Magpie

LaunchPAD: Condé Nast Traveller India

2010-10-08T13:22:00.007+05:30

After the successful launch of Vogue and GQ in India, the Condé Nast group launched the Indian edition of Condé Nast Traveller this month.

The Launch Edition of Condé Nast Traveller India is currently on the stands in 20+ towns across India and is priced at Rs.100.

The launch cover features Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, photographed by Pascal Chevallier in Paris as she takes us on a tour of her favourite European capital.

Following the launch, the magazine will publish a bi-monthly issue.

Cover: New Yorker Escher Style Cover

2010-07-01T12:06:00.005+05:30

July 5, 2010 edition of The New Yorker once again highlights the Gulf oil spill issue its M.C. Escher style cover illustration done by Bob Staake. To see the June 7, 2010 edition on the same issue, click here.

LaunchPAD: Home Trends, India Edition

2010-05-19T12:10:00.004+05:30

Home Trends, a magazine aimed at architecture and interior design professionals, enters the Indian market this month. A flagship title of the New Zealand headquartered Trends Publishing, this magazine is being launched by Worldwide Media (a 50:50 joint venture owned by the Times of India Group and BBC Worldwide).

The CEO of Worldwide Media, Tarun Rai, in an interview to Campaign India called Home Trends a ‘bookazine’ highlighting the reference value of the magazine. Priced at Rs 250, the magazine will be available at select outlets and bookstores across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

LaunchPAD: Lonely Planet India, INC. India

2010-02-06T11:07:00.005+05:30

Two weeks, two new magazines!

Lonely Planet India makes an entry into the India market with its February 2010 issue. A product of Worldwide Media (Times Group and BBC Worldwide joint venture) this magazine was launched by actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in a in a star-studded Bollywood party in Mumbai. See video of the magazine launch here. [Do not miss Arshad Warsi playing with his moustache as he talks about travel and LP :)]

Priced at Rs 100, LP magazine is aimed at the affluent, urban couples who like to travel. The launch issue also has a 2010 calendar with pictures of some choice destinations and is nice.
[But who uses wall calendars these days? Definitely not the affluent, urban Indian couples!]

The Indian edition of INC. magazine, Inc. India made a relatively quieter entry into the Indian market in the last week of January. The magazine is brought to India by 9.9 Mediaworx and is priced at Rs 150.
[I have long been an admirer of INC.’s design and style of writing and was a tad disappointed to see that the launch issue looked a bit hastily put together and lacked a coherent design!]

Video: 2000-2010 through Magazines Covers

2010-01-20T10:56:00.008+05:30

Magazine Publishers of America and the American Society of Magazine Editors have put together an amazing video that tells the story of the last decade (2000-2010) through 92 iconic magazine covers.

LaunchPAD: Witness

2009-07-17T13:49:00.003+05:30

Witness, a magazine targeted at India's large legal fraternity (advocates, educators, attorneys, judges, and government officials), became available on select newsstands from July 16.
Priced at Rs 50, Witness is by the newly formed Srigro Interactive and is distributed through Central News Agency.

The magazine will be formally launched on August 1, 2009 by AR Lakshmanan, Chairman, Law Commission of India.

LaunchPAD: OPEN Magazine

2009-04-03T22:44:00.007+05:30

This week saw the launch of OPEN, a weekly news and features magazine from RPG Enterprises. The magazine is modelled on the lines of 'Time' and 'New Yorker', and will initially have about 60 pages of editorial content and 10-15 pages of ads.

The launch issue featured an opinion poll in Pakistan as the cover story.

To get a taste of OPEN, read the first issue online at http://www.openthemagazine.com/

LaunchPAD: Harper's Bazaar India Edition

2009-03-04T22:33:00.005+05:30

This week, 'Harper's BAZAAR' launches its 29th international edition in India, with India's first ever 'crystallised' cover (on limited editions only). With a tagline ‘Where Fashion Gets Personal,’ Harper's BAZAAR will be published every month.

The inaugural issue, with more than 200 pages, is an encyclopedia of fashion and targets the sophisticated and stylish Indian woman. The masthead on 18,000 limited edition covers is studded with sparkling 'XILION CRYSTALLIZED - Swarovski Elements' in order create the ultimate inspirational experience that marries fashion and luxury.
The limited edition magazine also has a ‘Made with CRYSTALLIZED - Swarovski Elements tag verifying its authenticity and exclusivity.

Ediorial: Esquire Feb 2009 cover-Innovation or a Threat to Editorial Integrity?

2009-02-03T12:06:00.005+05:30

The February issue of Esquire blurs the boundary between advertising and editorial in new ways: right in the middle (see on Obama's shoulder) of the cover is a window, or peel-back flap with an invitation to “Open here”.

Opening the window reveals quotations from articles inside the issue and an advertisement for “One Way Out,” a new series on the Discovery Channel cable network. Those who leave the window unopened do not see the ad or the quotations.

New York Times reports that the concept was the brainchild of the editor-in-chief of Esquire, David Granger. “Everybody keeps talking about how print is an old medium. It is an old medium, but it doesn’t mean it’s a wrung-out medium or a tired medium,” Mr. Granger said to NYT.

However, the 'flap' cover issue has sparked much debate and is being viewed as being in contravention of guidelines put forth by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). ASME has invited David Granger to justify himself before his peers at a member's lunch (Feb 24) where the proposed topics of discussion is: "Is the cover window on the Obama issue of Esquire an exciting print innovation -- or a threat to editorial integrity"

LaunchPAD: Femina Hindi

2008-11-03T11:34:00.000+05:30

Femina, one of the earliest Indian magazine for women (all the smart aunties read that as opposed to Sarita, Women’s Era, etc when I was growing up), celebrates its golden jubilee this year and has announced a Hindi edition to mark the occasion.
Priced at Rs 40, Femina Hindi is a monthly and will offer pretty much the same content--health, career, beauty, fashion and relationships—though modified for the Hindi readers. The initial print run is 1,00,000 copies and the magazine will be on the newsstand this week.
------------------------
Did you notice the Femina October cover with an oval mirror (ad of Tanishq)? I bought the issue and google search got me to this link. Below is an extract from this newsstory that apparently highlights the 'thought' behind this 'interesting media innovation':

“A mirror is not a mere looking glass for women, but a reflection of what they perceive themselves to be. One would remember the evil stepmother of Snow White who would admire her reflection in her mirror for hours, asking often ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’
Tanishq’s media innovation doesn’t have any sinister connotation of that magic mirror of the fairy tale of yore. But it does seek to bring out women’s intimate association with her mirror, especially when decked in all her finery.”

Disgusting!!!

Awards: Third Annual ASME Best Cover Competition

2008-10-07T22:50:00.000+05:30

American Society of Magazine Editors announced the best magazine covers of the year (US editions) on October 6 in the following Categories: Cover of the Year, Best Celebrity Cover, Best Concept Cover, Best Fashion Cover, Best News Cover, Best Leisure Interest Cover and Best Personal Service Cover, with special recognition of the year’s best coverline.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

• Cover of the Year – New York, March 24, 2008:
The cover treated the scandal concerning the fall of Governor Eliot Spitzer, after the stunning revelation that he had patronized a prostitution ring, in a bold yet disarming way that managed to make news itself—telling the story of the governor’s fall with a wry and unflinching point of view. The word “BRAIN” in a bright-red box with an arrow pointing to the area of Spitzer’s anatomy that seemed to have been thinking for him cover required no headlines. The image succeeded powerfully all by itself.

• Best Celebrity Cover – Texas Monthly, May 2008: Willie Nelson and guitar

• Best Concept Cover – The New Yorker, February 11 & 18, 2008: “Eustace Tillarobama”
This anniversary issue cover of The New Yorker reinterprets Rea Irvin’s classic Eustace Tilley image to produce “Eustace Tillarobama,” a two-headed playing card image that featured the leading Democratic presidential candidates dressed as the New Yorker icon, sharing his famous monocle. Half of the run featured Obama on top and Clinton on the bottom; in the other half, Clinton had the upper hand.

• Best Fashion Cover (Tie) – New YorkLook, Spring 2008: Catwalk; Vanity Fair, September 2007: Gisele Bündchen

• Best News Cover – New York, March 24, 2008: Eliot Spitzer’s “Brain”

• Best Personal Service Cover – TexasMonthly, June 2008: “The Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas”

• Best Leisure Interest Cover – New York, June 30, 2008: “The Summer Issue” (John McCain and Barack Obama at the Beach)

To view the cover image gallery, visit www.magazine.org/bestcover.

LaunchPAD: GQ India Edition

2008-09-30T06:38:00.000+05:30

Last weekend Mumbai saw the launch of Indian version of GQ magazine celebrating India's hottest celebrities from the worlds of Bollywood, Cricket and Fashion. The inaugural issue celebrates "The Good Life" with Saif Ali Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Arjun Rampal as cover (and over 120 pages of luxury brand advertising). The launch issue also features an interview with Aditya Mittal of the famous steel family.

GQ India is the 15th international edition of GQ. The magazine is priced at Rs 100 and has a print run of 35,000. Condé Nast has tied up with Living Media Group, to make GQ available in 40 locations across the country, where it will be on sale at 5,500 different outlets.
Catch the BQ (Bollywood Quotient) of the GQ launch here. No magazine pics here, only celebrities! :)

Article: Journalist seeking paycheck? Try India

2008-08-07T11:12:00.000+05:30

The Salon.com article "Journalist seeking paycheck? Try India" by Arun Venugoplan talks about Foreign journalists finding India's media explosion impossible to resist.

Some Extracts:
In June five graduates and enrolled students from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism headed to New Delhi, where they're starting reporting internships at the Hindustan Times, one of the largest-selling English language newspapers in the world. I've been in touch with three of the interns, and to my surprise they all said the miserable job market in the U.S. didn't affect their decision to go abroad. But they also agreed that India's media explosion is impossible to resist.
The managing editor of the Hindustan Times is Pankaj Paul, and when he dropped by Columbia's graduate school earlier this year he said he had a lot of jobs available and promised students the sort of assignments and exposure they'd never get at a smaller American newspaper.
"I have met foreigners working at the Hindu, Mint, GQ, the Hindustan Times and Times of India," wrote Scott Carney, a Chennai-based journalist who freelances for NPR, Wired and National Geographic TV. "They all work on Indian salaries, don't speak the language, and all seem to be having a ball. Since there are so many new publications opening up in India, there is a lot of demand for native English speakers and people who can bring higher reporting standards to local papers."

Read the complete article here

Free Stuff: Read all you can at Mygazine.com

2008-07-31T22:28:00.002+05:30

Mygazines.com is a new website that allows users to read, archive and upload content from the latest magazines for everyone to read and share within the online mygazine community. The magazines are available as digital editions where you can flip pages and use the zoom function.
According to a press release issued by the company, mygazine.com was created for a myriad of reasons, including but not limited to:
§ Low Carbon Footprint: With 70% of newsstand magazines going unsold, the goal is to eliminate the waste.
§ No unnecessary content: Allows users to access only the information that is of interest to them.
§ Efficiency: Reduces the need to physically carry and archive content.
§ Universal: Allows foreign content to be available from anywhere to anyone (I like this one, I can actually read magazines I find difficult/impossible to find in Goa)
§ Monopoly: Eliminates the effects of conglomerates merging and controlling consumers’ choice and distribution, within almost every region worldwide.

