MRA we never stopped taking the mobile truck exhibit on the road” said Reynolds of the moving museum, created in 2008.  “MRA’s ownership simply said ‘let us know where you need to take the truck and we’ll get it there.’ That really helped us keep our brand in front of the community while we planned our next move.  With the help of Ember Media the brands website www.americanlegacymag.com  was re-designed focusing on its educational products under the banner American Legacy Education.”

In April 2013 Reynolds and his former editorial director Audrey Peterson developed an E-newsletter Two Sides that could be delivered for free to its subscribers. “We wanted a way to stay in contact with our subscriber base and the E-Newsletter was a great way to accomplish this objective” said Reynolds. A major turning point came in November 2013 when Reynolds and members of his team met with a management consultant who had offered to review American Legacy’s business model and strategize for the future. “Those sessions with Vikki Pryor and her team at Change, Create, Transform were vital in helping us determine how we needed to transition to a digital platform” said Reynolds.

Fast forward as the brand celebrates its 20^th year, Reynolds is now preparing to launch, in 2016, American LegacyXL (www.americanlegacyXL.com), a black history streaming video service based on the magazine.  According to Reynolds subscribers to the service will have access to historical/classic African-American films, documentaries and TV programs based on American Legacy’s editorial content as well as to American Legacy’s digital archives.  They will also receive a monthly E-newsletter.

“This is an exciting time in the life of our brand as we continue to connect our core and new audience to our rich history while recognizing present achievement. “  American LegacyXL recently announced three (3) original programs under development for its launch in 2016, two of which are geared to Millennials.  In addition the brand is marketing its “Know Your History” board game just in time for the holiday season and Black History Month.

“The fact that our brand continues to be relevant after the closing of our flagship magazine is a testament to the strength and appeal of the publication.  We receive subscription requests almost daily. There’s a huge appetite for African-American history and culture, an appetite that we feel will never diminish. We just needed to find alternative ways to deliver this important information.”