From: Everyone@itp.com [mailto:Everyone@itp.com] On Behalf Of Sue Walters
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2007 4:59 PM
To: Everyone
Subject: ITP Newsletter - July
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| ITP Business | ||
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It took some time for the AC to come back on, but ITP Business stayed cool under pressure and turned in another fantastic performance in June. The start of the month saw the hospitality team, armed with a 144-page issue of Hotelier Middle East, take the Hotel Show by storm. Buoyed by this strong showing, sales again breezed over target. In fact, it was a full house for the hospitality group, as ATN and Caterer also made their numbers with room to spare.
Though a (wo)man or two down, Neil Baker's team coped with everything that was thrown at them. New boys David Beaver and Daniel Prescott settled in quickly and have already brought their own unique touch to their respective publications. Neil Baker also found some time to start designing ITP’s six exciting second half launches.
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| ITP Consumer | ||
| Women’s Weeklies
Women’s Lifestyle For our Great Debate feature we tackled body image and Sarah from Production gave the readers the bodies they thought they wanted. We're just hoping she'll do our holiday snaps too. Fainting models - willowy model + 45degs = fashion editor running for water and a damp cloth. But who would have known it, the shoot still looked great guys.
On a more personal level, welcome back this month to LO’s deputy editor, Mirvat Ghanem who has returned from her maternity leave. She now is the proud mother of her second daughter, Lamar. Time Out Group After finishing the gigantic Time Out City Guide for London, (with record revenues) the Time Out Guides team has tackled the equally mammoth Russian and Arabic City Guides this month. Well done to all concerned. Men’s Lifestyle Christine Burrows busied herself on the re-design of MEG, which should be making its debut in the next couple of months. Lastly, a big thanks to everybody that contributed to the ITP Golf Day on the 27th June and in particular Sarah Lucas. | ||
| ITP Executive | ||
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Editorially it was another strong month – exclusive interviews with Etihad boss James Hogan, Tatweer’s CEO and chairman and Mashreq boss Al Ghurair leading the way. While the titles continue to hit target every month, the team is now focusing on the second half – the launch of 4 new titles, and the arrival of 17 new staff by the start of August. These include 10 editorial, six sales and one on marketing. | ||
| ITP Digital | ||
| As H1 draws to a close, it has been another big month for ITP Digital and a strong end to the half. Top of everyone's agenda this month has been the ITP.net redesign, approximately six years overdue but proving well worth the wait. Led by Craig Willers and Meghna Jalnawalla the new design reflects the excellent strength and depth of ITP's regular IT coverage that makes it the Middle East's number one technology publisher. Since the relaunch ITP.net has experienced traffic levels usually reserved for the monster IT week that is Gitex Dubai. A huge well done to all of those involved. ArabianBusiness.com this month found itself in the centre of a storm – Gonu – and rose admirably to the task of covering the biggest natural disaster to hit this region in decades. The site became the home of acres of news coverage straddling many angles: hospitality, transportation, and finance. This was an example where all of ITP’s editorial teams got behind the Web and the result was dramatic. ArabianBusiness.com became identified as the source for the latest news on the cyclone and the site registered its highest-ever traffic - crossing 20,000 visits on two consecutive days. Thank you to all of the various editors, journalists and photographers who contributed to the excellent coverage. TimeOutDubai.com also showed it colours this month with Kate McAuley leading a quick, but highly effective redesign to the weekly newsletter. A big thank you also goes to Diana Milne for temporarily stepping outside her role as the Editor of Money Middle East and providing excellent coverage of the Paris air show - exclusively for ArabianBusiness.com. Commercially, ITP Digital ended the half with a record revenue month, led by TimeOutDubai.com's stellar sales performance. Stuart Morgan brought to a close a superb Q2 and took TimeOutDubai.com over the $100,000 for the first time, its highest monthly revenue to date – by a margin. Recognition must also go to Andrew Wingrove and Michael Smith for their contributions, and in particular to Gareth Jones, who between them contributed more than 50% of the original, shattered target. June was also the month that ArabianBusiness.com broke the $100,000 barrier. Strong contributions from Jason Bowman, Guillaume Massey and Diarmuid O'Malley meant that they did not miss out on the last month of the guaranteed commission for contributions. Meanwhile over at ITP.net, Colin Saldanha made the short transfer from IT print to join Karl Hougaard as the Web site begins preparations for its biggest, and most challenging months around Gitex Dubai. | ||
| Spectrum Digital Print Solutions | ||
| Spectrum welcome two newcomers this month to help strengthen our sales proposition. Print Management My thanks to the Spectrum production team for pulling several “rabbits” out of the hat this month most notably 130x 400 pp perfect bound books , files received from London at 4.30 am on a Saturday morning and delivered 11.30 pm the same day to the happy client ….In Abu Dhabi …that’s some doing ! Well done team. | ||
