Mag shorts: Fashion mobile; Asian art; forest-friendliness; mag futures

Canadian Art Foundation is presenting a talk on Asian art in a global context, on November 14, 7 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Speaker is Dr. Visakha Desai, a senior advisor for Global Policy programs at the Guggenheim Foundation. More information and to order tickets.
* * *
Fashion magazine has unveiled a new mobile site, with improved functionality and new advertiser formats. It contains a full archive of Fashion covers, concurrent with the magazines's 35th anniversary.
* * *
Canopy, the not-for-profit conservation organization, has announced that the 2012 Ancient Forest Friendly awards are now open for entries. They are a chance for companies, including publishers, to show customers and competitors their commitment to sustainability when it comes to paper purchasing and supporting forest conservation. Further information on deadlines and application.
* * *
Magazines Canada is to present one of its State of the Magazine Nation events in Toronto on November 28 to discuss "The Future of Magazines". The two guest speakers are Steve Maich, publisher and editor-in-chief of Sportsnet magazine and Michael Hughes, national marketing manager of Fresh Juice at TC Media. Their focus will be the extension of their brands through multimedia. The event is in the Arcadian Court, 401 Bay Street (Simpson Tower), 8th floor; registration (free) at 8:30 with continental breakfast and presentation at 9. To register.[disclosure: Magazines Canada and this event are advertisers on this blog]

Mag shorts: Saving on ad handling; Global Brief resurgent; Segal leads leadership centre

The advent of ad portals, such as the SendMyAd digital portal offered by Magazines Canada, means shorter production cycles and a better relationship with clients, according to a Q & A from Publishing Executive with Kim Latreille, the production director of St. Joseph Media and Gary Garland, Magazines' Canada's executive director of advertising services. Garland says the new service save time and money for publishers.

There's less handling of ads, less troubleshooting. Aside from that, there's increased reliability. When ads come through the portal, they're ready to print. That means less liability for publishers who have to open up files and make fixes because they were improperly produced.

But I think the biggest advantage is that all of these things together help to reduce cycle time. You can get your production done quicker and the magazine out to consumers faster. That helps in addressing needs of advertising agencies, who want to be able to reach consumers faster than ever.

Latreille says the ad portal provides opportunities to automate the process of ad file handling.

For example, we use a file naming convention. So for all of our ads, because we have several magazines with multiple regions each, we're picking up little pieces of the job ticket that the advertiser pulls out—i.e., that they fill in. So those fields are pulled out and put into the naming of the file. So when it lands on our server, it's already named. There are a lot of shortcuts that it's provided us in our production department.

In the past, it was taking us about 15 to 20 minutes to process an ad once we were told the ad had been delivered. If that involved pulling it down from our FTP or printing and preflighting it, we were spending 20 minutes an ad. Now we're spending five minutes or less on an ad.

* * *

The second issue of the quarterly world affairs magazine Global Brief is being unveiled at a launch party hosted by Glendon College, its new home, on Tuesday, November 3 at 4 p.m. at the BMO conference centre, 2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto.

There will be special  remarks at the reception by Christopher Alexander,  former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan  and former Deputy Special Representative of the  United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan. 

The future looked uncertain for Global Brief after its first issue until it was taken up by the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs. 

* * *

Brian Segal, the president and CEO of Rogers Publishing, has been announced as chair of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management.  Segal, who was president of Ryerson from 1980 to 1988 before joining Rogers, will be piloting a program of teaching, leadership events and communication and scholarship and research.

Mag shorts: 50 years of UA; new kitchen & bath annual; Canada Post sub drive; anti-spam; zoo mag

University Affairs/Affaires universitaires celebrates 50 years of publication with its November issue. The publication started out as a plain-vanilla newsletter and has grown to serve about 20,000 faculty, staff and graduate students in more than 100 universities across Canada.

Historian Alan MacEachern writes a chronicle of the five decades and points out that one of the watershed moments covered by the magazine was the huge expansion of universities starting in the late 1950s and the consequent rise of faculty associations, which shook up university governance. Prior to that, most universities were run by boards of governors that acted like a cozy club of businessmen and clergymen. New faculty were more intent on research and more interested in control of curriculum and their working lives.

 *  *  *

TVA Publications, the publishers of Les  idées de ma maison has launched an English language version of its Cuisines de rêve called Kitchens & Bathrooms. The newsstand-only title will offer ideas for kitchen and bathroom makeovers and a rundown on new products.

 *  *  *

Canada Post has simplified its Subscription Driver Program, which allows magazines who deliver through the mail to advertise their titles on the Canada Post website, free of charge. Learn more about the program or contact your Canada Post rep to participate. 

*  *  *

Magazines Canada has sent a letter to the committee reviewing the new anti-spam bill, supporting amendments that would continue to allow legitimate direct mail activity by Canadian publishers.

*  *  *

Harper Street Publishing of Carcross, Yukon has announced a publishing agreement with the Hannover Zoo in Germany whereby 100,000 copies of a companion magazine will be distributed at the zoo's 'Yukon Visitor Centre',  to compliment their new exhibit 'Yukon Bay'.  The exhibit will feature northern animals and replicas of Dawson City's Palace Grand Theatre, Yukon Saw Shop, the steam engine "Duchess" in Carcross, and a stern-wheeler, the Yukon Queen.