Pace gets the go-ahead for new US Airways Magazine
Mark Tosczak
After a months-long sales pitch that took Pace executives to Washington, D.C., and Tempe, Ariz., the private, Greensboro custom-publishing firm will lay to rest its award-winning Attaché magazine and launch US Airways Magazine next month.
Though Pace published Attaché for years for US Airways, when the Washington-based airline merged with Arizona-based America West, a whole new deal had to be struck, said Craig Waller, who heads up marketing and sales for Pace.
"We had to convince the new management of US Airways that we were not only a great in-flight publisher but we were capable of understanding that the brand was going to change," Waller said.
Following the merger announcement last summer, Pace executives, led by founder and CEO Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, made two intensive sales pitches on the road. The airline also sent a team of managers to Greensboro for a first-hand look at Pace's operations.
McElveen-Hunter was determined to keep the publication, which, in its first incarnation as Pace magazine for the old Piedmont Airlines, helped her launch her company more than 20 years ago.
Just like when Piedmont became US Air, the new, merged airline means new branding, and that means a new magazine.
US Airways Magazine will debut at a beefy 200 pages, about 50 percent bigger than Attaché.
"The fresh positioning of the magazine will reflect the smart 'business casual' approach of the low-cost airline that reflects the new US Airways," Lance Elko, the magazine's editor, said in a news release.
Waller estimates about 15 staffers work on the magazine now, but he says US Airways editors are assessing the magazine's needs, and the company might hire new people in Greensboro to bolster the magazine staff.
Pace is also working with Skyword Marketing, a Phoenix company that published America West Magazine before the merger with US Airways. Skyword will handle advertising sales in the western United States.
Reach Mark Tosczak at (336) 370-2909 or mtosczak@bizjournals.com.
Mark Tosczak
After a months-long sales pitch that took Pace executives to Washington, D.C., and Tempe, Ariz., the private, Greensboro custom-publishing firm will lay to rest its award-winning Attaché magazine and launch US Airways Magazine next month.
Though Pace published Attaché for years for US Airways, when the Washington-based airline merged with Arizona-based America West, a whole new deal had to be struck, said Craig Waller, who heads up marketing and sales for Pace.
"We had to convince the new management of US Airways that we were not only a great in-flight publisher but we were capable of understanding that the brand was going to change," Waller said.
Following the merger announcement last summer, Pace executives, led by founder and CEO Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, made two intensive sales pitches on the road. The airline also sent a team of managers to Greensboro for a first-hand look at Pace's operations.
McElveen-Hunter was determined to keep the publication, which, in its first incarnation as Pace magazine for the old Piedmont Airlines, helped her launch her company more than 20 years ago.
Just like when Piedmont became US Air, the new, merged airline means new branding, and that means a new magazine.
US Airways Magazine will debut at a beefy 200 pages, about 50 percent bigger than Attaché.
"The fresh positioning of the magazine will reflect the smart 'business casual' approach of the low-cost airline that reflects the new US Airways," Lance Elko, the magazine's editor, said in a news release.
Waller estimates about 15 staffers work on the magazine now, but he says US Airways editors are assessing the magazine's needs, and the company might hire new people in Greensboro to bolster the magazine staff.
Pace is also working with Skyword Marketing, a Phoenix company that published America West Magazine before the merger with US Airways. Skyword will handle advertising sales in the western United States.
Reach Mark Tosczak at (336) 370-2909 or mtosczak@bizjournals.com.
