MDA Calendar 2010 features August Man... 

Venturing Abroad, They raised standards to compete in markets abroad

TODAY, Wed 27th Aug 08
by Esther Fung This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

LIFESTYLE magazines publisher Communication Resources Media knew that expanding the distributorship of its lifestyle titles abroad was necessary for its survival, as it felt the Singapore market was too small.

Since launching its flagship title, Prestige, in 2000, the 15-year-old company has expanded to neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia without much problem.

However, when we expanded to Thailand and Hong Kong, the demand for an international quality publication became more strident, said Ms Chua Siew Gek (picture), the firms financial director.

We needed to spruce up our design quality to match publications from United States and Europe.

Tapping on IE Singapores help, CR Media managed to hire the right people with the international experience for their design team to help revamp the magazine.

Our brief was to design a product that is not only elegant and sophisticated but also cutting-edge. Sounds simple enough but our local talent then had the potential, but lacked the exposure and the adventurous streak, said Ms Chua.

The firm now has an international melting pot of talent an Australian editor, a Hong Kong-based design consultant and an Indian photographer to deliver a magazine with a trendy look.

CR Media has plans to expand to two other countries later in the year and also develop other revenue streams, such as organising events

The lesson she has learnt: Besides arming yourself with knowledge of the overseas legal frameworks, exporters wanting to sell their wares abroad need to raise their own standards to compete.