Sounding Off

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You might think that a magazine couldn’t get printed if it were devoted to high school marching band members a niche so small that it would seem to be insignificant. Besides, that audience is composed of band geeks anyway.

But don’t say that to Christine Ngeo Katzman, who’s been publishing Halftime Magazine for a year now. And don’t knock her readers.

“They’re not just band geeks anymore,” said Katzman, head of Muse Media LLC in Culver City. “They are musician-athletes who will be the future leaders in business and politics.”

Indeed, her magazine’s audience is sought after by some advertisers. Nearly one-fourth of California high school students drop out, but 90 percent of band members attend college, according to a survey by organization Bands of America. The trend-spotting newsletter Youth Markets Alert reports that marching band students are “edging their way onto the A-list and into marketers’ consciousness.”

Public awareness has been on the upswing, too. Kurtzman pegs the start of the trend in 2003, when Ohio State University won the 2002 season’s Bowl Championship Series college football title. After the game, Coach Jim Tressel credited the morale-boosting music from his school’s marching band as a factor in the team’s success.

Halftime has spent its first year harvesting the easy advertisers those directly related to its editorial content. They include instrument makers Remo Inc., a drum company based in Valencia, and Yamaha Corp. of America in Buena Park, which makes woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments.

Another advertiser is Walt Disney Co. Shawn Kelly, entertainment manager for guest talent at Disneyland, said he advertises in Halftime to bring bands to his park to perform and to attract students to be future employees of the theme park.

“For an entertainment company, it’s a great opportunity on both ends,” Kelly said.

Before Halftime, advertisers didn’t have a way to target student musicians directly. The magazine, which comes out every other month, has a circulation of 10,000, mostly in the Midwest, Texas and California. Kurtzman estimates about 3 million kids participate in school bands nationally, so there’s significant room for growth.

“We have talked to the energy drink marketers and also sent media kits to Nike, Adidas and sports attire companies,” Kurtzman said. “This market is teenage students people that marketers in general want to reach.”

Kurtzman first developed the idea for Halftime in 1997, the same year she marched in the Rose Bowl with the Northwestern University band. After graduation, she earned an M.B.A. from USC, where she won Best Graduate Business Plan and New Launch Award for the concept of her publishing venture.

She decided to create a magazine, rather than a Web site, because of the visual appeal of the marching bands. Diagrams of band routines, colorful uniforms and wide-angle photos of on-the-field pageantry look better in print than online.

“That has been a major attracter for advertisers,” said Kurtzman. “They say they love how it looks, and their ads look great.”

Kurtzman financed her magazine with personal savings and a bank loan. She hopes to reach the break-even point by the end of her second year.

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