Bloomberg Expands Lineup

Bloomberg's third title aims to help financial planners help their high-net clients.

* "In the real world, you rarely achieve the kind of synergy that you hope for" when you're dealing with multiple products, says Robert Casey, editor of Bloom berg Wealth Manager. But with the financial information provider's most recent Launch, he and the other Bloomberg staffers are banking on being the exception to that rule.

Bloomberg Magazine reaches 250,000 decision-makers on an institutional level, while at the other end of the spectrum, those interested in personal finance can read the 215,000-circulation Bloomberg Personal. The missing link in the franchise, says advertising director Patty Finn, has been a title targeted toward professionals who manage individual clients' assets. Hence, Wealth Manager, a magazine for that "intermediary audience": financial planners and investment advisers, but with a focus on independent planners who serve high-net-worth clients.

The January/February launch issue of the controlled title has a guaranteed initial circulation of 45,000, primarily drawn from industry certification and association lists. Finn says the goal is to have at least half that number qualified by year's end.

Wealth Manager gives its readership a mix of financial-planning strategies and news, as well as coverage of legal, ethical and operations issues. The premier issue, for example, has advice on philanthropy and tax-free investments, and also looks at the ups and downs of getting media publicity.

Casey acknowledges Wealth Manager's "evolution" from Bloomberg Personal. Many financial advisers read the consumer title, and some recommend articles to clients from a section titled "Wealth Preservation." "We've always used financial planners as sounding boards for Bloomberg Personal," says Casey.

Wealth Manager's 106page debut issue has 35 pages of ads, primarily in endemic categories like financial services. Finn admits that Bloomberg's preexisting relationships with the magazine's target advertisers helps them sell ad pages. But she's confident the title will "be a winner" on its own merits, and points out that "a large percentage' of advertisers committed to the full six-times-a-year schedule.

Casey and Finn agree that Wealth Manager's marketing linchpin is the strength of a brand name that's essentially synonymous with finance. Corporations like Merrill Lynch pay about $1,200 for each Bloomberg terminal they use, Finn says, but it might not be cost-efficient for smaller companies to buy this service. A perk for Wealth Manager subscribers is access to a password-protected area on the Bloomberg Web site that includes selected analytics, stories related to the topics in the print magazine, and the daily "Bloomberg Forum."

The financial services category has seen several launches over the past two years, including Individual Investor Group's Ticker. Advisers need information that helps them address "a variety of client interests," explains editor Caitlin Mollison. "Investing has gotten more and more democratic," she says. Wealth Manager's niche is "probably a bit too narrow.

Robert Clark, editor of Dow Jones Investment Advisor, agrees. He contends that there are 500 to 1,000 "true" wealth managers in the United States. "[BWM] needs to decide whether they're going to be a general-interest advisers' title like us, with a decent circulation, or whether they truly want to go after wealth managers," he says. "It would be tough to be viable with those numbers."

Attribute it to a bullish stock market, or affluent baby boomers, but financial planning has become a popular field, Casey responds. He estimates that, over the past few years, the profession has grown in numbers at a 10 to 20 percent annual clip. This growth, he says, has been accompanied by an increase in independent businesses, and clientele whose investable assets exceed $1 million. "We're shooting for the upper end of the audience, and the numbers in this field are almost explosive," says Casey.

Start-up stats:

Distribution: 45,000 (controlled)

Publishing company: Bloomberg LP.

Paid advertisers at launch: 35

Advertising rate: $8,400, full-page, four-color ad; $7,300 for a full-page black-and-while ad.

Publisher: David Wachtel

Address: 499 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022

Telephone: 212-318-2200

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