FAD: Magazine on Fashion day 2 day!

FAD- a fashion magazine, as claimed by publisher, Pankaj Burande of Leela Publication House looks totally confused and lost to be in every space along with the fashion, though its tag line- 'fashion day-2 day' indicates its absolutely different positioning.

Content
Because of its scattered nature of content, its very difficult to determine to whom they are targeting. And still editor of FAD, Saai Vijayaa Venkat calls it a niche magazine for fashion and trends. Apart from its core subject, FAD also covers food, wine, beauty care, spa, interior, gizmos, travel etc. Above all, it also carries irrelevant features on eco friendliness, animal friendliness, Juices, gastronomy & organic foods and what not...!

Design
Mediocre! No style sheet is followed and that is why there lots of inconsistencies in layouts & designs. Because of poor visualization they have simply managed to spoil a few of very good photographs. Art director should have thought of the nature of the magazine that its going to be fashion magazine and that is why its going to carry a huge burden on its design & visual appeal of pages. Lots of thick frames give a clutter look on pages. Cover image is excellent for this issue but the way text & stories are put on that image, its looking sad.

Printing
Printing is good in terms of sharpness of photographs and text is also looks very sharp & great. But colors correction is poor in photographs and produces false skin colors in the magazine.

Product
Being a fashion magazine, which supposed to carry lots of visual elements, require a good quality of page. FAD is using quite a decent page which do justice with the perception of this kind of magazines. Hundred pages fat FAD is priced at Rs.60 which is good as looking at the product.

As conclusion I think it is not a fashion-fashion magazine but its confused magazine in order to attract everybody in it. For a layman's point of view its good for browsing and looking at pages but for a serious fashion enthusiast its not recommendable magazine.

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India Boating: Luxurious adventure on the water

A very niche and India’s first luxury boating magazine, INDIABOATING is launched recently by Bluewater Publications Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai at the cover price of Rs.300.

It was launched on the right time when the first edition of the Mumbai International boat show was opened for the very exclusive preview for the VVIPs in the Mumbai from the business class to the Page3 celebrities.

Content
FOB is all about news, events, shows, interviews and is about what’s happening in boating around the world. Reviews, Races, Sailing Destinations are the really interesting sections where readers can find insightful reviews on newly launched boats & yachts and can also know about various destinations and racing events who are passionate for these kind of sports/adventure.

Design
Not as impressive as the title of the magazine & the positioning of the product suggests! It disappoints when such a luxurious subject is not laid out as per the demand of the subject. Selection of colors, fonts and grid is just not appropriate and that’s why it doesn’t help to showcase such a stylish content in elegantly.

Printing
Printing quality is good in terms of photographs & color reproduction and looks quite a rich.

Product
Paper used for the cover as well as for the main magazine is fairly good. Magazine appears as a luxury magazine when you pick up in your hands but as I said, it disappoints when you go through pages. If design and presentation of the stories could improve, it can be a great product.
To sum up all can say that its first of its kind of magazine, so content will definitely appeal to its target audience. Since, its very niche & expensive also, it will be available on exclusive stores/news stand only or it will be controlled circulated.

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Five times covered India's 50 beauties

You might remember my one and half year old posting on the same forum about multiple covers! In that post I had mentioned that publishers in UK/US had started experimenting with split covers or multiple covers of the same issue. Results proves that it works well for their corresponding TG if executed very calculated & thoughtfully (http://mediajunction.blogspot.com/2006/12/multiple-covers-for-same-issue.html).

Well, its really pleasant that very first time in Indian publishing, one publisher has dare to experiment on this. BBC Worldwide has put FIVE different covers on FEMINA's latest issue. This way a buyer have choice to pick the copy which is carrying his/her favorite face out of Bipasha, Priyanka, Deepika, Priety and Aish. Or one can collect all five beautiful covers of this special collector's edition. This special n fat issue also featuring India's 50 most beautiful women, which they have chosen after analyzing lods of SMSs and vote poll held on http://www.femina.in/. Same issue is also carrying one CD along with the issue in its regular cover price of Rs.30 which has wallpapers of all 50 beauties.

