Under profit-oriented bosses like Willes, editors are forced to pay as much attention to the bottom line as they are to the headlines. At Saturday Night, like all other magazines, the editors have always been involved in the advertising side in various ways - everything from going out on calls with the advertising department to meeting advertisers and talking about what's in the magazine to actively soliciting sponsorship for various sections. Eighty percent of our revenue comes from advertising, and collaboration between the advertising and editorial sides is nothing new. What counts is where you draw the line. The problem is that drawing a line isn't easy when you've got an 800 lb.
Major advertisers are no longer content to just buy pages.
The company was responsible for the Absolut Vodka ad campaign in which the final page of a Mordecai Richler excerpt in Saturday Night was shaped like a vodka bottle. Wyatt says there's so much competition among media outlets for Absolut dollars that she can pick and choose based on who is most willing to dance on the line. We just reconfigured it. Everybody has their own opinion, but I don't think we crossed that line. I do think it gave people reason to relook at what that line is.