Weekend with Vidya

After spending years with staid Business Magazines (Businessworld, Outlook Business) Vijaya Saran has taken up a job that many of us would give an arm and a leg for :-) She gets to photo-shoot Vidya Balan in Bed and the likes of Katrina and Bips. Vijaya is the Associate Publisher of FHM India and here she shares her experience in the very very different world of Men's Lifestyle Magazines.


Thought that would be a nice change for the weekend - after chewing Mint for the better part of the week.

Addictive

What is it about being part of media that is so addictive? It can’t be phenomenal profits , as any media veteran will tell you. Its definitely not about stimulating work environment. With a few exceptions, most media companies today suffer the ‘lala’ syndrome, where years of ‘loyal’ service is preferred over competence.

And the less said about the revenue model the better. Where every sneeze in the economy spells pneumonia for advertising. Where it is not the product, which makes money, but rather the perceived product.

the aphrodisiac

Having said that - it is an aphrodisiac where you can take a person out of media but cannot take media out of the person.

Talking for myself – twelve years with business magazines – It let me get a ringside view of the tsunami called liberalization, which hit the moribund Indian economy in the nineties and early part of this decade.

More so, as the association was with strong home grown magazines like Businessworld and Outlook Business. The perspective was uniquely Indian and there was clear pride in our voices when we spoke about how we often had the lead over international magazines when it came to getting the best business stories or perspective.

And then came the glut of business media, both print , internet and television . With international affiliations coming in. The uniqueness was lost , and almost every product came out with more of the same.

Media is after all a product of the times. The socialist era meant the emergence of strong political and social media to reflect the people’s frustration with the lack of accountability and conscience in the four pillars of Indian democracy.

the awakening

Then came the ‘awakening’ – that we as individuals could do our bit to improve our lot. Business media boomed and how. Everyone had a right to make money , and make money they did!

And now we have the money. How do we spend it? In came lifestyle and special interest media. Which is where I chose to be. Being with FHM, one of the world’s leading men’s lifestyle magazines , has its own perks and drawbacks . The perks, of course, are that its fun to figure out whether SRK, Kareena, Katrina or Deepika will work best on the cover. Way more fun than gloomy stock market forecasts.

Then editorially there is a huge difference. The Chinese wall between edit and marketing which was fundamental to a credible business magazine is blurred in lifestyle media – reputed groups bringing out high-profile lifestyle magazines, work closely with advertisers to get their editorial and, horror of horrors , the editors are actively involved in marketing activities! Recently the editor of a prominent women’s lifestyle magazine sent out letters to subscribers exhorting them to buy a company's products- how would readers ever trust their editorial after that? Short term gains often rule.

the honey trap

At FHM we try to avoid these traps without losing the more flexible approach that lifestyle media allows.

Just like readers tastes have changed , so have advertisers. Today they know that they know that “serious” media is all very well, but if they want eyeballs its prudent to be seen in the so called “lad’s mags”

The next media wave hopefully should be emphasizing charity and social responsibility, which till now is restricted to a few publications that are not driven solely by commercial interests.