How to create a Grid that won’t fail

How to create a Grid that won’t fail. One of my favorite little things about Toronto was picking up a copy of The Grid (and in the past: Eye Weekly) and reading it as I took the 501 Queen streetcar. It was with great sadness that I read about the free weekly folding this morning, especially because I have been spreading the (apparent) myth that Canadian journalism is still a little healthier than its American counterpart. Then I remembered that David Topping, my former editor at Torontoist, was let go by The Grid this year, and it occurred to me that financial trouble was always part of the story. The official statement by John Cruickshank, head of Star Media Group, essentially blamed “new advertising vehicles,” for killing The Grid , and I remembered one such advertising vehicle I have previously worked on, which I present as a lesson in

Everybody knows how free weeklies and city blogs work: a media company, independent or otherwise (in The Grid’s case, owned by TorStar) sell advertising to pay the costs of employing writers, some staff but mostly freelance. (The Grid had 22.) These advertisers are many, and typically range from event promoters to restaurants to, yes, even sex workers. In recent years, these advertisers have gotten more bang for their buck through other channels besides free weeklies, which in many cases offer better quantitative proof that their advertising dollars are going far.

Having many advertisers also limits the content you can write about: most publications will not admit this, but a few angry phone calls from a big advertiser can change the tone of an article, even in Canada.

Enter Société Perrier. SP is an international media property written by a staff that is mostly based in New York but employs freelancers around the world, including Toronto. It produces great content on a daily basis, as well as the occasional event at a Société Perrier Hot Spot. These places are typically bars, hotels or restaurants in cities like Miami and Los Angeles. SP produces content about travel, events, mixology, art, music and fashion. Reading it is a delight.

Société Perrier, if you were wondering, does not spend a lot of time writing about water. They write about a lot of the same things The Grid wrote about (Great places to get a good drink? Recap from a great dance music event?) and the content is not as branded as you might believe. In fact, having just a single advertiser gives them incredible freedom about what they can write about: the only topic that would conceivably create any kind of conflict is sparkling water brands.

I see this as the future of journalism. A free weekly may be a brand in its own right, but the truth is, it is propped up by multiple brands and an increasingly unprofitable model.

How do I see this working in Toronto? There are really only a few kinds of advertisers who would make sense. Because this is Canada, a bank or a telco are fairly obvious choices. If they could afford it, one of Toronto’s beer companies would actually make great sponsors, but it might impact the magazine’s ability to write about “best patios this Summer,” so perhaps a national beer company would be a better fit.

Then finally it occurred to me: there is a free magazine that has managed to have a presence on Toronto’s streets for nearly three decades: Condo Life. Sadly, taking on a developer as a sponsor would also gut a lot of the editorial content for an urban-minded publication, since writing about development, often in a negative light, fills our blogs and free weeklies.