If you want to know what the country’s most interesting magazine is, ask Marco Ursi. The former editor of Masthead magazine studied the industry for years and recently blogged his pick for the top spot: Maclean’s. Long the definitive Canadian news mag, it struggled earlier in the decade with double-digit revenue and circulation declines. Not only does Ursi think it has become a better read over the last five years, it’s become a better business by increasing its newsstand sales and cover price simultaneously. He attributes much of this to its editor-in-chief/publisher Ken Whyte, who recently expanded his role within Rogers (which owns Maclean’s and Marketing) to become publisher of Canadian Business, Profit and MoneySense as well.

“Whyte likes his journalism loud, opinionated and contrarian,” Ursi blogged. “In a media environment where the fight for attention is fiercer than ever, those qualities may give [Canadian Business] the voice it needs to be heard by readers and advertisers alike.”

Canadian Business could use a boost, just like Maclean’s once did, and Whyte is reshaping the 81-year-old business publication from front to back.

“Over the last 15 or 20 years, there’s been a softening in the allegiance of the readership,” Whyte told Marketing. “It shows up in things like renewal rates and response rates to subscription drives. It’s not a problem peculiar to Canadian Business. It’s common to a lot of North American magazines. All of them need to periodically rethink what they’re doing.” Whyte commissioned a redesign and relaunch in a bid to expand readership, and maybe win new advertisers along the way. Those familiar with his publishing philosophies will not be surprised by what appears on newsstands: a punchier, newsier Canadian Business with a new voice shaped by Whyte and his revamped editorial and art teams.

Similar to Maclean’s redesign in 2005, Canadian Business’s rug-shaking was heralded by significant staff changes. Following the departure of publisher Deborah Rosser in June, Whyte promoted Joe Chidley out of the editor’s position he’d long held at Canadian Business and into a role as associate publisher and editor of special projects for both the business book and Maclean’s. In his place came Steve Maich, a former Maclean’s executive editor and business reporter, now editor and associate publisher. Then came the dismissal of eight staff members, including Tim Davin, Canadian Business’s art director since 2001 who had ushered the mag through its last redesign in 2007. The staff changes were of a similar scale to 2005 when Maclean’s was swept of its old guard.

“The changes we’re doing aren’t cosmetic,” Whyte explains. “We’ll be doing different kinds of stories, reporting and commentaries.

In order to do that, you need different kinds of journalists. We thought it was necessary to give Steve the tools he needs to succeed.” While Whyte and Maich have yet to fill the vacant positions (and they will be filled, Whyte says, despite the industry trend of not replacing those laid off to cut costs), the publisher has historically liked to hire people from his past.

Mark Stevenson, who worked with Whyte at Saturday Night magazine and the National Post, joined him at Maclean’s as editor during its changing of the guard. Maich worked at the Post too, and followed Whyte to Maclean’s.

Jason Logan, a design consultant who helped with the Maclean’s relaunch, is now pulling double duty with Canadian Business as one of several designers charged with updating the magazine’s look. “What Canadians tend to do with business is treat it as though we’re the little guy and ‘here’s our little take on it,’ ” Logan says. “It’s kind of an ironic take, and we do that decently. But what I got interested in with this redesign was treating business as though we’re a country of pioneers, actually treating business in a majestic way...

We should be bringing in Rolex ads and Harry Rosen and car ads because business is powerful.”

When the relaunched magazine hits newsstands Sept. 28, readers will first notice changes on the cover where the modern, blocky nameplate will be replaced with something more retro. Logan describes the title’s typeface as being like a “well-tailored suit.” It aspires to have a more “slick European” flavour, as opposed to a “blunt” American tone. An illustration of Rogers’ head office has been added with the words “Since 1928,” lending an air of authority and tradition. Powerful, perhaps even scandalous, covers have been Maclean’s calling card from the first issue of Whyte’s redesign. (The Nov. 21, 2005 cover blared, “We bought the privacy commissioner’s cell phone records on the Internet. We can buy yours too. Anyone can. EXPOSED.”)

Whyte was making it clear Maclean’s would stand out at the newsstand. Brian Morgan, art director for The Walrus magazine, was deputy art director at Maclean’s during Whyte’s relaunch. “Whenever you made a cover, he’d be the person setting the agenda, asking ‘What are the stories? What are the sells? How is this getting [readers] into the magazine?’ I’d never met anyone so on those questions all the time.”

