They just don’t make ex-pats like they used to.
In the old days, expatriates didn’t care what was happening in the United States once they left. Now, it seems, they do. To cater to that homesick market Patrick Gallagher and Jason Yutesler have launched Expat, a quarterly magazine that brings such Americana as “Ally McBeal” to Americans working abroad.
Gallagher and Yutesler, who both have backgrounds in advertising, came up with the idea when they were ex-pats themselves, yearning for U.S. culture.
It’s likely they have some kindred spirits. The State Department estimates there are some 3 million Americans working in foreign countries, from corporate positions to the Peace Corps to Americans teaching English as a second language, any or all of whom may long for news from home.
Expat will target the 250,000 expatriates employed by corporate America. The initial 50,000 copies will be distributed free in November through the human resources departments of such corporations as AT&T, Campbell’s Soup, Hasbro and Viacom, among others.
The publication will be supported by advertising. Gallagher and Yutesler anticipate great interest among catalogers to reach what they describe as a neglected audience.
The demographics, they point out, are attractive. Some 90% of corporate ex-pats are really three people – with a spouse and child – and almost all are in their 30s. The typical annual salary is $100,000 (U.S.), the first 80% of which is not taxed, giving ex-pats a larger disposable income than their stateside equivalents.
Four out of five have undergraduate degrees and 30% have MBAs. And all are unlikely to speak the local language, if they have a second language at all.
While Gallagher and Yutesler will not have the individual names of people receiving the controlled circulation magazine, they foresee taking over the delivery system within a couple of years. They also expect eventual circulation of more than 100,000. And a Web site is scheduled to debut this month. The bulk of the magazine itself will be a mix of reprints of articles from such publications as Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, Men’s Health and Wired. About 80% of the articles will emphasize culture over hard news, while the remainder will cover “expatise,” the mechanics and minutiae of living and working in foreign countries.
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