However, the industry does not seem too happy about this development, as is clear from this quote extracted from a news item on the ppa website:

Magazine publishers need to be aware of Mygazines.com, which is infringing a number of UK based magazines' intellectual property rights.
Dubbed 'Magster', Mygazines.com encourages users to upload scanned copies of magazines - without the permission of a large proportion, if not all of the
magazine publishers - and then makes them freely available to view online.
A number of PPA member titles have already been spotted on the site - and members are encouraged to check that their content has not been uploaded without authorisation. Should members find that their content appears on Mygazines.com - and they wish to have it removed - the most prudent course of action is to issue a cease and desist letter (also known as notice and takedown)”

LaunchPAD: People (India Edition)

2008-07-09T15:52:00.001+05:30

The India Edition of PEOPLE magazine was launched last week in a licensing agreement between Outlook Group and Time Inc.

Priced at Rs 30, the India edition of PEOPLE, is the first edition of the magazine launched outside of the USA. The tagline for the Indian edition is "Extraordinary People. Extraordinary Stories."

Design: The Beauty of Print

2008-06-30T16:13:00.000+05:30

For some of the best-looking international magazine titles, look up this article. According to the 'The Independent', a magazine's design has never been more crucial to its survival than in the digital era and these eight magazines are doing a good job of looking good.

MCSWEENEY'S (US, Literature); www.mcsweeneys.net
Magazine, journal, book: call it what you will, McSweeney's is definitely "out there". This literary quarterly has been known to print a short story on a large deck of interchangeable playing cards. McSweeney's prides itself on good design (not always a given with literary magazines).

FANTASTIC MAN (HOLLAND, Men's Style); www.fantasticmanmagazine.com
Printed in wide format, this Biannual Dutch style magazine uses three paper stocks: gloss stock for advertising; uncoated greyscale paper for editorial content; and a rare, thick stock sourced by the editors for the cover. The Spring/Summer 2008 issue features a loose letter to the reader praising the art of traditional correspondence.

LE PURPLE JOURNAL (FRANCE, Essays and Photography), www.purple.fr
Purple, the Parisian publishing house behind Purple Fashion, Purple Prose and Purple Sexe has inspired countless other magazines with its clean design, long-form essays and use of multiple paper stocks (including 40gsm newspaper). The journal is published three times a year in both French and English, and has a circulation of 8,000.

MONOCLE (UK, Newsmagazine); www.monocle.com
A cross-format media brand taking in web, audio-visual, and podcasting elements, Monocle is more than just a magazine. Printed on five different premium grade paper stocks, including triple coated gloss, Monocle has its own "bespoke" size. Recent issues have featured raised foil blocks on the cover (to depict gold bullion) and supplements held in place by a large rubber band.

PAPER SKY (JAPAN, Travel); www.paper-sky.com
Paper Sky began as an in-flight style bi-lingual publication running stories in Japanese and English. Twenty five issues old, it now focuses on its Japanese readers. But the messages of good design and sustainability remain in place for the magazine that uses soy ink on recycled paper.

YKKY (SWEDEN, Art); www.ykky.se
This contemporary art magazine YKKY is a large format annual measuring almost A3. Just two issues old, the editors plan to alter the design with each issue, and offer works of art with little or no commentary. The magazine is printed on Munken Lynx, an exclusive, silky uncoated paper and features large artistic spreads alongside interviews with prominent creatives.

POL OXYGEN(AUSTRALIA, Design); www.poloxygen.com
Launched in 2002, Pol Oxygen is unmistakable for its holed out cover and a special UV varnish. The magazine, which reports on design, art and architecture, often plays with format from issue to issue, including super-size foldouts and unique page trims.

A10 (HOLLAND, Architecture); www.a10.eu
A10 is a Dutch architecture magazine published by critic Hans Ibelings and graphic designer Arjan Groot. It has a disciplined, unfussy layout and is marketed as "the most economical architecture magazine possible" according to Ibelings. With this in mind, the editors have used oversized dimensions and print right up to the edge of the page.

LaunchPAD: GEO India Edition

2008-06-11T13:38:00.001+05:30

Indian edition of GEO, a G+J International title, hit the newsstands last week. Priced at Rs 100, GEO India is published by the Outlook Publishing Group and has Kai Friese as the Editor.
The inaugural issue I picked up yesterday, had an interesting edit by Kai, but seemed to have significantly high ratio of international content.

PS: A long holiday means I have missed out on many launches. Regular updates from now!

LaunchPAD: IndiaBoating

2008-04-14T16:09:00.002+05:30

Positioned as India's first luxury boating magazine, India Boating provides news, information and insights about the world of luxury boats and yachts. Contributions from Indian and foreign industry experts, interviews, sailing boat reviews, and sailing destinations make the magazine appealing to the luxury boat owners and enthusiasts.

Priced at Rs 100, and printed on large-format glossy paper, the magazine is custom published for Bluewater Publications by Spenta Multimedia.

Advertising: Glow-in-the-dark Advertising

2008-03-27T14:56:00.000+05:30

Vice—the irreverent free glossy with 14 international editions based in New York—has figured out a new way to sneak an advertiser’s product onto its cover: glow-in-the-dark ink. The magazine’s Canadian edition is running an ad for BMW 1 Series—visible only in the dark—on the cover of its latest issue.

Shawn Phelan, director of sales and marketing at Vice's Toronto office, told Strategy, a Canadian marketing magazine that "Maintaining the integrity of our cover—which is not usually for sale—while delivering a unique brand message for BMW was an amazing challenge”. That’s because a glow-in-the-dark ad is a production department nightmare. According to Phelan, the magazine had to print its covers at one plant; ship them to another to add the glow-in-the-dark ink, a UV coat; then back to the original plant for binding.

Read more on Foliomag.com

India: Rubber Stamping of Maps delays Magazine Distribution

2008-03-03T15:23:00.001+05:30

The Sunday Edition of Indian Express carries an article "Foreign magazine map is stamped, India is safe" that highlights how an archaic practice is delaying distribution of foreign publications in India.
Magazines that carry a map of India not conforming to the officially recognized boundaries, get delayed by at least two days as the Customs department stamps each map in every single copy with the message: “The external boundaries of India as depicted are neither accurate nor authentic”.
“While our magazine is to hit the stands on Mondays, we are only able to make it available on Wednesdays due to this whole map-stamping exercise. This is a problem in the competitive media world. You have a story which must be out on Monday but fails to do so.” says the bureau chief of a foreign news magazine. “Now that we are picking up circulation, it’s a pity such things can delay the magazine’s distribution so badly.”
The head of another reputed international news magazine says he faces the “rubber stamping” almost with every single issue. His predecessor is reported to have taken up the issue with officials concerned but it didn’t help.

Read the entire article here.

LaunchPAD: Rolling Stone India Edition

2008-02-28T16:32:00.000+05:30

The Indian Edition of Rolling Stone magazine launched at Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai last night.
Priced at Rs 100, the local edition will feature sounds of Bollywood as well as old fashioned rock and roll. The launch issue features five different cover shots (Four international stars like Led Zeppelin and Jay-Z, and one Indian musician).

This Wenner Media publication is brought to India by Mumbai-based MW.Com (publishers of Man's World)

LaunchPAD: Outlook Profit

2008-02-27T12:03:00.002+05:30

Outlook Profit, a fortnightly magazine for serious investors, is the newest offering from the Outlook Group.

On the newsstands now, the magazine is priced at Rs 50. The inaugural issue comes with '1 for 1 bonus' offer under which 1-year and 3-year subscribers get 50 percent off the cover price.

Article: India- The Next, Great Magazine Frontier?

2008-02-26T09:37:00.001+05:30

MediaBistro article 'India- The Next, Great Magazine Frontier?' talks about how the ongoing ad recession in the western magazine market and increased online competition for readership has forced magazines to step up their international game. Following luxury brands, like Armani, who are chasing after the rising Indian rupee, are magazines like Rolling Stone (first issue expected on newsstands tomorrow with Saif Ali Khan on cover!), Child (launch scheduled for April 2008) Glamour (later this year), Vogue India (launched in 2007) and the Economist Indian edition (already in the market).
Read the story from livemint.com quoted in the mediabistro article:
Global players zero in on India
Related links: Magscene.com-Launchpad

LaunchPAD: Child Magazine-India Edition

2008-02-22T11:04:00.003+05:30

Media Transasia India announces the upcoming launch of Child, a monthly parenting magazine, with a promotion titled ‘That Special Something Child Cover Hunt’. 'Child' addresses urban progressive parents who want to raise happy, healthy kids and is expected to be on newsstands by April 2008.

The magazine is being brought to India in agreement with Meredith Corporation, USA.

LaunchPAD: The Economist

2008-02-21T10:19:00.003+05:30

The Economist, global weekly on politics, business and culture, will be published in India starting February 21. The magazine priced at Rs 200 will hit the newsstands every Friday. Although the magazine’s content will be largely global, the Indian edition is also expected to be locally relevant.
The Economist launch is accompanied by an outdoor campaign bearing its signature colours--red and white.

Advertising: Ads that readers can taste

2008-02-18T16:27:00.002+05:30

Another frontier in interactive print advertising— ads that allow readers to taste the product being advertised!
In the latest issue (Feb 18) of PEOPLE magazine, Welch's 100% Grape Juice features full-page print ads that allow readers to sample its grape juice by licking the ad. The front of the advertisement shows a huge bottle of the juice, while the back has a strip that peels up and off, with text: "For a TASTY fact, remove & LICK". Readers are supposed to peel off the entire sticker on the Welch's ad before licking, says First Flavor, the company that developed the technology used in the ad.

The ad has caused many debates about hygiene and the 'ick' factor of licking a magazine page. Some related links:
Lickable magazines may not be sweet success
Welch's salivates over lickable ads

LaunchPAD: WindowsWorld

2008-02-05T14:25:00.000+05:30

Bangalore-based IDG Media's latest magazine WindowsWorld is positioned as 'An independent resource for I.T.Managers'. The magazine will be published every two months with a qualified, controlled circulation of 20,000 copies.
The companion website, http://www.windowsworld.in/ provides useful patches, tools and software aimed at IT professionals.

Design: OnePage Magazine

2008-01-29T12:44:00.000+05:30

The 'One Page Magazine' features magazines/prints that gives a single page snapshot of a magazine's content in a very interesting way.

The Onepage' TIME magazine (left) captures the main headlines in roughly the same scale and importance as in the full issue. For the UK edition of Vogue magazine (right) the artist has used logos of various advertisers from the issue.

See more onepagemagazine prints here.

Article: Are more ads going to magazines?

2008-01-24T11:51:00.000+05:30

At a time when magazines the worldover are seeing a decline in ad pages, India is experiencing an unprecedented magazine boom. Every month sees at least one new launch and there seems to be no dearth of ad pages in any one of them.
In this article from ‘The Brand Reporter’ industry professionals explain the growth in Magazine advertising in 2007.

Extracts from the article:
Maheshwer Peri, President & Publisher, Outlook:
In this age of fragmentation and enormous wastages, magazines are the only media which would deliver filtered, specific audiences in the most cost-effective way. I see magazines only growing from here on as more specialised products make their entry felt.

