At this time of year, the editors of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s monthly magazines plan out the editorial calendar for the second half of the year. It can be a balancing act, as we try to find topics that will inspire and engage readers.
We want to provide readers with stories that don’t just repeat established trends but help them to spot trends as they develop. It isn’t enough to tell our readers what everyone is talking about. Instead, we strive to identify emerging trends before they blow up.
And it’s even more of a challenge when you realize we are attempting to forecast out six to nine months in advance. Still, IREI editors have a long history of trendspotting, and we have rich data sources and industry connections that help us as we make these plans.
The results can be very engaging. As an example, see this month’s cover story in The Institutional Real Estate Letter – Americas. “Data centers’ Latin accent” takes a look at the spread of data centers in Brazil, Mexico and the rest of Latin America. It’s a solid, well-reported story that provides a window into an asset class that most of our readers are probably not targeting — yet. The value of such a story is that it doesn’t chase overripe investment trends; instead, it is spotting them while they are still buds on the vine.
Calendars for the first six issues of the year are available here; calendars listing feature stories for the second half of the year will be posted in mid-March. We hope the second half of 2015 will be just as illuminating.
P.S. Changes are afoot in the editorial department at Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Beginning with the April issue, I have taken over as editor of The Institutional Real Estate Letter – Americas, and the former editor, Mike Consol, has moved his focus to IREI’s newly launched Real Assets Adviser.
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Loretta Clodfelter is editor of The Institutional Real Estate Letter – Americas.
