Clooney is just what the doctor ordered for Tatler sales

IT IS "10 times harder" to persuade an Irish man to buy a magazine than an Irish woman, according to Harmonia chief executive Norah Casey, a challenge that means the publisher is unsurprisingly celebrating the circulation performance of its infant title Irish Tatler Man.

Some 120 years younger than

Irish Tatler

itself,

Irish Tatler Man

’s “Christmas 2011” issue with George Clooney on the cover – unnervingly still on sale in some shops – had a circulation of 10,595 up until the end of December, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. This was 40 per cent higher than the title’s circulation in the first half of 2011.

“The reality is, for us, it has now become a credible magazine. Anything over 7,000 or 8,000 is credible in the Irish market for a niche title,” says Casey, who says the debut “men’s issue” in late 2010, circulated free to barbers’ shops and menswear stores, was “very much a pilot” that could have wound up a one-off.

“Because we tend to get inundated with the British magazines here, it’s very hard to find a niche. But clients were telling us they wanted to talk to Irish men directly. We always would have said the way to talk to Irish men is through Irish women.”

The build in its circulation means that after publishing three issues in 2011, Harmonia is looking at doing four this year. The next issue, which may have Michael Fassbender as its cover star, is due out in late March, with features including a preview of the “great sporting year” ahead and advice on business start-ups.

The “absolute best marketing” that publishers can do for a magazine is in the retail space itself, Casey says. Getting the right shelf position is crucial: “Newsagents were putting it next to the women’s magazines, whereas we wanted it to be next to Esquire and GQ.” Then there was the question of how to pitch it. For Irish men aged 30-plus, keeping up-to-date with fashion “is something they enjoy, but are perhaps not a slave to”, says Casey, diplomatically. The magazine has dispensed with page after page of fashion photoshoots in favour of articles explaining “this is how you interpret these trends”.

The wariness about fashion means that

Irish Tatler Man

, edited by Alexander Fitzgerald, is a broad mix of business (including “aspirational features”), sport, health (from heart problems to snoring), parenting and lifestyle. “And then there’s always the difficult issue of sex.”

Harmonia didn’t want to emulate British titles such as

Zoo

or

Nuts

, “which are semi-pornographic, I would say”, but at the same time there was “no way” it was going to be prudish.

“We’re not prudish in the women’s magazine, so there was no reason to be prudish in the man’s magazine,” says Casey. Topics such as male impotence and the female orgasm have been given spreads on its pages. “It’s been interesting recruiting male writers for that,” she says.

An obvious dilemma given the fledgling nature of the market has been picking cover stars. To date,

X Factor

winner Shayne Ward and actors Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Dominic West and Clooney have been the chosen ones. The Clooney cover’s success suggests that “women are still buying for men”, says Casey, a consumer behaviour quirk that is likely to influence the title’s future choices.

“Dominic West also ticked a lot of boxes,” she notes. “He’s gritty and hard-hitting, and a lot of men liked

The Wire

. But he appeals to women, too.”