Jasmin Sohrabji, Managing Director, OMD India
Increasingly their (newspapers) inclusion in the media mix will reflect their absolute cost of entry in a media plan vis-à-vis their effectiveness. Magazines show a higher ad growth, albeit on a lower base.

Aman Nayar, Brand Manager, Navbharat Times
A large number of launches have happened in the magazine category. That, and not any change in advertiser preferences, has resulted in this temporary spike.

Sidharth Banerji, Managing Director, Kyndal India
Magazines are preferred to newspapers because of many reasons. The primary reason is the pictorial outlook of the magazines compared to newspapers. Reproduction quality of magazines is far superior to that of newspaper.

Read the entire article here.

Redesign: New Look for BusinessWorld

2008-01-21T15:29:00.000+05:30

India's 'most read, most sold' business magazine gets a new sans serif masthead, additional sections and a semi-new inside design this month.

The January 14 issue of Businessworld (The Home Stretch cover) seems to be the result a redesign process that started about a year ago. The redesign is done inhouse and was overseen by Francesca Messina, former art director, New York Times and Senior Art Director, BusinessWeek. While the magazine now offers much more variety of content to read, the 'redesign issue' does not look very striking, in fact many spreads fail to deliver on the promise of 'cleaner, contemporary, more useful design'.

Some of the things that could have done with more attention:
1) Cover: Very poor readability. Black shadow used to make the cover lines stand out ends up making them look ugly.
2) Section names: Very random and very uninspiring. Some are two words (In Depth, In Vogue) and some are combos (OnPoint) but the strangest in this selection is the pretentious 'fianchetto' where 'i' is in the shape of chess pawn!
3) Slab serifs: The magazine introduces three new fonts- Miller, Dispatch and TraceGothic. Upon Googling I found that Dispatch was designed for heavy commercial lifting by Cyrus Highsmith. Little wonder than that layouts like the one shown below seem to be from the Industrial Age!

4) Gangly 'g's: The lowercase 'g' in the section header 'In Vogue' looks very ugly as the loop goes out of the lime-coloured box. Same is repeated in a few other places in where the loop of 'g' spills over to a different box.

And finally a bright side: The subsequent issue (already on stands) does not look so hastily put together at the first glance :)

Article: The Quest for the Perfect Cover

2008-01-10T11:58:00.000+05:30

Jan White’s* article ‘The Quest for the Perfect Cover’ in Publishing Executive nicely sums up the various roles of a magazine cover and how editors/publishers can judge the effectiveness of the cover they are planning to release. (Extract follows)

No matter what you put on the cover, keep the six functions of covers in mind:
1. Familiar recognition from issue to issue (that's the brand)
2. Emotionally irresistible (that's the image's appeal)
3. Arousing curiosity (that's to pull the casual glancer in)
4. Intellectually stimulating, interesting (that's to promise benefits)
5. Efficient, fast, easy to scan (that's showing off the service)
6. Worth the investment of money and time (that's the "What's in it for me?")
Four ways to judge your cover:
1. Covers are the prime sales tool that must be judged realistically both for content as well as form. Never trim a printout, mount it beautifully, and display it with its alternates on the finely polished surface of the conference-room table.
2. Instead, ask the designer to print out all the alternates as hard copy, trim them accurately to magazine size and glue them onto old issues, so you can see them as close to the real thing as possible. Now, toss them on a tabletop, so they flop around and overlap like real magazines do.
3. If you can spare the time, go to the local drugstore or bookstore, and sneak your upcoming issue in among the other magazines on the racks. Does it hold its own or does it disappear?
4.If selling on newsstands is not your problem, but competition among executives is, gather copies of what your targets might be reading, including your competition, of course. Mock up an executive's in-box or tabletop arrangement in some way, and place yours among them. That is the realistic way to judge your cover. Keep that still-life stack for next month's headaches.

*Jan White is the author of the book, "Editing by Design" and lectures worldwide on the relationship of graphic design to editing.

LaunchPAD: TRAFFIC LIFE

2008-01-03T12:04:00.000+05:30

Young, opininated and unconventional (YOU) is the tone of TRAFFIC Life, the latest entry on the Indian magazine scene.

Aimed at the Urban Indian, TRAFFIC Life is the first venture of Twenty Onwards Media, a media startup based out of New Delhi. TRAFFIC Life promises to move beyond the traditional definition of a lifestyle magazine to provide content that pertains to things that actually interest and affect urban indians, "an eclectic bunch of people that are moving faster than any generation before them" according to the editorial.

Why TRAFFIC? Because it is a mixture of many different experiences that make up urban Indian life, just as in traffic one unknowingly passes "so many people, issues and stories". The inaugural December issue called "The Filmy Issue' is followed by this month's "The Hatke Issue".

Redesign: New Look for Reader's Digest

2007-12-17T14:23:00.000+05:30

The only international magazine most of us in India grew up with has undergone a change.

The January issue of Reader's Digest will debut new cover with a bold new logo, updated fonts and column names. Also, the back-page illustration is gone and will be replaced by self-esteem theme ad from Dove. RD's with Dove also includes an online contest encouraging consumers to contribute and vote on stories of inspiring women, with the winner possibly appearing in a future Dove ad.

The Indian edition of RD will probably have the new logo by March 2008, as will all other international editions.

Awards: Cover of the Year 2007

2007-12-13T14:39:00.000+05:30

MPA's Cover of the Year award 2007 goes to September 11, 2006 cover from The New Yorker.

About the cover:
For the five-year 9/11 anniversary cover, John Mavroudis’ concept was to stay away from the surfeit of images that recall the horror and remember the wonder of Philippe Petit’s 1974 tight-rope walk between the towers. The result in Owen Smith’s painting is magical: the walker, in the absence of towers and rope, remains suspended in the white space of a blank page. The two-part cover (a first for The New Yorker) is a memorial to the spirit of humanity and those who died there, and especially to the man who did a perfect dive as he plunged to his death.

You can see winning covers and finalists, and read the stories behind them here.

Trend: IPC offers a Subscription 'MIX'

2007-12-05T12:09:00.000+05:30

The Mix from IPC Media is a new subscription format that gives subscribers an opportunity to sample a mix of magazines over a 12-month period.

In a first for the industry 'The Mix' launches in two markets: homes and fashion. 'The Mix: Homes' gives a three-month taster of Homes & Gardens, 25 Beautiful Homes, Ideal home and Livingetc; while 'The Mix: Fashion' gives three months each of Marie Claire, Look, In Style and Now.

According to IPC Head of Subscriptions Marketing, The Mix has been created following research which revealed potential subscribers would appreciate the opportunity to 'pick and mix' titles.

Media Ads: National Geographic Parking Slots

2007-11-23T16:37:00.000+05:30

The October issue of National Geographic Magazine has a cover story on biofuels. Imagine, an Amsterdam-based ad agency, created a campaign for the issue around parking slots. Within the yellow border on the road is the message: "This month reserved for Biofuel."

India: The First Non-US Edition of 'People'

2007-11-19T13:41:00.000+05:30

According to a release, Time Inc has tied up with the Outlook Group to launch Indian edition of the popular ‘People’ magazine in second half of 2008.
Except US, People is not published anywhere in the world. India is the first country they are venturing into. In India, the frequency of the magazine will be a fortnightly.
Indian edition of 'People' will maintain the 50:50 content ratio of celebrity substance and human interest stories. The magazine will also include contemporary news, interviews and in-depth reporting on the most compelling people of the time. The content will be customised for India and have a ratio of 75:25 Indian and foreign content.

Newspaper: Launch of Mail Today, INMA Event

2007-11-13T14:24:00.000+05:30

The India Today Group has announced the launch of Mail Today, a newspaper venture in collaboration with Associated Newspapers (ANL), the publishers of Daily Mail. Mail Today is expected to hit the Delhi market by the end of this week, according to agencyfaqs.

According to Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, the paper will not address everyone, but target "upper echelons of society, who have a certain lifestyle, interests, certain education level, financial level".

New Delhi is also the venue for the INMA's (International Newspaper Marketing Association) first-ever South Asian Conference titled “Building Market Cap in the Newspaper Enterprise”. This two-day forum (14-15 November) will examine trends in the global newspaper industry that are relevant to India.

India: Fortune India in 2008

2007-11-07T15:22:00.000+05:30

Fortune magazine has signed an agreement with the Ananda Bazar Patrika to launch its India edition next year. This will be the magazine's third country-specific edition following Fortune China and Fortune Turkey.
Currently, the magazine sells about 8,000 copies per issue in India. That number could increase 10 times with a local edition.

LaunchPAD: FHM India

2007-11-06T09:21:00.000+05:30

Ten months after the US print edition of FHM stops production and goes all digital, India gets its own edition of FHM India.

The 31st edition of FHM was officially launched in Mumbai two weeks ago by Next Gen Publishing with a rocking party and beachwear show.
Next Gen Publishing Ltd. (Next Gen) is owned by the Forbes Group, Emap and HDFC and publishes niche/special interest magazines and business directories.

Event: Future of Business Media

2007-10-31T14:15:00.000+05:30

Future of Business Media, an executive conference focused on the future of business and trade media industry concluded in New York yesterday.
Detailed coverage is available here at the paidContent.org website and makes a very interesting read.

PS: The Industry Standard will be resurrected as a blog-cum-community site in December, IDG president Bob Carrigan revealed at the conference.

Trend: Pay-as-you-Please Annual Subscription

2007-10-30T14:26:00.000+05:30

Proving themselves to be in touch with the latest in the music industry, PASTE (an entertainment publication for progressive thinkers) has launched a “pay as you please” initiative for subscription.

For a limited time, new subscribers and old readers (US only) can pay what they think right for an 11-issue, annual subscription, starting from $1 to beyond the standard price ($19.95) of a normal subscription.

Anyone paying more than the standard price will be thanked in print, their names published in a future issue of PASTE.

PASTE hopes to attract new readers and make them regular subscribers, the theory being that they will stay for the content after coming in for a cheap price. They also note that this unconventional offer will give them insight into just how much their regular readers think the magazine is worth.

Future: Moving Pictures in Print

2007-10-25T13:54:00.000+05:30

MediaWeek's article 'Time Inc. Eyes New Ad Apps' sites the example of lenticular ad for the Fox TV network (in Rolling Stone magazine oct 4 issue) and NBC’s Bionic Woman ad in Entertainment Weekly where the heroine’s mechanically enhanced winker lights up as the start of a creative and technological revolution in print ads.
(See also the Draft 004 lenticular cover in the accompanying picture)
As marketers look for more ways to capture the attention of media-saturated consumers, publishers are exploring much more intricate ad units, up to and including ads that feature video. A media buyer and another industry source confirmed that Time Inc., a sponsor of the MIT Media Lab, is working on technology and has looked at prototypes that would put moving pictures on a page.

Mike Maguire, CEO of Structural Graphics, a maker of high-impact ads, sees such ads as well-suited for demonstrating a new product or change in logo, believes the concept is one to two years away from execution. Ads showing full-color video may not be far behind, he added. .

