Media: Publishing brands

Sandro Boeri is named Creative Adviser of the Focus brand, a system consisting of six monthly, 2 bi-monthly and 2 quarterly titles, two websites and a range of special editions.

Over the years Boeri has developed – along with the editorial teams – a new way of transmitting knowledge: a simple, yet authoritative, interesting and often entertaining approach, able to translate the most cryptic specialist jargon into information accessible to everyone.

Focus has proved to be a highly effective medium reaching across all social and cultural levels, and opening up the so-called elitist world of culture and science.

Under the guidance of Boeri, who has been the editor in chief since 1995, the monthly has reached a readership of 6.4 million, making it the most widely read magazine in Italy (10.7% of the population), with a website over 513,000 unique users and 10.6 million page impressions.

“Focus today is no longer just a magazine but a cross-media knowledge centre,” says Boeri, who will leave the editorship of the monthly next June. “And it is in this area that I will continue to make a contribution to the development of the brand in all its possible forms: from education to new media, from events to smart-TV, from images to words, games, art, economics and science.”

Francesca Folda will be the new Editor in Chief of Focus and www.focus.it, and will also oversee the brand extensions Extra, D&R and Brain Trainer.

Folda, born in Rome, and not yet forty, built her career in Milan where she attended journalism school in 1995. Folda has accumulated in a short time a wealth of expertise, on different subjects and media, at news agencies and newspapers, television and the web. She was a reporter for ANSA and has been a columnist for several newspapers, before joining the magazine Panorama in 1999, where she produced reports from the world and journalistic investigations that also led to the award of the Saint Vincent prize in 2000. Since 2007 she has successfully explored the world of digital journalism, first on Panorama.it and then at Sky.it. In the last four years she edited the online portal of Sky Italia, where she also had management responsibilities. Under her leadership Sky.it unique users tripled and the number of page views and advertising revenues multiplied.

“Francesca Folda – whose career fits perfectly with the innovative character of Focus – will be responsible for the continued growth of both the magazine and the website by leveraging the value of the brand, the know-how of the editorial staff and the strength of community, paying particular attention to the originality and quality of content,” underlined Fabienne Schwalbe, CEO of G+J/M. “The new role of Creative Adviser to be held by Sandro Boeri, meanwhile, is linked to the overall development strategy of the Focus brand across all media, concentrated on its core values: to spread knowledge in an easy, accessible, attractive and authoritative way,” Schwalbe concluded.

The Gruner + Jahr / Mondadori joint venture, established in 1990, publishes Focus, Italy’s most widely read magazine, and its brand extensions Focus Junior, Focus Storia, Focus D&R, Focus Brain Trainer, Focus Pico, Focus Wild, Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection. Completing the publisher’s portfolio are the monthly magazines Jack and Geo, and the portal nostrofiglio.it, market leader in online Parenting.

With the launch of Grazia South Africa, on newsstands from 18 May 2012, the number of international editions of the Grazia International Network rises to 20.

Published under license by Media 24 – the leader in Africa in business and consumer magazines – and edited by Danielle Weakley, Grazia South Africa is the network’s first edition in the African continent and will come out weekly.

Also this 20th international edition will be characterised by the usual easy chic formula that distinguishes the Grazia brand around the world: fashion, news and celebrities, enhanced by international trends, style and local trends.

The Grazia International Network: as well as in Italy, where the magazine has been published since 1938, Grazia is published as a weekly in France (by Mondadori France), Great Britain, Holland, Germany, UAE, India, Australia and South Africa (under licensing agreements) and in a joint venture with Independent Media in Russia. Meanwhile, a joint venture with SEEC Media Group Limited publishes a fortnightly Chinese edition of the magazine. Monthly editions of Grazia, also under license, are published in Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bahrain, Thailand and Indonesia.

Mondadori Portfolio is a new online photography and document agency, which for the first time makes available online the historic photo archives of Mondadori’s most authoritative titles: Epoca, Grazia, Tempo, Panorama. A wealth of previously unpublished photographs and exclusive reports chronicling the history of Italy in the twentieth century through the personalities, events, art, lifestyle, fashion and entertainment of the period.

Alongside this unique collection of images, by many of the most illustrious practitioners of Italian photojournalism, Mondadori Portfolio will also include the experience and the iconographic assets of the MondadoriElecta archive: thousands of the most important Italian and European paintings, along with masterpieces of architecture and sculpture of the classical, modern and contemporary periods, in addition to essays on the most important archaeological sites.

