8Points February Newsletter

We have dedicated this issue to commenting about our friends who visited us and enjoyed some light snacks and A LOT of soft drink and NOT A LOT of liquor.

Image 1 - Luca Contri and Carlos Tizon

Image 2 - Mark Favretto and Ana Contreras of ACP Magazines

Image 3 - Mark Hukins and Jane Woodward of ACP Magazines

Image 4 - Carrie Raiss and Eugene Varricchio of ACP Magazines

Image 5 - Thomas Dang of ACP Magazines and David Lipman of Beer & Brewer

Image 6 - Angela Chrisan and Dorothy Tonkin of DMAG and Karen Thomas of Eight Point

Image 8 - Robert Rowe of Mosman Barracks and Brian Hartigan of Contact, AIR SEA & LAND

Image 9 - Peter King, Tom Cubis and George Koutroulis of Fracht Australia

Image 10 - Graham Jowett of Harlequin Enterprises and Jon Nunnerly of Swiss Post

Image 11 - Matt Spence of Eight Point and Karen Spence

Image 12 - Cristina Lee, Graham Jowett and Amanda Kirchener of Harlequin Enterprises

Image 13 - Phil Vella of Haymarket Media, Mark Darton of NDD, Les Banner of IPG and Bruna Rodwell of Eight Point

Image 14 - Brett Willis of ACP Magazines and Jayne Ferguson

Now a little humor for Eight Point's recent OSCARS PARTY - our interpretation of who attended

Image 1: Robertro Benigni from the movie A Beautiful Life chats with Guatemala's most famous actor - Benito Martinez
Image 2 - Hugh Grant travelled all the way from London to friendly with Penelope Cruz
Image 3 - Don Johnson of Miami Vice and Cheryl Ladd of Charlie's Angels fame share a moment
Image 4 - Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise get acquainted
Image 5 - Ang Lee and Michael Douglas talk about their new film "Dirt Bike and Beer"
Image 6 - Angelina Jolie, Madonna and Pamela Anderson talk adoption
Image 8 - John Wayne (back from the dead) and James Earl Jones discuss the latest war film to be produced in 2011 - "Snipers!"
Image 9 - The male cast members of True Blood share a glass! Stephen Moyer, Chris Bauer and Alexander Skarsgard
Image 10 - Is that Julian Morrow from the Chaser talking to Larry Bird from the Boston Celtics?
Image 11 - Dicko looks great with his new bride
Image 12 - Audrey Tautou, Julian Morrow and Jennifer Aniston enjoy the Oscar's food
Image 13 - Mark Whalberg, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese and Catherine Zeta-Jones smile for the camera
Image 14 - Bruce Willis chats with Jayne Torvill OBE (the UK's most famous ice dancer from Nottingham!)

Congratulations to all our Oscar winners and for their attendance

Title update

For the next two months (Mid March to Mid April) our Weekly Promotional Calendar (WPC) includes:

• Week 11: Mar 15th to 21th - A GWP with NW - Mar 22nd cover date
• Week 12: Mar 22nd to 28th - A GWP with Shop til you Drop and promotion of the Lovatt's range
• Week 13: Mar 29th to Apr 4th - The Australian Women's Weekly in all markets plus Australian House & Garden in Singapore
• Week 14: Apr 5th to 11th - Ralph in Thailand and Indonesia, re-launch BAM, Lovatt's tip-on plan in Fiji and NewsCube in Dubai
• Week 15: Apr 12th to 18th - CLEO promotion in Thailand, ongoing POS campaign for Bound in South Africa and week two of The Australian Women's Weekly promotion in the UAE

Please make sure we support all these promotional initiatives and please provide us with as many photos as possible

New titles - two titles join 8Pt

We welcome Photo Review Australia and Rugby League Player 2010 Review.

RECENT ABC Results in Australia

We thought it pertinent to present our largest supplier's recent results as announced by the Audit Bureau of Circulations to December 2009. We have added the "Overseas" line as well in bold. Please take a minute to read the story, look at the distribution of the brands mentioned and look to drive sales by securing prominent positions at retail level and innovative marketing campaigns

Key highlights for ACP Magazines, for Australian domestic sales, in the December 2009 audit included:

Dolly - largest growth of all magazines in Australia (up 21,310 copies YOY)
Dolly's performance over the last 6 months can only be described as stunning. It has increased circulation POP by 12.2% and YOY by 17.9% to 140,382 by embracing a strong strategy of both category share and organic growth. Dolly's lead over Girlfriend has increased from 9,072 one year ago to in excess of 40,000 copies now. Dolly's POP and YOY growth was faster than any other women's magazine. The overseas sales of Dolly continue to grow with YOY results at +6%. Please ensure Dolly gains strong positioning at retail level in your respective market.

Harper's Bazaar - the 2nd fastest growing women's magazine in Australia (up 15.6% YOY)
Harper's Bazaar has had a remarkable year growing 15.6% to now sell 55,130. Harper's Bazaar outsold Vogue to claim the #1 Prestige Fashion mantle during a period that includes Vogue's highly publicised and promoted September / 50th Anniversary issue. Through fantastic marketing and expansion of the distribution platform we are proud to announce that Harper's BAZAAR has achieved 34% YOY growth since being distributed by Eight Point. We thank our partners in Fiji, New Caledonia, Japan, Mauritius, The Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Africa, Italy, Canada, The US, Abu Dhabi, Cyprus, Dubai, India, Kuwait, Turkey and Brazil for their tireless efforts and support for the heavily promoted December 2009 issue which broke records for sales across all markets!

