Agencies Who Make Magazines (And Other Media) Are Like Painters Who Make Canvas

Content is King. I better you haven’t heard that one in a while. It’s all Context is King these days. Yet, sometimes content and context meet and form a beautiful union. That could be the case in Delhi.
According to Ad Age, Wieden + Kennedy’s 3-year-old Delhi office is publishing Motherland, a magazine about India, which sells for $2.20 at newsstands, bookstores, boutiques, art galleries and at the airports of major Indian cities.

Ad Age’s Asia editor, Normandy Madden, spoke with Mohit Jayal, managing director of Weiden, New Delhi, about the agency’s inaugural move into publishing.

Ad Age: Is Motherland a magazine for marketing professionals or the general public?
Mr. Joyal: I’m sure industry people will gain from it. We work so closely with new consumer insights, pop culture and Indian subcultures. There is so much information we keep uncovering, we want to share it with people. We’re digging it up anyway, so why not share it with others in the industry? The magazine is a marketing byproduct of what we do. But it will go outside the industry, too. Our target reader is best identified by a shared mindset, not an age demographic. Motherland’s core constituency is progressive individuals and key influencers who are constantly seeking out new products and stimulating experiences.
Ad Age: Does Motherland carry ads?
Mr. Joyal: Oh yes.

Jayal doesn’t know it, but he perfectly expresses AdPulp’s reason for being when he says, “There is so much information we keep uncovering, we want to share it with people. We’re digging it up anyway, so why not share it with others in the industry?”
Exactly.