I was privileged to speak today (Jan. 10) to the Old Glory DAR Chapter in Franklin, Tenn., which had invited me to talk about American Spirit Magazine, which we produce for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Although it’s been over 3 years since I was the editor, they invited me because the chapter’s program chair is the sister of a DAR member in my hometown, who had asked me to speak to her chapter a couple years ago. Small world, small towns.
Membership dues for DAR don’t include a subscription to the magazine, so the Society exhorts its chapters to encourage members to subscribe. Circulation is climbing, and, we discovered after my first speech, making a presentation to a chapter can spur members to sign up.
Part of my presentation appears in our case study on American Spirit. I also gave considerable props to the Hammock design and production folks who work magic turning words into images, and naturally to American Spirit’s editor, Jamie Roberts, for making each issue a jewel.
About 35 members and several prospective members attended the meeting at the Williamson County Public Library’s main branch. It was a stormy day – rain and thunderstorms punctuated my talk. Then, just as I was about to leave, sirens started to wail. The librarians announced there was a tornado warning—a funnel cloud in the area—and herded us all into a hallway away from windows and outside doors. So we had a chance to chat for about 20 minutes until the all-clear sounded. There wasn’t any panic, but everyone was subdued – we know tornados can hit any time of the year. (In fact. Clarksville, Tenn., got slammed almost exactly 9 years ago.
It was a memorable ending to this American Spirit road trip. Pictured here with me are Susan Walker, Old Glory Chapter Regent; Dee Smothers, Old Glory Chapter Program Chairman; and Ann Blevins, Old Glory Chapter Magazine Chairman..
The new issue of American Spirit, the member magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution, celebrates Baker’s Chocolate and its revolutionary history. The article even includes a couple of recipes for hot chocolate, perfect this time of year.
Other historical features in the January/February issue include David Bushnell, who created the first submersible warship — in 1776! — and Colonial businesswoman and indigo farmer Eliza Lucas Pinckney of South Carolina.
OORAH! Always up for a challenge, we were psyched when we learned in spring 2006 that the Marine Corps League had chosen Hammock Inc. as the new publisher of its bimonthly magazine, sent to the organization’s nearly 70,000 members. The publication had been around more than 26 years and needed a fresh look, so Hammock designers and editors drafted a battle plan on how to ramp up from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication and revamp the magazine so it appealed to members and trumpeted the organization’s purpose.
The major challenge to us, as explained by the admittedly skeptical executive director, was whether a group of non-Marine and non-veteran writers and designers could successfully capture the deeply ingrained bond, camaraderie and warrior ethos among Marines.
Defining a rhythm and pace was the first step. The old version lacked organization—it was hard to distinguish a feature from a department. By establishing a clear framework, Hammock helps readers navigate through the magazine. Adding full-page photography in the front and back of the book (an industry term for “magazine”) and sticking with audience-appropriate fonts and colors gave the publication more visual interest.
We spent considerable time talking with the director as well as other Marines and reading widely about America’s premier fighting force. We proposed a bold strategic move: The publication had been called The Marine Corps League magazine—we suggested changing the name to Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League to tie into the Corps’ motto, Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).
We found ways to hold onto sentimental favorites (such as illustrations used in every issue of the older magazine that were provided by a Marine vet who was a WWII combat artist), while adding fresh aspects that give the magazine a strength it lacked before.
The new design referenced Marine colors and imagery, including its eagle, globe and anchor symbol. It also tapped into Marine Corps terms, such as “Attention on Deck,” “Roll Call,” “Once a Marine” and “Recon” to identify sections and departments. Strong, masculine fonts and an orderly, “squared-away” format gave it a clean, straightforward and contemporary appearance.
Editorially, we included not only a roundup of League activities, but also selected articles about today’s Corps—written by Marines who work for the Corps’ excellent news service—and features on a variety of topics, from personality profiles of Marine veterans to articles on Corps history, to personal recollections of members.
The results have been outstanding—the Marine Corps League reports that its members love the new look and feel, and members continue to send in compliments and rave reviews. We’re satisfied that our work is appreciated by a group of the bravest men and women we know.