The prestigious international photographic collections of the partner agencies AKG-Images, and Leemage and Album, with content ranging from art to history, from cinema to fashion, from music to literature, will also be directly available from the web site www.mondadoriportfolio.it; a total of over 4 million images available for the creation of editorial projects, of which 1 million searchable online.

In addition to the iconographic area, Mondadori Portfolio offers an extensive document database consisting of the online collection of all of the articles published since 1984 (or from the launch of the title, if later) by Panorama, Grazia, Donna Moderna and Starbene. But the system can also provide the results of specific searches of the historical collection, all the issues of all the Mondadori titles since their launch, and on the database with the articles from the most popular Italian newspapers and magazines.

For the wealth and uniqueness of the material, the online platform Mondadori Portfolio is a unique tool for anyone working with images and a reliable reference database for research in history and journalism, thanks also to a powerful search engine that makes it possible to explore the archives in a few simple steps.

This week Chi launches Chi Junior, a new magazine dedicated to children’s fashion, overseen by the fashion and beauty editor Marina Bigi.

Chi Junior aims to be an authentic shopping guide: entering the world of kids ad translating it into a world of trends, news and glamour, also through the children of Italian and international celebrities, with reportage and interviews, fashion services and beauty suggestions in the classic Chi style.

The magazine is organised in nine sections: from clothing must haves for younger children to beauty issues connected to the care, pampering and protection of children’s health, as well as extensive travel and holiday features indicating destinations in Italy and abroad that are ideal for children. And, of course, there will also be a wealth of suggestions and news about cooking, games and children’s entertainment.

The cover of the first issue features Valeria Mazza and Taina, the youngest of her four children.

“Chi Junior is a demonstration that the market is ready to reward the ideas and capabilities of publishers able to create modern entertainment and lifestyle products. As is demonstrated by the success in terms of advertising pages and clients that we have managed to attract with this new project, with which we are very satisfied,” declared Angelo Sajeva, chairman and chief executive of Mondadori Pubblicità.

Chi Junior will be sold as a supplement with all of the print run of Chi at a supplementary price of 20 cents.

Tomorrow sees the launch of “Il Lavoro per i Giovani” (Jobs for the Young), a new initiative by Donna Moderna and Sportellostage.it, which aims to offer work experience opportunities for school-leavers and recent graduates.

Donna Moderna, in each issue during the month of May, will present 100 internship opportunities, a total of 400 places: a range of different roles inside companies selected exclusively for this project and spread across the whole country. In addition to the opportunities, the magazine will also provide precise instructions on how to apply for the positions.

“With the spirit of service and social solidarity that has always made Donna Moderna a useful and unique magazine, we have developed a concrete initiative,” declared the magazine’s co-editor Cipriana Dall’Orto. “It’s not enough to say that ‘we believe in the young’, ‘the crisis will end.’ We rolled up our sleeves and found 400 opportunities of getting into a company; a first, very important, step that many young people can’t manage on their own. We open a door: then it is up to them to make the most of this chance. Requirements? Courage, resourcefulness, and a willingness to face a challenge,” concluded Cipriana Dall’Orto.

“The initiative was born from the experience of Sportellostage.it in facilitating the entry of young people into the labour market through internships. Since 1999 over 60,000 young people have found jobs in companies thanks to our internships,” declared Marina Verderajme, President of Sportellostage.it -ACTL.

Full details can be found on Donnamoderna.com, including a practical guide to the job market, an extract from the ACTL – Sportellostage.it guide and a forum where an expert will respond to questions from users. The site also provides access to www.lavoro-giovani.it: by using the password published every week in Donna Moderna, users can check the details of the job offers and apply for the positions available.

The following companies have supported the “Il lavoro per i giovani” initiative: ABB, ACCENTURE, ACCOR, ARNOLDO MONDADORI EDITORE, BINARIO IMMAGINE E COMUNICAZIONE, BOSCH, CADEY, CEVA LOGISTICS, CISALFA, COCA-COLA, CONFORAMA, DEBORAH, ESPRINET, GEOX, GERI HDP, GEWISS, GI GROUP, GRUPPO COIN, KRAFT, L’OREAL, LUTECH, MARCHON, MARCOS Y MARCOS, MEDIAMOND, MIRATO, NESTLÉ, NTT DATA, PENNY MARKET, RANA, SEPHORA, SKY, STARHOTELS, START PEOPLE, SWAN GROUP, TRIUMPH, UNILEVER E VIRGIN.

From 5 to 27 May R101 will be alongside the cyclists of the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) with activities and events covering the entire event, changing the schedule with specials related to the tour, interviews and live links with the protagonists of the day.

