AIM to hold 7th Indian Magazine Congress on February 14-15

The two-day event organised by the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) will take place in Mumbai.

Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) is all set to hold the seventh Indian Magazine Congress (IMC) on February 14-15 in Mumbai. The theme of this edition of IMC is 'Magazines: New Directions. New Opportunities'.

Day One of the event will see a welcome address by the president of AIM, Tarun Rai, followed by an opening keynote by Nitin Paranjpe, CEO and managing director, HUL. Also, there will be a presentation by Peter A Kreisky, chairman, Kreisky Media Consultancy, USA.

The first panel discussion of the day will see panellists such as Indrajit Gupta, editor, Forbes; Hormazd Sorabjee, editor, Autocar India; and Krishna Prasad, editor in chief, Outlook delve into whether the 'wall between editorial and business been breached'.

The second panel discussion, 'Proof of Performance- How magazine media engages audiences and delivers too' will see the presentation of the FIPP report that has data and case studies from more than 100 research projects from across the world, proving the effectiveness of advertising on magazine media.

The third panel discussion will be on how advertisers are working with magazines to innovate and engage their target audiences in an entertaining and effective manner.

Arnaud Saint-Simon, CEO, Psychologies Group, France and Fabrizio d'Angelo, managing director, Burda Holding International will present case studies on developing multi-platform magazine media brands.

Day Two will have a session on the need of licensors to reinvent themselves from binding agreements to ensure that licensing relationships monetise newer business models. The second panel discussion of the day will highlight the challenges and opportunities in digital publishing. The next session will talk about how effective magazine is as a medium, and how it can be leveraged better.

A case study on what Indian publishers can learn from their Chinese counterparts will be presented by Torsten Klein, president, international magazine division, Gruner + Jahr International, Germany.

There will also be a 'Power CEO Session', where international and Indian publishers will speak on the new challenges and opportunities for the industry.