‘Chitralekha Gujarati’ goes to the US

The Chitralekha Group, publishers of the news weekly magazine, ‘Chitralekha Gujarati’, has launched its edition in the US. Next, it hopes to enter Canada as well. The magazine, published in Gujarati, aims to appeal to Gujarati NRIs who wish to be updated with the latest in their own language.

Mitrajit Bhattacharya, publisher, ‘Chitralekha Gujarati’, says, “Four out of every 10 Indians living in the US are Gujaratis. It was a natural extension to take our brand to the largest ‘Non Resident Gujarati’ (NRG) market. We have set up infrastructure in the US to handle printing, subscription, distribution, marketing and ad sales.”

Around 8-16 pages out of the total 70 pages will be localised news from the US and Canada, with the rest coming from India. With an initial print run of 15,000 in the first week, Bhattacharya hopes to achieve a circulation of around 25,000 copies over the next two years. The magazine will be subscription based as well as sold on newsstands.

The magazine will be printed in Maryland. Bhattacharya claims that the maximum number of Gujaratis reside in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, LA, Houston and Toronto. He feels that the magazine will be an ideal vehicle for advertisers such as retailers, tour operators and tourism boards, which are looking to attract the affluent NRGs.

In order to market the magazine in the US, TVCs have been running on select channels in the country, in addition to point of sale activities and radio advertising. A huge direct marketing exercise has been undertaken, the database for which has been obtained by ‘Gujarati Samaj’, the community service of Gujaratis abroad.

The price of the magazine is pegged at $65 (around Rs 2,925) in the US and $80 (around Rs 3,600) in Canada for a yearly subscription.

For the record, The Chitralekha Group is a 57-year old Group that also publishes a fortnightly film magazine called ‘Jee’.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!