Adgully Exclusive | Saira Menezes, bringing alive the stories of extraordinary people

In the Indian market today, we have magazines and publications from all categories. The most popular among the genres are Lifestyle, Sports, Celebrity and News. There are various players in these spaces. However if one looks closely, it will be evident that there are opportunities for more genres. PEOPLE magazine is one such player who sensed a requirement and entered the Indian market over two years ago. The niche that they created was "Celebrity News' genre and till date they are the only players in this category.

Saira Menezes, Editor, PEOPLE helped in launching the magazine when it entered this market. She has been a journalist for the last 19 years. She has done many successful revamps across a range of categories, some of which includes Savvy, Sunday Mid Day and the like. Saira Menezes talks exclusively to Adgully about the challenges in establishing a new genre and reaching out to their audience.

"PEOPLE is the world's largest celebrity news-magazine. It is unique in its story-telling and in the manner in which it brings together extraordinary people and extraordinary stories. Over time, our readers have come to respect what PEOPLE represents: A magazine that is credible, factual, detailed and above all, mature in its coverage of people and news," she said.

One major challenge which PEOPLE faced was carving out what constituted this genre and informing their readers in this market that such a genre did exist. "The biggest challenge for us was to define what a "celebrity newsmagazine' is. This genre did not exist in India and we had to show readers that it could be done. Unlike most other magazines that cover celebrity, our coverage is driven by the news peg. News-iness and news-worthiness is fundamental to the editorial of PEOPLE. What was a huge challenge when we launched is now our biggest advantage," Menezes said.

PEOPLE is at present a fortnightly and though there are no immediate plans to go weekly, Menezes says that that will perhaps change a few years from now.

The content strategy that PEOPLE follows is exactly the way it is in PEOPLE (US). "Our content strategy is exactly that of PEOPLE US. Minor changes, if any, have been made keeping the Indian reader in mind. But these changes too do not deviate from the core editorial philosophy of the PEOPLE brand. PEOPLE India takes about 12 per cent of content from PEOPLE US and perhaps has a greater percentage of extraordinary stories (ordinary people doing extraordinary work) than PEOPLE US. But that composition, as I said, is determined and led by what our readers expect and want from the India edition." She further said.

PEOPLE has come a long way since its inception, two years ago. Menezes attributes the success to the hard work that the team puts in.

"I would like to believe that the India edition of PEOPLE has managed to be true to the spirit and the integrity of the magazine's DNA. With PEOPLE (India), we created a genre that did not exist in India before. That readers and advertisers alike have come to accept ' and patronize -- this new genre in a cluttered marketplace, is no mean feat and speaks volumes for the hard work put in by the team," she further added.

Commenting upon the changes that have taken place in the print media over the years of her experience as a journalist, she said, "Technology has changed the way you gather, verify and report news. For the reporter, even a Twitter account can provide leads. For editors, there are a plethora of platforms and apps to deliver content on. Paper may eventually go out of fashion, but print (as in the printed word which tells the story) never will. At present, PEOPLE is on Twitter and we have a subscription-based website. We hope to be on many more cutting-edge platforms soon."

How does one keep a vibrant medium such as this alive and kicking? In an environment where everyone is fighting for survival, it is no easy task to run any kind of publication. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]