The Rake Middle East and Revolution Middle East magazines, part of APP Media Group, have welcomed Jola Chudy to the role of Acting Editor. Previously Group Editor at Pinpoint Media Group, where she worked across the company’s luxury lifestyle and fashion magazines, Jola will now be responsible for producing both The Rake and Revolution in the Middle East, working across features and content.
Team TMN sit down with Group Commercial Manager of White Fox Media, Matthew McMullan, to talk about the launch of new men’s sports and lifestyle publication, Forever Sports Middle East…
Tell us a bit about Forever Sports Middle East?
Forever Sports Middle East is the region’s only dedicated monthly sports and lifestyle magazine targeting men aged 18-40. Aiming to be ‘The Insider Guide To Sport’, we offer readers a unique glimpse into the mind of the modern global sporting superstar through cutting edge editorial and photography. The magazine also features a blend of technology, fashion and grooming to ensure that we are in tune with our demographic of international citizens living and working around the Middle East.
Tell us about the concept behind Forever Sports Middle East…
Given the huge appetite for sport, both locally and regionally, we saw an opportunity to provide advertisers and agencies with a platform from which to reach the already vast, and still growing, demographic of sports mad men living across the Middle East, who play and watch sport on a regular basis.
What made you decide to launch Forever Sports Middle East?
Basically the lack of anything like Forever Sports in the region. Whilst specialist sports magazines do very well in the UAE, there is nothing monthly on the market to cater for the needs of men who are active, extremely image-conscious, into gadgets and love fashion. Forever Sports Middle East aims to fill that gap with great editorial, which we believe will offer direct advertisers and media agencies the right environment to reach their target audience, through the longevity of a monthly sports and lifestyle magazine.
What are the main features of the magazine?
Sport is very clearly the main driver, but not the analysis of sport. Our aim is to be ‘The Insider Guide To Sport’ – asking questions and uncovering the personal thoughts and views of sports stars, through engaging and cutting-edge articles. The magazine also features extensive fashion and grooming sections, both of which play a key role in the modern man’s arsenal here in the Middle East, where fitness and body image are vitally important, both socially and professionally.
Will Forever Sports Middle East be available online, or exclusively as a print publication?
We are working with our partners in the UK to bring the Forever Sports website to the region and we expect this to be concluded in the near future, so more exciting options are ahead for both our readers and advertisers.
What makes Forever Sports Middle East unique as a publication?
We have followed Haymarket’s business model in the UK. Our success will come from placing our publication where men actually shop for sports equipment – such as retail outlets and superstores – where it’s available on the counters for impulse purchasing, just as we have seen in the UK where Forever Sports is one of the leading men’s magazines in the market. It’s also available in the places our audience actually hangs out, such as sports bars and clubs, as well as at both Dubai International Airport and Etihad First and Business Class lounges.
From an advertiser’s perspective, our in-store model is extremely valuable as it is highly targeted and offers zero wastage. It’s something that we’re delighted to have been able to secure as we won’t be fighting for attention on the newsstand, meaning many more eyeballs on Forever Sports Middle East than on our competitors publications combined, and visibility is the key to our success.
How can PRs get involved with Forever Sports Middle East?
We’d love to hear from anyone looking to engage with our audience, such as advertisers or PR agencies. Given the broad range of content we provide each month, it’s a great opportunity for brands, both directly or indirectly associated with sports, to reach an audience who are active, brand aware, image conscious and have large disposable incomes, mainly spent on themselves. Whilst we will be proactively speaking with PR Agencies, we would also encourage them to get in touch and be a part of the magazine.
Will you be working with one dedicated editorial team, or will there be opportunities for freelancers?
As with all licensed magazines, we have the option to “pick up” editorial content from sister publications around the world. We already have a great team in place with some amazing contacts in their phones, from professional footballers, cricketers and golfers to boxers and Olympians. That being said, if you have an interest in sports, fashion, technology, music, grooming or fitness and you think you can add something into the mix then drop us a line – as the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
How do you think Forever Sports Middle East can be developed in the future – do you have any plans for expansion?
As it stands, we are available across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Plans are currently in place to expand the network to reach Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, and these will be finalised in the latter half of 2016/early 2017.
Haneen Odeh, Founder of themakeupeditor.com, tells TMN about her website and how it came to fruition, as well as her advice for people looking to start a career in media…
Name: Haneen Odeh
Age: 29
From: Jordan
Current Job Title: Founder of themakeupeditor.com
When did you first arrive in Dubai?
When I was too young to remember!
Where did you work prior?
Before starting my beauty website – www.themakeupeditor.com – I was the Fashion and Beauty Editor at Marie Claire Arabia.
