Campaign the Sequel

Hurray, Campaign's coming back at the end of the month! Will it have the same wit, bite and verve under new management at Motivate? Will it slag off its own advertisers? And, more importantly, will The Spin be back?

With the recent launch of Mediaweek by ENG, there's plenty of newsprint dedicated to marketing and advertising. Is the market big enough for these titles plus Communicate and Gulf Marketing Review?

Size matters, apparently

Just received in an anonymous submission (not that we get any other kind).

Apparently the reason Campaign is so delayed is because there has been an order from On High that all magazines must be resized to A4 format, so that they don't resemble newspapers. Construction Week and a couple of others have apparently already resized, and Communicate is about to. Anyone else heard this? It sounds like utter lunacy.

There has been a rumour rumbling around for some time that there will be a ban on all tabloids - can anyone shed any light on this?

Rumour mill in overdrive

This one is spreading like wildfire - apparently ITP is suing Haymarket through its UK presence over the loss of Campaign Middle East. Can anyone shed any light on the matter?

Poor Campaigners

Life is not so good for Campaign staffers these days. There is no sign of the licence, so they are producing stories for a continually updated edition, just in case they get the go-ahead to actually print something. The website is in a state of disarray (as in, no work has been done on creating one).

The editorial team was last spotted playing cards at their desk, with the Campaign desktop flag fluttering limply in the airconditioned breeze.

Same same Campaign

Campaign is dead, long live Campaign..... The editorial team have now moved across from ITP to Motivate, where they will recommence their work on the weekly magazine once the licence has been processed. An uncharacteristic display of generousness from ITP by not banning them? Or maybe they were all on Dubai Media City visas ..... One thing is clear: Motivate staff are making the Auld Enemy feel very welcome: a Campaign flag stood proud on the vacated desks to welcome the new arrivals. But will Campaign retain its bite at Motivate?

Haymarket to buy into Motivate?

The plot thickens. Apparently, today's the day Motivate is signing with Haymarket to take over Campaign, having barely let the ink dry on the termination agreement with ITP. Furthermore, a well-placed media source has said Haymarket has already bought into Motivate and may increase their shareholding.

I should point out that the rumour mill has gone into turbo-overdrive over the fate of Campaign, etc. People have been musing over Ian Fairservice's exit strategy since the dawn of time, but this looks like a realistic scenario. This way, the Motivate supremo keeps his finger in the publishing pie, while cashing in part of his retirement plan.

Farewell Campaign

So farewell to Campaign ME, at least from the Serafin stable.

The editorial team got the bad news seconds after putting the last edition to bed.

Allegedly the split between ITP and Haymarket was over revenue sharing. But rumour has it that Campaign is off to Motivate, which has a five magazine deal with Haymarket.

The Spin will be sorely missed, as well as the Campaign blog.