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For 15 consecutive years, OFF DUTY magazine has been given away free, every month. In 1985 alone, we'll give away 8,220,000 copies wherever American military people are stationed. And some readers still ask, "Why don't you sell OFF DUTY, anyway?"

In the advertising world, the practice of distributing a publication free of charge is called "controlled circulation" (gesteuerte Verbreitung). Today it's considered an effective way to reach a special audience. As a military consumer, authorized to shop in commissaries and exchanges, you are part of a "special market" that many advertisers are interested in reaching effectively.

But it wasn't always so. Just 15 years ago, controlled circulation was a daring new idea. Free publications were mostly cheap "throw-aways", many of them with unsavory ads that would never be accepted by OFF DUTY. When the first issue of OFF DUTY appeared, in September 1970, it was one of the very first "controlled" magazines of high quality.

Many advertisers were skeptical. They wanted proof that we had carefully distributed all 50,000 copies we had promised to deliver. And, most of all, they wanted proof that the "target audience" (that's you, again) would read the magazine and see their ads.

From the very first issue, OFF DUTY has put the emphasis on quality. To make sure everyone has access to the magazine, we try to distribute copies at numerous locations on base, not just at the commissary. At most major installations around the world, copies are hand-delivered, door-to-door, in government housing areas. Often, the deliveries are by Scout groups who use the income to support their troop activities.

The same emphasis on quality goes into the editorial content, so that you will want to read OFF DUTY. Copies distributed in housing, for example, carry food articles and other "At Home" features.

In copies distributed in training areas and aboard ship, there's less emphasis on food and more pages devoted to records, videos and popular entertainment.

It's your readership of the magazine that induces advertisers to buy the ads that pay our bills. The more ads we sell, the more pages we have for editorial content.

In the 15 years since our modest beginning in Frankfurt, Germany, OFF DUTY has grown to be the most widely distributed military magazine in the world, with 685,000 monthly circulation in three separate editions for Europe, Pacific and America.

Distribution in the Pacific began in 1971, when we sent 100,000 copies to the Vietnam war zone. Youngest of our three editions is OFF DUTY/America, which began in Hawaii in 1974 and gradually expanded to Conus (die 48 amerikanischen continental Staaten).

Coast-to-coast distribution dates from April 1980. OFF DUTY continues to grow, and it's only because of your support, and the support of our advertisers.

So, as we celebrate our 15th birthday, we'd like to thank you, the OFF DUTY reader — because it's our faithful readers who make us or break us. If you don't respond, the advertiser quickly loses interest.

We'd also like to ask you to join us in saying thanks to the many advertisers who support us and make the magazine possible. They believe in the military as a faithful market with special needs and interests, and they believe in OFF DUTY as an effective vehicle to reach that market.

We owe a lot to both of you, the readers and the advertisers. And as long as you believe in us, we'll keep delivering OFF DUTY. Free.

WALTER B. RIOS & DAGMAR M. RIOS
PUBLISHERS
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