For men

It seems the Dubai men's magazine market is about to explode - GQ and Esquire, anyone? But what's to say new titles - even if international brands - will do better in this market than any previous attempts? Will the ad spend ever be big enough to support new men's glossies?

Magazine closures

New thread request:

We (ITP) have closed another two magazines today...(thought I would get in there first)

My good friend over the road at Motivate tells me they are going to announce one more "suspension" in the next few days.

Any guesses?

The abs and the abs not

Is the Dubai fitness market in good enough shape to support two niche mens magazines? ITP have launched Men's Fitness and Motivate will soon launch magazine juggernaut - or gay icon, depending on which side of the gym you stand - Men's Health. It's going to be Reebok's at dawn down Garhoud way.


Great post and great title courtesy of an anon - thanks.

Farewell to ITP arms

Seems the ever-revolving door at ITP Business is spinning even quicker with the rumour that Sean Cronin, editor-in-chief of Arabian Business, has stormed out - apparently because of internal censoring. Another recent escapee is David Westley, editorial director of ITP.net. Could they both be heading up the Sheikh Zayed Road to join Richard O'Sullivan in Abu Dhabi?

Would you pay $300 million for ITP?

From a commenter:

ITP is up forsale. $300m and its yours. Serafin is touting it about, but noone wants to touch an overstretched media house in an economic downturn with ads orders being cancelled faster than those being placed. Maybe launching a mag a week wasnt so smart after all, as for those commitments in India, tsk.

Sure as hell isn't on my Christmas list.

Mental blocking

Whoops. ArabianBusiness.com has finally been blocked by Etishite. After a quick bypass of the proxy, we can't see anything offensive, unless its the exclusive about Dubai Mall being delayed again. Apparently the site falls foul of the Prohibited Content Categories. Does anyone know who has had their feathers ruffled over the website's content? Or was a Motivate minion a bit bored, and contacted the TRA to get the site blocked?

Just a thought

Has anyone at ITP proofread the programme for the Media & Marketing Show conference, which is hosted by ITP and Arabian Business? Would have been nice if they could spell Saatchi and Saatchi right, and I'm not sure Joseph Ghossoub would be particularly overjoyed to be plain ole Jo in the agenda. Delighted to see Martin Newland is giving a presentation on What it takes to survive in Middle East Journalism. But what I really want to know is: what the hell are Forenoon Sessions?

And before you start squealing about how we're always slagging ITP off, we're not. We try and post other topics, but you lot end up at the same conclusion anyway. But, to be honest, schoolboy errors like this one are just asking for mockery.

Truly inspirational

The latest heart-warming news to come out of ITP is the Inspire Awards - just 74 days away, according to the website.

Inspire Dubai is a celebration of our Emirate’s most amazing individuals – the unsung heroes and heroines who make Dubai what it is for the 1.5 million of us who call it home.

Hope there's a special category for the amazing individuals at ITP - the organisers - for managing not to gag as they wrote the copy. And another category to those ITPers who manage to go into work, time and again, with no praise and no thanks from their masters. DMO would love to sponsor that category....

And a special word goes out to the kind souls in Garhoud who are selflessly putting on this event. And selling sponsorship around it. Hope all the profits go to a charity other than the Directors' Bentley Fund.

Living the teen dream

You can just hear the voiceover advert now, as the UAE gets its first teen magazine.

It's so dreamy - soon there will be a magazine for me and my friends! We'll get advice on boys, and kissing, and how to dress like Britney Spears or pose semi-naked like Hannah Montana without upsetting our daddy!

Or I'll learn that it's ok to be just like Lindsay Lohan and find love's young dream with another girl! And they'll answer my question of "how far is too far"!

I'll finally know what Jake Gyllenhaal's favourite colour is and the name of the Jonas Brothers' pets!

And just think of all that totally awesome but cheap fashion from Top Shop and Miss Selfridge, that'll make me look like a total Lolita but if I'm lucky, I'll be helping those poor Asian sweat shop kids* at the same time!

Sadly you won't learn anything that's going to actually help you in life: how to make vodka jelly and have a crafty fag without your parents knowing. And you're unlikely to get the answer to your real dilemma: will my parents give me a nose job for my sweet sixteenth if I ask them nicely enough?

Because this new magazine is being launched in Dubai, by ITP, who may well be trying to keep their noses clean. Expect to see pages of fluffy kittens and "how to complete your homework in time" features instead.

For anyone interested in editing this gem of a new title, especially if you have a passion for the female youth market (and don't happen to be a skeezy male journalist working within the hallowed Garhoud halls), then you can apply here):

* DMO is not condoning the use of sweat shops, nor implying that Top Shop and Miss Selfridge use them.