Read the entire article here

Article: The Economist Archive

2007-10-22T16:10:00.000+05:30

In a joint project between Gale - part of Cengage Learning - and the Economist, more than 160 years of articles from the Economist are set to become available online with the launch of The Economist Historical Archive 1843-2003. The archive will contain more than 600,000 pages of the weekly magazine's reporting and analysis.
"The Economist Historical Archive is more than a database - it is a remarkable record of the most significant world events over the past 160 years through the unbiased, probing eyes of the Economist," said John Micklethwait, the magazine's editor-in-chief.
The magazine, which has a worldwide print circulation of more than 1.2m, hopes to target educational institutions, public libraries, government organisations, corporations and financial institutions.
Preview trials of the archive are available and the full archive will be available via subscription in December.
Its website, Economist.com offers readers free access to content under one year old.

Original Source link: mediaguardian

Redesign: Newsweek and BusinessWeek

2007-10-17T16:06:00.000+05:30

Business Week and Newsweek are sporting new looks this week. Quotes from the people behind the redesign:
Jon Meacham, Editor, Newsweek:
“Some people in our business believe print should emulate the Internet, filling pages with short, Weblike bites of information. We disagree. There is a simple idea behind the changes in the issue of Newsweek you are holding: we are betting that you want to read more, not less.”

Business Week's Bruce Nussbaum:
“We’re introducing this type of open source aggregation into the new magazine, with blog items, quotes, and content from unusual, global sources surrounding stories, sometimes enhancing them, sometimes disagreeing with them. It’s a conversation, not a lecture."

In an interesting twist, Minoline invites magazine professionals to test "How ‘Redesigned’ Are These Recent Major Magazine Redesigns?

Editorial: Covers that Sell and Covers that don't

2007-10-15T14:03:00.000+05:30

The just-published 'Min’s Most Intriguing & Top Selling Magazine Covers' highlights the past few years' most interesting, intriguing, best selling and worst selling covers.
Also has editors' and publishers' picks and musings on their favorite feature stories.
You can order your copy here .

Event: Indian Magazine Congress, 2007

2007-10-11T12:35:00.000+05:30

The Indian Magazine Congress 2007 was held in Mumbai on October 8-9.

Here are some highlights:

Postal delivery: Industry veteran and publisher of Delhi Press Paresh Nath pointed out that the postal distribution system for magazines was pathetic, with some 30-40 per cent of magazines getting stolen midway.

Distribution System: Magazines were still following a distribution method that was probably right for newspapers, and this was a major concern for the industry. M.Rajagopalan Nair of ‘Malaya Manorama’ raised the problem of the dependence of magazines on newspapers vendors for distribution and the vendors’ reluctance to pick up magazines. This led to a situation where the consumer had to pick up his own copy, which he did at his own convenience.

Cover Prices: R Rajmohan, president and publisher, Images Multimedia says that rising cover prices have been an most important change as people were willing to pay for quality content.

Imbalance in ad revenue: 20 per cent of the total magazine readership lands up with 60 per cent of the total magazine ad revenue.

Read more on agencyfaqs.com
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19331
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19330
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19332

Trend: Asia Pacific media spend on magazines increases

2007-10-06T16:26:00.000+05:30

Asia Pacific magazines pulled 26 per cent more ad dollars in 2006
Nielsen Asia Pacific Media & Marketing Trends 2007 reviews three years of media ad spend trends and consumption insights across 12 markets, and consumer and marketing insights and statistical information across 16 markets. The markets included are Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea.
In terms of Asia Pacific figures overall, main media ad spend, which includes terrestrial TV, newspapers and magazines, across the 12 Asia Pacific markets increased by 15 per cent from US$68.3 billion in 2005 to US$78.7 billion in 2006.
"The last 15 years have seen dramatic changes across the Asia Pacific region, driven by significant economic and demographic development,” said Lisa Lee, SVP of international communications for The Nielsen Company said in a statement. “The effect has been equally dramatic on the shopping habits of the region's consumers. Our combined research resources bring together the first regional and market review of changing consumer lifestyles, attitudes and purchasing behaviour, together with insights into advertising, emerging radio audience markets and consumer trends across key markets in the region."

Source: International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP)

Design: Book 'Editorial Design'

2007-10-04T12:13:00.000+05:30

This book covers the design of magazines and newspapers for a wide variety of markets. Generously illustrated and including case studies, practical tips, examples of best practice and profiles of individual designers, the book explains the fundamentals of editorial design and layout.
Written by Yolanda Zappaterra, a regular contributor to Design Week, Grafik and Time Out, the book shows how and why editorial design is its own discipline, differing from other areas of graphic design.
Subjects covered include branding, how to create layouts, handling copy and images, design and production skills and trends in editorial design.
Read more here

LaunchPAD: For Brides, Expats and Entrepreneurs

2007-09-27T13:28:00.000+05:30

Three new titles for three different audience groups.

The first two are already on the newsstand and the third should be out next month.

EXPAT Insider is a new monthly magazine that aims at giving the expat community settled in India an insight into entertainment to lifestyle and people of India

Bride & Style: A monthly magazine from the ITE Group, Bride and Style was launched at the ITE India 'Bride and Groom Fashion Show -2007. Jaya Prada launched the magazine in New Delhi.

DARE: CyberMedia’s DARE magazine is expected to hit the newsstand next week. Priced at Rs 30, it focuses on entrepreneurship and has a tagline “Because Entrepreneurs DO”

Editorial: Five Faces of Femina

2007-09-24T14:15:00.000+05:30

In preparation of its fiftieth anniversary in 2008, the October 10, 2007 issue of Femina will be sold with five distinct covers.

This is a part of the two-fold activity undertaken to boost sales. Firstly, ‘Femina’ generated curiosity amongst its readers by conducting a poll on the '50 Most Beautiful Women in India' today, giving interested voters a list of 100 famous women of Indian origin.

This was followed by an SMS activity, inviting readers to nominate their choice of women. The magazine website www.femina.in, also carried an option for visitors to take part in the poll. Ads in ‘Mumbai Mirror’ completed the marketing effort on this. Once the results were compiled, they found their way into the October 10 issue.

Next, ‘Femina’ decided to take up the top five Most Beautiful Women (Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu, Preity Zinta, Priyanka Chopra and Dipika Padukone) and create five cover pages – one each for these five.

Original source link: agencyfaqs.com

Trends: The Magazine as an Object

2007-09-21T14:35:00.000+05:30

However creative their content may be, most magazines still essentially amount to a pretty standard booklet of paper. Not so The Thing, which delivers an objet d'art instead. Its founders call it a magazine because incorporated into each object is some text. For example: The inaugural issue, shipped in August, was a plain brown window shade with one of two sentences silk-screened on it in black handwriting: "If this shade is down, I'm not who you think I am" or "If this shade is down, I'm begging your forgiveness on bended knee with tears streaming down my face."

That project was conceived by performance artist, writer and filmmaker Miranda July, who won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her film “Me and You and Everyone We Know” (2005). The next three issues of The Thing’s first subscription year will be by visual artists Anne Walsh, Kota Ezawa and Trisha Donnelly. Beyond that? There’s no telling yet which artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers editors Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan will invite.
Subscriptions cost USD 120 plus USD 10 shipping for each issue domestically or USD 30 per issue to ship internationally. Budding artists are lining up at The Thing’s door, and anyone else looking to create buzz could learn from its expectations-altering example. By breaking with convention, you gain the power to surprise and delight!

Original source link: Springwise
Interview with the founders

Free Stuff: Access to TimesSelect

2007-09-19T13:58:00.000+05:30

Effective Sept. 19, content previously on available on TimesSelect (a New York Times premium service) will be available free to all NYTimes.com visitors.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

Event: MPA Forum | International - Outsourcing

2007-09-17T11:53:00.000+05:30

The upcoming MPA Forum (September 19) hopes to show outsourcing as a way to reduce costs across all aspects of the media business and has two speakers from India.
1)Hoshie Ghaswalla, President of CyberMedia, will discuss the fundamentals of outsourcing.
2) Juhi Bhambal, Executive Editor, Global Services will discuss how she and a team put together a magazine, website, and events from an offshore destination.
Peter Meirs, Director Alternative Media Technologies, Time Inc., will add his perspective on the changing nature of outsourcing and discuss when outsourcing is not always the solution.

Related stories:
India: “Boston, not Bangalore” Campaign (posted November 13, 2006)
India: Ripe for Magazine Design and Production Outsourcing? (posted March 16, 2007)

Editorial: Alternative Story Forms

2007-09-13T13:36:00.000+05:30

Finally a Study that proves what most editors and visual journalists have always believed. :)

According to Poynter.org, 'Alternative Story Forms' or tools like a timeline, a checklist, a fact box or a graphic—that are not part of the standard model of most newspaper or magazine narratives- are a good way to engage a reader’s attention.

As part of the Study readers were given one of six different versions (three print shown in the accompanying pciture and three online) of a story about bird flu. Each version included identical information fact for fact, but the design and story structure differed. When a reader finished reading one of these prototypes for five minutes, he or she answered questions about the story.

It was found that of the three print versions of the prototypes, the most visually graphic version (No. 3) resulted in the most correct answers and established that alt story forms helped readers remember facts presented to them.

Visit the original Source link to see the bigger version of six prototypes and more outcomes of the study.

Study: Websites of American Magazines

2007-09-11T14:31:00.000+05:30

The Bivings Group has started a new feature called ‘Friday's Five’ to showcase a weekly top 5 list. This week's list builds on their study “Analyzing the Websites of American Magazines" and gives the rundown of the Bivings five favorite magazine websites.

1. TV Guide: Site has tons of content related to TV and movies, including reviews, previews, video snippets, listings and interesting blog features.
Cool features: The 40+ celebrity blogs (comments allowed!) are augmented by community blogs maintained by readers.
2. Rolling Stone: Photos, videos, and blogs. User reviews and ratings of movies and cds. The most interesting feature is their section for listening to music.
Cool features: After a quick download of a mini-Rhapsody player (no registration required!), users can listen to music featured in the print edition of Rolling Stone. Celebrity playlists are another cool feature.
3. Better Homes and Gardens: BHG.com has alot of nifty features starting with a the shnazy feature box on the homepage.
Cool features: The "clip it" feature lets you save tidbits of information in your myBHG.com account so you can use them later. A downloadable widget gets you updates from the website. Interactive home design tools are also fun.
4. Family Circle: Offers similar functionality as BHG.com–reader comments for articles and features, bookmarking articles and features in their site accounts, and a tag cloud linked to message boards appears on the main site.
5. US News and World Report: The content is professional, interesting, and easy to browse.
Cool features: Highly valued content (primarily in the rankings section ) is available to a larger audience. The design is sane–the site isn't overcrowded, loaded with doohickeys, or cluttered with too many headlines.

What do you look for in magazine websites and what are some of your favorites? Share in the comments.

Download the Bivings Magazine report here

LaunchPAD: Tehelka Magazine, eMaxim

2007-09-10T12:50:00.000+05:30

Tehekla Magazine: In his write up 'New Ship, Same Course', Tarun Tejpal discusses the transition of the Tehelka weekly tabloid to Tehelka magazine starting from this week’s issue.
Brief extract from his letter:
“When we set out to create the Tehelka weekly we chose the format of a tabloid. We felt Tehelka’s brand of proactive journalism would not fit well into the affectations of a magazine. … Even so it took us a long time to convince ourselves that we needed to find the shape of a magazine, and that only happened when we discovered a look that was not only different from all other weeklies but also capable of retaining our DNA unchanged."