I am excited to see this wonderful sign of daring & experimenting publishing in India. Apart from this lots of activities are visible on news stands…Yes, Vogue India is also launched… wait for my review on Vogue India!

La Sppa- confused!

When a magazine is planned to target a niche segment but put content to attract everybody in it then a de-focused and confused magazine takes birth. The same is happened with 'fashion n lifestyle' magazine LA SPPA which is recently launched by a Heera Zhaveraat group enterprise.

You might be aware of P.J. News & Information Bureau Pvt. Ltd. has its seven year old magazine called HEERA ZHAVERAAT on Gems & Jewellery and has websites, www.heerazhaveraat.com and www.worlddiamondbank.com also. This bi-monthly magazine is their latest venture which they want to target fashion & lifestyle industry and for that they are addressing a contemporary young as well as matured people!!

Content
Its neither remained a niche nor become a general interest as they have tried to put everything in the inaugural issue to show their broadband of content. The same is acclaimed by the Editor- Mr. Suresh Chotai in the editorial page of the same issue that apart from the fashion trade, LA SPPA will also talk about variety of subjects like sex(?), health(!), relationships(!!), fashion industry trends, youth aspects, celebrity talks any many more to fulfill young generation's aspirations!!! Its' Publisher & Chief Editor- Mr. Rajesh Bajaj is went one step further and written in his welcome note that readers may take what they like from this magazine and may toss the rest away… No wonder content structure of LA SPPA is so scattered and distracted from the center.

You think that I am exaggerating the thing?? Fine, have a look on a few main stories- 'The joy and dangers of flirting', 'College daughters relationships with their fathers', 'School safety for parents: what to look for in your child's school', 'Massage therapy', 'Adventure with Hot air balloons', 'Minister don't teach us about sex', 'Obsessed with thin: dangerous implications of being skinny'…

And guess, which is cover story for this issue?? Of course its their in above mentioned list… Fine, it’s the last in this list. No one could understand that this is the cover story, probably makers of this magazine also knew this and that's why they clearly mentioned on the story on the cover- COVER STORY!!

Its needless to mention that most of these kind of articles are foreign content and images/pictures, almost all looks as are downloaded from the net.

Design
Equally bad…! As editorial team has tried to exposed their wide range of domain understanding, similarly design team has also tried hard to prove their creativity. For example, just on the cover itself designer has used more than a dozen fonts type faces. He has used lots of cluttering in each story headlines as well as lots of colors and effects on the cover lines...! Main image is used badly cut and poor color corrected. Oh, when I am writing about cover, let me tell you that this is the only magazine I can remember which has Editor's name on the cover itself!

It seems that designer had full liberty show his skills in single issue and he/she hasn’t missed the opportunity! You can see each and every effect or cluttering, which is possible, in this one magazine...no single consistency or style sheet!

Oh yes, only good looking pages are advertisement pages!!

Printing
As almost every photograph seems like downloaded from the net, it has got pixelated at most of the pages. Few pages have registration problems.

Product
Well, expecting for the better than what you are getting at the cover price of Rs.27/- only, would be not fair. What else (in terms of physical & tangible product) you can expect in such a low price but it cant be an excuse for the poor content & design. I think, it is not going to be sold on news stand anyways as it would be controlled distributed to the trade community (if they can find appropriate target audience for this kind of defocused magazine) or it would be subscription driven only.

LA SPPA is not focused on the subject so its difficult to say that whom publishers want to target. So is difficult to say whether it is going to useful any segment of people.

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StyleSpeak: Making a Style Statement

Yes, I do agree with Editor Sandhya Chipalkatti, who is also publisher of her recently launched Style & Fashion magazine called STYLESPEAK. According to Chiplakatti, fashion in India not only arrived but has spread over the market in an organized manner and therefore it is no longer can be dominated by selected few. Hosting of four major fashion weeks every year in India is the big evidence.

STYLESPEAK is launched by C & E Media, a division of Conferences & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. at cover price of Rs.100. Being a B2B magazine, mainly targeting to Salon & Spa owners not the consumers; it is not available on news stands but can be subscribed.

