There have been some interesting changes since Bloomberg bought BusinessWeek (then with an upper-case W) in October, 2009 from McGraw–Hill Cos. and rechristened the magazine Bloomberg Businessweek, observes Grumpy Editor.
Most noteworthy was getting the fatherly 80-year-old business weekly to appeal to a much younger readership via content and layouts.
In the July 16-22 issue, for example, Bloomberg Businessweek splashed an inordinate 47 snapshots of Andrew Mason into a six-page spread on the Groupon CEO.
Actually, with another image on the contents page, make that 48 shots of the “merry prankster,” as the magazine labeled its subject. One page alone featured 14 Mason photos of assorted sizes.
Also interesting in the current issue was the sole art plunked in a two-page Olympics story: a dog with an inverted bucket reading “The Olympics” placed over its head.
Another space chewer were drawings of 200-plus tiny cars crawling up two pages to illustrate “China Applies the Brakes on Car Sales.”
Other quirky things included much text with little to break up columns of gray matter, some photos without captions, abundance of cartoons (one featured colorful sketches of 18 pieces of attire linked to a Nordstrom makeover piece, while flipping the page showed two more) and a large, unusual graphic of President Barack Obama that put him in different shades of green via tiny dots, associated in earlier days when zinc engravings were used for illustrations in magazines and newspapers.
The issue also included one of the biggest bylines seen --- the bold-face half-inch writer’s name matched the size of the opposite-page headline, “How the Mormon Church Makes Its Millions.”
For those who like to keep up with personal care, a report on “the condom war” with a British maker seeking to boost U.S. market share, used art of…well, you know.
The magazine came with a wrapper that showcased quotes on “what the press is saying about the new Bloomberg Businessweek.”
Among them, a quote attributed to mediabistro.com: “We like the new, more streamlined look and, of course, the smart coverage the magazine has always been known for. Only in a more subtle, slightly more elegant way.”
Comments