Maxim India Ezine: Maxim India has launched what it claims to be the world’s first e-zine product – eMaxim writes Exchange4Media. The e-zine, which flips like a real book, has zoom in and zoom out facilities, has user based interfaces, television commercials, and videos all built in, comes as a free CD with the Maxim mega relaunch issue priced at Rs 150.

Article: Overseas, a Rosier Picture for Magazines

2007-09-07T11:16:00.000+05:30

An nytimes.com interview with George Green, the chief executive of Hearst Magazines International gives an interesting insight into the differences in magazine business within US and the outside world (including India).

Some useful observations:
1) The United States is the only place where the postal service gives incentives for mailing magazines. About 90 percent of magazines in the US are sold by subscription, only 10 percent on newsstands. Outside the United States, that’s reversed.
2) Subscribers overseas do not expect a huge discount from the cover price. The US magazine business is driven entirely by ad revenue , but elsewhere it is driven by circulation as well as ads.
3) You hardly ever see newsstands in the United States anymore, but overseas you see them everywhere. Since publishers don’t mail many magazines, heavier paper is used to give a higher-quality look on the newsstand.
4) The concept of a rate base doesn’t exist in other countries. So you don’t have to spend a lot of money on promoting your new magazine to lots of readers. It can take more than three years for a new magazine to break even in the United States. Overseas, you can make money with your second issue.

And here is an interesting bit about Hearst presence in India:
“We’ve been in India for 10 years and still haven’t made much money. That’s a country where advertising rates and cover prices are low for everybody. We won’t leave, though.
If you want to consider yourself a truly international publisher, India is a place you have to be.”

You can read the entire interview here

------------------------------

Finally a not-so-rosy news:
Business 2.0, which I read off and on since 1998, is coming to a close with its October issue according to MediaPost.

LaunchPAD: Outlook plans magazine on Stock Markets

2007-09-06T13:42:00.000+05:30

Exchange4Media reports that the Outlook Group plans to launch a fortnightly magazine on the stock market by early 2008. The name of the magazine has not yet been decided, but the Group is currently conducting a consumer research to finalise the name. The Group has also roped in N Mahalakshmi (last with Business Standard-Smart Investor) as Editor of the forthcoming magazine.

The magazine is aimed at investors who understand the nuances of the business and spend huge amounts in stock markets. To give relief from the stock-related information, there would also be lifestyle-related information.

Read more here.

India: Traditions of Recyling Magazines

2007-08-28T13:14:00.000+05:30

MPA had just unveiled a public education campaign to let readers know that magazines can and should be recycled. Member magazines can display 'Please Recycle' and public service advertisements in their magazines to reinforce the message that magazines are recyclable.

In India, we have been reusing our newspapers and magazines for years. Once a month ‘Raddi wala’ (waste-paper pickup man) comes home and picks up the old magazines, newspapers and even bottles and pays me by the kilo (different prices for newspaper and magazines).

These he then sells. The old newspapers go to paperbag making outfits and the old magazine show up in numerous 'Second hand bookstores' or are farmed to waiting rooms of various outfits. In fact, in Mumbai, the Turner Road magazine man used to have an amazing collection of old international magazines (some which were sold with their masthead cropped off)

In many restaurants in Goa it is not unusual to find the latest copy of 'The New Yorker', 'Eve', 'Der Spiegel' and many other fascinating magazines, left behind by tourists and maybe even traded by ‘raddi walas’ and picked up by restaurants to make the waiting for food bearable for customers.

My son's school cuts up old magazines to make craftpaper for children. A shopkeeper in my neighborhood collects old newspapers to hand them over to the prison or the nearby 'home for the mentally challenged' where inmates turn them to paperbags. The International Animal Rescue in Goa accepts old newspapers to line animal cages. An artist friend cuts up colourful ads for making collages. And I often turn to my old collection of old magazines for inspiration and ideas.

What do you do with old magazines?

Here are two interesting links to help you in resuing your old magazines:
1) What to do with old magazines?

2) Five ways to reuse old magazines

And finally two unusual way of using old magazines:
Making Magazine Bowls

Making Paper Beads

Trends: Redesigns that Cut Corners

2007-08-21T12:24:00.000+05:30

Two recent unrelated new items about redesigns of Esquire UK (featuring among other changes also a change [also termed manbagging by guardian] of the size) and ‘compact-ising the ‘New York Times’ led me to do a Google on magazine formats.

And I came across this interesting article by Art Kleiner that features the history of magazines from formats perspective. Must read. Though it talks more about how we place and have been placing pictures and text on the page.

Article about Esquire UK redesign:
Let's hear it for the little guy
Article about new compact New York Times:
Who shrunk my New York Times?

India: Indian Edition of Wired?

2007-08-08T11:03:00.000+05:30

Not right now. But maybe soon.

According to FT.com, Condé Nast India is seeking or has obtained regulatory approval for magazines such as Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller, Vanity Fair and niche publications such as Wired, the technology-focused magazine.

Meanwhile, Condé Nast is planning to launch the Indian edition of Vogue on September 22, 2007. The first edition with an October cover date will have a target print run of 50,000 copies.

To know more about Vogue's planned launch in India, read here

India: Magazine covers featuring South Asia

2007-08-02T14:06:00.000+05:30

Interested in seeing India through the eyes of the Western media?
Click here to link to a collection of magazine covers (mostly american editions of international magazines) put together by SAJA. One visitor aptly describes it as an "amazing walk back through history."

The cover featured here (Time Magazine, March 1930) is Mahatma Gandhi's first appreance on the cover of Time. Gandhi was the Time Man of the Year for the year 1930.

Strategy: 'Multi' is Dangerous

2007-07-30T16:11:00.000+05:30

Preparing to extend your magazine to the Internet?
Al Ries (marketing consultant and author of many books on marketing) has a word of advice: "Stay where you are and launch a new brand on the web".

Read the complete article ''Multi' Is the Most Dangerous Word in the Dictionary" on 'Advertising Age'.

Article: Magazine's shelf life has no boundaries

2007-07-25T14:18:00.000+05:30

A recent Robert Sacks newsletter carried this article, originally on SacBee.com, and I loved it. Really heartening at a time when everyone is talking about the impending death of the printed magazine.

Here is a shortened version:

Every month, about 5 million National Geographics are printed. And many people seem to hoard them. For years, for decades. Why?

Every month, about 5 million National Geographics are printed. That works out to more than 2,000 tons and around 4,000 cubic yards of magazines.
Every month.
Some of them wind up in the dump, but many more accumulate on shelves in dens. Or in boxes in the garage. Or piles in the attic.
In many cases, the collectors don't read them, but they keep them. For years, for decades. Why?
"It's heartbreaking to throw them away," said Skinner. "They're too nice."The pictures are by some of the world's best photographers and the printing is top-notch.
Skinner's accumulation dates to the 1980s, but her parents in New Zealand have a collection dating back to the 1950s, she said.
Kit Yarrow, another consumer psychologist at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, agrees with that assessment, but thinks there's more. "It's special," she said. "Readers feel an intimacy with this magazine. It's emotional."
For many owners, even recycling seems too cruel a fate, so they hold onto magazines, waiting to put them to use.
The attachment to the yellow magazine is so cultish, said Husni, that when an issue was published with a gold cover, it generated complaints."Where is my yellow spine?" was the beef from subscribers accustomed to displaying shelves of unbroken yellow, Husni said.
There's only one other magazine that has created a similar bond, said Yarrow.
Playboy. People -- mostly men, we suspect -- hoard those issues, too.

---------------------------

PS: In one corner of my house is a hoard of Nat Geos (my husband's collection).

LaunchPAD: Three B2B titles

2007-07-18T16:55:00.000+05:30

Campaign: UK-based Haymarket Media Group plans to launch 'Campaign', a weekly magazine focusing on advertising, media and communications, around September. According to Financial Express, the second dummy of the tabloid is in circulation among agencies for feedback.
Progressive Grocer: Nielsen Media has a licensing arrangement with the IMAGES Multimedia Group to launch Indian edition of this international food and grocery specialty magazine. Release here
LOG.INDIA: A pre-launch isse of LOG.india was seen in June at the 'transport logistic' trade fair in Munich. The official launch of Log.india is scheduled for September 2007 reports Hugo Martin of MCC Counsulting Germany. This magazine is brought out by DVV Media India (DMI), the Indian subsidiary of DVV Media Group, Germany, a 60-year-old company with 12 publishing houses and 62 publications in Europe and overseas.

India: EMap buys 40% stake in NextGen

2007-07-16T17:14:00.000+05:30

EMap (UK-based publisher) has acquired a 40.1% interest in Next Gen Publishing Limited (Next Gen), the Mumbai–based magazine publisher and current licensee of the Indian edition of Car, for a cash consideration of £3.7m.

Next Gen, which began operating in 2005, has two main businesses: consumer and B2B magazine publishing; and business directory publishing. Its consumer titles include Smart Photography, Car India (licensed from Emap), Bike India, The Ideal Home and Garden and Computer Active (licensed from VNU). In addition, Next Gen will be launching the Indian edition of FHM in the autumn. Its first B2B title, Commercial Vehicle, was launched in 2006.

Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Keenan, Chief Executive of Emap Consumer Media, said: “We see India as a prime market that will be highly receptive to our brands. Already an established publisher of English language consumer magazines and business services directories, Next Gen’s presence in the market will provide us with a strong base from which to explore opportunities to develop both our consumer and B2B brands.”

Read more in the release here

Design: Who's Designed your Favourite Magazine?

2007-07-06T12:01:00.000+05:30

An article on Business Standard website observes that “Indian dailies prefer foreign designers” and presents the fact that ‘In the last two years Garcia designed layouts for seven newspapers in India.’ That set me wondering “What about our magazines?”

Some of the best-designed magazines in the Indian Market are usually Indian editions of famous international magazines. The design and content structure, at most times, is a very close reproduction of the international editions that have been tempered over the years and are very engaging.

Any remarkable redesign of an Indian magazine in the last two years that any of you remember? Who did it?

If you are into graphics design and are particularly keen on magazine design, here is book you might like to watch out for. ‘Designing Magazines’ is a compilation of work of 35 different authors and is due in November. To pre order it visit here. And if you'd rather wait till the book is out, you can visit the blog Designing Magazines that preceeds the book.

TIP:
Kyoorius Design Yatra 2007 is scheduled to take place in Goa in September. They do not seem to have put up a speaker list yet. However, the yatra might be worth checking out you are fascinated by design.
Last year I got to see magazine designers (Nick Bell, Neville Brody and Paul Hughes) present their work and views at the yatra.

Related Post:
Design: Neville Brody, Nick Bell and Scott Goodson in Goa?

Media Ads: Deccan Chronicle woos Young Readers

2007-07-03T13:22:00.000+05:30

Sree Srinivasan of SAJA Forum posted this photo of a giant billboard (taken during his recent visit to Chennai) calling it an example of one problem with the media in India.
The ad has generated some debate on the SAJA Forum. Read his post and comments that followed here.

BTW, I am surprised that no one has objected to the ‘Prevention’ magazine TVC where the godman addresses problems of urban women and ends with a chant: ‘Cholesterol, cholesterol, God loves you all’. It is such a bad parody!

Trends: Time Inc. Dives Into Digi-Mags

2007-06-29T15:28:00.000+05:30

I am a big fan of digital magazines and Zinio as it allows me to enjoy the magazines I would never have access to in Goa.

