28 | Magazine World | December 2007 fipp.com
regional focus
asia pacific
ROYAL WELCOME
ahead of the curve.
Competitors – all licensees of foreign publishing companies
– are well entrenched, though we like to believe we have last
mover advantage (or perhaps they have first mover disadvantage
FOR VOGUE INDIA
in a country like India). There is Marie Claire, Elle, L’Officiel, Cosmo
and Good Housekeeping, of varying quality and scale. An immediate
problem in India is that some magazines grossly inflate their
circulation figures. It was instructive, when visiting printers, to
It took ten years but the 396-page fi rst
discover that titles claiming 70,000 circulations were not even
printing one sixth of that number. At Vogue, we have a policy of
issue of the fashion magazine has fi nally
inviting advertisers to visit our presses to watch our 60,000 copies
roll off the machines.
made its appearance in the sub-continent,
For the early issues, we flew in several of the Vogue secret
says Nicholas Coleridge
weapons: photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Paolo
Roversi, supermodels like Lily Cole and top stylists from
everywhere. But one of the glories of the project has been the
A
s I surveyed the magical high standard of local photographers and Indian stylists. In fact,
gardens of the Umaid two of my favourite shoots in the launch issue were entirely
Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur executed by local talent.
watching our 400 guests
toasting the launch of Vogue India,
it seemed scarcely credible it was
happening at all. And yet here, on “Publishing fashion
every table, were piles of beautifully
printed first issues, 396 pages thick, as magazines in
lustrous and high-quality as any other
edition of Vogue worldwide. Our guests India has to be a
- a beguiling mix of Indian fashion
designers, western luxury goods long-term game”
czars, exuberant Mumbai and Delhi
socialites, and Indian politicians and
journalists - had been flown down to Advertisers have supported us from the start, buying into our
the launch event in a pair of Kingfisher promise to raise editorial and publishing standards. In the first
jets and every hotel in Jodhpur had issue, we have 168 ad pages, at a yield many times higher than
been block-booked for the party. The the local norm. We intend to give value in return: big promotion,
launch fashion show, showcasing the high quality printing and design, and proper print runs.
best western and Indian designers on Editorially, working in India is a joy. For decades, there has
80 international models, was spectacular. been a tradition of quality writing in the English language and
Vogue’s arrival in India had been a long time in the planning. we have been able to put together an ambitious, lively team led
Over the past ten years, at least 15 overtures had been made by editor Priya Tanna, who came to us from the DNA newspaper.
to us by potential licensees and joint venture partners, but we India is a good country, too, for hiring sound financial and IT
had bided our time. When the Indian regulation on western staff, and Alex was fortunate to be able to recruit experienced
publishers entering the country eased up and we had an circulation and production chiefs. Strong magazine advertising
opportunity to go it alone with a wholly-owned 100 per cent staff took longer – there is less experience in the market – but
Condé Nast company, we took it. After 18 months of applications over time, we did so. Our publisher, Arjun Mehra, visits his
to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the guru at a beach temple to give thanks whenever he sells an
Press Registrar, our official go-ahead came through; the Indian important campaign.
bureaucracy, though slow and painstaking, is also straightforward The cover price at 100 rupees (€1.70) is competitive, 25 per
and reasonably transparent. We decided to open a main office cent higher than Elle but 50 rupees less than L’Officiel. The first
in Mumbai, with secondary offices in Delhi and Bangalore. Six issue is for sale across India and hit the newsstands on time (the
months of recruiting, beginning with our managing director Alex Indian distribution system is the most complicated anywhere,
Kuruvilla, who joined us from MTV, led to a staff of 60, with space but somehow works – we have targeted the top 40 metropolitan
for double that as further titles are added. cities and copies fan out from there to the smaller towns). We are
Publishing fashion magazines in India has to be a long-term also for sale, following local custom, at every set of traffic lights
game. Although the local fashion industry is big and vibrant, in the big cities, where single copies are touted to motorists by
the international brands are only beginning their arrival in the teenage youths. At the time of writing, it is too early to be able to
country. It is impossible to pass through the lobby of the Taj give final sales figures, but the first issue is on track to achieve a
or Oberoi hotels in Mumbai without seeing scouts from the 90 per cent sell-through.
largest Italian and French houses searching for partners and
premises. Many are there already, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Nicholas Coleridge is the vice president, Condé Nast
Chanel and Dior. L’Oréal already has a sophisticated business International and managing director, Condé Nast UK
in the country. But there are still challenges about appropriate
premises for luxury stores, import taxes and local customs.
Several long-delayed luxury malls are now well advanced. The
timing for a Vogue in India could hardly be better – fractionally
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