Sunday 20 April 2008

What's next for What's On?

Motivate is now officially on the market, as Obaid al Tayer apparently doesn't want to buy out Ian Fairservice.

Any ideas what will become of this bastion of Dubai publishing? And what will happen to Ian, the Godfather of Advertorial?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

aqxfeKeep your eye on Haymarket...

Anonymous said...

What do you mean by "oficially"?

Anonymous said...

noooooooooooo........ the worthless m mafia will spread their dirty politics like cancer wherever they join and spoil the environment as they did in Concept

Anonymous said...

Curious how this will affect the employees. Of course, as nothing has happened, things can just continue on as they are!

Anonymous said...

I'll take Motivate off Ian's chubby hands for a fiver!

Anonymous said...

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/517132-motivate-denies-sale-rumours?ln=en

Anonymous said...

oooh I wonder what will happen to all the talentless people working there, if Motivate is bought over by Haymarket.

A lazy slob of a senior editor at Motivate even gets high-school interns to write cover lines and content pages.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that DMO is losing its sense of rumour.

Anonymous said...

so what's the skinny on this? motivate are (naturally) denying all.
haymarket don't sound that interested (why invest when they can cream off %s flogging rights to their fringe products with no outlay?)
would be very ITP to buy out a rival - they have done in the past...remember them taking Society Dubai's launch staff for no particular reason other than to destroy it before it became a serious rival to anything ITP were planning) but I can't see that happening in this case.
and, the $1m question, any staff left there who may be worth employing elsewhere? or are they all doomed? or, is this the best possible scenario for the staff - some investment in staff and, perhaps, less emphasis on churning out advertorial puff pieces?
any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

The vast majority of Motivate staffers are awful. Just look at the end product. Advertorial nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Motivate cannot keep good staff and as long as management buries its head in the sand as to why the good people stay on and only the dead wood lasts, the company will never progress.

Fairservice had it good when he was the only player in town but he has too much competition now but isn't prepared to acknowledge this fact. Just say 'Time Out' or 'Viva' to him and watch him turn purple with rage. It's kinda funny...

Anonymous said...

Credit to Fairservice for what he began, how he did it and when he did it...but he really should have invested or sold up when the signs were there that ITP were to lose the IT emphasis and enter the consumer fray against him. IMO.

Anonymous said...

Why? Motivate's publications don't lose anything in comparison to ITP's offerings.

Anonymous said...

anon @ 15.00 : sadly, you're delusional. Even Motivate staffers wouldn't have the chutzpah to claim their mags are as good as ITP. And that's not to claim ITP is the be all and end all - their mags are just better.

Anonymous said...

That's just ridiculous. Ahlan? Grazia? etc.

Anonymous said...

Motivate's writers aren't particularly better or worse than those in other companies. It's just that most of them have left.

Anonymous said...

What's up with Ahlan & Arabian Business applying for an audit, only to forefeit at the last minute?

Anonymous said...

ITP like to blow their trumpet about being transparent and accountable by auditing 'some' of their titles, but when the figures don't go their way they conveniently forfeit their audit statement...that's about as transparent as dubai creek.

Anonymous said...

What? Anil Bhoyrul's ever so insightful and groundbreaking piece on going to China with Sheikh Mo didn't cause that issue of Arabian Business to sell like hotcakes? I'm astounded.