R101, the media partner of the competition now in its 95th year, will follow the race with a wide range of initiatives; first of all the traditional caravan that accompanies the cyclists, which will open this year with R101’s Forever Fun Bus, to entertain the audience along the route.
Another new feature of this edition of the race is Km 101, an initiative with which R101 will “adopt” 16 municipalities on the Tour route, involving residents with music and animation, and celebrating the passage of the cyclists in the company of special guests.
The Km 101 towns that have received the passage of the tour in the most creative way will compete for the final party organised by the radio in the “warmest” town, in line with the style of R101’s “Forever Fun”.
Also three of the town squares involved in the race will also host the R101 Giroparty, a show with Cristiano Militello (Recanati, 11 May, Assisi, 15 May) and Federico l’Olandese Volante (Limone, 21 May) for an evening party with music and humour.

For all listeners every day R101 will broadcast special tour-themed specials, live links, updates on the competition and “snippets” by Gene Gnocchi, who will comment on the progress of the race in his usual comic style.
In three stages of the Km 101, R101 will also broadcast special live coverage from the station’s mobile studio located in the town squares, and the shows of Paolo Dini and Lester (Amelia, 15 May, Belluno, 24 May) and Ugo Conti and Gianfranco Monti (Lecco, 20 May).

Every day on the R101 fanpage on Facebook you can participate in “Giro 101”, a competition with quizzes and games dedicated to the protagonists of the event. The prize, for all players, a Skoda Citigo. In addition, for users that come in the first positions, there will be a chance to win a helicopter flight during a stage of the tour and a VIP car ride alongside cyclists in the race, during the stage of 25 May, the Treviso-Alpe di Pampeago stretch.

Interni Legacy is the name of an important exhibition event conceived by the magazine Interni, edited by Gilda Bojardi, sponsored by the City of Milan, and co-produced by MINI and BE OPEN, to be held in the courtyards of the University of Milan, between today and 28 April, during the Milan design week.
The exhibition is open to the public from Monday 16 April to Sunday 22 April from 9am to midnight and from Monday 23 April to Saturday 28 April from 9am to 9pm.

Interni Legacy brings to the world of design messages like memories for the future and represented in installations that are ephemeral only the sense of their temporal duration, which is linked to the Milan design week.
Much is said about ‘inheritance’ in built form, of reflections on the condition of design, and a capacity to embrace different scales and types, from micro-architecture to the urban landscape, from interiors to the decorative object.
The exhibition reflects on the possibility of a “design legacy” over time and in terms of research, technologies, materials, figurative expressions, but also in terms of links to to a culture of sustainability and the minimisation of waste in our homes, workplaces and cities.
Interni Legacy, with the help of technologically advanced companies in the field of building materials and environmental sustainability, aims to stimulate ideas that can become the reference points in the complex scenario of contemporary design and furnishings, of research by means of a series of experimental installations.

The INSTALLATIONS, created by internationally-renowned designers, are also in metaphoric and symbolic terms, the announcement of new possibilities, shapes, types and solutions for the design of tomorrow. The works are located in areas of the University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7, in the Cortile d’Onore, in the fifteenth and seventeenth-century courtyards and loggias.

A large number of designers, architects and companies have contributed with their designs to the creation of Interni Legacy: Akihisa Hirata with Panasonic, Scholten & Baijings with Mini, Alessandro and Francesco Mendini with Elegant Living, Michele De Lucchi with Listone Giordano, Marzorati Ronchetti and Publistand, Odile Decq with Flanders, Monica Armani with the Province of Trento, SOM with Carrara Marmotec, Standardarchitecture with Camerich, Ludovica + Roberto Palomba with Payanini and Zucchetti.Kos, Massimo Iosa Ghini with FMG Fabbrica Marmi e-Granite, Jacopo Foggini with Maip, Speech Tchoban/Kusnetzov with Taltos, The Fake Factory with Deborah Milano, Matteo Ragni with Campari and Verallia and Przemyslaw ‘Mac’ Stopa with Samsung Cheils Europe, Marc Sadler with Samsung Electronics, Jürgen Mayer H. with Vorwerk, Patricia Urquiola with Missoni, Lorenzo Palmeri with the Italian Institute of Photography, Marco Vigo with The Glass Farm, Ora ïto with GVM, Designers for Klein Karoo.