Each issue expands our knowledge and increases our already great admiration for the men and women who comprise the U.S. Marines, who are Marines forever. We look at it as our small contribution to thanking all of them for defending this country and the cause of freedom since 1775.
When Hammock Inc. launched MyBusiness magazine in 2000, we created a website for the magazine, even though the National Federation of Independent Business already had its own site. From the beginning, MyBusinessMag.com has served as a magazine archive, a repository of information for advertisers and freelance writers and a place to offer additional value to print advertisers, with an online package.
Opportunities grew online over the years, and in 2006, we decided it was time to re-launch MyBusinessMag.com, in a fashion that more fully supported the magazine’s editorial mission and continued to offer full archives and advertising information and opportunities.
The new MyBusinessMag.com launched in April 2006, with a daily blog from the MyBusiness editors featuring news, stories and tips for small-business owners. The blog covers politics, business management and unusual stories, and it injects the same personality onto the website that we feature in the magazine.
Traffic to the site has increased 400 percent since the redesigned site launched, a stat we attribute to the new format’s ability to link out to other content and attract significantly more incoming links.
The January-February 2008 issue of Semper Fi: The Magazine of the Marine Corps League is headed for the presses this week, and will be arriving in the homes of some 70,000 Marine Corps League members in early January.
This issue is chock-full of reports on how the League played a leading role in celebrating the 232nd birthday of the Marine Corps on Nov. 10 and then in hosting the National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11.
The issue also reports on the League’s 27th annual Modern Day Marine Expo held aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. in early October. The Expo, and its cousins held in January at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and in April at Camp Lejeune, N.C., bring military suppliers together with Marines who use their equipment. More than just a show and tell for the vendors, the Expos allow the Marines to speak with the suppliers about what works and what doesn’t. And when you are talking about something that can literally save your life and those of your fellow Marines, the talk is direct and to the point.
When faced with a tough decision, do you mull it over for weeks or go with your gut? Do you feel comfortable with your decision once you’ve made it? These are the questions we asked several of the subjects featured in the December/January 2008 issue of MyBusiness, the magazine Hammock publishes for the National Federation of Independent Business.
What we found in our feature “The Power of Trust” was that small-business owners listen to their instincts to help them make important decisions about their businesses, but deliberation is still necessary.
We also talked to some small-business owners who make their communities as much of a priority as their businesses in our inspiring feature “Like a Good Neighbor.”
Check out these stories and more in the latest issue, including a staff favorite on how one Arizona business creates success by blending into the crowd—a crowd of trees, that is.
I wish I could say I am a devoted reader of The New York Times every Sunday, but perhaps I can add that to my list of New Year’s resolutions for 2008. This Sunday, however, I instituted a “stay as far away from the mall as possible” rule, so I was able to enjoy reading the Times at home. I usually start with Sunday Styles and then move to the Magazine section, but this week, the Travel cover and title “The 53 Places to Go in 2008” grabbed my attention first.
I quickly skimmed the 16-page section to discover which wonderful place I should go to in the coming year, but felt a little frustrated. Something in the story or the layout didn’t feel cohesive, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was missing until Monday morning, when I clicked on nytimes.com. Under their Most Popular (most emailed) list of articles, I stumbled across this:
Problem solved! The presentation and design of the article in its digital form addressed what had been nagging me the day before—wanting to see the entire list in one place. And this digital list featured an entire page of stunning photographs, which encouraged your eyes to jump from one to the next and back again. My frustration was gone. I wanted to click every link.
This is a case in which The New York Times embraced the flexibility and capabilities of their online platform to enhance their reader’s experience and engagement with the article. The simple change of showing photos of all 53 locations transformed the story.
Now back to my travel wish list for 2008…
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has published a member magazine in several different forms since July 1892. At that time, DAR had only recently started its work as a patriotic women’s organization, dedicated to its three guiding tenets of education, historic preservation and patriotism. As an internal publication, the magazine was sufficient for the membership, but generally did not reach out to communities not yet touched by the DAR.
