GLOBAL Tyler Brule the founder of cult style magazine Wallpaper, will put his new title Monocole - melding design, global affairs and business - on newsstands in February 2007.
The magazine will target a well-heeled international audience, and is expected to sell in more than 40 countries.
Each issue will also include a Japanese-style manga story book, offering advertisers product placement opportunities in the storyline, in a bid to offer brands new advertising formats.
Wading into a marketplace of already overcrowded newsstands, Brule told Media on a recent visit to the region that he was taking a contrarian view based on his past experience and success, and his belief that Asian markets are shaping the future of publishing and media.
"There's a boom in digital publishing and that's just what happens when you have scared publishers and businessmen, and that's why we're seeing publishers downgrade the quality of magazines. I wanted to put together a new media brand, one that's really Conde Nast Traveler meets The Economist,"Brule said.
"If you look at Asia, particularly in Korea and Japan, these are markets that are four or five years further into the digital and mobile space than Europe, and there is actually a greater emphasis and investment on print products."
The 37-year-old Canadian, who first came into international prominence in 1996 when he launched Wallpaper, a title he later sold to Time Warner, noted that the magazine would be designed as a "Collectible item" that consumers could display on bookshelves.
With 240 pages planned on average per issue, Monocole is being funded by an international group of private investors and will have an initial print run of 150,000.
Its ad rates, on average, have a full-page slot pegged at US$20,000. "I don't just want this to look like a fashion magazine with designer label-advertising. "
"We're approaching tech companies, travel services, hotels, tourism boards, automotive brands and so on,"Brule noted.
Asia-Pacific, which will account for 20 per cent of the magazine's circulation (the remainder will be split between Europe at 50 per cent and North America 30 per cent), will see copies for Japan and Korea carry bound-in translations of articles.