The latest online experiment by TimeInc, ‘People's "Best Summer Ever" video-packed e-magazine comes as a true delight. It is dynamic, soundtracked, has interactive ads and is lots of fun to browse.

Adage.com writes: “People's staff designed most of the creative elements but worked with a digital-magazine production company called Blogform Digital Magazines to get the issue built. Unlike magazines digitally reproduced on systems such as Zinio, there's no software to install, there's a different soundtrack for every page, ads are interactive far beyond clickable URLs and all the content is original.”

You can enjoy the action-packed digital magazine by clicking here.

Download: The Magazine Handbook 2007-2008

2007-06-25T16:43:00.000+05:30

Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) released 2007-2008 edition of The Magazine Handbook last week. You can download the 76-page pdf here.
The Handbook spotlights magazines’ strong contributions to various advertising categories, including automotive, pharmaceutical and entertainment. The section on magazine reader engagement aggregates the latest third-party research proving that “in an age of interruption, magazines engage.” In addition, the Handbook contains statistics on magazine web portals and reader behavior online.

Some highlights from the latest Magazine Handbook:
-Magazines lead in driving web visits and searches
-Multiple-page ads get higher ad recall
-Magazines are the most consistent performer across the purchase funnel
-Magazines boost the power of other media
-Readers value and respond to magazines regardless of how they acquired the magazine

Event: World Magazine Conference (FIPP)

2007-05-18T16:48:00.000+05:30

Two clear messages at recently-comcluded 36th World Magazine Conference (organised by FIPP) in Beijing were “Embrace the change” and that despite a decline in numbers, attractiveness of magazine advertising will prevail.

Highlights of Day 1: Embrace the Change
“This Congress is taking place in what we call a global transformation. We are now being offered a great opportunity to reach a greater audience – far greater than we could reach with print alone. This is exciting and frightening at the same time.”
Donald D. Kummerfeld, FIPP President and CEO
“Online is the best thing to happen to the magazine business since the printing press. Anything that creates a richer relationship with our customers can only be good for us. The question is how to we deal with it? They key thing is that the companies that win are those that will embrace the change.”
Steven Pleshette Murphy, President & CEO, Rodale Inc, USA
“Change creates threats but also opens the doors to new opportunity.’ In my 50 years of publishing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more exciting time. Good luck dealing with the threat and making it a great opportunity for you.”
Patrick J. McGovern, Founder and Chairman, of IDG, USA
“It was magazines that built and established brands and it was the magazines that created brand extensions. Today, a brand can start with a website or with an event. When you combine the internet and face-to-face, it’s a great combo, and when you add a magazine to that, it’s a knock-out in b2b.”
Gordon Hughes, President & CEO, American Business Media (ABM),

Highlights of Day 2: Magazines have a lot to offer
“Magazines reach the hearts of readers and gain their trust, serving to enhance value. The time that people spend reading magazines is a rewarding time during which they are most receptive to messages. Magazines provide a rich experience during which both content and ads are absorbed.”
Tateo Mataki, President and CEO of Dentsu Inc, Japan
“It’s about knowing what they want. If you see habits and tastes changing, you’ve got to change with them. You’ve got to keep them front of mind – that’s all that matters.”
Mark Frith, Editor, heat magazine, Emap, UK
“Magazines are the one medium where advertisements are considered a valued part of the package, particularly in speciality magazines where ads offer inspiration and ideas. Advertising in magazines is more relevant to consumers than almost anything else.”
Jack Griffin, President, Meredith Publishing Group
“I think magazines have an advantage over television or radio because we actually do create our own content. People don’t watch television channels, they watch television shows. People read an entire magazine and that creates more reach.”
Brian Segal, President & CEO, Rogers Publishing Limited, Canada.

You can read more details about this recently concluded event here.

Event: Video of Colophon 2007

2007-05-15T17:10:00.000+05:30

In March I had featured a post on 'Colophon 2007' an international magazine symposium that highlights magazine culture. If like me you wanted to, but were not part of this event, you might want to see the video of the event featured here.

Presented by Andrew Losowsky, the video features magazines involved in the exhibition along with brief interviews with Mike Koedinger, David Renard (author of 'The Last Magazine: Magazines in Transition') and Samir Husni (Mr Magazine).

FREE Stuff: Magazine Content, Media books

2007-05-11T15:59:00.000+05:30

Time Out Delhi and Time Out Mumbai:
Register online here and you can access the content published in Time Out Mumbai and Time Out Delhi for FREE.

Media Books/ journals
From May 1 to June 30, get a free full-text access to 23 titles of SAGE Journals in Media and Communication. No registration is necessary.
To browse abstracts, perform quick or advanced keyword searches and access full-text articles from the journals 'Global Media and Communication' 'Convergence' 'Games and Culture' available right now, click on each journal's cover to be taken to its homepage.

Economic and Political Weekly
EPW’s online presence will soon have a new face and according to a mail from their circulation department, all visitors to the site can have FREE access to all sections of the site till July 1.

Media Ads: The Financial Times

2007-04-26T16:01:00.000+05:30

The Financial Times new branding campaign coincides with the newspaper's redesign. Using the tag line "We Live in Financial Times," the campaign features three distinct images that represent globalization (World business depicted as an island with business buildings from all over the world), mergers and acquisitions (Smaller sharks being swallowed by the larger ones) and entrepreneurship(Richard Branson looking like Che Guevara)

The new campaign is expected to highlight the breadth and depth of content within The Financial Times. All the ads drive traffic to the microsite

Original article link here

LaunchPAD: Portfolio

2007-04-24T16:22:00.000+05:30

Why an international magazine in LaunchPAD this time? Because Portfolio was nearly two years in the making, and many in the magazine industry called it the most anticipated launch of 2007.

Condé Nast Portfolio chronicles how business shapes the world—and who the players are that wield the power. According to MediaBuyerPlanner, the premiere issue (May 2007) has 185 ad pages (out of 332) and boasts stories that match writer and subject in the style of Vanity Fair, with Tom Wolfe writing on hedge funds (photographs by Annie Leibovitz) and Michael Lewis writing on jock exchanges, or trade in athletes.

To read the day-by-day account of the launch, you can visit mr magazine blog.

Editorial: Two Style Guide Resources

2007-04-19T12:08:00.000+05:30

Here are two valuable resources for editors.

For a free download (PDF or Word) of Guardian Style Guide 2003, click here.
The Economist Style Guide is available online for instant check whenever you have a usage doubt. In case you want a more expanded version of the Guide, you can buy the hardback version of Style Guide, which also featuures a special section on American and British English, a 64-page fact checker and glossary.

For those interested in seeing how 'Style' has evolved over the years, there is the 1928 Style Guide from Manchester Guardian put together by CP Scott and used by The Guardian till 1960.

Know more Style Guide resources?

India: Foreign Invasion

2007-04-12T15:14:00.000+05:30

For magazine lovers who have been reading and buying international magazines, here is a piece of good news:

Indian editions of IPC Media's Hair, Conde Nast's Vogue and Hearst's Harpers Bazaar are next in line. And according to an article in Business Standard, Esquire and National Geographic are scouting for Indian partners.

Mainsteam media is finally starting to take note of the magazine explosion. In fact, you might want to read the Business Standard article, with lots of the industry quotes, on this Indian love affair.

Meanwhile, I actully saw Monocle today in a little cake shop in Goa that has about 15 magazines in all. Amazing...
But at about Rs 1000, I am not sure I can buy it. Will write more about Monocle later.

LaunchPAD: Prevention Magazine

2007-04-05T15:21:00.000+05:30

New on the newsstand is 'Prevention' magazine. Launched by India Today under a licensing agreement with US-based Rodale. The 150-page magazine is targeted at 35-plus Indian women and costs Rs 50.
Prevention's focus will be in-depth stories related to fitness, nutrition, family and beauty.

Trend: 'You' on the cover

2007-03-27T16:36:00.000+05:30

TIME magazine put a reflecting surface in its year-end issue and called 'You' the Person of the Year 2006, but WIRED's new experiment seems to go a step further.

WIRED and Xerox have partnered to launch an integrated marketing program that offers subscribers the chance to receive an issue of the magazine with their own photos on the cover.

The campaign was inspired by WIRED's July cover story on the future of personalization, according to Xerox. The program will be announced in the April issue of WIRED. It is currently being promoted on Wired.com, and subscribers are encouraged to go online and upload a 4×6 photo of themselves. The first 5,000 WIRED subscribers to participate will receive the July issue of the magazine with their image on the cover.

After the first 5,000 subscribers create their personalized cover, consumers (not restricted to WIRED subscribers) will be able to go to the site, where a tool will be provided to create their own WIREDcover. Users will be able to submit a photograph, change the headline and change the color palette. These covers can be printed or emailed, but will not be on the July WIRED cover. So if you want to see yourself on the cover of WIRED and you are a subscriber click here
Read more about the digital printing technology that will produce the personalized colour covers at the Xerox site

Strategy: Magazines Still a Good Investment

2007-03-23T13:51:00.000+05:30

When Joe Mansueto purchased Inc. and Fast Company for $32.5 million in 2005, they were two publications long-neglected by their publisher. "The previous owners (Gruner & Jahr) had disinvested in the magazines,” said Mansueto, delivering the morning keynote at the Folio: Publishing Summit in Chicago. “They had lost the trust of the advertisers.”

Despite online competition, magazines still make good investments, said Mansueto. A long-time reader of Inc. and Fast Company, Mansueto, founder of MorningStar, a publicly traded mutual fund and investment information provider, couldn’t resist putting in a bid for the publications when they were put on the market in May 2005.

Enhanced Technology
After winning the auction, Mansueto's strategy was to create an independent publishing company and to invest in technology and online. “Inc., for me, has always been a very powerful magazine,” he said. “I’m a firm believer in the power of capitalism, a free market and entrepreneurship. And Inc. is at the center of this movement.”

Better Paper and Editorial
To strengthen, the Inc. brand, Mansueto invested in better-quality paper stock and increased edit pages 20 percent. He also increased the editorial staff, hiring away Real Simple editor Jane Beretson.

Exciting Design
At Fast Company, Mansueto implemented a more “visually exciting” design featuring a prominent person on every cover. He also transformed the print-heavy brand into a multi-platformed brand focusing on online, events, as well as franchise print issues.

The efforts have paid off. Inc. is the number one business publication and newsstand sales are up 47 percent and Fast Company is the number three business publication with newsstand sales are up 37 percent. Combined Web traffic for the magazines grew 50 percent last year and is expected to grow at least 20 percent this year, Mansueto said. Unique visitors for the sites are up 159 percent.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE SOURCE: Folio: Summit Keynote: Despite Online Competition, Magazines Still a Good Investment

Redesign: TIME Magazine

2007-03-19T15:19:00.000+05:30

I am watching out for my copy of TIME this week. With the March 26 issue the magazine has been redesigned in an attempt to attract new readers and keep the older ones.

The redesign was carried out by Pentagram and here are some layout and design changes to expect:

1) Smaller logo: The size of the cover logo has been reduced, a decision that allows for secondary cover lines and images to be run in a row of boxes above the logo.

2) Table of Contents, arranged on a horizontal axis, like a timeline (Spread shown here)

3) Four sections—Briefing, The Well, Life and Arts—sign-posted through the use of bold headlines.