Content
Keeping their target audience in mind, content doesn’t impress much. This 64 pager magazine carrying a very less number of useful & practical articles which leave a reader more informed or educated behind.

From the point of usefulness, only ‘Salon management’, ‘Step by Step, ‘Expert Speak’ & ‘StyleFile’ are OK. Rests of the pages are just the showcase of products or fashion shows. To make it more useful, it should have more articles like ‘Education’, ‘Expert Advice’ & ‘Step by Step’ etc.

A very long list of names of Doctors, experts, specialist, stylists is given in the colophon as editorial advisors, contributors, columnists which impresses a reader very much in the beginning but disappoint you when you enter in the magazine and can’t see any strong & fruitful article.

Design
Poor…(but while writing this review, next issue came in my hands and I can see the significant improvements in it). Starting from the cover, masthead is strong and fine. Since content is not so appealing, there is no strong cover story to put on the cover. And perhaps knowing the fact that it is a non-news-stand magazine, it is not considered seriously. Even in B2B magazines, cover stories can be put in some interesting & inviting way instead of putting some very dry-incomplete-meaningless words.

As I mentioned, layout of inside pages is improved in latest issue but still lots of basic design mistakes are there which clearly show the lack of style sheet.

Printing
Despite of being a salon & spa magazine, you can’t see skin tones accurately on most of the pages (apart from a few advertisement pages).

Product
Paper quality of the magazine as well as the cover is very good and that’s why with even 64 pages, the magazine is perfect bound.

Anyways, magazine is targetting spa & parlor owners which defintely would love this product if more articles on their profitability or business tips can be put in next issues. Design, as I said, is improved than first issue but still required to be tweaked.

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Right HAIR Right Now…

Its time to get more and more niche! You can’t talk about fashion, style, beauty, hair… everything at once; you need to give enough space to every aspect to let it spread & grow. For that reason perhaps, in recent months a few of very niche interests magazines are launched in India and HAIR is one of them.

HAIR is UK’s best selling hair magazine which is launched in India by Spenta Multimedia at cover price of Rs. 50.

Content
Inaugural issue’s Content of HAIR is fabulous. As its name suggests and being a niche magazine, content is more or less is about hair care, styling, dos-don’ts, advices, problems-solutions, make-over only. It is also carrying glam quotient by adding model-celeb’s styles & their interviews. Same issue is carrying an interesting section called- ‘The Style Guide- Cut & Color’, which is carrying different samples of various cuts & colors like blonde, dark, red, long, short and layers etc.. and ‘The Style Guide- Texture & Trends’, which shows samples of sleek, waves, curls, volume, fringes and updos etc. Other interesting articles/sections/columns are- ‘Make me Over’, ‘Busted 10 common haircare myths’ and obviously Expert advices.

A very space is given to Beauty also where beauty products are showcased And a few of skin & beauty advices are given.

Design
Average…and cover is worse. Starting from image selection, image placing, layout of cover stories, presentation everything is bad. One can easily get confused about the masthead itself whether it is ‘HAIR & BEAUTY’? No consistency of using fonts (sizes, colors). Very carelessly Single-tier, 2-tier and 3-tier lines are used on the cover.

Inside pages are slightly better than the cover, but again style sheet is not followed strictly. In this kind of magazines, where lots of advertorials and sponsored sections/articles are there, it becomes even more critical to have very carefully prepared design style sheet and to follow it religiously. Still, a few pages like ‘Make me Over’, ‘The Style Guide’ are good.

Being an international publication, Indian edition is also carrying lots of UK content which disconnects an Indian reader a little bit, but it can be taken care by putting Indian faces & images on pages.

Printing
despite of being a spenta product, printing quality of HAIR is average. Overall colors are looking very dull. Even pre-press/designer hasn’t taken care of cover image and has spoiled the cover.

Product
It could be classier if it was printed on better paper. And looking at price, it can be improved.

Overall, content of HAIR is equally useful for an individual consumer as well as for beauty parlor or salon people.

