Maxim launched, pissed off Khushboo, and though all seems to be
quiet on that front, it's far from settled. We don't know who's going to
win or lose, and frankly, we don't care; it doesn't make a spot of a difference
to our lives. What does make a difference to our lives though,
it the excitement and offerings that Maxim has bestowed upon us, in
the less than two months since the baap of all men's magazines decided
to grace India with its presence.
It claims to have already managed to sell-out all the advertising space
on its back and front covers till 2007, has achieved advertising revenues
worth Rs 2.5 crore, attracted 20,000 subscriptions, and gone and
gotten itself embroiled in a controversy; not to mention that their first
issue sold 75,000 copies, and in spite of the fact they have a print-run
of 80,000 copies, their second issue sold out.
Many thought that India was perhaps not yet 'ready' for Maxim,
which is perhaps the world's most loved laddie mag, but the numbers
it boasts have proved the cynics wrong and packed them off on their
high horses, back to wherever it was they came from in the first place.
"Maxim has gone on to become the most spectacular and successful
launch in the Indian publication industry. At no point in time - for any
new product launch - has anyone seen of copies being printed to the
kinds of numbers that we're doing. The (magazine) industry average
starts at 25-30,000, we went ahead with a first print run of 80,000; on
that front we have done extremely well", says Piyush Sharma, CEO &
Associate Publisher, Maxim India.
As far as ad sales are concerned, Maxim claims to have had a completely
phenomenal and unprecedented success, with an unheard of
Rs 2.5 crore, with fifteen of only the country's top brands advertising
in it so far. Sharma proudly adds that the percentage of advertising the
Indian edition get based on Maxim's international relationships is
"zero". 80 percent of all Maxim's cover positions and premium pages
inside are completely sold out till the end of the year, and Maxim's
front and back gate are sold out until 2007; so don't be surprised if you
see a few of them being hawked off on Ebay by some or the other
enterprising individual.
"The huge encouraging and enthusiastic response we have received,
is something one could have only dreamt of. It has been a case of the
fastest brand creation exercise ever, for any new media launch in the
country. From a situation six months ago, where no one knew Maxim,
today, there's no one who doesn't know Maxim", expresses Sharma.
Speaking of there being no one who hasn't heard of Maxim, one can't
help but wonder whether the magazine did in fact get to be in that
place with a little help from a friend. "We've had an increase in sales,
but it's really actually had nothing to do with the Khushboo issue at
all. As far as circulation sales are concerned, our first issue was already
a sell-out, way before the Khushboo controversy broke out. As far as
the second issue is concerned, it sold on its own strength. The
Khushboo story is something that has helped in creating brand awareness,
but beyond that, can we really link it in our quantitative measure
of whether it has a 0 or 100 percent increase in sales?
