PEP! magazine
Optimal Marketing Bt.
PEP! is about lifestyle, fashion, design, and culture
Budapest, Hungary
Jozsef Attila u. 24, 1051
Email: info@pepmagazin.hu
- Category: Fashion, Lifestyle
- Periodicity: Quarterly
- Language: Hungarian
- Format: 216 x 279 mm
- Circulation: 12,000
- Price: 590 HUF
- Web: http://www.pepmagazin.hu
Founded in 2003
Pep! won the Hungarian Design Award in 2005.
It is the magazine of the open-minded, stylish, cosmopolitan young generation.
Exclusive Interview
We believe that an independent, creative and ground-breaking magazine can only stay alive if its development is organic and carefully planned financially.
What is your magazine about?
PEP! is a pop-culture magazine. It's all about fashion, design, music and anything else we think might be the next big thing.
Whos behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
Four people started the magazine, today it's just the two of us - creative director Jose Simon and editor Zsuzsa Kárpáti. We both have a history in print media; Jose's design company (www.grotesque.hu) continues to work on other magazines, while I only have eyes for PEP! We want to bring something completely new to Hungary. And we already have we are the first independent young publisher to make it past its fifth issue. The 22nd edition of PEP! just rolled off the presses we can't tell you how proud we are of that achievement.
How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
PEP! magazine is quarterly, and we use a large number of freelance writers, designers and photographers. Of course, having three months to prepare doesn't mean the last few days are not chaotic and stressful. PEP! also has an online version that we feed every day, so there is always plenty to do. Generally speaking, around 20-25 people work on each issue, including the visual team. We do our best to give as much space in the magazine as possible to new talent, particularly to Hungarians, who don't get much of a chance to showcase their work in the limited local magazine market.
What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
There have been too many to count. First of all, PEP! started life in German largely driven by the other two owners, and because we overestimated and failed to understand the magazine market. This was a completely different magazine to the one we have today it was called PEP!, but its content and design was completely different. It appeared in German in Hungary, making it more of a magazine for expats and tourists.
In 2005, we decided to add English. Plenty of Hungarians speak English, so we though this would be a good way to reach them. At the same time, we introduced a new look and logo, which won the Hungarian Design Award in autumn 2005. This was a major breakthrough that helped us catch the eye of the Hungarian media and public. To build on this success, we decided to abandon German altogether and publish the first edition of 2006 in both Hungarian and English to attract more local readers. Following positive feedback from advertisers and readers alike, PEP! became 100% Hungarian in the autumn.
You might think the constant chopping and changing would be a sure-fire way to lose the faith of advertisers. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case and PEP! has gone from strength to strength. More and more artists from Hungary and abroad are applying to work with us as PEP! continues to build a loyal and discerning fanbase.
Which are the key incredients for the success of your magazine?
We believe that an independent, creative and ground-breaking magazine can only stay alive if its development is organic and carefully planned financially. In addition, we are fortunate in that PEP! has found itself at the right time and in the right place.
What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be the thing to help the magazine to improve?
Money, money, money. We don't have much of it - that's really our only problem. But at the same time, that is what is really exciting about the project producing a quality product from next to nothing.
Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
It would be fantastic not to have to battle to make ends meet on a daily basis, but it is important that we never forget that quality will always be the number one priority.
Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Primarily young people aged between 16-20, who obsessively follow the latest developments on the European fashion, music and cultural scene. They are always online and have a very broad background - but have learnt to be selective to the point of being very picky. There are also plenty in their twenties who are interested in design and fashion as artists as well as consumers.
Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Yes, at this stage it is still very important. But it is certainly not part of a strategy. If getting bought out by a major publisher allows us to do more, more successfully, going monthly and increasing the page count, for example, we would have to give it serious consideration. But if we are able to achieve these goals on our own - and we are heading in the right direction - then all the better for it.
Whats your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
We like advertising particularly creative advertising that brings something extra to the magazine (aside from money). Unfortunately, there is very little of this about in Hungary. While a 300-page magazine in more developed markets, such as Britain and the US, can command up to 100 pages of advertising, if we compiled a list of all the companies paying for 1/1 spaces in all Hungarian magazines, we would struggle to reach that figure. And most of those ads would look terrible anyway.
In addition, the big advertisers also expect you to fill your magazine with free PR junk. And they are often only willing to pay for PR articles, which makes doing business with them very tough. We are not really in a position to say no to this kind of income, so we try our best to compromise with advertisers and still meet the expectations of readers. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil.
Which magazines influenced you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
The Face, I-D magazine, WAD (F), Dazed&Confused and so on... We look to them for editorial and layout ideas, as well as visual inspiration. We ask ourselves how they are able to appeal to both genders, what editorial lines they follow and how the magazine is structured in terms of text, articles and advertising. We watch, learn and recycle the best bits.
What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
We have two first issues, No. 1 in June 2003, and No. 16 in spring 2005 - when the magazine got its new look. No. 1 shows inexperience but still fills me with enormous pride. On the other hand, No. 16 shows a much stronger direction that we have continued to follow, but it was not yet as clear and confident as it is today.
How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
Who knows? As for being magazine maniacs, let's just say we don't just look for our inspiration in magazines.
Zsuzsa Kárpáti, editor of PEP! magazine, Hungary
E-mail interview from 02.11.2006. © Colophon2007.com Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)
Publisher
Optimal Marketing Bt.
1091, Budapest, Hungary
Staff
Managing Editor in chief: Zsuzsanna Karpati...
Art Director: José Simon...
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