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Rodale Inc., the authoritative source for trusted content in health and wellness worldwide, today announced organizational changes aimed at accelerating the Company's magazine brand extensions into new-media platforms.
Steve Murphy, President and CEO of Rodale, said, "The power of our magazine brands, including our newest launches, gives us a unique capacity to extend them to diverse media formats. When we have done so in books, online, videos and licensing, we have been very successful in building both consumer and advertiser share of the market. The organizational changes we are announcing today will enable us to accelerate our efforts to expand our brands into new platforms."
The company will establish a Brand Marketing group to be led by Senior Vice President of Customer Marketing Jim Berra. Rodale's magazines' Editors-in-Chief will now assume a new role that extends their editorial purview and involvement from their magazines, to include branded book development, video creation, and online editorial direction, as well as licensing opportunities.
Rodale will also realign its international magazine, international trade books and international direct-response activities so that, going forward, they will be managed from the U.S. The realignment is aimed at enabling the international businesses to leverage best practices in the U.S. Senior Vice President of Rodale Direct, Gregg Michaelson, based in the U.S., will now be responsible for the international direct-response business. The international trade books and rights business will be overseen by Liz Perl, Vice President and Publisher of Rodale, also based in the U.S.
Following the realignment of Rodale's international trade and direct books, Rodale has restructured the operations of the international editions of its magazines. Steve Kalin, Chief Operating Officer of Rodale, will oversee the management of international magazines until the appointment of a General Manager is announced. The new GM will be based in the U.S. The company's Milan office closed on May 10. Gianni Crespi, President of Rodale International, based in Milan, has left the company to pursue new opportunities.
"We remain steadfast in our commitment to our international partners, and to developing our global business prospects going forward," said Murphy.
In 2005, Rodale entered five new markets, launching Men's Health Romania, Men's Health Ukraine, Men's Health Philippines and Prevention Greece, while completing an agreement to launch Prevention India. The company also re-launched Prevention en Espanol. Already in 2006, it has entered into significant new partnerships to drive further global growth of its brands in such large markets as Brazil, Ukraine and Thailand. The International team recently re-launched Men's Health Italy and launched Men's Health Brazil and Men's Health Korea. Rodale expects its international growth to continue, with the expansion of Prevention this year and Women's Health next year.
About Rodale Inc.
Rodale Inc. is the authoritative source for trusted content in health, fitness and wellness around the world, reaching nearly 40 million people each month. The company publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men's Health, Prevention, Women's Health, Runner's World, Best Life, Bicycling, Backpacker, Mountain Bike and Organic Gardening, and is also the largest independent book publisher in America with a collection of international titles, including The South Beach Diet and The Abs Diet franchises. Rodale's broad range of media platforms includes magazines, books, video and extensive Web sites. The company is also a leader in direct-response marketing and has more than 25 million active customers in its database. www.rodale.com.
