LaunchPAD: Home Trends, India Edition

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

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!]

LaunchPAD: Witness

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

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

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.

LaunchPAD: Femina Hindi

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.
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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!!!

LaunchPAD: GQ India Edition

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! :)

LaunchPAD: People (India Edition)

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."

LaunchPAD: GEO India Edition

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

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.

LaunchPAD: Rolling Stone India Edition

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

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.

LaunchPAD: Child Magazine-India Edition

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

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.

LaunchPAD: TRAFFIC LIFE

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".

LaunchPAD: FHM India

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.

LaunchPAD: For Brides, Expats and Entrepreneurs

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”

LaunchPAD: Tehelka Magazine, eMaxim

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.

LaunchPAD: Outlook plans magazine on Stock Markets

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: Indian Edition of Wired?

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