'&'

(was written on: October 10, 2006)

And-per-sand, distortion of the word Ampersand or the symbol '&'.

Friends, another more-than-luxury-lifestyle magazine is launched in India, Miami, Amsterdam and Dubai simultaneously. It is published by Miami based Maxposure Media Group, LLC and in India by Publisher, Vikas Johari (& Associate Pub. Prakash Johari). Initially it is launched as a quarterly magazine in Mumbai and later it will be launched as bi-monthly and across the nation.

Mission of the Magazine:
& is set to be the next great global phenomenon by going beyond the buzz to bring you the best of what the world has to offer and flaunting creativity to the max. It was created for diverse, forward-thinking, affluent professionals, ages 25-49, with a bevy of disposable income and a sense of style to match. This international jetsetter with a "work hard, play harder" mentality loves fashion, diversity, technology, luxury goods, interior design, the arts, fine dining, the world's booming party scene & more.

The name '&' was conceived under the philosophy that there’s always more and the best way to unite two things – even total opposites – is to place the symbol “&” between them. They believe & is the medium to connect their readers to the rest of the world and vice – versa.

Well, Indian edition is priced at Rs150 for 142 pages, while Miami edition at $5.95US for 176 pages. Print run for this quarterly issue is kept 16,000 initially. This magazine will be distributed through various channels like though IBH for news stands, through various events for lifestyle & luxury things and through awards show like SMART LIVING in Mumbai (Nov) and Jewellary awards in Delhi (Dec). Same events will be covered in the same magazine also. They have tied-up with Times event division-360 degrees.

Apart from this, magazine will also be placed at various hotel chains like The Park, The Radisson, The Crowne Plaza, Le Maridien etc. The logic was to get the magazine in the right hands – of those with disposable income and with a sense of style and lifestyle. Also, value-added services to advertisers are on the agenda. The magazine is looking at a lot of PR activities and luxury-brands related events. Johari claims that the magazine is here to set never-before-seen standards in its luxury segment.

The magazine will cover major areas that touch any lifestyle-conscious consumer like fashion, automobiles, travel destinations, hotels and resorts, art and architecture. The inaugural issue will feature a Dubai-based resort and Austria as a travel destination. It will also showcase well-known painters like Riyaz Khan, Anjum Singh and Baiju Parthan. That apart, beginning with this issue, every issue will carry two photo shoots. This issue will feature models Bipasha and Sunalika under the theme ‘Too far west is east’. This will essentially bring out the trend of the west looking at India for fashion and ideas, explains Johari. In contrast, it will highlight how Indian designers are emulating western styles.
In short, magazine is divided into various sections like People, Fashion, Design & Architecture, Features, Art & Culture, Destination, Encyclopedia etc.

Issue #1 of Miami edition is with me (can't find indian edition around, if somebody find, please share), just in case if you want to have a look! You can also check http://www.andpersandmag.com/.

Keep Reading :)

G.S.Virdi