Alpha Media Group Inc.’s Blender will join scores of other Western titles when it launches in India this week.
Published in partnership with Media Transasia India Ltd., Blender‘s inaugural May issue boasts a rate base of 150,000. The magazine will be aimed at men age 18-34, who are single, college educated, urban and upwardly mobile.
“Quite simply put, Blender is a magazine that was born because the market emphatically demanded a publication like it,” said Piyush Sharma, CEO and publisher for Media Transasia India. “The entire Blender ethos revolves around immediacy and a concerted effort at hitting the highpoints across a diverse spectrum of music and lifestyle. India’s social milieu is therefore aptly suited for the viability of a friendly music magazine like Blender.”
Blender will enter the Indian market in a combo offer with sister magazine Maxim, which is also published by Media Transasia India and claims similar reader demographics. The magazine leveraged Media Transasia India’s consumer database to send promotional e-mails and direct mail about the launch, and ads were placed in clubs, lounges and bars around India, along with sample magazines and subscriptions forms. Banner ads are also on Web sites like IndiaTimes.com.
Other promotional activities include street teams and Blender Girls Parades across India. More Blender-branded events and concerts will be announced in coming weeks.
A complementing Blender Web site is also in the works.
Media Transasia publishes more than 25 magazines in multiple Asian markets. International titles launched in India include Travel & Leisure, from American Express Publishing Corp., and Child and Better Homes & Gardens, both from Meredith Corp.