What were your first impressions of the media industry in the Middle East?
When I first started working in the media industry, I didn’t think much of it.
Has your opinion changed much?
Being exposed to media professionals from outside the Middle East through my career, has made me realise how much development and improvement we need to put into the industry for it to start competing with the international markets.
Is the website a full time job or part time passion for you?
Writing features for themakeupeditor.com is a full time job as well as a passion for me.
Tell us about themakeupeditor.com…
themakeupeditor started as a way of collating all of my beauty knowledge in one place. My friends would always ask me for reviews of certain products, where to buy them or what types of products they should be buying and I decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just put this information out there, in case other people have similar questions. I think that more people rely on reviews and experiences rather than advertising when it comes to beauty and so that’s what I’m trying to achieve with themakeupeditor.com; a place for honest reviews, where people can feel comfortable asking for advice.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Seeing how happy people are when they feel beautiful and confident. Sometimes it’s as simple as finding the perfect lipstick or using a new hair mask.
What advice would you offer to someone looking to start a blog/career in the media industry?
It’s a tricky balance between written content and visual content. The more beautiful the pictures and visuals are, the more attractive your blog or website is. To be successful though, you must always ensure the written content has value. Be original and always write your own content, never copy and paste everything you receive because that doesn’t make you any different from the thousands of other blogs out there.
How do you find PRs in the region?
Overall there is definitely room for improvement! However there are some really great, creative agencies in the region, so it’s important to do your research and find the right one to work with!
What’s your pet PR peeve?
A lack of originality. For most events, collaborations and interviews it’s the same people, the same content and the same questions. Instead of developing and focusing on collaborations with fresh faces and up and coming bloggers. This is why the rest of the world keeps coming up with new influencers and we don’t.
Do you accept press material from PRs?
Yes of course but only with no strings attached. If I like the product, I’ll write about it but I wont write about it only because it was sent to me. Also on a more important note, I always give honest reviews!
How would you rather be contacted at work
Email. I travel a lot, so it’s the best way to reach me.
What’s your most overused saying?
Ugh.
Five things you can’t live without?
Wifi, sunglasses, my iphone, my family and lip balm.
If you could change one thing about media in the UAE, what would it be?
I would have a little less recycling of content. I would like to see a little bit more investigative journalism, regardless of the subject matter. A little bit more of pushing the boundaries. I think the region is now hungry for originality.
Forever Sports Middle East has launched in Dubai. The regional edition of the dedicated monthly sports and lifestyle publication, originally from Haymarket publishing in the UK, will be published in Dubai by White Fox Publishing. Aimed at the region’s male, 18–40 year old audience, the title will cover all things sports as well as subjects ranging from technology through to fashion and grooming.
The title will be available in both English and Arabic and will have an initial print run of 20,000 copies across the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Forever Sports Middle East will be available in sports retail outlets and superstores, as well as sports bars and clubs, for AED15.
“We offer our readers a variety of content that no other magazine delivers, from mainstream sports such as football, athletics, cricket, tennis and boxing, to increasingly popular American sports such as American football and basketball,” says Noel Ebdon, Editor in Chief, Forever Sports Middle East. “Interviews with all of the biggest personalities are crucial in our editorial mix – with personality being the operative word here – we’re not interested in media-trained bores. The first few editions of Forever Sports in the UK in 2016 included shoots with Ronaldo, Amir Kahn, Joe Hart and Anthony Joshua, but we’re also interested in ordinary people, so we’ll be talking to local sports people of all nationalities who are pushing the boundaries in their field.”
Jumeirah magazine, part of Motivate Publishing, has welcomed Tahira Yaqoob to the role of Acting Editor. With over 20 years of experience in journalism across newspapers and magazines in the UK as well as the UAE, including The National and The Daily Mail, Tahira has recently been contributing to editorial content for Motivate’s Luxury and Lifestyle Group of publications. In her new role, she will take full editorial responsibility for the next two issues of Jumeirah, a monthly luxury title circulated to exclusive Jumeirah Group hotel rooms around the world.
Bell Pottinger in Dubai has appointed Amy Piek to the role of Senior Consultant. Previously a Senior Consultant at FTI Consulting where she advised public, semi-government and private companies on financial and corporate communications as well as investor relations, Amy has over eight years of experience in media and communications. In her new role at Bell Pottinger, she will advise a range of companies in the Gulf region on investor relations and corporate communications, with a particular focus on the financial sector. Amy will work closely with C-suite executives to increase her client’s profiles in the region and abroad, as well as protect reputations through issues management.