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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Brand Licensing enters India!

I have started feeling that this is the only fate left for B2B magazines in India. All the B2B magazines, well, most of them have a few commonalities among them. One- most of them are fairly good in terms of respective domain information and two- all are just thoughtlessly structured and designed very reluctantly. A great magazine is not made on the basis of information only but how that information is structured, how it is designed, how it is presented, how it packaged… that makes a magazine really a great magazine!

Sure, most of them are doing well, their information is appreciated and that is why they are managing to survive. They survive because there is definite need for that kind of information. They can do even better, they can be much appreciated and perhaps they can have much larger readership if they are structured sincerely, presented attentively. Unfortunately those are the areas where these magazines are neglected and they face the situation in which they are currently. And if the outlook of publishers & editors towards these magazines is going to remain same, these magazines deserve to be like this only.

‘Brand Licensing’ is latest entrant in the latter category of B2B magazines which I discussed in the beginning. ‘Brand Licensing’ as its editor in chief- Lajwant Singh claims in his first edit note, is first-of-its-kind of magazine in India that will help & educate entrepreneurs and companies to setup or expand their business via licensing. ‘Brand Licensing’ is launched by franchising & retailing group- Franchise India Holdings Ltd. (www.franchiseindia.com) who is also publisher of two more B2B magazines- ‘The Franchising World’ and ‘Retailer’.

Content
Again a fantastic & very niche vertical to be in but executed badly. Being a publication from Franchise India, content of BL is obviously rich and informative but it is scattered and disorganized badly across the magazine.

In most of the B2B magazines there is one very fine line which divides it from B2C. It is very easy for editors/writers of these magazines that they can cross it and land up into B2C domain if not controlled very-very cautiously. Same is happened with BL, though information provided for the business people are good but at some places it starts getting into consumer’s space. Solid & definite editorial structure is missing though out the magazine, articles are scattered illogically in the magazine and that is why magazine in totality looks very complicated to navigate.

Because of lack of planning, there are lots of errors left in the magazine that also puts the credibility of content on stake.

Design
It is same as the content structure…very amateur and unprofessional. Only thing is clearly visible about the design is that designers have no clarity what needs to do present in what way. Selection of typefaces, color palates, illustrations everything is used just like that…there is no reasoning behind selecting any single element in the magazine.

Printing
It is mediocre…if not great or even bad! Lots of photographs are taken from web and that is why the output is poor. Because of lesser LPI, even good photographs are printed badly.

Product
‘Brand Licensing’ is launched as quarterly magazine and priced at Rs75. It is an eighty page perfect bound magazine which gives a decent look to this magazine.

Finally, information given in BL is fairly impressive and definitely helpful for its target readers but it can be improved drastically by putting same information in better way.

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Monday, April 13, 2009

OPEN for you…

…but are you open for this?

That is the question which is there all around on hoardings, newspapers everywhere. A weekly magazine OPEN, as the first product in the pipe line of their print venture by Saregama Pvt Ltd. is launched last week across the nation. It is going to be general interest magazine by touching every serious & trivial aspect of your life. The question of your openness arises after looking at its USP- Its different! And irony is that people resist for change and they are not open for it.

Though (ignoring the content proportion for once) ‘India Today’, ‘Outlook’, ‘The Week’ are also in the same genre but as Editor Sandipan Deb clears its unique positioning in his edit note for the launch issue that OPEN will not be doing something new but for sure they will do the same- differently! Well, even for the same positioning ‘Tehelka’ & ‘The Caravan’ also tried and they could not do major.

Content
Being a very wide scope of coverage it becomes challenging for such magazines to define their personality, so is with OPEN. At a glance, launch issue is carrying variety of reading material, well enough in quantity for a week. Edit structure is broadly divided into three sections only- Small World (FOB- what is happening around), Features (main section- Lifestyle, current affairs, politics, culture, technology… everything!) and the Mindspace (BOB- Books, Cinema, Arts & Leisure).

Main section has lack of clarity, which is quite visible in its weak structure. This section, if it not defined clearly, has lot of scope to cover on one hand, on other hand it has a big threat of getting to scattered that magazine may lose its focus (even it has a broad focus).

Selection of stories & writing itself is commendable that makes OPEN an interesting reading literature. Subbing & proofing has left some errors on a few of pages.

Design
Cover of inaugural issue of OPEN is not as great designed cover as it should be to reflect the personality of the magazine, the philosophy of the OPEN. For the time, let’s assume that is because of the cover story but that also is not impressive.

These kinds of magazines have lots of scope of design, illustrations, graphics and imaging. On few pages, various design elements are smartly used which adds elegance to a page and on the contrary a few pages have unnecessary usages of styles, typo and other elements. It seems that entire magazine is designed in parts because each article appears great but if you go page-by-page, you can see lots of inconsistency that leaves a bad impression on reader.

Overall, it is quite neatly designed magazine.

Printing
Pictures in the magazine are come out very well because of good prepress work and the printing quality. Colors of various boxes, various design elements and photographs are come well. Only on some pages it has registration problems.

Product
Being a weekly magazine of 74 pages, it is good quantity of reading material that is priced at Rs30. Odd size & perfect binding of OPEN makes it ‘zara hatke’ magazine in its genre. That is what exactly goes well with the positioning of this magazine.

In the first issue, selection of articles, the writing and the variety of topics impressed me a lot. If it is defined clearly and is tweaked a little bit at some points, it can create its own space in the crowd of so called general interest magazines. But you have to be open for this difference first!

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‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●●◐○
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How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
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●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Careers 360: Right Information in a Wrong way!

Just about twenty years back, engineering or medical used to be the guarantee for the secure & bright future, but today scenario is changed. Youth of today has lots of options and so is confusion. Hence, there was a strong need for such a guide which can mentor any aspiring graduate or mid-career professional. And, a magazine from Pathfinder Publishing Pvt Ltd is here to guide all the aspiring people for taking the right and informed career path to pursue their dreams- Careers360.

Content
Concept & positioning of this monthly magazine is perfectly fine. Entire magazine of 112 pages are carrying a good number of articles to read. It is quite visible that the information & facts given in the articles are enormous. Magazine covers a vast range from schools reviews, career reviews, courses reviews, interviews with career experts & successful role models, competition guides etc.

Launch issue of Careers360 is carrying a survey on ‘10 best courses and careers’ as the cover story which is a fairly done study and it has lots of needed information in it. Apart from this cover story other articles are also well written and supporting the positioning of the magazine.

But each article looks good when it is seen individually. Just a collection of a few good articles doesn’t make a good magazine. This magazine has no content structure and that is why it doesn’t leave a good impression as a magazine after reading it.

Design
It is not as good as content is. In fact Poor and flawed design overshadows the quality of content. Basics of page layouts like grids, columns, styles are not followed properly. Layout & design has lots of inconsistencies which makes the entire magazine a substandard product.

Printing
Prepress work is mediocre and could be improved further to take the quality of the magazine to the new heights. Printing is good, except of few places.

Product
Since the nature of the magazine is informative & educative, so the quality of paper & magazine binding is kept average. Monthly Careers360 is priced at Rs.40 which looking at the articles & its information is perfectly fine.

For an aspiring student, I see a lot of value in the magazine and if its structure & design improves, this can create a huge reader base in very short duration.


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Content .....................: ●●●○○
Design & Layout ........: ●◐○○○
Printing ......................: ●●●◐○
Product ......................: ●●○○○
Value for Money .........: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●◐○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!