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My Mobile: Mera Wala Mobile

Hi Friends,

Some publishers feel that technology is for English speaking population only and that’s why they want to address them only. They make excuse that their advertisers also don’t believe that Hindi speaking population also has potential to afford technology.

Some publishers dare to prove that even Hindi speaking population has lots of potential and they dare to launch a magazine for this target audience. They not only launch but they also seed their product until advertisers also start believing the same.

Just two years old, India’s first exclusive magazine on mobile phones ‘My Mobile’ has launched its Hindi edition with the same name this month as a beta issue. This beta issue is available on selected shops at Rs.25.

Apart from product reviews, tests & product buying guide, Hindi edition also carrying informative features & articles on mobile trends, technology and information about accessories. As regular column, it has Mobile doctor, Consumer forum, Mobile tariff & my guide to help a reader to make a cost effective decision.

‘My Mobile’ has already created number one position for itself in this segment; Hindi edition has also potential to create the same respect for it as it has no competition.

You must be aware that My Mobile is published by My Mobile Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. which is a brainchild of Pankaj Mahendroo, National President of Indian Cellular Association (ICA).

Its parent magazine’s website is http://www.mymobile.co.in/ where you can also find synopsis of the cover story of current month and network trends and information on handsets & service providers.

Models & Trends: Four Fs…

Hi Friends,

Fun. Fashion. Films. Fame. A tagline for newly launched magazine ‘Models n Trends’ which I can’t see fulfilled after going through the Jun 07 issue.

A perfect bound magazine of 82 pages, priced at Rs.50, is having a very nice picture of Deepika Padukone on the cover. Master-head is also attractive. But the cover design is poor because of badly placed & illogically presented cover stories on it.

Content is also not great and pages are even badly laid out. Designer & Visualiser have done lots of experiments in the same issue of the magazine which shows their lack of experience in magazine publication. Otherwise they could have presented beautifully this vibrant subject of fashion & glamour.


You can also visit at http://www.modelsntrends.com/ for a glance of the magazine and for the models full portfolios.

CIO Decisions: Strong Decisions

Hi Friends,

After seeing launches of channel magazines from The Express Group & IDG India in last few months, its time for us for being witness of launch of ‘CIO Decisions’, a CIO focused B2B magazine for enterprises.

CIO, who is no longer responsible only for IT implementation & maintenance rather his role is now evolved as a leader, strategist and business analyst. This change has brought an obvious change in his information needs, which ‘CIO Decisions’ is going to address through its features on IT management, strategy and business alignment.

‘CIO Decisions’ has got tie-up with TECHTARGET, a world leader Information provider for IT professionals & executives to make cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing IT projects. Another strong point may be its advisory panel which has veterans from IT & business like, Chinar Deshpande (Pantaloon), Avinash Sankholkar (L&T), CN Ram (HDFC), Pravir Vohra (ICICI), S Ramasamy (IOC), Mani Mulki (Godrej), Hilal Isar Khan (Honda), Sandeep Phanasgaonkar (Reliance), Sanjeev Goel (Hindalco), Sunil Mehta (JWT), Chandrashekhar Nene (Kingfisher) etc.

Editorial content wise inaugural issue of CIO-D is looking quite informative though its design & presentation could have even better but unfortunately it always take back seat for almost every B2B magazine and so is with CIO-D.

At the cover price of Rs.50, inaugural issue of ‘CIO Decisions’ is also bundled with inaugural issue of its sister publication ‘Information Storage’. 64 pager Information Storage is going to target enterprises’ information need for premium storage & storage management. Information Storage has also strong advisory panel having Avijit Basu (HP), Sharad Srivastava (WD), Gopalakrishna Ramavana (NetApp), Manoj Chugh (EMC), Sumit Mukhija (Cisco), Shailesh Agarwal (IBM), Vishal Dhupar (Symantec) and Sivasankaran Lakshminarayan (Sun Microsystems) on the board.

Immediately after these two launches, The Express Group is going to launch another B2B title ‘Information Security’, targeting enterprise security & risk managers to provide solution to their network threats.

