The Brand: One Word

Invitation: an ideal name for a new magazine that wanted to welcome the community into its pages.

Written by Rachel West

I had tossed around several potential names for the magazine — Inside Oxford, The Square Affair and plenty of others. At the time, there was a store called Inside Oxford, so that one quickly became problematic. Nothing seemed to fit.

But as I talked to people about the idea, I kept coming back to one word. I would say, “I want this magazine to feel inviting.” I wanted people to feel welcomed into its pages and into the community — to discover something new, recognize someone they knew and feel a part of what we were creating.

Then one day, I was sitting at my mom’s kitchen island in Little Rock when I picked up a local magazine called “Inviting Little Rock.” And immediately, it came to me: Invitation.

It was the word I had been circling around all along. One word. Simple, welcoming and exactly what I wanted the magazine to be. And it had the added bonus of being the perfect length to span the top of a magazine cover.

Introducing Invitation Tupelo

In October of 2008, I married Phil West and soon we wanted to begin a family. But plans were derailed many times over with numerous failed pregnancies, including an ectopic pregnancy in late 2009. I’d come to the realization that I was probably not going to have a child. And so, I decided I would begin another magazine in northeast Mississippi. We had begun to attract advertisers in Tupelo, New Albany, Corinth, Booneville and spots in between, and those customers would often ask, “Why don’t you start a magazine for this area?”

At first I had reservations because in my mind I was saying, ‘I’m going to have a family soon, and starting a new magazine and having a child will be too much to do all at the same time.’ But, after I’d given up on the dream of having a child, I decided the time was right to start another publication for northeast Mississippi. In May of 2010, we launched a sister publication with 10 issues each year. And suddenly my staff and I were publishing 20 magazines per year. And wouldn’t you know, in November of 2010 — with much anxiety and caution — I found out I was expecting! In July of 2011, we welcomed a precious daughter into our world. I went back to work less than 10 days after her birth — and in the last 20 years that is about the ONLY regret I have about my job.