The Magnificence of Mr Mugabe

Superb thread submission:
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Are ITP and AMG going for the World Dictatorship Tour 2008?

While you might think it was difficult to top the Arabian Business visit to China (one week after the brutal supression of dissent in Nepal) that resulted in some of the least critical commentary in media history, ITP has gone one better by sending Ahlan! to Zimbabwe in the same week it saw the collapse of a democratic election and - hey! - the brutal supression of dissent.

Best quotes? (From the Zimbabwe Chronicle):

"The journalists talked much about their expeditions in the county and one of the touring journalists, Kate Hazell of ITP, a media group with over 200 publications that covers most countries in the Middle East was overwhelmed by the tourism packages, which the country has on offer. "It’s not my first time in Zimbabwe, I was once here sometime back. I didn’t know one can afford to do hunting as well," said Hazell."

Full marks too to AMG's Adam Wilson, who's quoted as saying:

"I work for a publication that focuses mainly on business. Our readers are mainly top business executives and I hope that if I can write all what I have seen they will be interested in the opportunities that exist here both in terms of investment and leisure."

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Next up: Grazia covers Pyongyang Fashion Week.

Once bitten, but not twice shy?

It seems the prodigal sons and daughters are flocking back to ITP like lambs to the slaughter. (Forgive the mixed metaphor, but it's apt.)

First, news broke that Alicia Buller was returning to ITP as managing editor of Arabian Business, where she was formerly features ed. Now Sean (Puffy) Cronin - ex-Construction Week editor, then Bloomberg - is leaving the newswire behind to head back into the ITP fold as editor of Arabian Business.

Both will be working under Anil Bhoyrul.

UPDATE: Apparently Alicia's off to join the Abu Dhabi paper now. Did she get a chance to warm her seat at ITP before joining the exodus?

REUPDATE: Alicia starts at Arabian Business tomorrow (Sunday) and was never heading to the Abu Dhabi paper - we were wrong and our source has been severely chastised. (Our willingness to publish a retraction is a bit of an alien concept in Dubai!)

The final countdown ...

So the new Abu Dhabi paper is set to launch in March: here's a little DMO call out for any moles in the capital - let us know what's cooking up there?

In staffing news, James Bennett, former Arabian Business helmer, is senior news editor at the new paper, while Alicia Buller (ex Gulf Marketing Review, then features editor at Arabian Business) is coming back from London to be managing editor for Arabian Business.

In fact while we're at it, anyone who'd like to be added to the roster of posters on DMO, just email dubaimediablog at gmail for an invite. And do it under an anonymous name - not from wanker@itp.net or alsayegh@amg.ae - we don't need or want to know who you really are. We don't even know who we are.

Swings and roundabouts for Time Out team

Thanks to anon for tipping us off that ITP is opening up in Mumbai.

It's not so long ago that Time Out Sydney was launched - the licence was won by Print and Digital Publishing, whose founder and joint CEO is Justin Etheridge, formerly publisher of Time Out Dubai and ITP stalwart (he previously headed up Charged and the sadly departed Photography Middle East). Our moles tell us ITP had been considering Time Out for the Sydney market for some time, but Etheridge's team - which includes another familiar name, Nik Howe - won the franchise.

Rather sweetly, Justin's former colleague Tim Burrowes (late of Campaign) writes in the Australian marketing & media magazine B&T:

You may notice the review of TimeOut Sydney and observe that one of the proprietors is Justin Etheridge. We’ve got previous.
Back in the day, I used to edit a marketing mag in Dubai. He ran TimeOut Dubai, which was in the same publishing stable. We used to snipe at each other in our diary columns. Until TimeOut won the day.
One day, with deadline approaching, we lost a picture of the restaurant we were reviewing. Our sub-editor resourcefully (and illegally) searched Google for a picture of sushi, and stole it.
He failed to wonder why it was called sushimouse.jpg. Or to notice that it did indeed contain a picture of a plate of sushi with a mouse on it.
Unfortunately, after we published it, Mr Etheridge’s team was more observant and naturally shared it with their readers. The subsequent phone call I had to make to the restaurant was one of the most surreal conversations I’ve ever had.
So if you spot any cock-ups in TimeOut Sydney, you know who to call.
I’ll be very grateful.

Nice to see the old banter's still there....

In the most interesting turnaround of all, it seems like the whole world will now be reporting to Marcus Webb, the most recent former editor of Time Out Dubai, who is uber-guru for quality control for Time Out London, and used to work for Justin while at ITP. Funny how life works out.

The Devil Wears Primark

It seems that working for media in Dubai can generate instant class status. An anonymous tip claims that the editor of an ITP magazine has requested that all photographers call her Ma'am. Guess which one?