A Ready Reckoner for Indian Magazine Industry

Hi Friends,

It is as comprehensive & practical as its name itself suggests. PITCH, four & half year old magazine which targets at Ad-Marketing-Media is carrying this special magazine along with its latest issue on the regular cover price.

‘Ready Recknoer’ is a 184 pager (yes, thicker than its parent magazine PITCH which is 96 pages magazine) perfect bound special magazine which is carrying in depth, incisive study of advertising trends in 20 different genres of Indian Magazines. It also looks at the global magazine publishing trends.

Top 20 genres, which they have studied, are General Interest, Women, Fashion-Entertainment-Lifestyle, Business & Finance, InfoTech, Auto, Media-Advertisement-Marketing, Career & Education, Men, Travel, Science & Engineering, Sports, Healthcare, Telecom, Real Estate, Franchising, Films, In-flight, City Centric and Spirituality/Holistic healing.

People, who are magazines buff, who love to read a variety of magazine, regardless of their core interest of subject, they will definitely love to read a compilation of profiles of around 125 magazines from different genres. Apart from this, you can also read invaluable opinions and outlook of various renowned media people like Ashish Bagga (India Today Group), Paresh Nath (Delhi Press), Maheshwar Peri (Outlook Group), Pradeep Gupta (Cyber Media), Marzban Patel (Mediascope Publicitas Group), R Rajmohan (Images Group) along with Anurag Batra (Exchange4media Group).

I would recommend everybody to go through this issue if you want to get a glance over Indian magazine industry in one go.

HELLO! India

Hi Friends,

I have told you in my previous mails that April month has brought lots of inaugural & special issues of different magazines. "HELLO!" is one new entrant in Indian market after "OK!" which is a celebrity news magazine and is launched by Worldwide Media Pvt. Ltd.

To maintain the trend of staying pioneer in putting exclusive pictures and/or stories in the magazine, inaugural issue of HELLO! is carrying worldwide exclusive pictures of marriage of Liz Hurley & Arun Nayar (you must be aware of other story about selling exclusive copy rights to publish these pictures to this magazine in a just few million dollars only :). And it worked well for the magazine sale. (Last week on some TV news channel, the editor of Indian edition, Ruchika Mehta, revealed that next issue of HELLO! will be carrying some exclusive pictures of Aish-Abhi… no ..no…not their marriage's but when they were getting closer on the set of 'Umraao Jaan').

This was the same magazine that had published worldwide exclusive pictures of Brad, Jolie with their new baby- Shiloh. A few months back.

Other than Liz-Arun wedding story, the same inaugural issue is also peeping into Poonawallas' (India's premier racing family) weekend, Saif-Rosa and Hugh-Jemima part ways stories.

Original HOLA! (HELLO!), the SA edition, is the weekly edition while in India it is launched as 124 page monthly magazine at cover price of Rs. 50.

Well, people who love to read about celebs, want to look their pictures when they are on holidays or dating or breaking or partying… they would definitely love this magazine because of one, exclusive reporting and second, big sized glossy paper of the magazine. I personally feel that reporting and pictures may be exclusive in HELLO! but the presentation, layout and designing could be far better than it is.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi

All Sports: Everything is fair... in Love, War & SPORTS!

Hi Friends,

India might have lost the Cricket World Cup, but the ventures which are started keeping world cup in the mind, haven’t lost their hopes and trying to do better… whether it is TV channel Neo Sports or it is newly launched monthly magazine- ALLSPORTS.

Yes, the name suggests 'All' sports but its like the reality in our country that Cricket overshadows everything else in the sports. For ALLSPORTS it may also true because when it is launched, the biggest event on the earth happening is the Cricket World Cup and that's why the inaugural issue is carrying the cover story on World Cup 2007. Poor editorial team was not aware that by the time this magazine will be released, India would have lost the match and people would have lost their interest from Cricket. Its wrong, if people believe that Cricket is religion in India. I think people in India don't bother about the Cricket game, they are concerned if and only if India is playing. This world cup scenario is the witness that the moment India came out the tournament; people stopped watching or even discussing the match. Today almost nobody is following what is happening in the match, they are quite happy in just knowing the result of the match instead of following every single ball.