4) The front of book ‘Notebook’ is renamed “Briefing,” and is designed to contain an easily ascertained roundup of the previous week’s events, short news items and the popular Milestones and Verbatim sections.

5) Web connection: Web touts have been embedded throughout the magazine that indicate related content at TIME.com.

6) A cleaner look courtesy of more white space, as well as larger headline text and big bold photographs.

7) A mix of writing styles, from quick-hit bullet points to more contemplative features, to a mix of text and visuals that tell a complete story.

For more background into TIME Redesign, visit the pentagram blog

India: “Boston, not Bangalore” Campaign

2007-03-16T17:33:00.000+05:30

America’s IT outsourcing nightmare, Bangalore is once again the target of some adverse publicity as outsourcing becomes a viable option for American media houses.
It's the Boston Globe, not the Bangalore Globe” is the ad campaign launched by the Boston Globe's union against decrying the paper's plan to outsource the jobs of about 50 workers (in the classified advertising department) to India.
Appearing on the radio and in the Boston Herald (The Globe rejected publishing the ad ‘because it did not meet standards’) the Boston Newspaper Guild urges readers and advertisers to call the newspaper and its parent company, The New York Times Co., to oppose the move .

See the pdf of the ad here.

Related story: "India ready for Magazine Design and Production Outsourcing"

LaunchPAD: Better Homes and Gardens

2007-03-13T10:45:00.000+05:30

This month one of America’s best known women’s magazine comes to India.
Better Homes and Gardens will be published and marketed in India by Media Transasia India, under an agreement with Meredith Corp.
Priced at Rs 100, this monthly is targeted at the women from 28-40 years of age. The launch is accompanied by extensive advertising across outdoor, print dailies, periodicals, radio, television as well as online. In fact, print ads soliciting subscriptions have been appearing in leading magazines for over two months.

Event: Colophon 2007

2007-03-09T13:29:00.000+05:30

The much awaited Colophon 2007, an international magazine symposium curated by Creative Director Jeremy Leslie (London), Writer Andrew Losowsky (Madrid) and Publisher Mike Koedinger (Luxembourg) starts in Luxemburg today.
Five exhibitions on magazine culture will be on view including a visual representation of 10 groundbreaking magazines by the people who make them.
Other highlights:
PORTFOLIO SHOWS is a series of live presentations of artwork in the fields of photography, illustration and editorial graphic design. Each one-hour session allows 10 talents to show samples of their work on a projected screen for a period of 5 minutes.
ROOM WITH A VIEW, a temporary magazine store set up in the stunning “aquarium” of the Casino Luxembourg
Launch of the book WE LOVE MAGAZINES which includes in-depth features on all aspects of magazine creation, a worldwide magazine directory (+ 1,200 titles) and an international guide to distribution.
COLOPHON 2007 is also the world's leading online directory of pop culture magazines. Over 1,300 magazines are listed with factsheets, covers and exclusive interviews, sorted by countries and language. Yes, you can find some Indian Magazines here, in fact 2 have been added by me :)

If like me you love magaines and would love to know more about the event, you can check here for latest updates: MagCulture, Colophon2007

Awards: Pictures of the Year (Magazines)

2007-03-06T10:27:00.000+05:30

POYi started as a photographic contest in 1944 in Columbia, Missouri and for over six decades has been a forum to recognize excellence in photojournalism by honoring the photographers, editors and their institutions of employment. It has preserved a visual archive of our shared history.
In 1948, magazine photographers were invited to participate in the contest and since then the Winners gallery is divided into ‘Magazine Division’ and ‘Newspaper/General Division’.

Here are some of the winners of the magazine photo awards:

Magazine Spot News: Dar Yasin, The Associated Press
Yasin is a freelance photographer based in Kashmir, India. He has been recoginsed for his picture depicting ‘Indian paramilitary soldiers carry the body of a police officer killed in a gunfight in Srinagar, India, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006.
Yasin contributes regularly to Associated Press and Onasia. Yasin's work has been published in Time Magazine, Match du Monde, Der Spiegel, The Telegraph and many leading newspapers and news magazines.
You can view more of his work here

Magazine General News: Q. Sakamaki, Redux for NEWSWEEK
For the series "SRI LANKAN CONFLICT" Funeral workers care for child victims of the Sri Lankan political violence, as the country is at the brink of all-out war.
This series also gets the Magazine General News Reporting Picture Story

Magazine Photographer of the Year: Christopher Anderson, Magnum for Newsweek
For his picture series on Caracas, Beirut, Gaza and Singles

Magazine Portrait: Farah Nosh, Getty Images/ TIME Magazine

For the "AFGHAN STUDENT"

Issue Reporting Story: Jose Cendon, Freelance

For "FEAR IN THE GREAT LAKES"

The judging for the contest is still on, you can view more of the award winning magazine photos as they appear at the poyi website

Media Ads: Tehelka-The People’s Paper

2007-03-02T09:18:00.000+05:30

A uniquely Indian campaign featuring a uniquely Indian icon: The omnipresent and much maligned crow!
Shot in black and white, with a small town setting, this commercial shows a political rally spoiled by crows crowing Tehelka’s punchline: “Jhoot bole…Kauwa Kaate”

If like me you do not have a TV, you can download the 15 MB ad here

Design: World’s Best-Designed Newspapers

2007-02-28T14:01:00.000+05:30

Society for News Design announced the World’s Best-Designed Newspapers last week. These four newspapers (and associated magazines) have been awarded:
Äripäev of Tallinn, Estonia
(Designed by Jacek Utko, you can view his portfolio at www.utko.com/);
El Economista of Madrid, Spain
(Designed by Innovation International Media Consulting Group* led by Javier Errea, and with Miguel Buckenmeyer). Interestingly, Innovation has a set-up in India, but I could not see any design work for Indian publishing houses mentioned on their site.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung of Frankfurt, Germany (Designed by www.Kircher-Burkhardt.com)and
Politiken of Copenhagen, Denmark
(Designed by Palmer Watson of www.palmerwatson.com).

Sad to note that none of the first four is designed by Mario Garcia, India’s favorite newspaper designer (His latest being MINT for Hindustan Times)!

For more detailed information on the awards and the philosophy behind choosing the winners, read here.

Trends: Online Magazine Casual Games

2007-02-24T16:29:00.000+05:30

Conscious that an increasing number of adults are going online to play games and do puzzles, a growing number of magazines are adding games to their Web sites, hoping to boost traffic and ad dollars.
Hearst, publisher of Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Harper's Bazaar, has struck a two-year deal with an online game developer, Arkadium Inc., to add an array of customized games to its magazine Web sites. Behind the shift is a realization that the stereotype of online gamers -- teenage boys whittling away their nights in front of the glow of a computer screen -- is out of date. Nearly half the people playing online games are aged between 30 and 59, according to Boston-based Forrester Research, and they play everything from mahjong to Sudoku, word games and solitaire.
Arkadium's first game as part of this deal launched on the Teen magazine site on February 12, while web-based games for CosmoGIRL! and Seventeen will launch on each magazine's respective site later in February.

Some of the games expected in the coming weeks:
Seventeen: "Editor's Assistant" allows the users to play the role of an assistant to Seventeen's editor in chief.
Cosmopolitan: "Boy Toy" allows players to control a virtual "boy toy" and try to keep his girlfriend satisfied. The game ends when the girlfriend breaks up with her boyfriend or stays in the relationship for one year.
Esquire: Expected to add casino-style games, without a gambling component.

Try the Teen Magazine game 'Dancing Queen' here.
Original article link here

Study: Spectacular Ads Get Spectacular Recall

2007-02-23T17:12:00.000+05:30

Eric Sass of MediaPost reports that according to a new study by Starch Communications Research "Spectacular magazine ads--including multi-page spreads, three-dimensional pop-ups, scented ads and ads with an audio component--produce a big bump in measures like brand recall and the number of readers that read ad copy."

Philip W. Sawyer, senior vice president of Starch Communications Research, says the study, heralds a new era of creativity in magazine advertising. Sawyer predicts that "when we really start exploring spectacular ads, people will pick up a magazine to see the ads." Among the case studies in Sawyer's report are two ads that scored a remarkable 100% in reader recall and engagement. The first ad, for Pepsi Jazz (also featured on this blog) was a two-page spread featuring a three-dimensional pop-up of the opened bottle, with small audio chip in the page playing jazz music. This ad also allowed readers to use a scratch-and-sniff tab to "sample" the new flavour. The second ad, for (also called first sonic ad on a few sites) pairs a three-dimensional pop-up with an audio chip.

However, the study cautions against unrealistic expectations for their effectiveness: "If you have a six-page ad, you can't expect recall or these other measures to increase sixfold. It's incremental." But if you have a magazine with a readership of 6 million, he adds, "and the number of people who recall an ad goes from 500,000 to 750,000--it's only a 50% rise, but that's a huge number of people."

Original Story Link: Study Finds Spectacular Print Ads Get Spectacular Recall
Post about Pepsi campaign: "Advertising: Pepsi Brings Smell, Sound To Print" Posted October 11 2006
Case study: Clairol Herbal Essences conditioner: First Sonic ad

Editorial: The Versatile Sidebar

2007-02-19T15:57:00.000+05:30

I have spent the entire day looking at ways to update links that show my website categories in the sidebar (archives by subject) which has become redundant after I updated to new blogger:( Interestingly, sidebar is one element from Print that is omnipresent online. (Also used on this site to provide easy access to archives, links to my other blog, to list our some links, etc)
It was about 10 years ago, that I was introduced to sidebars. Though layouts have become very dynamic since, sidebars still continue to show up, especially in the front section of various magazines. If you are new to sidebars, here are some common ways to use sidebars in your articles.
1) Provide ‘You too’ angle: Use Sidebars to relate to the reader directly. If you are profiling a successful business person, a sidebar could contain some general information on how you can set up your own business.
2) Sidebars can profile specifics or provide local angle. This is often seen in those Indian titles that have content licensing agreement with international publications. India angle is sometimes provided through a sidebar!
3) Use them to add late-breaking information to your article.
4) Timelines also make good sidebars and show the story in context—how it all began, and how we arrived at this situation. (Though, I feel timeslines work best running through the double spread on top or at the bottom).
5) Highlight one person’s view, usually a minority opinion, on the topic.
6) Highlight case studies/personal stories to support your article.

Since, sidebars are expected to aid readership of your story, here are some do's and don'ts
1. Place sidebars along the main story. Never at end.
2. Content should self contain, not depend on main story.
3. Body type and colour can vary.
4. Heads should be direct, simple, even labels (as shown in the example from Better Photography here).
5. Visually, they provide contrast.

Still want to know more? Refer to 'The Many Uses of Sidebars' in FOLIO:

TIP: Gift a Magazine Subscription!

2007-02-12T10:41:00.000+05:30

If you are a magazine lover like me, perhaps you can heed the message of this ad and gift your 'significant other' a subscription to the magazine of their interest. That way your gift gets to him/her 12 times in a year :) (yikes, is it sounding corny?)

Actually, a thoughtful friend once gifted my office a subscription to Reader's Digest, not a magazine our office usually gets and it was something we looked forward to every month. And when I was much younger a friend was gifted 'National Geographic' (very expensive and also difficult to find in the small city I grew up in) and we treated it like something really precious and needless to say, it opened our eyes to a very different and exciting world.

