Vapor Digest #3 The Trade Publication For The Vapor Products Industry
Issue link: http://vapordigest.epubxp.com/i/442928
30 They took me to New York and introduced me to everybody in the media business and they actually helped me when I came up with the idea that I want to do a book on, all of the new magazines that started. They said, "We'll print it and send it to everybody in the industry." Within one week, my name became a house- hold name in the magazine industry. The New York Times wrote about the book, so all of a sudden, my name became a household name in the industry. My second year of teaching here, I had a student from Motor Valley, Mississippi. It was so hard for him to pronounce my name, he started calling me 'Mr. Magazine.' At the end of the semester, he gave me a plaque to put on my desk that says 'Samir Husni, Mr. Maga- zine.' I didn't think much about it, but then in 1989, the New York Times did a profile on me and they sent a photographer and the photographer took a picture of me sitting behind my desk, and lo and behold, that desk plate, 'Samir Husni, Mr. Magazine,' was in that picture. So everybody started calling me Mr. Maga- zine, so I said, "You know what? Why not?" So when the internet came and I started the Mr. Magazine.com, I decided it's time to trade- mark that Mr. Magazine, and so that's when I applied for a trademark. And the rest is history. When I call people and say, "This is Samir," and they're like, "Who?" But when I say, "This is Mr. Magazine," they say, "Oh, yeah, what can we do for you?? Patrick Butson: What was your favorite printed magazine that went out of business? What was, the one that surprised you the most? Samir Husni: Well, it was not really a surprise to me, because I know all the reasons behind it going out of business. But I loved Blog Magazine. I loved Life magazine and all it's incarnations. But there's a lot of magazines who I fell in love with that went out of business. That's why I tell everybody, "There's no formulas in our business." There's no such thing. It's all about keeping up with the audience and providing them with a necessary, sufficient and relevant experi- ence. It's when we lose that. That's when we start falling. People always ask me after a new magazine launches, "is it going to make it?" I say, "I don't know. There are only two people who can tell the future: God and a fool." What I tell people, Patrick, is, we have to humanize. Audiences don't want to have a relationship with ink on paper or with pictures on a screen. People like to have a relation- ship with another person, and that's why I feel like humanize your brand... Humanize your publication. Your magazine is a human being. I mean, are you looking for your one- night stand, are you looking for a love affair or are you looking for a long lasting relatio- nship? Patrick Butson: What is it about the experi- ence of the printed page that you believe is gonna keep magazines relevant? Samir Husni: I truly believe, that there is nothing on the digital sphere that can repli- cate that tactile experience of sitting on your couch, having a glass of wine, flipping through the pages of the magazine, feeling the weight, smelling the ink, feeling the volume, seeing the interaction that you're having with that magazine. That tells you that it's you and the magazine alone. You have this feeling of losing yourself in the pages of the magazine. That's what nobody can repli- cate. Plus, of course, we're human beings. We thrive on the sense of ownership. We thrive on the sense of forming something, having something. I mean, virtual ownership is noth- ing. Anything you have on the iPad is not yours. Including all pictures. So that sense of ownership…. this is my magazine. I can do anything. I can get mad at it, I can throw it across the room. Get mad at your iPad or something on your iPad and try to throw it across the room. See what happens. It is that emotional link we have when an entity becomes our friend. Nobody is going to come and ask you, "Hey, Patrick, can I borrow your iPad and see what you're reading?" But they pick up your maga- zine from your coffee table and say, "Oh, wow," without even asking your permission to do that. That's showmanship. Showmanship is also very important. The last thing is what I call "membership." We want to see if we belong to this community. I have Good Housekeeping, you have Good Housekeeping, we get Southern Living, we get Texas Monthly… It unites all of us. It's real. You have it in your hands. That's what really unites us. And this, to me, as a human being, these are the three ships that cruises through all of human beings. The ownership, the membership and the showmanship. Nothing but print delivers that relationship. Patrick Butson: What did you think the first time you saw someone vaping? Do you remember? Samir Husni: Mainly my reaction was like, what's the gimmick here? What's the catch? Is it a new way to move people from smoking cigarettes? Even when I go visit in Lebanon where the hookahs are everywhere. It's like the brand new thing now. To me it's an addiction. I am one of those people who believes that we in the magazine business, we are in the business of addiction. Can I get you addicted to my publication? That's why competition is so important in our business, you know? So, there are good addictions, there's some bad addictions. I consider myself the lucky one who almost died smoking that first and last cigarette, but it saved me a lot of money. Dr. Samir "Mr. Magazine" Husni Interviewed by Patrick V* Butson Samir Husni and Patrick V* Butson at the min online Awards Ceremony for 2014 Hottest Launch. Patrick V* Butson and his wife Julie at the min online Awards Ceremony for 2014 Hottest Launch.