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Ocean Thrive

Call it what you will -- mindless fluff, starstruck drivel -- but Ocean Drive has perfected a formula that's the envy of the publishing world

A A A Comments By Brett Sokol Thursday, Mar 10 2005

Powers may yet score that White House sleepover -- if he's willing to wait out the Bush presidency. After all, Jason Binn has already been spotted gallivanting around New York City with Hillary Clinton's hubby Bill. Moreover to hear analyst Samir Husni tell it, the culture at large is trending Powers's way.

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"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg with Ocean Drive. It isn't just Florida now," Husni observes. "It's a business model that works, and when it comes to magazine publishing, we are a nation of imitators." Accordingly, though he believes Miami is oversaturated, he has advice for those seeking to follow Powers's lead in chronicling the luxe life: Have you considered Orlando? "You won't be able to escape these types of publications in any city you go to in the entire United States of America."

On that note, Powers's newest magazine, Vegas, seems a natural fit for a burg that can often make Miami look subdued. But Binn's impending launch of glossies in Boston and Washington, D.C., cities where conspicuous consumption was once frowned upon, at least beyond closed doors, would seem to augur a change in the air.

So it's going to be anOcean Drive world? Eventually every town will have its own velvet-rope bashes, its own crowd of beautiful people, and its own slick magazine to immortalize it all? Even Indianapolis?

"Definitely," Husni laughs, "but in Indianapolis it's not going to be called Indie Drive." Then he stops and reconsiders: "Actually that may work for the NASCAR fans."