For the entire duration of the event, the Aula Magna (Great Hall) will host the Verge exhibition, curated by Elena Selina with Be Open.
Among the activities of Interni Legacy space will also be given to three conferences, run in collaboration with BeOpen, each of which will address a specific crossover topic that will be the subject of a roundtable discussion involving international personalities from various academic, cultural, and business backgrounds and focused on innovation and design, the participants will include Julian Schnabel, Gaetano Pesce, Paola Navone, Patricia Urquiola, Alberto Alessi, Elio Fiorucci, Carlo Cracco, Stuart Parr and Daniel Rozensztroch, art director of Merci Paris.

The meetings are open to all and will be held at the Aula Magna of the University of Milan on Tuesday 17 April at 10.30am, Wednesday 18 April at 10.30am and on Thursday 19 April at 5.30pm.

The activities of INTERNI will extend during to the days of the FuoriSalone to the Km Rosso in Bergamo, where Italcementi i.lab, in its new home designed by Richard Meier, and opened today, will host four lectures featuring architects linked to Interni Legacy and Italcementi, who will discuss the theme “Architecture. Building a sustainable legacy”: Odile Decq (17 April), Zhang Ke (18 April), Mario Cucinella (19 April) and Daniel Libeskind (20 April).

In view of the long-awaited week for lovers of design and the FuoriSalone, Interni has also organised a series of initiatives for web enthusiasts. This year the application of the Guida FuoriSalone® and the Guida ZeeMilano, will be available for free also for the iPad and Android operating systems form tablets and smartphones as well as the iPhone.

For more information: www.internimagazine.it

Epoca returns with a new special issue, Ai confini della Terra (At the Edge of the Earth), on newsstands from 14 April.

The historic Mondadori magazine recounts epic tales of the latest explorations and new frontiers. Through exclusive archival material and new images, the magazine brings to life the first adventures of Walter Bonatti in Alaska, biographies by Vittorio G. Rossi of the great explorers of the past (such as Livingstone, Stanley, Amundsen, Shackleton and Lindbergh), Polynesia and Africa by Folco Quilici, the feats of Jacques Cousteau and Auguste Piccard, the fabulous exotic reportage of the great photographers of Epoca De Mario Biasi and Federico Patellani, and the emotions of man’s first experiences in space, from Gagarin to Armstrong.

Epoca – Ai confini della Terra is a passionate tribute to high quality journalism, the result of careful selection of the best articles from the magazine and the most memorable photo shoots.
After the success of the issues on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the beatification of Pope John Paul II, the fabulous ’60s and Italian legend Walter Bonatti, the new issue of the magazine, a real collector’s item, will be available from all newsstands from 14 April at a price of €7.90.

Casaviva, on the occasion of the 51st Salone del Mobile (Furniture Fair), will launch the “Art & Craft & Design” initiative, welcoming the public to a special location near the centre of Milan.

The layout of “Casa del mese” (House of the Month), one of the most popular sections of the monthly, will be brought to life at Via Adige 13, where quality craftsmanship will meet contemporary production.
From 17 to 22 April, from 11am to 8pm, you can visit the Casaviva loft and appreciate the combination of the two souls of “made in Italy”, crafts and design, in an exchange of affinity and contrast, tradition and innovation. In addition, lovers of the home, food and gardens can participate in the “Incontri di Casaviva” (Casaviva Encounters), where special guests will include Paola Marella and Barbara Gulienetti of Real Time. More information is available on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/casavivamagazine.

Panorama Icon, the men’s fashion and lifestyle supplement of the weekly newsmagazine Panorama, has formed a partnership with the “Italian Chamber of Fashion Buyers – THE BEST SHOPS”.

The association, chaired by Beppe Angiolini, brings together 120 companies, owners of Italy’s best upscale multi-brand stores: a network of sales outlets characterised by high profile shops, a wide variety of brands and the presence of market leading brands.
The magazine will be placed inside around 350 shops, to which 20,000 copies of the supplement will be distributed every six months.

Panorama Icon, which is edited by Emanuele Farneti and on newsstands with the latest issue on Thursday 5 April, is aimed at readers interested in fashion, travel, shopping and discovering the styles and thoughts of contemporary icons. The title’s great points of strength a the images: extensive fashion shoots, reportage and portraits by leading Italian and international photographers.

The protagonist of the latest cover is the “made in Italy” star par excellence, Riccardo Scamarcio the first Italian to appear on the cover of Icon, after Vincent Cassel, Adrien Brody, James Franco and Michael Pitt. The actor talks in a long and unconventional interview in which he rejects the label of rebel and talks about his relationship with his fans. In addition, Scamarcio is also the star of a fashion feature by the British portrait photographer Max Vaduluk who highlights his appeal and personality.