Having been in print for 83 years but not sold on newsstands until last May, Legion Magazine has been using various initiatives to promote the magazine and its mandate. The latest, says general manager Jennifer Morse, is attaching one of three postcards to each newsstand copy of the November/December issue and all three to each subscriber copy for readers to send to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

In concert with the Canadian Forces who have provided an address to send the postcards to the troops, the project has been a success for the magazine which has a paid subscription of 270,000 and an additional 6,000 in newsstand sales with a cover price of $5.95, says Morse. “The project had many intents,” she says. “We thought that if we put this on the magazines people would be able to send something to the troops because we thought that most people wouldn’t know how to otherwise if they wanted to. From a business model we wanted to lift newsstand sales, lift subscription which lifts circulation and give PR to the magazine to see if we can get our name out there. Most people don’t know about us and we’re the fifth biggest circulation in Canada.”

Costing approximately $8,500 for the project overall, Morse says the magazine did an overrun of the postcards to send additional copies out for free if there was interest. “Of course we have to have business motives but Legion has been around for a long time because we’re not just about profit,” she says. “Part of what we want and try to do is to bring Canadian stories to Canadians.”