| Production | ||
| With a shortage of staff, numerous amounts of extensions and reallocating all of the Ahlan's to a new press we managed to get it all done, special mentions for the following people. | ||
| Internal Vacancies | ||
| Editor, ArabianBusiness.com Arabic All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence Editor, ITP.net All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence. Senior Journalist, ArabianBusiness.com ArabianBusiness.com is five months old and is already the leading source of high quality news, opinion and features for the Gulf’s business community. The successful candidate will be expected to be able to build on that success. If you think you are ready for the challenge of Internet journalism, can take flat page copy and make it a three-dimensional feature please apply, in confidence, to davidwestley@itp.com. | ||
| New Staff - June 07 | ||
| Clare Volland - Sales Manager, Retail News Daniel Prescott - Designer, ITP Business David Beaver - Art Editor, ITP Business Dmitry Dolzhanskiy - Photographer, ITP Business Farah Bernard - Administrative Executive, DMC George Varghese - Business Development Executive, Spectrum Jeanette Johana - Credit Controller Kashif Rehmat - SEO Specialist, ITP Digital Ladan Rahbary - Business Development Manager, Spectrum Panos Kostouros - Photographer, ITP Consumer Paul Brandist - Senior Designer, Men’s Lifestyle Sally Matthews - Fashion Assistant, Harpers Bazaar Sarah Maisey - Shopping Editor, Harpers Bazaar Ross Mackenzie - Production Co-ordinator Zeina Eid - Assistant Editor, Etihad Inflight | ||
| © 2007 ITP |
In the Transportation Group, Robeel Haq and his team produced a Materials Handling supplement and Robeel still found time to go on holiday. Air Cargo, Logistics and Sea Freight had a late surge and were all set to go over target.
After recovering from Jet Set (congratulations Davina Perkins on an amazing design job), Ahlan! English continued to see soaring sales and a welcome new addition to their team in the shape of their first boy... Alex Forsyth - who has only been here a month but has already been brainwashed into the George Clooney Fan Club and Paris Hilton Appreciation Society. Not surprisingly, Alex is looking forward to the arrival of our new stylist Paul Ewart in July, so at least he'll have a partner in crime against the rest of the Ahlanettes!
Nadine and her team on Ahlan! Arabic also celebrated this month with the news that the magazine will be going into Saudi Arabia. Congratulations to them and the circulation team on cracking this important market.
From exclusives on Kate Moss's Topshop range to the local woman who spent Dhs2 million on clothes, Grazia's editorial team have proven their winning formula of style and scandal, as evidenced by great growth in newsstand sales. Thanks to Dani in Marketing for a great job on the readers' shopping evening at Debenhams in Mall of the Emirates, and congratulations to Natascha Hawke on her promotion to Picture Editor.
Another busy month at VIVA Towers. Safety Surveys, fainting models and readers undergoing 'surgery'. Were you one of the women caught by VIVA getting into unlicensed taxis, leaving your drinks unmarked and walking home late at night on your own? Yes, Aoife, Jenny, Elliott and Bernard prowled the streets of Dubai at night snapping UAE women for VIVA’s Safety Survey. 
Well done to Penny McCormick for heading up this month’s issue of Wedding, as well as editing Emirates Home. Congratulations and thanks also go out to Stuart Robertson who styled this issue’s cover shoot. Thanks again to all the subs that chipped in to help out.
Stuart has also has a busy month on L'Officiel, putting together huge amount of local material with the help of the local photographers. Well done too to the translation team of Rana Saliby and Fatiha Idrissi, who stretched their collective talents across L'Officiel, L'Officiel Hommes and Wedding Arabic. 
Time Out’s sales team may have had a rocky month, but the copy sales of TOD continue to go from strength to strength. The latest figures indicate record sales in April. That should help push the audit up later in the year. Well done to the editorial and circulation teams.
The men’s titles once again turned up and pretended to do some work. Alex Ritman, read loads of comics and played with toy robots for this month’s superhero issue, Shahzad and Charif went cruising around in town in not one, not two, but three different Rollers. For his part Captain Toby on Boat Owner, interviewed a world champion contender in the moth hydro-foil yachting class for his cover story. Desperate to get as much golf in before summer heat brings the season to an end, Robbie has been rushing around playing and watching a lot of golf.
If June is when things start to slow down, somebody better tell the team at ITP Executive. CEO English managed to smash its target for the second month running, and is suddenly a $100k a month title. A great effort by Andrew Sullivan and Carmen Aston. Meanwhile, much of the sales and editorial team were busy in Riyadh for the Saudi Achievement Awards, where 350 VIPs celebrated 18 awards, in the presence of Saudi royalty. It is already being regarded as one of the most prestigious award ceremonies ever held. 
There was no rest for ITP Business in October as a new launch and a number of massive trade shows coming up in November meant it was another busy month.