So, idea of putting the image of World Cup on the cover of the inaugural issue is just gone into the drain. And as it is, the design of cover is poor and so unprofessional that it just can’t attract a reader on news stand. There are lods of unnecessary design elements on the cover which are making the cover congested.

Still in the first issue of Allsports, you can find F1, Football, Golf also. But the content is more like facts & figures which don't impress me much. I would rather like to read more features or in-depth analysises or expert opinions instead of reading referential score cards only.

Though, we don’t have any good sports magazine in India, there is definitely scope for one, but with this kind of content I don’t think Allsports can satisfy that need. 112 page monthly magazine is priced at Rs.50 and launched by SE publishing Pvt. Ltd and Edited by Mario Rodrigues. Magazine is backed by the Essel Group which is well known as an ambassador for sports, having vested interests in both Zee Sports and Ten Sports, giving the group the title of the World’s No 1 sports channels for South Asians - in addition to its involvement in Indian Football and the development of youth in sports.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi

Bride & Style: Something about marry!

Hi Friends,

BRIDE AND STYLE is another magazine in the same segment i.e. Marriage which is coincidently launch in the same month by ITE India Pvt. Ltd. Another coincident (apart from that both magazines are Delhi based) is that its also edited by a lady editor- Geetika Sharma who started her welcome edit note with- Cicero called marriage the first bond of society- and has crafted a beautiful & crisp piece of her editorial.

Cover of the Inaugural issue is quite ok but could be improved if a few things would have kept in mind. Inside pages are well-designed. Content pages could be more informative as they fail to communicate the editorial structure of the magazine. Still, I find it’s a decent bouquet of editorial features along with lots of regular columns. Another thing I liked is that they have conceived articles from various different genre but they have beautifully crafted them around the theme of the magazine- 'marriages' only whether its about style, or about make-up or about skin care or about places or about entertainment or health or about shopping… everything is either bride focused or marriage centric.

Bride & Style is also printed in broad size and has used a good quality of paper which gives you a feel of rich content. 154 page magazine is (im)perfect bound as its each and every page has already come out from binding in one reading only. This quarterly magazine is priced at Rs.100 which I think, looking at its content, is fine.


Regards,

G.S.Virdi

Man & Wife: Bond...Strongest Bond!

Hi Friends,

April month has brought a tidal wave of inaugural issues of lods of Desi & Phirang magazines like ALLSPORTS, BRIDE AND STYLE, MAN & WIFE, HELLO, PARENTS TODAY, BETTER HOMES & GARDENS! I am sure; there must be lots of others also which I may have missed because of my very limited access to the market.

Let me start with- MAN & WIFE (yes, you read it right...its not Man & Wine.), a bi-monthly magazine on Relationships, or 'your guide to successful matrimony' as its editor, Mitu Bisht defines the magazine. Man & Wife is launched by BIB publications and this 64 page – perfect bound magazine is priced at Rs.60.

Inaugural issue is carrying four stories on the cover and three out of them are carrying the word 'Marriage' in it, which shows how marriage centric this magazine is! Cover image is good but they could have design it better and could have utilize cover space smartly. The only thing is perfect is its Mast-head which is quite strong & prominent.

Well at a glance, Man & Wife is printed in a big size and on good quality of paper but its design is poor. Designer has overlooked a lots of basic design rules and needed to rework to improve the layout and the presentation of the content. There is no consistency even in any two articles. Content is also not so impressive as it looks like a compilation of articles printed in news papers' Sunday supplements. As Mitu wrote in her edit note- the way to go… I believe they will improve their content & design to make it successful as they are trying our marriages successful.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi

Prevention: Its better than cure!

Hi Friends,

You might be aware that the last November, India Today Group has launched 'men’s health' for men. In less than a six months time, same group has launched a health magazine for women- PREVENTION. Unlike ‘Men’s Health’, which is more a lifestyle product, ‘Prevention’ is totally focused on health and fitness.

