Rodale Inc. Announces Major Brand Re-Invention for Prevention; Anne Alexander named SVP/Editorial Director

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rodale Inc. Chairman & CEO Maria Rodale and Healthy Living Group GM David Zinczenko, today announced that Anne Alexander has been named Senior Vice President and Editorial Director for Prevention, where she will lead an ambitious re-invention of the brand to reach the growing upscale female boomer audience moving into the title's demographic. Alexander will report directly to Maria Rodale, who helped cultivate the new vision and premium positioning for the brand.

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Alexander returns to Rodale after most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Editorial Director at National Geographic Books, where she led a turnaround of the company's Adult Books division that resulted in its highest levels of profitability in recent years. She had previously served as VP and Editorial Director of Prevention from 1997 through 2000, and drove significant newsstand growth and subscriber renewals while also penning the New York Times bestseller "Win the Fat War."

"The Prevention brand is very important to this company and, to the same extent, to our family," said Rodale. "For more than 60 years, Prevention has served its readers as a leading resource for healthy living, but we have an opportunity now to be even more than that; we can actually define what it means to be healthy for a significant audience who, to this point, has been largely ignored."

"There has never been a more educated, affluent and empowered generation of women determined to live long, healthy, happy lives fulfilling their personal missions. They've told us exactly what information they're looking for—health, well-being and diet, and no brand knows more about these issues than Prevention. Anne's vast experience, both at Prevention and at other notable companies, makes her the ideal editorial leader to transform this brand and its future."

The New Prevention

The new Prevention will debut with the magazine's January 2013 issue and will raise its monthly newsstand price to $3.99 to more accurately reflect its premium content.

"At a time when most magazines are scrambling to embrace younger readers, I find Maria's vision to be an exceptionally bold and forward-thinking strategy," said Alexander. "I'm excited to return 'home' to Rodale, and even more excited to lead Prevention into a new and exciting era."

Under Alexander's direction, the new Prevention will showcase a more elegant, upscale, clean design sensibility within an enriched editorial aesthetic to connect with the female boomers' sophisticated palette. The title will be the only magazine brand dedicating the most editorial to their top concerns: health, well-being and diet. (Halls Reports) With a focus on new frontiers in medicine and integrative health, Prevention will demonstrate transformative ways their readers can enjoy this life stage. New columns such as "Your Turn," "New Frontiers" and "Make it Natural" will invite readers to prioritize their health and happiness, and participate in a thriving online and social media community. The January issue will also debut new columns by Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Tasneem Bhatia who join the brand's prestigious stable of contributors like Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Travis Stork, and will also feature an interview with Dr. Christiane Northrup. Additionally, Prevention will expand on topics that haven't traditionally been pillars of the brand, such as emotional health, natural remedies, and personal development.

Prevention will also introduce a revamped website with more compelling, daily content focusing on top health and happiness ideas, such as the Top 50 Healthiest Eco-Spas to the Healthiest Food Awards. The brand will reveal an expanded solution center for those recently diagnosed with health conditions, as well an expanded community blog where readers can share advice, experience, and success.

Prevention has seen two consecutive periods of single copy sales increases, 11% for the second half of 2011 and 7% for the first half of 2012. (Audit Bureau of Circulation)

In addition to her work at National Geographic Books, Alexander has also previously served as VP and Group Editorial Director for AOL UK from 2000 to 2004, where she led the development of AOL's UK brand and led all efforts related to content, design, community and commerce. She then moved to become the consulting Creative Director for Edipresse in Warsaw, Poland, developing three of the most successful women's magazines in Eastern Europe (Party, Polina and Pani Domu), launching Martha Stewart Living and optimizing a portfolio of titles selling more than three million copies per month.

About Prevention
Published by Rodale Inc., Prevention is the nation's leading healthy lifestyle brand, with a U.S. magazine audience of 8.7 million readers, 10 international editions, a top digital destination http://www.prevention.com that has more than 3.8 million unique visitors each month, 22 million page views, more than 2 million newsletter subscribers. Each year, nearly 50 million Prevention products are sold, including books, special-interest magazines and bookazines, and DVDs. Prevention's Twitter handle is @PreventionMag and Prevention can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/preventionmagazine. Prevention magazine and its apps are available on the iPhone and iPad.

Contact:
Allison Falkenberry
VP, Brand and Corporate Communications
212.573.0524
[email protected]

SOURCE Rodale