Serendipity

From the Publisher: In an era when print magazines are disappearing all around us, why does it make sense to relaunch Cadalyst?

Seth Nichols Publisher

It is with great pride that our team brings you this issue of Cadalyst. After more than nine months on hiatus, the magazine is back. The thoughtful features, reviews, and expertise that you expect from Cadalyst remain the same. What has changed are the media company behind the magazine and the business and delivery models that support its publication.

Today’s global business environment constantly upends old assumptions and models. Sometimes the products change (trains to planes); sometimes the business models change (free TV to paid TV). And sometimes both change (digital music). When it comes to print trade magazines, I don’t believe the product has to change. Like trucks and planes, or radio and television, the digital media product and the print media product complement each other. Together, our magazine and web site are a comprehensive information resource that helps you get your job done every day.

What makes a print magazine special? A magazine brings a kind of serendipity to information gathering that’s evident whenever you turn a glossy page and find something unexpected:

• the serendipity of stumbling upon a new idea you can build on
• the serendipity of learning about new products and services
• the serendipity of finding a solution you didn’t know existed
• the serendipity of discovering emerging technologies and industry trends.

Most other mediums can’t match this experience. When you go to the web, it’s usually with a specific goal in mind; you’re on a mission to find today’s news, product specifications or pricing, the answer to a technical question. When you pick up a magazine, however, you feel a sense of anticipation — what will you discover inside?

Across the trade publishing industry, old business models — in which advertisers are the primary support for printing and shipping tens of thousands of magazines that subscribers receive for free — are failing. At Cadalyst, we set out to find new business models. Asking for your support of the print medium through paid copies and subscriptions is one part of an innovative approach to ensure we can continue to deliver great content in a format you value. For our advertisers, we have introduced new ways to partner with Cadalyst that deliver the best of both worlds: the targeting and measurement benefits of digital media advertising and the powerful brand awareness benefits of a print magazine.

Longitude Media is a new media company, but we are the same Cadalyst team of managers, editors, and writers that has been with you for years. We know our print magazine is important for your own information gathering, decision making, and enjoyment, and we are excited and proud to bring back this option. So, welcome to the new Cadalyst! Print is dead; long live print!

Seth Nichols
Publisher, Cadalyst
CEO, Longitude Media
seth [at] longitudemedia.com