UK children's title Anorak to come into Canada

The Canadian children's magazine market gets a little more competitive with the expansion into Canada of an independent British magazine called Anorak. According to a story in Media Guardian, Anorak bills itself as "the happy mag for kids", has signed an international export deal to be available in 22 countries, including Canada, Ireland, France, Spain, Morocco, Australia, the US, Hong Kong and Malaysia and is also launching a websitethat will feature reader polls, games, reviews and competitions and sell merchandise.

The first three issues of the quarterly magazine were distributed solely in the UK and Ireland through Borders, independent stores and subscription sales from the website, achieving an unaudited circulation of 11,000.

(By the way, we hope they tested the name; the word "anorak" -- which means a hooded, waterproof jacket and has also come to mean (not always complimentarily) the kinds of people such as birdwatchers and trainspotters who wear them -- doesn't travel particularly well. Here is an article from the Guardian explaining that has become a term of mild abuse, almost exclusively directed at men who pursue dull or mysterious hobbies.)

In Canada, it will be up against Chickadee and Owl and Kayak.

The title serves five- to 10-year-olds and targets boys and girls with the same magazine. The £3.50 cover price contributes roughly 40% of the company's revenues, while advertising makes up the remaining 60%. Advertisers now include clothing chain H&M and the magazine has also struck advertising or promotional deals with PlayStation, Vans, Ben Sherman, Disney, Odd Label, Little Fashion Gallery and Danish clothing chain Mini A Ture.

Founder Cathy Olmedillas said she wanted to create a product reminiscent of the magazines and annuals that once dominated children's publishing.

"It's really based on story-telling and we've used modern illustrators to do that," Ms Olmedillas said.

"When we launched, our distributors had trouble understanding that we could target boys and girls with one publication but in the past there were a lot of titles targeting both and things like The Simpsons and Toy Story are unisex."

The first three issues of the quarterly magazine were distributed solely in the UK and Ireland through Borders, independent stores and subscription sales from the website, achieving an unaudited circulation of 11,000.

The article said Ms Olmedillas previously worked in ad sales for The Face and Arena when it was under Nickelodeon ownership and was publishing director for style bible Sleazenation and music title Jockeyslut at Swinstead Publications.