Targeted at ABC1 men in the 25-54 age range and across a broad range of life stages, Coach provides practical and inspirational content that helps readers do something to improve their health, fitness and overall wellbeing, says Dennis Publishing.
Ed Needham, Editor of Coach, said: “We launched Coach for men who wanted to do something to make themselves healthier, fitter and happier. Pretty much all men will admit that they want – or need – to do a bit more to improve themselves. Coach’s goal therefore is to help them find their “thing”, whatever it is; something they can pour their energy and enthusiasm into and achieve their health, fitness and wellbeing goals as a consequence. The reaction has been overwhelming.”
Since launch, says Dennis, the Coach editorial package has undergone a process of continual refinement to meet the needs of both readers and advertisers through a series of extensive reader focus groups and through feedback from the 300-strong Team Coach Reader panel. Since launch, Coach has expanded its weekly fashion content, launched a fashion special for Spring/Summer, grown its entertainment sections and produced a wide-ranging series of cover features including “Why Coffee Is The New Superfood”, “Operation Wedding Suit”, “Energise Your Wardrobe”, “I Could Do That – How Hard Are The World’s Biggest Adventures”, “How To Win At January” and “The 50 Greatest Fitness Apps”.
According to the publishers, Coach has established itself as a significant health and fitness lifestyle brand, forging strong partnerships with Prostate Cancer UK, the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London, the Boardmasters festival in Cornwall and the Go Dad Run series of races across the country.
Ian Westwood, Group Managing Director of Dennis Publishing said: “We’re so proud of the success of Coach, we said we would distribute an average of over 300,000 copies a week and now we have the seal of approval from ABC to say that we’re doing just that. Our original intention was to release our first audit for the January-June 2016 period in line with other publications in the sector, but the take-up of the product has been so strong that we’re in a position to announce that we’ve exceeded our 300,000 target already.
“Before launching we could see there was a gap in the market for a magazine like Coach, and it’s been amazing to see the brand go from strength to strength. Readers and advertisers have both taken to the product really quickly. It’s a really exciting time for Coach and for Dennis Publishing too.”
Marc Young, Commercial Publisher, Coach said: “The significant work and research before launch, together with the trust that people have placed in Dennis Publishing, has enabled Coach to deliver against the targets we set. We are already seeing some impressive results across all major ad categories, platforms and most recently in our content partnership work. We’ve seen considerable investment and support from clients and agencies and every week we build momentum. I'm delighted to report that to date over 120 brands have already chosen Coach as part of their media plans and understand what we are doing to engage men of today.”
Simon Redlich, Chief Executive at ABC, commented: “Dennis Publishing’s Coach is paving the way in exploring new methods of verified distribution, such as our Sample Free Distribution category. These new industry-agreed standards give media owners greater freedom to explore new routes to market whilst retaining the credibility of being independently audited. We’re delighted to support Dennis Publishing in their commitment to providing transparent, trusted data and will continue to develop our services in response to the evolving needs of the consumer market.”
Coach is distributed by hand within London and at prime commuter locations. Additional copies are also available nationally, at carefully selected sports and leisure clubs, gyms, hotels and businesses.
