While maintaining its editorial formula of raunchy headlines and fashion trends, the magazine has made subtle design changes to bring a "slicker" flow to the editorial. Although readers liked the existing design, Cleo's editor Corinne Ng said that the magazine was due for a makeover in terms of both relevance and contemporary feel. The last design revamp took place about two years ago. "The readers do like the (old design) but it doesn't mean we can't make it better. We can't wait until it's broken to fix it. It'll be an uphill task then," Ng said.
Following the revamp, Cleo expects to expand its core readership of women aged 18 to 26 as well as the secondary target of women aged 27 to 35.
It also expects to make a louder pitch to the Chinese-speaking reader.
In addition, the current circulation of 62,000 is targeted to increase by 20 per cent to more that 74,000 by the end of next year, Ng said.
As part of the new look, its content has been grouped under five sections - Fashion Peek, Beauty Peek, Lust for Life, Cleo Culture and Free Speech.
Interspersed among them are feature articles dealing with intimate and somewhat controversial topics associated with women, love, sex and career.
The first two sections will continue to provide fashion and beauty tips.
Lust for Life is about body and soul, money, career and exercise. Cleo Culture carries survey topics, information on hand phones, eating out, SMS, going to clubs, doing up rooms, which are "basically the culture of Cleo chicks". Free Speech is an expanded interactive forum with the readers, providing the "increasingly vocal" Cleo readers with a platform to have their say on specific topics. Incorporated in the section is a new column called Stuff in which readers can write about controversial events in Singapore and around the world, such as a plan by the Government to cull the number of cats in the city state, Ng said.
Marketing manager, Charlotte Goh said the October revamp would be supported by a series of marketing and advertising activites, including advertising on radio, buses, entertainment weekly 8days and an extensive taxi campaign, a first for the title. The Comfort Cabs' visual features a Cleo reader reclining with a copy of the magazine.