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Cafe Celeb: Banking on star power
Come December and a new celebrity magazine will hit the stands promising to offer a different treatment of the subject
This is more of a rule than exception these days.
Celebrities of various dimensions have this tendency to adorn the cover pages of publications - be it in a general interest or special interest magazine, newspaper pullout or special section, or the hundred-odd capsules on TV every week. The reason? Quite, simply, their commercial value.
However, if one were to draw on the same idea and focus on a novel presentation and style, the result could be very different. Café Celeb, a magazine edited and published by veteran journalist Pammi Somal, attempts to do just that with the idea of portraying the "positive side of celebrities".
"Though we intend covering celebrities from different walks of life, the idea is to avoid gossip and look at a more classy feel," she says about the monthly magazine, which is slated to hit the stands in mid-December this year.
Comprising 150 pages and priced at Rs 50, the magazine is targeted at the upmarket consumer with topics on health, fitness, astrology, as well as human-interest stories thrown in for good measure. The magazine will have a prominent section on television called Prime Slot, devoted to happenings in tellydom apart from stories and interviews with TV stars.
Boasting of a double cover instead of a single front cover, the initial print run of the magazine would be anywhere between 25,000 to 50,000 copies with celebrities drawn from the international circuit as well. Promoted by Scenario Communications, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Shalimar Agro Products, a public limited company into industrial and agro products, distribution of Café Celeb will be handled by India Book House (IBH).
Scenario is also in talks with café brands such as Barista and Café Coffee Day exploring opportunities to promote the magazine in their various outlets. Somal claims that every issue will be preceded by a unique launch event to register its presence in the minds of the target audience. "It won't be a regular party, but something different," she asserts.
Though Somal, who has 29 years behind her in magazines such as Cine Blitz among others, prefers maintaining a silence regarding the celebrity on the launch cover, she promises the magazine would stand the test of time. "I am 100 per cent confident that Café Celeb with work with its readers," she states. © 2003 agencyfaqs!