When Tu Ciudad magazine hit the scene a couple years ago, the Latino community was abuzz with curiosity. A glossy lifestyle magazine for upscale, educated, bilingual/bicultural, many shades of brown Los Angelenos?
It was controversial within Latino circles (“What are you, a sellout?”) from the get go. Like it or not, most marketing to the Latino market tends to emphasize easy credit, Super Saturday Sales at K-Mart and the like. Tu Ciudad addressed integrating being Latino while being a hip Southern Californian. You just don’t find niches like that anywhere! Although they emphasize “upscale” in their descriptions, Latino Cultural Creatives (whether monied or not) definitely related to its content.
Tu Ciudad couldn’t sustain itself, as referenced in a letter sent out by publisher Jaime Gamboa in June. They have now been absorbed into Los Angeles magazine and all Tu Ciudad subscribers wondering why they’re suddenly getting LA mag are receiving letters explaining the demise.
Maybe it was an idea before its time, or maybe the magazine business is just a damn hard one to survive in. Lack of advertising revenues mentioned could be the result of many factors such as a poor sales staff. Regardless, Tu Ciudad shed light on a shifting demographic that will only continue to shape the face of the U.S.
Here’s a look at Tu Ciudad’s media kit for insights into the Latino market it served.
Here’s how the big wigs at the parent company broke the news to the employees
About Nancy Marmolejo