In 2001, some 109 years after its inception, the DAR magazine underwent a radical transformation. The magazine was split into two separate publications: Daughters newsletter, which focused on NSDAR news and notices; and American Spirit, a 52-page glossy, bimonthly full-color publication.
Hammock Inc. was hired to produce American Spirit in July 2002. One of the first things Hammock’s editorial and design team did was try to define the audience and the mission for the magazine. One thing we all agreed on—American Spirit should be the kind of magazine you’d want to leave out on your coffee table. The design should rival any commercial magazine, the articles should be intriguing and informative, and the writing should be fresh and vibrant.
Since the revamped American Spirit was intended to reach out to potential new members, we had to make some assumptions there—concluding that this group would likely be younger, with careers or families or both, and were probably accustomed to brightly designed magazines with a variety of topics.
Originally, American Spirit’s editorial lineup called for articles on women’s health and financial affairs. The more we talked with members, the more we felt readers could, and should, go elsewhere for that information, to magazines that exist to focus on those topics. American Spirit should focus instead on the National Society’s core concerns: history—especially women in history—genealogy, education, patriotism and preservation.
More than focusing on the details of long-ago battles, the magazine strives to tell the American story through the women and men who lived this history. Beyond Revolutionary history, American Spirit shows the human side of American life from Colonial times to the present, with articles ranging from features on historic homes, collectibles and Americana to regular articles on historic travel, timeless crafts and preserving family history.
In the past few years, we have changed the editorial mix in response to reader feedback. Under the current DAR National Magazine Chair, Denise Doring VanBuren, we have increased the focus on DAR goals of education, patriotism and preservation. We have also added more articles about individual members and the DAR itself, including departments such as:
And Hammock is always searching for even more creative ways to reach the dedicated members of the DAR, and spotlight the myriad ways they enhance their communities and their country.
Until 2003, the American Watercraft Association published a magazine known as Jet Sports. Professional watercraft racing enjoyed a boom in the early 1990s, and racing provided much of the content. By the end of the 1990s and early into the 21st century, racing had considerably diminished. PWC had come under attack from environmentalists, and the downturn in the national economy exacerbated a drop in sales.
AWA asked Hammock Inc. to redesign and relaunch the magazine from stem to stern. The design was dated, the photography and production values mediocre, and the magazine said little about recreational riding.
This sport is about fun, Hammock’s writers and designers said, so let’s make it look like that. Also, PWC can be used for touring, fishing, snorkeling and diving, even scientific research (and delivering pizzas, we learned later), so let’s talk about that. And let’s give it a new name that embraces all these things—why not just call it Ride PWC Magazine? It’s a noun and a verb, and a command as well—go out and Ride!
Drawing upon surfing and boating magazines for inspiration, yet recognizing that our readers ranged from 20-somethings to 80-plus, we designed a publication that looks like it’s at full throttle there on the coffee table, with clean lines and a shipshape distinction between departments, features and association news.
We applied nautical terms, such as “Waterfront,” “ShipShape” and “Wavelength,” to departments and gave them a distinctive black frame to set them off from features. Editorially, we mapped out five primary uses for PWC—family togetherness, performance, racing, escape and utility—and through the course of a year, we plot coverage of each of those areas.
Since relaunching the magazine, we have added a section for first responders who use PWC in rescues. We’ve also added profiles of corporate and dealer sponsors of AWA, whose support enables the association to continue its mission.
Among the intense debate over the war in Iraq, one salient point is agreed upon by nearly all sides: Troops need more protection from roadside explosive devices. Help is on the way, in the shape of heavily armored, specially constructed MRAP – Mine Resistant Ambush Protected – vehicles, which will replace many of the Humvees now in use for patrol. The Marine Corps is selecting several companies to rush-produce MRAPs and get them into the field to protect the troops. This issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we publish for the Marine Corps League, reports on the vehicles under consideration and how they work.
Also in this issue, Semper Fi commemorates Camp Pendleton’s 65th anniversary as a Marine Corps base by looking at its colorful history as a Spanish-owned rancho that covered more than a quarter-million acres. As in every issue, Semper Fi also reports on the activities of the Marine Corps League in supporting the elite fighting force and its veterans.