NEW
YORK - Ziff Davis Custom Media, the custom and contract
media solutions unit of Ziff Davis Media Inc., and Apache Ridge
Productions, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based creative shop, announced
today a partnership with Ford Motor Company to launch No Boundaries,
a quarterly magazine that will debut in September with 84-pages
and distribution to 100,000 recent Ford S.U.V. purchasers. The
announcement was made by Cameron Brown, Publisher of No Boundaries
and Ziff Davis Custom Media, and Chris Czmyrid of Apache Ridge
Productions.
[Editor's
Note: Find out all about the Ford No Boundaries Experience Tour
at www.noboundariesexperience.com
]
"Our
new relationship with Ford Motor Company and our unique partnership
with Apache Ridge demonstrate market confidence in Ziff Davis
Media as an authority on consumer content," said Brown. "This
project allows Ford to benefit from Ziff Davis Media's publishing
expertise and reunites the motor company with Apache Ridge, who
developed Ford's No Boundaries television program."
No Boundaries
magazine will explore the lifestyle of choice of Ford S.U.V. owners.
It will serve as a fresh new way for outdoor-lifestyle enthusiasts
to get closer to the world they love. The magazine is an extension
of Apache Ridge's No Boundaries campaign created as a platform
for Ford Motor Company. Featuring stirring photography and illustration,
and evocative prose, the magazine will be a testament to the active,
adventurous, hit-the-road lifestyle. The magazine will provide
service edit on travel and gear, news of importance to S.U.V.
owners, as well as travel features that span countless regions
of the United States.
"We're
taking the natural beauty, constant challenges, and infinite possibilities
for outdoor action and leisure and bringing them to the print
medium," said Chris Czmyrid of Apache Ridge. "To bring
this adventurous spirit to life on the printed page, No Boundaries
will showcase the work of today's most celebrated visual artists
and writers."
The editorial
leadership of No Boundaries magazine, includes:
· Mike
Kessler (Editor-in-Chief), a former staff editor of Outside magazine,
a contributor to many national publications such as Men's Journal
, Sports Afield, and The Los Angeles Times, and co-head-writer
of FOX Network's No Boundaries television.
· Mike Steere (Creative Consultant), a frequent writer
for Men's Journal, Outside, Worth, and many other national magazines.
He also served as co-head-writer with Mike Kessler on No Boundaries'
TV program.
No Boundaries
magazine will feature articles by:
· Hampton
Sides, the author, most recently, of Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten
Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission (Doubleday)
which is already #2 on the New York Times "Best Seller"
list.
· Bob Shacochis, winner of the 1985 National Book Award
for Fiction for his collection of short stories, Easy in the Islands.
He is the author of the National Book Award-nominated novel Swimming
in the Volcano, among many other works of both fiction and journalism.
· Allison Glock, a writer at large for GQ.
· Zev Borow, a contributing editor of Spin and writer for
New York and The New Yorker. He was a founding editor of the satirical
pop-culture magazine, Might.
The magazine
will bring together a number of high-profile photographers and
illustrators:
· Mark
Compton, a San Francisco-based photographer, who has shot for
S aveur, Food & Wine, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Previously,
he trained under world-renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark.
· Michael Llewellyn, a photographer whose location work
has sent him to Africa, Belize, and deep into the swamplands of
Florida. His images have appeared in National Geographic Adventure,
eCompany Now, Outside, and Wired, as well as in many gallery exhibits.
Currently he is compiling his first retrospective.
· Jason Holley, an illustrator working in Pasadena, California.
He was recently chosen to create posters for The Society of Publication
Designers and the prestigious American Illustration Annual. His
work has consistently been showcased in these volumes, as well
as in Fast Company, Entertainment Weekly, and Travel & Leisure.
· Polly Becker, an illustrator whose work has appeared
in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Men's Journal. Most recently,
her work appeared in a retrospective collection published in Graphis.
Scheduled
to debut in September 2001, the premiere issue of No Boundaries
will feature an 84-page oversized folio for distribution to 100,000
individuals. With a controlled circulation plan unparalleled in
the adventure-lifestyle category, the magazine will increase its
circulation to 450,000 over eight issues, representing a growth
of 50,000 readers per issue. It will be distributed to recent
purchasers of Ford S.U.V. products, a group of known, proven consumers
with a medium HHI of $72,2444 vs. $46,354 for all other SUV owner.
The average HHI for Ford S.U.V. owners, those that are defined
as recent purchasers of Ford Explorers and/or Ford Expeditions,
is $81,313 versus $55,512 for all other SUV owners.