Former SVP, Group Publisher of Condé Nast's Women's Wear Daily (WWD) Launching New Magazine

Jan. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Ralph Erardy had a challenging year.  He became seriously ill and lost his job due to a restructuring at Condé Nast's Fairchild Publications where he was previously SVP, Group Publisher of Women's Wear Daily, the leading newspaper of the fashion industry. This was a position he held twice in his 15 year, record-breaking career.

Never one to be defeated, Ralph recovered from his illness and formed Insider Communications Group (ICG), where he serves as President. Now, ICG is officially announcing that it is launching its first media property, Specialty Insider magazine. Specialty Insider magazine is a B2B magazine targeted to specialty apparel retailers, where he will also serve as publisher. The magazine will be edited by a team of experienced fashion, apparel and retailing journalists, many of whom Erardy worked with earlier in his career. The sales team at Specialty Insider consists of experienced sales people from WWD that Ralph reached out to when their jobs had also been eliminated in the restructuring.

The new magazine, scheduled for launch in January 2010, will begin as a quarterly. The editorial focus will be on techniques, trends and solutions for running a successful, specialty retail operation and there will be emphasis on visual appeal. Specialty Insider will have an initial launch circulation consisting of 15,000 carefully selected specialty apparel, retail decision-makers. The magazine will launch with a special, four-color, open rate of $9,950. They have an initial, pre-launch, informational, mini-site live at www.specialtyinsider.com with plans for a more ambitious site and digital plan in the works. They also have a Specialty Insider blog (http://www.specialtyinsider.blogspot.com) a Facebook page (http://facebook.com/pages/Specialty-Insider/181805722414), a YouTube video (http://youtube.com/user/Solverismarketing#p/a/u/0/_WISIm0...) and an active twitter presence (http://twitter.com/specialtyinside) @specialtyinside.

When asked why he would want to start a new magazine in arguably the most challenging environment ever for print, Ralph said:

"I believe a good idea where there is a void in the market will always be successful, despite the overall market conditions. Specialty Insider is about providing retailers with trends, techniques and tips to improve their businesses. It's what I've heard specialty retailers tell me they wanted for a long-time-a magazine for them. Advertisers have told me they wanted a vehicle that allowed them to reach only specialty stores and they wanted to message them when they were strategizing and thinking about their businesses-when they were in a buying mindset. There is nothing else like it." (A full letter from Ralph is available at http://specialtyinsider.com/MediaKit.html)
                               
Solveris Marketing and Communications (http://solveris1.com) provided marketing consultation on the new launch from its inception. Logos, branding, sales materials, design direction, the sample mock-up, initial informational site, list management and social media strategy/implementation/integration were some of the duties assigned. They will also be designing the magazine. In a joint statement, Tony Sarcone and Robert Kline, partners at Solveris said:

"We've known Ralph for a long-time and we've witnessed his record-breaking performances at both WWD and HFN, where he served as SVP and Publisher. Still, when Ralph approached us with the idea of starting a print magazine we were skeptical, at first. When we heard all the details of the project, we both quickly became convinced that Specialty Insider was a great idea—we had to be part of it. It was the same things we heard in our many years of experience with retailers and those companies trying to reach them. We are thrilled to work with ICG, Specialty Insider, and Ralph, again. We wish him much success and continued good health."

About Specialty Insider

To learn more about Specialty Insider, go to http://specialtyinsider.com. More information with logos and a sample mock-up will also be available at  http://solveris1.blogspot.com.  Media inquiries should be directed to tsarcone@solveris1.com.

To learn more about Solveris Marketing and Communications visit http://solveris1.com.

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