Mala Sekhri, Publishing Director, Lifestyle Division, India Today Group

Mala Sekhri is a media professional who joined the India Today Group in 1992 as Product Manager for India Today. In her 13 years with the group, Sekhri has moved various divisions of the group. She was Marketing Head of Business Today when it was launched. She then took over as Publisher for the group’s Lifestyle Division in 2000. She is now Publishing Director, Lifestyle Division, and has under her charge leading magazines like Cosmopolitan, India Today Travel Plus and the recently launched Good Housekeeping.

Before India Today Group, Sekhri was with The Times of India Group where she led the Newspaper in Education (NIE) project. Prior to that she was with Shriram Industrial Enterprises Ltd. (erstwhile DCM group), where she was responsible for launching India’s first packaged sugar brand, ‘Mawana’. In conversation with Kalyan Kar of exchange4media, Sekhri talks about the reasons for launching Good Housekeeping and its prospects. Excerpts:

Q. Why was Good Housekeeping launched in India only now, so many years after it has been around in the West?

Yes, we should have launched Good Housekeeping much earlier. But it took a long time to get all the permissions. As for the rationale for launching this magazine, there are many. Today women in India are finding their life becoming multi-faceted. Multi-tasking is more or less the norm for today’s women. She has to do everything and still be on top.

Editorially, Good Housekeeping focuses on four core areas: food, health, parenting, and home. These are the areas that constitute a woman’s immediate environment; she is the prime mover for these. Therefore, GH is very relevant to today’s woman. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t bring it in earlier. Let me tell you, judging from the response to the first issue, we have a winner in GH. Good Housekeeping has a 120-year-old history. It has found a great formula for women the world over. I strongly feel that it can do a lot to empower women in the four core areas it focuses on.

Q. Would you call it a niche magazine or a special interest magazine?

GH is actually mass-led. In the US, it sells 47 lakh copies, and in the UK 7 lakh. To that extent it is a mass magazine. But, since it is English, that perhaps makes it niche too in the Indian market. After all, it is targeted at women in the SEC A, A1, A2 segments.

Q. How well has the first issue done in the market, given the fact that there is always an initial curiosity factor?

Well, we virtually ran out of stocks! Ninety per cent of the supply from the newsstands had been lapped up. Delhi has done the best, but Mumbai and Kolkata too have done very well. Dealers were clamouring for more copies.

You may be right that there is always an initial curiousity factor for a new product. But we are confident that a woman will always buy GH. There is lots to read; the magazine speaks to a wide spectrum of women. As long as the product appeals to a wide range of readers, it will always do well.

I am confident of achieving very soon the numbers needed to make it a viable product and a strong advertising medium. We reached critical mass with the introductory issue itself.

Q. The introductory issue of GH has articles on make-up as well as stress; these subjects are already covered by Cosmo. Isn’t GH an overlap with Cosmo?

May be so, but if you look at the content closely, you will find there is a difference in how such issues are handled. Take, for instance, an area like beauty. Cosmo would focus on what’s the best a young woman can look, on latest make-up trends, colours that are in as far as dressing is concerned. In GH, the focus is somewhat different. It would have recommendations on how you can look best, how can you cover your shortcomings, about anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle tips, etc. In other words, Cosmo is aspirational, it is for younger women, whereas GH is real, that is, you are okay as you.

Q. There is a mushrooming of women’s magazines on newsstands? How do you expect GH to stand out in the clutter?

Is there really a clutter? There are just around 8-10 women-centric magazines, and I don’t think that can be called a clutter. Compare this with the situation in the Western markets. The UK alone has 120 titles in the women’s segment! The US market has some 70-80 titles. And yet, see how well GH is doing in both those markets.

Coming back to the Indian market, the proposition of each magazine is different from the others. Elle is primarily a fashion magazine. Society is about celebrities. As for Femina, it is trying to be Cosmo + Elle + GH! It is yet to decide on its segment. Woman’s Era is targeted at a different income segment, SEC B and C.

In contrast to all of them, GH is very focused. Its content can be broken down as 20% health-based, 20% on food, 18% on parenting, and 18% on home. GH is just about these four core areas and nothing else. Therefore, women in India are going to identify with GH more easily as these issues are close to their heart.

Q. In what way is Good Housekeeping different from Cosmo?

Cosmo is very niche, it speaks to young, working women about work-related issues, relationships, beauty, fashion, emotions. Cosmo’s attitude is young, upbeat, aggressive.

In contrast, GH appeals to women in the 28-50 years age group. It provides useful inputs on family matters. A lot of GH readers would be married women and mothers. You really can’t compare the two.

Q. The introductory issue has a majority of articles that have originated in India. If the content is going to be largely Indian, what is the need to use the GH title?

Yes, the articles have originated in India. But I must tell you that the content has been adapted from the content of GH in the US, and then updated for Indian audiences and environment. GH is a huge brand in the US, with a lot of credibility. The tie-up and title therefore make ample sense. Our biggest gain is the health-based research of GH that we have access to. Health research is questionable in India. Now we have access to serious health research through GH, which we can adapt. All health issues are researched in the US for 10-30 years.

GH has developed over 100 years an entire testing system. We don’t have that facility here, so the access is important for us. According to the licensing arrangement, GH in India has to test recipes thoroughly before we can let them become editorial content. We can’t put out something just because an advertiser wants it. GH in the US tests every product in their own laboratories before they are written about! These stringent policies will go a long way to establish GH here as a strong brand too. Consumer confidence is their biggest USP, and we will have to live up to it here.

Q. So how will you meet such stringent norms?

Well, for food, we have tied up with three food experts. They will test each recipe three times before we publish it. As for products, we don’t have testing facilities like GH in the US. So, we will not give our recommendations, but publish only the manufacturers’ claims, and let the reader decide. Of course, in the US, GH does make recommendations on products after thorough in-house testing.

Q. How is the target audience for GH different from that of Cosmo? Or is it the same TG?

Quite different, as I have mentioned earlier. Yes, some duplication will be there. But the content and editorial stance of the two magazines are very different. What readers get from Cosmo is quite different from that of GH.

Q. Of late, the new products from your stable are not being pushed under the India Today brand name. What is the reason, especially when all your other products -- Today, the now defunct TV Today and Computers Today -- had a perfect synergy with the mother brand?

These are foreign titles and we are bringing them out as licensed products. So, we can’t change their names or titles in any manner. But all our other products have the IT branding.

Q. What is the reason for closing down India Today Plus?

We didn’t close it, we renamed it. India Today Plus was a guide to good living. But we were getting a lot of requests for travel content. As a result it was already very travel focused, almost to the extent of 70% of its content. That’s why we decided to change its name.

Q. With information easily available on the Net, how does Travel Plus expect to sustain itself? Does today’s Net savvy traveller really need to read a magazine to find out about travel options?

You are right, there is any amount of travel information on the Net. But, then again, India Today Plus is different. Our USP is that we deal with travel in a personalised manner; our writers go to a place and then write a personalised experience. We also carry travel experiences of well-known people. All this is not available on the Net.