Prevention is 56 years old US based health magazine which is most trusted and well accepted in Greece, Poland, Mexico, Ukraine and Chile. From easy-to-implement "quick tips" to award-winning, cutting edge reporting, Prevention is uniquely positioned to tell readers: Here's what you really need to know, and here's what to do about it.

America's leading healthy lifestyle magazine is based on a simple and powerful promise: Make little changes, get big results. Prevention speaks to readers in a reassuring familiar voice about family health, food, nutrition, workouts, beauty, cooking, and more.

150-page magazine is priced at Rs. 50 in the size of Readers Digest and I think it’s perfect balance of price and information. Inaugural issue is carrying lods of useful articles including cover story- 'Save your Heart Now-A complete plan'. Other interesting articles are- 'Flatten your belly in 9 easy moves', 'Get new body- Step by Step', '6 powerfoods every woman needs' and 'Turn the clock back- 35 going on 25' which are definitely going to appeal their target audience.

Same issue is also carrying 16-page tiny booklet- Know your fruits- easy tips to calorie count. You must have remember that inaugural issue of 'men’s health' was carrying a merchandised pouch of KS, this issue of Prevention is also carrying sample capsules of Vitamin & Minerals- Revital from Ranbaxy.

Apart from the interesting and useful features and dense content, I am more impressed with the advisory panel having more than a dozen experts on it.

Prevention is started with a print run of 50,000 copies and I think it can leave an impact on its TG.

Regards,

G. S. Virdi

Hindi & Tamil: Digit in local languages

Hi Friends,

Most pathetic brand extension I have seen in my life is of 'digit' if they call it brand extension.

Around five old and a very successful brand 'digit' has launched its local language products as its brand extension- 'digit fast track' in Hindi and Tamil language in last week. Both the 'book-cum-magazines' are available on news stands at Rs.50 and Rs. 40 respectively. Both the editions are carrying one CD also.

After going through 'digit fast track Hindi' edition, I would like to say that its just a horrible product. In comparison of their mother brand- digit, these editions are simply going to disappoint their readers. Readers will also feel cheated when they will not find the product and content quality which they may expect from the 'digit' brand.

Both the covers are poorly conceptualized and designed. I can't find any logic nor any connection of putting the models (obviously they are taken from their old stock) with the title- Microsoft Office. Cover design is equally bad and seems like an outcome of thoughtless execution.

Most disappointing is the paper quality of the 112 pages' magazine which is not better than even a local news paper's paper quality. Whole magazine is poorly printed in mono black color and screen shots are horribly faded that no one can see what is shown there. And readers will be feeling cheated as they don’t expect such a bad product from the brand digit.

Oh content??? Don’t even ask about that! Translation is ridiculous and not user friendly and there are uncountable typo errors on each and every single page. CD completely is in English except one word- 'fast track' is written in Hindi on its face!

What all I can say is its simply an insult of non-English speaking reader by providing such degraded product to them. Providing this kind of product for Hindi speaking audience shows that publishers of 'digit fast track Hindi' underestimate this audience. They think that this audience can accept even this kind of pathetic product. That too at such a decent cover price! In fact, there are lots of other Hindi magazines in the market which are printed in four colors on good quality of paper and having good quality of images and that too at even half of the price.

Anyways, 'digit fast track Hindi' is the topical book/magazine which doesn’t have any fixed periodicity as it is not the regional version of 'digit' regular magazine. Publishers of 'digit' might have some thought behind this product, but I can't think that it is going to add any value to their brand.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi

Time Out please...

Hi Friends,

You might be aware that 39 years ago 'Time Out' was started in London and after its journey of almost four decade, today it has more than 56 versions world wide. Just two and half years ago it was launched in India by Paprika Media for the Mumbai city and it just changed the rules of the game for the city magazines in India.

