Mega mag hits the newsstands

The first issue of the fashion and lifestyle magazine is breaking new ground on all levels, not least in magazine production techniques. The first 32 pages of the title carry a six-page gatefold cover, a four-page reverse-bound gatefold, a 12-page triple-gatefold advertisement for Lancôme as well as – a first for the magazine industry – a massive 10-page reverse-bound roll fold advertisement for David Jones.

The first issue of Madison, with a cover price of $7.50, has a print run in excess of 150,000 copies, totalling in excess of 54 million web printed pages. The title was produced by PMP Printing at its Clayton, Victoria plant. Production manager for the Clayton site, Dave Alexander, says the job was done using CTP technology with the complex printing requirements easily met by the plant's 48-page MAN Lithoman press.

ACP group publisher Pat Ingram claims that getting the 364-page title off the ground was a challenge. The magazine's heavy advertising content, combined with the complex printing and bindery process meant getting Madison to the market proved to be a mammoth task. “In printing and binding terms, the launch issue of Madison was without doubt the most complex and challenging ever attempted by any publisher in this country,” says Ingram.

Extensive research had shown ACP there was an untapped market opportunity in the fashion and lifestyle category, previously dominated Marie Claire and in a joint venture with Hearst International it committed millions of dollars to develop the new title.