Celine Lopez on our June Cover
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 18th, 2009
A late post for me, but better this than never. Celine is on our front cover for June. And if you’re interested in seeing what was behind it, we uploaded the shoot below.
If you’ve seen the issue up front, you’ll notice the cover lines that don’t appear on the online version. It’s almost like a hologram. With David Bowie references all over.
Y’know, the guy from Labyrinth.
Denise Laurel on the cover of that magazine I work for
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 4th, 2009
Here’s the clean cover for May 2009. Every month towards UNO’s new direction makes me proud to work for this magazine.
Geek Lust Summarized in Paper
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 23rd, 2009
This is the summation of all my fetishes, rolled neatly into several signatures of paper.
J.J. Abrams is guest editor for WIRED Magazine for May ’09. Abrams, famed for Lost and Fringe and the upcoming Star Trek reboot brings in the theme of MYSTERY:
Think back, for example, to how we used to buy music. You would have to leave your apartment or house and actually move your ass to another location. You’d get to the store, where music would be playing on the stereo. Music you may not have heard before. Perhaps you’d ask the clerk what it was and she’d send you to a bin—those wooden containers holding actual albums or CDs—and you’d look through it, seeing other album covers that might catch your eye. You’d have a chance to discover something.
But wait, you say, iTunes gives you the chance to browse! To that I nod, concede the point, and say, “Bullshit.” Those little icons you scroll past mean almost nothing to most of us. Why? Because we didn’t get on the train, brave the weather, bump into strangers, and hear music we didn’t choose. In other words, we didn’t earn the right to casually scan those wooden bins. Lately I go to Amoeba Music in Hollywood just to watch people flip through albums. It’s a lost art. [source]
Can’t wait to grab a copy off the shelves.
[Huge credit for big cover photo]
Tisha Silang on UNO Magazine April 2009
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 6th, 2009
If you’re sensitive to branding, you may have noticed a transition from the old UNO design. Of course, this isn’t final but a rebranding isn’t an overnight process but a lot of the new things are starting to take form in April’s issue with Tisha Silang on the cover. Inside we also have Cesca Litton and sportscaster Miakka Lim. Curious? I highly suggest picking up a copy in your favorite magazine stand before the shops close for the long weekend.
Have a safe and adventure filled weekend!
UNO Magazine at Martini’s on the 21st
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 17th, 2009
Hey, first off thanks for coming to Capone’s last month. This weekend, we’re doing it again but this time we’re officially welcoming RJ Ledesma as the new editor in chief. You might have seen a sneak peek last month, but it is true — UNO is heading towards a new direction with a completely new team. This month we’re having cocktails at the Martini’s this weekend, the 21st of March 9:00 PM.
If you wish to RSVP, you can fill out the form below:
So blame RJ, he dragged me into this –!!!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 12th, 2009
You’ve probably heard it from the small world of print, but WTF here it is. UNO is bringing in a brand new team with an official reboot to the magazine this June 2009. You will however notice small changes in the current issues of March, April and May ’09 as we work towards a June affair. RJ Ledesma, our new EIC dragged into this: I’m reunited once again with Yvette Tan and Luis Katigbak from the good ‘ol days of Hinge Inquirer. I’ve finally met the faces behind the names: Juan Caguicla, Erwin Romulo, Ramon De Veyra, and Shawn Yao.
On the cover for March is Karen Pamintuan. I’m their new tech editor. And we’re also re-launching a brand new blogger-friendly site 
UPDATED: Farewell T3, Marie Claire, and Seventeen: You will be missed
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 21st, 2009UPDATE: I got something in the mail today — it’s from my former managing editor Alora Guerrero. She told me she’d be moving on to T3 after her career with MANUAL Magazine when it closed. I’ve moved on as well and Alora finally announces her position with T3 Online (she sent this on April 1 2009 and no, this is not an April Fools joke).
T3 will still be around but in a better online format. The magazine will still be around, but only for three times a year. So this is the first time in Philippine history where a magazine has claimed that the print edition will support the online edition
Original Post Follows:
If you’re reading this and you’re working in the same small circle that is the publishing industry, you might have heard the recent move of Summit to close T3, Marie Claire and Seventeen. Three really good foreign franchise titles closing down.
If you’re thinking that this is a “print is dead” piece, it isn’t. I’m not fond of writing posts of that sort. And truth is, it isn’t about print being dead — it’s about the cost of expensive franchise licenses, at least for the better part. This isn’t the first time it happened. Summit closed UK franchise Gamesmaster in 2006. Hinge Inquirer closed PC Magazine Philippines as well. Eventually of course, PC Magazine closed their print edition and are now purely online.
Such is life. As a contributor to several local mags, I’m not one to argue on business decisions. I will say this though — It is rare to see the opposite situation – where a local title becomes such a phenomenal hit that it qualifies for franchising (take our closest example, C! Magazine) and distributed regionally.