Elsewhere in ITP Business, Medical Times reached its October working month target, Utilities Middle East and Arabian Banking & Finance both hit their numbers for the third month in a row and the hospitality titles again beat their targets easily. October also saw a new addition to the hospitality group in the shape of Leisure Manager, whose first issue matched the same high standards of ITP Business’s other recent launches.
Only plague and pestilence was missing from the VIVA office this month. We would add fire but on top of everything else we smelt burning in the IT cupboard next to our desks. However, the depleted team through sheer willpower and cheap garage biscuits still managed to get a bumper issue and a supplement out of the door. Katherine, Elliott, Chee, Celia, Jenny, Pepita and Shital. You
Between trips to the various fashion weeks around the world during September and October, the Harper's Bazaar team still managed to put together another beautiful issue, featuring Kate Hudson on the cover and themed with a 'Body and Beauty' focus. Our styling team of Sarah Maisy and Sally Matthews were busy in London after fashion week organising the stunning Dominatrix fashion shoot featured this issue. 
On the advertising side, huge applause for the sales team, Lauren Fryer and Vidhya, who smashed their sales target once again for the November issue. Welcome to Sandra Z who joins as the deputy sales manager from L'Officiel, where "Fur" is the word for our November edition. This month has a detailed preview and a fashion shoot featuring some of the latest creations for a warm winter. As promised last month, we take our readers all the way to Berne, where L'officiel Middle East was the official magazine and the organizer of a major event under the patronage of HH Sheikh Saoud Bin Sakr AlQassemi, ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, and the city of Berne. As usual, we took the coverage much further than mere society pages, to offer our readers an amazing fashion shoot on "the top of the world" with breathtaking images.So thumbs up for our editorial team, as well as our sales team who managed to meet a challengingly high target this month."
November sees the biggest issue of CAR Middle East produced to date with 144 pages in the main issue along with a 56 page supplement providing the ultimate guide to the Dubai Motor Show. This meant it closed with the largest revenue earning since its launch! While they were at it, they've redesigned the magazine, to give it great new look and real contemporary feel. A great effort from the CAR team! 
This month Charged unearthed a secret location (the alleyway by the side of the Party Store) for its sophisticated and extremely intellectual 'Girls and Tools' cover shoot. Sadly the team soon had to fend off the interest of passing strangers, who were either captivated by the wide array of expensive power tools on display, or more interested in the female bikini-clad DIY expert/model holding them. 
With the weather cooling off, Boat Owner has been leaping back on the water again by speeding around in high-powered RIBs, performing a world-exclusive test on a Jebel Ali-built motor cruiser and seeing if the Italian modern design really works in a modern powerboat. The November issue also introduces the inaugural Arabian Gulf Yachting Awards, to be held on the 10th November, and recognising all the effort marine companies have put in over the past 12 months.
Another busy month for the Time Out team has seen Time Out Dubai and Abu Dhabi both burst back into life as the cities wake up after the summer slumber and a number of key guides completed. It has been a month of big interviews for the magazines, Becky Lucas took on the biggest ego in hip hop, Kanye West and won and Matthew Pomroy who after signing the interview equivalent of a pre-nup managed to (almost) interview Justin Timberlake. 
There have been some key promotions on both magazines. Congratulations to Time Abu Dhabi’s new Editor, Matthew Pomroy and features writer Scott Walker. Changes on the TOD team as well, well done to Jeremy Lawrence (who is now the Deputy Editor), Andy Buchan (the new Features Editor) and Becky Lucas (who takes on Nightlife). Mark Smith also joins the weekly team as Books and Music Editor. More changes are afoot so watch this space. 
Ahlan! English
Ahlan! Masala
Ahlan! Arabic
Grazia
A strong month for ITP Executive, with Arabian Business English crossing $300k for the first time ever - and has already hit November target. CEO Middle East crossed the $100k marked, helped by the huge success of the first ever CEO Middle East Awards. Revenues across just eight titles topped $1 million in October. Well done to all the sales and editorial teams.
Etihad hit its highest ever revenue on its September issue, the title going from strength to strength under Stephan van der Merwe and the talented editorship of Kathryn Clark, Hala El Khoury, Jessica Gliddon and Zeina Eid, with help from Fatima El Homsi. Etihad Inflight also welcomes Jan Stoop as its new designer. Jan has already settled in well and has shown himself to be a safe and dependable pair of hands. The Etihad team also welcomes Nora Elias , who will be working on the Entertainment Guides alongside her core role as the English language editor of the newly acquired Rotana Hotels magazine. Nora is busy planning the first issue of the magazine, due out in January. 
ITP's catalogue division welcomes Rolan Huisamen as its Sales Manager. Rolan started with the bit between his teeth and hasn't looked back, with both Motor Show products sailing over target.