Here are few helpful links to help you select magazine gifts:
Magazine Store at Indiatimes.com
International magazines on Indiatimes

Know of more? Please share...

Media Ads: The Economist 'Brain'

2007-02-06T12:28:00.000+05:30

I came across this ad in a forward of Great Ads of the World sent by a friend and I instantly wanted to share it here.
This exceptionally powerful ad for 'The Economist' was created by O&M Singapore and won the gold award at The One Show 2004.
The ad has no logo or copy, but if you see long enough you can identify the familiar red masthead, low on the center of the brain.

LaunchPAD: 'Mint' and 'Lounge' from HT

2007-02-01T10:33:00.000+05:30

HT Media’s business newspaper 'Mint' hits the newsstands in Mumbai and Delhi today. The compact, which is a product of collaboration between HT Media and the Wall Street Journal, will have an initial circulation base of over 75,000 according to UNI.
The weekend edition is expected to be accompanied with a magazine supplement called 'Lounge'.
The site www.livemint.com
also goes live today. You can also download and view daily e-front page (available in pdf format) from the homepage.

Redesign: Wired sports a New Look

2007-01-29T16:59:00.000+05:30

With its February 2007 issue Wired magazine has a new look, starting with a tweaked logo/masthead. According to a post on Wired news, ‘the redesign is based on a simple premise: expand the use of provocative photography and inventive illustration while maintaining the tradition of innovative typography and design pioneered by John Plunkett in 1993’.

Here are few of the changes you can expect when you pick up the latest issue of Wired:

New Masthead: Refer to the new cover (large image on top)and older cover (small image to the right)
New Typography: Four new families of type designed by Hoefler & Frere-Jones
Thicker, less glossy paper: Makes the photography stand out and is easier to read (finally!)
Reworked Front of the Book: Start, Posts, and Play get a makeover, Rants+Raves is now ‘Chat’.

However, one feature I am waiting to see is section content sequence indicator (to indicate how many pieces/articles are there in each section and where the readers is in that sequence). I got this info from the website of designer andy rutledge, who calles it ‘a Web-style mnemonic applied to print’

The new look is already getting many rants and a few raves. You can view reader reactions here

Trends: On-Product Publishing

2007-01-17T17:05:00.000+05:30

Australia-based Modern Media Concepts' publication iLove is a 32-page glossy women’s magazine contained within the label of a water bottle. The magazine is the outcome of founder Joanna Wojtalik's University project where she developed the concept of On Product Publishing.
Launched in Australia in February 2006, iLove is available in more than 1200 petrol and convenience stores around Australia. This mini magazine (size: 10cm by 7.5 cm) is pitched at the 18-to 25-year old female readers and has a circulation of about 100,000 a week( The site I got this ‘back of the envelop’ number from calculated this by defining that the company has 2% of the australian bottled water market, making it about 100,000 bottles a week, hence that many issues).
iLove readers love the magazine because they can read it anywhere--it fits into their purse, can be used as a shopping reference to take advantage of deals on-the-spot at leading boutiques and other retailers.
The iLove team produces six editions a month. The founder is quoted as saying “The good thing about water is that it has a shelf life of about a year. Editions can stay out for a long time and readers can just pick a bottle by the cover.” Angelina Jolie and Danii Minogue sell out quickly. Bananarama, it would appear, were pretty much left on the shelf.

As the business and the concept expands, MMC is hoping to licence the concept and collect royalties. They have already found partners in the US and are talking to publishing and beverage groups in Australia and Europe.
You can read more about this new concept that integrates magazine publishing with fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) at onproductpublishing website
iLove site also has a very nice step-by-step illustration that shows how the magazine works.

Trends: At the Newsstand on Friday

2007-01-09T17:26:00.000+05:30

For the first time in more than 50 years TIME magazine will be ‘on-sale’ on Friday. Writes managing editor Richard Stengel, the change was prompted by the shift in news environment and readers’ input that they though they get the magazine early in the week, they put it aside to read over the weekend. TIME also feels that getting the magazine on newsstands on Friday helps them 'set the news agenda, not just mirror it'.
“The traditional newsmagazine was retrospective, looking back at what happened the previous week, says Stengel, but today's TIME is much more forward-looking, offering you guidance on what's essential to know going forward. Many news sources give you information; we provide knowledge and meaning.”
Read Richard Stengel’s note to readers on Changing Time here
..............................................

Just curious: Why do some Indian Monthly magaines show up on the newsstand almost in the middle of the month? I have often gone looking for a particular magazine at the newsstand and been told to come later... And at times I have bought a rival magazine, not really my first choice, but only because it was there.
Any of you had similar experiences?

Article: What Experts Predict for 2007

2007-01-05T16:58:00.000+05:30

Start of the year is a good time for forecasts. While there are many lists doing the rounds, here is one that I found most relevant.
At the start of the new year Folio: Alert once again brings us industry professionals' predictions for what 2007 might bring. Here are some trends culled from their long article:

1) Tipping point to digital
2007 will be tipping point for traditional (ink on paper) publishers regarding their legacy business. The market is already punishing traditional publishing companies with lower valuations than multi-platform media companies command. In 2007 traditional publishing companies will be more focused than ever on adding online, television, events, etc. in order to preserve and build enterprise value.
Clay B. Hall, CEO, Aspire Media
...........................................................
a. Magazines will expand their footprint into digital platforms, building audiences, creating bold new forms of content, and increasing ad revenues.
b. At the same time, more web-originating entities will find launching print magazines as the next logical step to creating deeper communities and a new revenue stream. (WebMD and TheKnot are sterling examples of successful web-to-print launches.)
c. Print magazines will maintain their hold on media advertising spending share, and will still be considered the premiere medium of engagement.
Nina Link, President & CEO, Magazine Publishers of America

2) B-2-B remains strong
a.) The b-to-b media M&A market will remain strong. Look for at least one blockbuster b-to-b media deal in 2007.
b) 2006 has demonstrated the importance of transitioning print brands to the web as the key to the very survival of many magazines. Most consumer and b-to-b magazine publishers understand the importance of this secular change in the industry, but fewer will be successful in making the transition.
c.) Well positioned and well managed magazine brands will demonstrate surprising growth and profits in 2007. Savvy financial investors will see value opportunities that strategic players overlook. We will not experience a media recession in 2007.
Thomas Kemp, Managing Director, Verona Suhler Stevens

3) New Rules of the Game
a) The migration of dollars to online from print will pale in comparison to a far more detrimental effect for many publishers: the emergence of lead gen as the negotiating tool. Readership quality will be determined more by its ability to produce a lead than anything else.
b) Integrated Marketing Programs will be the best way to get the attention of clients. Sellers who are not strategic will be commoditized and driven to the bottom on price. Yet another unfortunate reality of the online emergence for those who dont have the right stuff.
Traver Hutchins, CEO, MediZine

4) Emergence of Brands
Magazines will remain a healthy slice of the media landscape, and will grow more robust as print companies wake up to the fact that they own BRANDS and begin to manage them in the way that their advertisers have long managed their brands.
Tom Beusse, President, Time4Media

5) More Creative Advertising
Magazines will continue to be challenged by advertising partners to deliver full marketing services and capabilities that surround traditional print buys with various multi-media and experiential elements. Magazines that continue to meet these challenges in a creative way, that is also mutually beneficial to all parties, will be the success stories of 2007.
Andy Cohn, Publisher, The Fader

6) More Small Titles; Content emerges Differentiator
a) There will be more new analog printed titles than ever before, but with smaller and smaller circulations. There will be increased focus on Web social networking platforms for publishers and their readers.
b) Publishers will finally realize that content is their true franchise, anti-disregardless of the platform that content is distributed upon, and that we are entering the new golden age of profitable Information Distribution, formally known as publishing.
Bob Sacks, The Precision Media Group

7) Ousourcing, other ways to Increase Revenues
a. A few months ago we saw VNU turn its back on ethics and begin inserting ads in editorial copy. After folks complained, VNU pulled back. I expect more of this. The pressure to increase revenue is enormous and a myth has arisen that the old rules don't apply in new media.
b. 2007 will also be the year of outsourcing. A number of magazines are already experimenting with having their art and design work done overseas. And Reuters opened the door in 2006 to outsourcing some editorial operations to India. But this movement will grow tremendously in 2007. The most likely scenario is that one of the dozens of magazines that have launched overseas editions in Vietnam, China, India and elsewhere will ask their overseas staff to take over U.S.-focused beats.
Paul Conley, Blogspot

8) Growth of FREE Titles
a. Buyers will finally realize that the cash flow from free distribution titles (non-requested) is just as good as the cash flow from requested or paid titles.
b) Hot Sectors? Follow the ad pages.
Drew Lawler, Managing Director, AJ LAWLER Partners

9) Sponsor-supported Publishing
Associations will dramatically increase their sponsor-supported publishing. With new fee-for- service revenue harder than ever to get, with ad pages falling in some areas, and with association members wanting ever more detail to meet professional challenges, sponsor-supported publishing makes sense, as long as appropriate controls are in place to ensure the content retains the objectivity that is core to an associations value.
Robert Fromberg, President, Society of National Association Publications

10) Demand for better circulation metrics
As publishers extend their brands into other media platforms, there will be a greater demand for developing new reporting and metrics reflective of the changing media consumption habits of traditional and new readers. Although they may not be directly comparable, Web and circulation metrics together can demonstrate a publications brand and the reach of its content. As media silos are reduced or eliminated by advertisers, their demand for consolidated accountability across all media platforms will find publishers and ABC providing new tools to address their needs.
Michael J. Lavery, President and Managing Director, ABC

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This is a highly condensed list. You can read the complete one here

LAUNCHPAD: Stardust goes Deutsche

2006-12-15T17:13:00.000+05:30

Last week I was pleasantly surprised when I met a German from Berlin who could talk more intelligently about various bollywood stars than some of us in India. Cristof Kaul was in India for a week and we met at Synapse in Goa where I work! The talk veered from Goa’s IFFI to Berlinale 2006 and how two Indian movies including ‘Parineeta’ were shown there. Cristof could talk at length about Shahrukh Khan’s rise, Kajol’s comeback in Fanaa, Aishwarya versus Madhuri as leading ladies in Indian cinema and so on.
And, as he suggested, Bollywood seems to be big in Germany. A proof of which is the ad in today's Indian Express announcing the launch of ‘Bollywood Stardust’—First Indian magazine to be launched in Germany. The ad claims that for the first time an Indian magazine is being printed for a European country in their language for the local market. Great idea! And good going Magna.

Media Ads: Time Magazine's Outdoor Campaign

2006-12-12T16:25:00.000+05:30

In its outdoor campaign "TIME. Where news meets business" Time magazine's red borders create a timely, recognizable portrait of current world events says Amy Corr of Media Post. Eight ads (of which three are shown below) were created in-house by TIME and placed at high-trafficked business and commuter locations in London.

One ad in the campaign featured a group of borders lined up to create a gun with adjoining copy stating, "Urban warfare & hostile takeovers." Another featured a wall with an opening in the middle, and compares "breached borders & boardroom oustings.
A slot machine full of TIME borders compares the gambles of "social hazards & high risk investments." In another ad, a series of tiered borders represent "celebrity pairings & mega-mergers."

To know more about the campaign you can read: The Fine Red Line Between News And Business