What's in a name change? The magazine formerly known as JE (not)

Putting out one's own magazine leads to paying much closer attention to other publications than). the average person does. This week Supersol was dumping out a magazine entitled Jewish Insights (with a spare modern all caps font for the word "Jewish" and a serifed lowercase, slightly angled font for "insights." The subtitle all fits under the first word and is in a similar font" "Where to see what's Now, Next & New in our world" is what it says.) So the date appears in the upper right hand corner as March/Adar 2008 and the upper left hand corner declares this to be "Issue #1." So a new magazine, right? But the content, design, and even the ads all evoke the Jewish Entertainment magazine that has been around for close to two years now. In fact, I am fairly certain, that the name Zweig that appears in this magazine is one and the same as the one that appeared in JE. So what gives with the change of name and disassociation with the former name? Usually, one works hard to build up name recognition, and that is actually assigned a value in terms of good will. So why the break? Is this like the case of the performer formerly known as Prince who took on a new name and a new identity? In that case, though, everyone had to keep referring to him as "the performer formerly known as Prince," for his new name was a symbol that could not be pronounced. But here the former identity is erased as this magazine declares this to be its very first issue. I wonder if this is some type of response to whole Lipa Big Event concert. Perhaps the people behind this magazine feared that the title would make it subject to a similar ban due to its stress on entertainment, which may be viewed as threatening in the same way Lipa was seen to be threatening. Of course, that is pure speculation on my part, but given the timing of this issue, it would make sense.

Comments

Chaim B. said…
The old magazine had a website thejemagazine.com that now redirects to thejewishinsights.com. A whois lookup shows the registrant and administrative contact of the new domain is JE Magazine.

The publisher does have a letter explaining the decision to reinvent themselves with another name/focus:
http://www.thejewishinsights.com/about.asp
Wonder why they included this on the site but not in the magazine.
Ariella's blog said…
While JE was created to cover the ever changing world of Jewish Entertainment, the fact is that entertainment is far from the ONLY part of our world that's constantly changing.

After discussing this with numerous people knowledgeable in publishing, marketing and the unique dynamics of our world, I realized our readers were to say the least ready for more--and not just more about "entertainment"--but more about media, culture, fashion, technology, dining, personalities...in short more insight about well, everything!
[What I think that really is about is to open more channels for advertising, such as fashion, technology, etc, for Jewish entertainment is after all limited largely to the approved list of orchestras and singers.

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