Tut tut

This was a comment in an earlier post, but is worth its own mention:

"A cheeky PR lady has just helped her hack fiancé win the laptop which was a competition prize in a press conference this week, so either guess which brand it was, or guess who the hack and the lady were?"

Note from DMO Ed: let's hope he isn't a journo from ITP, as we all know he would have to hand it in if it was worth more than $30, wouldn't he?

The Standard Slips

According to 7days, ITP's chances of getting a licence for its daily business paper are "virtually non-existent". Surely a company like ITP wouldn't make the mistake of boasting about a newspaper launch, bragging about "Western standards of journalism", hiring the staff, producing dummies, spending bucket loads of cash etc without making sure they'd got the licence first? Would they? Oh, hold on, they've done it once before. Oops.

A fairytale love story for Dubai's most glamorous couple

Glowing with happpiness and pre-marital dewy delight, ITP sales supremo and frequent Ahlan Top 100er Neil Petch, and his beautiful model girlfriend Olga, are delighted to announce their wedding website, at www.neilandolga.com

Guests will enter to the beautiful strains of Ella Fitzgerald singing Dream A Little Dream in a stunning Flash presentation designed by one of Dubai's hottest web designers.

On the front page the bride-to-be wears a stunning yellow Cavalli cocktail dress, showing off the elegant curves that Neil so admires. The model's long blonde tresses flow free about her shoulders, and the look is finished off with simple diamond stud earrings and a deep red rose. Neil is resplendent in a dapper Armani jacket and crisp white linen shirt.

The couple have decorated their website in a theme of floral pink with Copperplate font details, designed to add a touch of romance and elegance to every page. As they invite us into their beautiful cyber-home, Neil reveals what first made him fall in love with his beautiful model girlfriend.

"My lovely fiancée Olga is a luminous beacon of joy," the proud groom-to-be confesses. "Kind, sexy, funny, wise, Olga has it all. Beats me how one can be modest with all that, but she’s that too, in spades."

As the couple recline in a photographed beach, Olga models a daring Gucci bikini and jaunty sunhat. Neil, after enjoying a Cuban cigar with the many VIP media and celebrity friends that will join him for his stag night, shows off his bronzed pecs as he frolics in the surf of a pristine golden beach.

Close encounter - but for who?

Confirmation of what we had hoped was a vicious rumour has come in the form of The Secret, Secret Dubai's newsletter, which arrived in the DMO in-boxes today. The typically veiled snippet referred to a "notorious H.A.C.K" who was in the UAE on a false passport.

Yes pop pickers, could Mr X be back in town? Dubai media veterans may recall his former aliases, which include: ITP journo, 7Days, freelance "PR" consultant, accompanier of ladies of negotiable affection. Oh, and in case we forget, convicted felon.

Mr X has had a couple of stays in a Dubai jail already, for alcohol-abetted auto scrapes and japes. How on earth could he get back in the country, we hear you ask?

Our second source confirms: "He's in town on a false passport and already got picked up by the Jebel Ali cops. They suspected who he was, but couldn't be bothered to pursue it, and let him go."

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?

Ahlan's turgid 100

Having just got back from a holiday in the land of civilisation, it's taken me a while to clicking through the Ahlan top 100 online. I didn't think this display of egos, money and lack of taste could get any worse. I was wrong - what a list of dross.

I can't understand any logic or rationale in having people like Sharla Musaibih (women's shelter) or the lady who campaigns for the blind alongside a load of wanky DJs and owners of a couple of clothes shops, alongside a few random Emiratis placed solely for wasta/desperation/ad revenue purposes. Special mention goes to the entire AlZa'al family - I was almost disappointed not to see their servants and dogs with their own rankings.

And as for the ghastly horror that said this: her "dream Dubai project" would be to create an entirely different kind of exhibition. "I'd like to open a floating visual room of powerful images for everyone to step into and experience," Emma says.

I'd like to open a room full of the shredded viscera of every single person on this godforsaken list (except the charity people who should never have been tarred with Ahlan's drossy brush in the first place) and cram Ahlan's entire readership into it lock the bloody door until their Botoxed faces start to shrivel and they self-combust with the horror of spending an entire year without being seen at Sho Cho/Boudoir/BloodyBuddha Bar. Perhaps that fantasy will get me a listing in next year's Shite100?

The only good point was that a couple of hideously fake expat brats I know dropped out of the rankings, as did Neil "I have lots of cars and am friends with models" Petch and Walid "successful ITP media scion" Akawi. Or maybe they are the cover stars of the print version, which I can't be arsed to look at.

And before ITP slaves point out that my criticism comes out of jealousy, or that it's great how they have inspired this post, they are wrong. My sources tell me that Ahlan has been turned down more times than Britney Spears' rehab counsellor.