Freeway
Youth in our country.
Montevideo, Uruguay
Durazno 1504, C.P. 11.200
Email: info@freeway.com.uy
- Category: Youth
- Periodicity: Monthly
- Language: Spanish
- Format: 112 x 152 mm
- Circulation: 10,000
- Price: Free
- Web: http://www.freeway.com.uy/revista
Founded in 2003
Exclusive Interview
Yes, media channels are complementary and also entertainment options. Magazines can’t satisfy on their own all people’s needs.
What is your magazine about?
Is Varieties, general information but no news. We have a team of near 30 writers and each participate with a monthly article related with his/her subject. All of them are “opinion leaders” between young people (18-35 years old) and understand the language of the readers.
Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
The founder is Carlos Taran who developed a career in the marketing dept of a paper and notebooks factory and developed the idea of a magazine directed to young people because he found a niche. He was friend of young media people who support him at the begging as well as colleagues of the market.
How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
We are monthly so every issue takes us the whole month. We have a team of 45 people but only 8 works only for Freeway Magazine, the others collaborate in different areas: photo, drawings, articles. Some services are outsourcers like distribution.
What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
1. liaisons with other entertainment projects or activities.
2. awards in advertising festivals and competitions.
3. special productions for advertisers in our magazine.
Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
1. the language
2. the opportunities that we create for a lot of young people searching for a place to express…without reproof.
3. understand the needs of the advertisers.
What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?
Budget limitations because we are in a small country with low marketing budget for publicity.
Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
We want to replicate the model in other countries of the region.
Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Because we are a free distribution magazine and we decided to distribute in Universities, our readers are university students.
Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
No, is just the place we are using now but we are open to different options.
What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
NEVER. That is a premise. We respect our readers and advertisers in the same level so we do not put things where they don’t have not to be.
Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?
Yes, media channels are complementary and also entertainment options. Magazines can’t satisfy on their own all people’s needs.
Which is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?
He is a key provider. At the begging we worked closer than now. Anyway, because we print a lot of special productions (most for advertisers) we need to work together.
Which magazines did influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
We can’t find one that influence more than other. As funs for the magazines we tried to find the spirit of each publication that we know and, mixed with our readers interests, develop the best product.
What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
That, if we have to start again one more time we will do the same issue.
How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
Many!!! Maybe maniac, if you consider that in a positive way because they take me exactly the time that I want to give them, no less, no more !
E-mail interview from “25.09.2006”. © Colophon2007.com – Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)
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