As evidence that art was as important to the redesign as editorial, Morgan points to the Maclean’s “caboose,” a meeting room Whyte wallpapered with every cover from the last 12-month period, their corresponding sell-through rates and overall newsstand numbers. “There were sheep and goats sides– those that were doing well and those that weren’t. We talked about that all the time, at every meeting.”

Turning past Canadian Business’s cover, new and fewer fonts and a tighter layout will mean more room for copy. “The current magazine has a lot of white space, a lot of feature layouts,” Maich says. “We’ll still do big splashy feature layouts, but there are opportunities to increase the pace and volume of information.”

New sections will include Briefing, 10 pages of short, analytical news stories; The Performer, mini-profiles of successful business people; and Commentary, opinions from influencers and experts.

The magazine will also use more news photography–another echo of the Maclean’s revamp–to reduce the portrait-style photos that can be the bane of business journalism.

“Business tends to be a bunch of guys, 55-years-old, grey hair and grey suits, sitting behind desks under fluorescent lighting,” Logan says. Portrait-style photos and illustration will still have their place, but a focus on newsy visuals will create “a feeling that [the magazine] is happening right now.”

Much of the relaunch is meant to build upon what Canadian Business already has: newsstand sales, subscriptions and advertisers. But Whyte says there’s one new thing he’s also going after. “We’d like the audience to get younger–more urban and upscale, a little better educated, and on the whole more engaged and passionate about the magazine.”

Maich says this group can be reached with a different tone than the magazine had previously. “I think you reach younger readers by presenting an exciting, provocative and fun magazine that captures the built-in drama of competition in the business world,” he says. “I’m 34, and when I think about what appeals to me, I think young readers are frequently alienated by what they see as dry, dull and technical business stories that don’t really have any resonance in their lives.”

Meanwhile, the business behind Canadian Business–its advertising, circulation, subscriptions–will get tweaked as well. Julie Osborne, senior associate publisher for both Maclean’s and Canadian Business (as well as Profit and MoneySense), foresees more newsstand sales ignited by a relaunch promotional blitz, but sustained by the revamped cover and content.

The advertising blitz includes a newsstand draw 50% higher than normal, in-store marketing such as shelf talkers and posters, radio and print ads, and premium newsstand positioning. The relaunch issue will also be used as a sampler for a direct mail campaign, putting 50% more “subscriber” copies in circulation.

While Osborne expects more pick-up from C-level executives, some ads will also be placed in family magazines aiming for a broader target than the six-figure-salary crowd. Why does she think it will work? Again, Maclean’s is the template. “Maclean’s covers a lot of different areas from pop culture to politics to business,” Osborne says. “The business covers sell really well. There is an appetite out there.” Sustained, increased sales would be a triumph not only for Maich’s refocused editorial content, but Osborne’s advertising product as well.

“We’re lucky because we’re dealing from a position of strength,” she says, pointing to Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that show newsstand sales were up by more than 4% for the first half of the year. “The magazine is going to raise its game... We want circulation to be more important to the magazine. We want people to step up and pay for the magazine.”

Whyte puts it this way: “Looking at the medium-term future for print, say five or 10 years out, I’m far more comfortable having a magazine that can attract a paying audience, to gain a large proportion of its revenue from its readership than I am in one that’s dependent entirely on advertising.”

Maclean’s has raised its cover price from $4.99 to $5.95 over the last three years. When newsstand sales increased with the price, it was an indication of reader loyalty. Osborne says there’s no price increase on the books for Canadian Business for the foreseeable future, but likely has Maclean’s successes in mind as well.

That’s not to say ad revenues aren’t part of the strategy, however. The redesign doesn’t fundamentally change the size, shape or ratio of advertising in each issue, though Maich says the sales staff will “continue to innovate” without breeching the church-and-state division between advertising and editorial content.

Advertiser-driven “information supplements” are still on offer, as are the usual full, half and fractional page ads. Maich believes advertisers will see placement opportunities in Performance, a new lifestyle back-of-book section offering a luxury lifestyle for those who don’t necessarily come from old money.

CanadianBusiness.com will also be relaunched. Content and layout will get a similar facelift to keep branding consistent across both properties, though no details have been made public. Osborne says the site currently accounts for about 20% of the magazine’s total ad revenue.

Perhaps Whyte can be questioned for assuming what worked for a broadly targeted news magazine will work for a business publication. But Maclean’s is proof that there’s merit to Whyte’s methods. As Masthead’s Ursi pointed out, its average weekly pre-Whyte newsstand sales were less than 9,000. Between July and December last year, it was more than 13,500. Whether similar gains can be made for Canadian Business will depend on how attitudes change between the kitchen and boardroom tables.