Vanity fare

The founders of a new glossy think there's an appetite for a mag about all things Harvard

By David Mehegan, Globe Staff  |  September 26, 2006

Harvard isn't just a university. To the founders of a new bimonthly magazine, Harvard is a sensibility, a state of mind, a kind of tribe. They hope it also turns out to be a national brand to build a business around.

This is not the tweedy, ivy-covered image of Harvard. The cover of the first issue of 02138, mailed free of charge this week to 50,000 alumni, shows actress Rashida Jones, dressed in a smirk, suit-jacket, and apparently little else, with the headline ``She's Harvard. So are you. Discuss."

Besides the brief profile of Jones, daughter of arranger Quincy Jones, there's a gossipy section called ``Vanitas," described by the magazine's marketing literature as ``a Page Six for the Harvard set." It shows a young man gnawing playfully on the shoulder of a comely woman in a New York restaurant. Apparently, though it's not spelled out, they're both Harvard alums. Another feature, ``Passions," reports on sportswriter Bruce Schoenfeld's refined taste in Italian wines.

It's a bright and sprightly way to imagine the world of Harvard graduates. Whether it will work as a magazine remains to be seen.

President and founder Bom Kim and cofounding editor Dan Loss -- they're both 27, class of 2000 -- see the Boston-based publication as a kind of Vanity Fair for Harvard grads, with a nod to the legendary magazine Texas Monthly. The first two issues will be mailed free, but Kim and his financial backer, David Bradley of Atlantic Media Co. (owner of National Journal and The Atlantic Monthly), hope a real subscriber base (at $36 a year) will follow. To whet the target audience's appetite, the first issue features ``The Harvard 100," a list of movers and shakers in business, politics, and the arts. The idea is to say to the audience: Look at all these stars -- your brethren!

Some of the 100 went to Harvard College, some to various graduate schools. There's George W. Bush, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Pete Seeger, and Ben Bernanke, and lower-profile faces such as surgeon Mehmet Oz, film director Mira Nair, and architect Thom Mayne. Actress Natalie Portman and actor Matt Damon are on the list. So is poet laureate Donald Hall.

Besides envy-food, 02138 -- which is named for Harvard's zip code -- has serious content, including Wall Street Journal writer Dan Golden on how the kids of rich donors get into Harvard, and profiles of Harvard PhD Jerome Corsi, who helped attack John Kerry's Vietnam record, and photographer Lauren Greenfield, who documents American girls pushed to grow up too fast.

Will the magazine succeed? That depends on whether there really is a Harvard tribe, an overarching sensibility and bond shared by the 320,000 alumni of the various schools.

David D'Alessandro, a onetime ad executive who became chairman and CEO of John Hancock insurance company, and has written two books about branding, has his doubts.

``It sounds like they are betting that the Harvard brand reaches across Harvard graduates of the different schools," said D'Alessandro, who is not a Harvard graduate. ``From a marketing standpoint, that's a stretch. Most alumni of a university like Harvard, while they will give to the university and are proud to be graduates, do not necessarily have that affinity for one another."

Born in Korea and raised partly in Burma, Kim came alone to the United States when he was 13 to go to Deerfield Academy, and then to Harvard, with a concentration in politics. He and Loss, from Connecticut, met as freshmen. They started Current, a magazine by and for students. Eventually they expanded it to 18 campuses and sold it to Newsweek.

After graduation, Kim worked for an Internet start - up, studied law in Korea (his family still lives there), then worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He also worked at Brill's Content, the media magazine, while Loss worked at George (both magazines have folded). A couple of years ago, Loss was at Harvard Law and the two former roommates got together and conceived the idea of 02138. They were introduced to David Bradley (Harvard Business School, '77), who became the sole supporter, putting about $4 million into the project. Bradley could not be reached, but Atlantic Media publisher Elizabeth Baker Keffer said, ``We want to grow our media business by finding properties that appeal to a leadership, educated, affluent audience. And David felt Bom was a great, fresh talent."

Kim said he believes there is a kinship among Harvardians, but he groped a bit to articulate it in an interview at the magazine's office on North Washington Street, the former office of The Atlantic Monthly. ``There does seem to be a thread that connects a wide range of alumni, despite the diversity among them," Kim said. ``This is a community that feels there is something shared. They feel challenged, competitive, and inspired by one another."

On 02138's business side, the view of the audience is more pointed. ``This audience represents the epicenter of the leadership class in America," said Meredith Kopit, 02138's New York-based publisher. ``Harvard alumni are disproportionately accomplished and influential. They're people who are playing leadership roles in business, politics, the media, arts, and entertainment."

The trick will be to convince advertisers of that. The first issue has glossy ads for Polo/Ralph Lauren, the new Mercedes luxury car Maybach, jewelry retailer Lux Bond & Green , and Marquee Concierge (``a global network of lifestyle specialists"). ``We're totally delighted with the response we've gotten from advertising," Kopit said.

It may be a tough sell over time. Daniel Okrent, the founding editor of New England Monthly, an award-winning Texas Monthly knockoff that eventually failed, said the hardest part of starting a magazine is persuading well-heeled advertisers that your magazine can deliver an audience they can reach in no other way.

``They're not needed by advertisers, however good the content," Okrent said, ``except by a few retailers in Harvard Square. The national advertisers will say, `Love your magazine, but I don't need it.' They can use Vanity Fair, which is much larger and more established than 02138 is going to be."

But Kim and Loss believe they can make their dream come true. ``The Harvard identity is a living, breathing thing," Kim said, ``reflected in all the different ways Harvard people make a mark on the world. It's not just traditional, academic, or staid. It's exciting, vibrant, glamorous. 02138 will never be boring and predictable."

David Mehegan can be reached at mehegan@globe.com.