Well, Time Out Mumbai is an entertainment and lifestyle magazine that showcases reviews and previews of Mumbai’s art, books, children, dance, health and spirituality, film, television, radio, music, nightlife, sports, restaurants & eating out and shopping services. It comprehensively guides readers through the fascinating range of entertainment and cultural opportunities that exist in Mumbai. Time Out Mumbai features witty, intelligent reviews and previews and comprehensive, accurate listings.

After witnessing the success of Time Out Mumbai, other major publication houses also awaken and that’s why, I think, India Today started 'Simply Mumbai' and Outlook launched the 'Mumbai City Limits' but both the magazines are still being freely distributed with their mother brands.

This week, Paprika media has launched 'Time Out Delhi' for Delhiets to showcase Delhi in a new perspective. Delhi edition will be edited by Editor Avtaar Singh. Following the trend its again a fortnightly magazine and priced at Rs.30 only.

I hope that this edition is set to repeat its success and going to be appreciated by Delhi people.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi

Circle: Magazines are happening!

Hi Friends,

Yes, Its been quite some time when I wrote to you on this forum and few of you are teasing me- Kya hua Virdi, aajkal kuchh naya nahin ho raha kya market mein?

Its not that there nothing is happening in the magazines world, in fact lots of specials/anniversaries are happening these days. Most of the magazines create some or the other special in their Dec/Jan issues.

I think, magazines also try hard to get the maximum from the advertisers before the financial year closing. And that's why March becomes the wonderful time for the readers when they get lots of '…Extraaaas…Specials...' with many regular magazines.

'PLATFORM', a creative lifestyle magazine is celebrating its 2nd anniversary and for that special occasion they have come up with a free compilation of selected talented people from various fields like music, films, photography, dance, dj etc.

Another magazine, 'MY MOBILE' has also completed two years and I would say that the magazine has created its position in its niche.

'CIRCLE' is another lifestyle magazine, published & edited by Nazia Mallick from NOIDA, which has completed its one year this month.

'GLADRAGS' and 'THE MAN', both have come up with their Swimsuit Specials. Well, its tested & all time hit formula for making a successful issue once in a year…though, 'THE MAN' has done it twice a year as it had 'BIKINI SPECIAL' a few months back which was also a well sold issue… Yes, you are right, boys will be boys only…!!!

O by the way, boys reminded me that 'MAN'S WOLRD' has come up with its 7th anniversary issue at the price of Rs. 100. And boys, hold your breath…'DEBONAIR' has come up with its 33rd anniversary issue this month which is huge n bulky issue and that’s why it is priced at Rs. 200 only….Didn't I tell you that this time of the year brings a lots of extraaas for the readers…:-)

Well about new releases, I came across one tabloid magazine-PAGE3, which is published by 'Combined TV & Cine Network Pvt. Ltd.' from New Delhi. It’s a 30 pager weekly tabloid priced at Rs. 15 only. Nothing else is mentionable!

Enough for this time, keep reading!

G.S.Virdi

Andpersand(&): Too Perfect or Too Overconfident?

A magazine, started as a quarterly a few months ago. Just after first issue's response, it became a bi-monthly magazine. Then again after second issue's response, it turned as a monthly magazine.

Hi Friends, I am talking about the magazine- &. that was launched in Miami, Amsterdam, Dubai and India a few months ago only, well in last September '06 precisely at cover price of Rs. 150 (Indian Edition). And recently its latest issue of 210 pages (broad size) is released in Indian market at cover price of Rs. 100 with a publisher's note that they have decided to make it a monthly magazine.

Further in his note, Publisher- Vikas Johari has also indicated that they have decided to launch two more titles in 2007: FORMS, a magazine about design and Architect and the JOHARI, a jewellary and beauty magazine.

Hmmmm, so fast...what do you say?

Anyways, I have gone through the latest issue and found it a very good package in terms of content versatility, design & layout, production & printing. Creativity in design, you can feel right from the cover as its three and half page fold 'editorial cover', which I have never seen before in any magazine.

Well, a broad sized magazine &., made of art paper, and has got 40 pages of advertisement also.

To get a feel of &., you can also logon to the http://www.andpersandmag.com/.

Regards,

G.S.Virdi