The Spokesman-Review newspaper plans later this month to launch Platinum, a glossy, high-end, broadsheet-sized format magazine focused on luxury and upscale demographics. 

The Spokane daily newspaper plans to mail the quarterly publication directly to households making more than $75,000 a year, says Kathleen Coleman, the Spokesman’s director of sales and marketing. That audience makes up about 43,000 households in the Inland Northwest, she says.

 “Platinum will capture three key components of fine living: look, space, and leisure. The items in our lives that make us feel good about ourselves, our homes, and how we spend our free time,” Coleman says. “The design of the content and advertisements will evoke a sense of style, elegance and luxury.”

The new publication is being prom-oted as a sophisticated magazine, designed for maximum visual appeal and targeted at affluent home owners, says Coleman.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper is owned by Cowles Co., which also owns the Journal of Business. 

The first edition of Platinum consists of 12 pages, Coleman says. The company plans to publish two more editions in 2015—one in September and one in December. It will have its own branding apart from the daily newspaper, she adds. 

 “We think it’s very unique and the timing is perfect,” she says. “We’ve been mulling this over for a couple of years.” 

Coleman says the June issue sold out its available ad space. 

“So that was a tremendous test, and we think the content resonates with the local community,” she adds. 

 “This publication in this market will provide a source for advertisers who want to stay within a budget and to reach people in their homes,” she says. “Everything in the magazine will have a visual impact”.

An online edition of the magazine will be viewable at no charge. 

Affected like most other daily newspaper operators across the country by a decline in traditional advertising revenue, Cowles Co. in recent years has been consolidating some of its operations in the Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle buildings and marketing vacant space for lease. Last October, in the latest in a number of staff reductions, it offered voluntary enhanced buyouts to Spokesman-Review employees across the company, with the intent to downsize its staff size by 17 or 18 people by the end of the year. 

The Spokesman-Review currently has 341 employees.