At the end of the day, the industry’s editorial circle is small enough that we’ve all probably done the rounds. Beyond the business decisions which us writers would rather not be involved in (leave it to management!), it will always be about letting a bit of blood (just a bit!) drip and mark the medium that we write for. A magazine is nothing but the mirror of the staff.
All is not lost however, for there are plans to move T3 to its proper local place — online. I know that this will be exciting for Vince, Ed, and other friends who were invited to join the team. As for Seventeen and Marie Claire, the female titles are already invested in Summit’s Female Network and GirlTalk forums. It’s just sad to see the glossy go.
Farewell T3, Marie Claire and Seventeen. Thanks for a great run. Especially you, Marie Claire — you had the most interesting features. I always looked for you in the barber shop.
The Spin: Wendy’s Baconator in 3 Philippine Magazines
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 22nd, 2008This isn’t a blog about food, so when I do talk about food I approach it from a different angle. Here are some samplings of how Wendy’s latest offering – the Baconator appeals to different niches. The photos below are magazine ad pegs for three different publications: T3, Men’s Health and FHM.
Notice how the ad is essentially the same except for the take away quote on top of each Baconator. Sometimes, it isn’t about the product but with how the product can be spun into the content making it more relevant and less disconnected from the reader.
So have you tried it? It’s a killer!
UPDATED: Playboy Philippines First Issue: A lesson in being remarkable?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 21st, 2008Sigh. Here we go.
Price: PHP 199.00
Page count: 128 pages including Front, Back, Inside Front and Inside Back Cover
Split: 24 pages of advertising
Notes: The page count is actually more than 128 as some ads are not part of the pagination while some are; note a special execution of a 3 page fold out (6 pages back to back)
Playboy Philippines aims to target a slightly older demographic. The advertisers for the first issue include: Bench Body, Oris, Sofitel, Marlboro, Johnnie Walker, Motor Image (SUbaru), Lacoste Footwear, ALEXIS (watches), Rudy Project, Tabaqueria, Hamilton, and Linden Suites just to name a few.
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Playboy Philippines: April 2 2008, not what people expect
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 28th, 2008ABS CBN Online interviews Beting Dolor, the EIC of Playboy Philippines:
We have the 20 questions … With this edition I can say, we will have Chiz Escudero. He’s the guy people are interested in. We have three pictorials in every issue.
But we have fiction, which the other men’s magazines don’t have. I have Sarge Lacuesta … There are just two columnists and Krip Yuson is one of them … Sarah Lara I think her name is, also a Palanca awardee. There are feature articles … The hard feature is about a tribe in southern Mindanao
The Philippine Star also sent out a release today on more details about Playboy Philippines. It will still target 30 year old and above males. There will be no nudity. The articles are in good taste. There are at least five Palanca award winners contributing to Playboy Philippines (although the EIC recants and says only four during the interview). The magazine will launch this April 2 2008 at an event in Sofitel.
So where does Playboy Philippines stand? At this theoretical point, Playboy is in competition with three titles in my opinion. These are MMPI’s MANUAL, MANIFESTO and ROGUE (former staff of MANIFESTO) magazines.
Google PR is just a number and this is my miracle explanation why
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 26th, 2007Putting things in perspective, I believe the issue about the Google PR numbers game is at most, a relative discourse. Yuga says that bloggers should not rely on Google PageRank and Riz exposes the idea that PageRank is a wonky statistic.
Let me give an analogy of how Google PageRank works in the light of print industry. In the beginning, a lot of media buyers would rely on ONE thing when it came to advertising on print. That THING would be the claimed circulation figures that a publishing sales team would present forward. Anybody could claim a readership of 10,000 copies nationwide but in reality the print run receipt would only amount to 1,500 copies. How bad! How evil! But why is this done? There would be such arbitrary things to consider such as pass on readership figures which were all transcribed from an in house formulae which nobody had any idea how it was calculated.
Magazine stand visibility was another thing. So many of the same mag issue adorned the wooden displays at bookstores. Did it mean that the magazine sold well? No. Not really. It could simply mean that the particular issue was overstocked. There was so much market visibility BECAUSE there was very little conversion to sales. And magazine stands wouldn’t care less anyway as they stock on consignment.
What’s my point? There are so many things going on when it comes to determining what really brings influence forward. A magazine may only have 1,000 readers but what if their ads are all targeted towards the market? Advertisers still don’t realize this because the truth is, they don’t want to, and don’t have the time to dwell on such things. That’s the broker’s job.
The Google PageRank issue is proof that the online publishing / advertising industry is still in its infancy. PageRank, Technorati links, actual traffic … these are but figures which are arbitrarily defined by the industry as measures for influence and reach. But there has to be a system somewhere – a system that’s easy to understand and Google has made that system a no brainer for advertisers to grasp, using a scale of 1 to 10. And hey, who can contradict the number 1 company in the world? That’s advertising made simple.