Shop Til You Drop - achieves its highest circulation ever (up 5.3% YOY to 83,047)
Shop Til You Drop achieved its highest circulation ever (yet again), now selling 83,047 copies every issue. Celebrating its 4th POP increase in a row, Shop Til You Drop dominates the fashion category outselling Vogue by more than 29,000, and InStyle by more than 21,000. We are proud to announce that Shop Til You Drop has posted an 12.1% POP growth and a stunning 25.3% YOY result. Please take a minute to review your supply of Shop Til You Drop and contact Andrew for any increases required.

The Australian Women's Weekly - cements its position as the #1 title in the country (back up above 500,000 copies)
The Australian Women's Weekly achieved the 7th largest growth in circulation of all titles, increasing by almost 11,000 copies to rise above the coveted half a million sales milestone. POP change for The Australian Women's Weekly is a very slight reduction of -1.8% which is a fantastic result considering the one going parallel importing of the brand into Singapore and closure of Borders in the UK. We have some very innovative plans unfolding for The Australian Women's Weekly commencing with the April 2010 issue.

Woman's Day - increases its lead over New Idea with POP and YOY growth
Woman's Day achieved growth both POP and YOY to now sell 409,521 copies each issue. Woman's Day extended its lead over New Idea who lost circulation over both periods. Woman's Day sold one million more copies than New Idea over the audit period Oct09-Dec09. Both brands remain stable in the overseas market and should be promoted together to maximize cross purchase. Please review your distribution of Woman's Day to ensure the right issue, is in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity for the consumer.

Good Health - the fastest growing non-specialty health title (up 6.8% YOY to 64,216)
Good Health grew its circulation YOY by 6.8% during a period that saw the launch of new health title Prevention. Good Health's growth was faster than every other health magazine except for Diabetic Living. Good Health has GOOD GROWTH overseas with POP result showing a circulation increase of 3.8%.

Australian House & Garden - largest growth of all homemaker titles (gained 6,123 copies YOY)
Australian House & Garden cemented its position as Australia's number 1 homemaker title by breaking the 100,000 circulation barrier following a 6.5% YOY increase. The stand-out performer in Eight Point's Homes & Gardens category. YOY- Australian House & Garden has grown 39%, with expansion into markets, such as, New Caledonia, India and the UAE. Congratulations to our friends in Singapore (Carkit FE), Malaysia (Allscript Establishment) and Thailand (Asia Books) for their tireless efforts in positioning Australian House & Garden in the key retail stores throughout these three markets. Our friends at Tappoo in Fiji, Friendly Islands Bookstore in Tonga and DIP in Japan are also showing growth with this title. Adrian at MultiArts in Taiwan is selling 75% of supply; Shonee at Far East Media in Hong Kong recently supported all Australian magazines through our campaign in the BookAzine outlets - see lead story. Ezra and team at PT Java Books in Indonesia are setting record sales as are Luisa and Butch at MCS Caxton in South Africa. Eugenio and Frank at SpeedImpex in Canada continue to grow (no pun intended!) Australian House & Garden and Alberto at Euromag in Brazil is selling through quite strongly. All in all a sensational result all round. Thank you friends.

Australian Good Food - achieves its highest circulation of 80,838 (up 13.0% YOY)
Australian Good Food celebrated its third audit with another increase in circulation to reach a new high. It added a further 10% (7,677 copies) from the previous period and 13.0% (9,588 copies) from its initial audit one year ago. A year ago the distribution of Australian Good Food overseas was ZERO. Today we are dispatching 640 copies per issue. My math's are not that good to work out the increase but the growth looks strong!

belle - the 2nd fastest growing homemaker title in the country (up 13.0% YOY)
Style-leader belle continued its upward trend, with its third consecutive lift, adding 13% compared to a year ago to audit 33,049. This is also Eight Point's second fasted growing title in the category. POP results show +15% and YOY at 18.5%. Our next audit will again show growth (Jun 09 to Jun 10) with expansion in Hong Kong through Karen's efforts at Far East Media and in the US through Francesca's passion and dedication at SpeedImpex USA. Pichit at Asia Books in Thailand has strong plans for belle in 2010 and please see the photo below of a recent counter display at Asia's Books Siam Centre store in Bangkok

Real Living - the 3rd fastest growing homemaker title in the country (up 10.4% YOY)
Real Living consolidated previous gains with a strong 10.4% jump to deliver a circulation of 61,124, reflecting a positive reaction to the fresh new-look launched in August 2009. Overseas sales for Real Living YOY are at +7.3%. We anticipate further growth for the Jun 09 to Jun 10 period of over 80% YOY growth. Thanks friends - sensational effort.

Notable mentions go to:

4 x 4 Australia - up 70%; Australasian Dirt Bike - up 23%; Australian Gourmet Traveller - up 23%; Burke's Backyard - up 9%; CLEO - up 25%; Cosmopolitan - up 2%; Disney Adventures - up 80%; Disney Girl - up 10%; FHM - up 4%; Gourmet Traveller Wine - up11%; Madison - up 35%; Ralph - up 5%; Rolling Stone - up 6%; Street Machine - up 2% and Zoo Weekly - up 16%.

HMB review and forthcoming plans

Stay tuned for our re-launch of point of sale materials for the permanent display stands in Singapore and Malaysia which will occur in April of 2010.

We will also be announcing a very special promotion for Mills & Boon with titles currently exported by Eight Point which will allow our distribution partners the chance to cross romote both the magazine and the book at retail.

Did you know: 100% of men revealed they were tempted by a steamy one night stand, compared to 54% of women, and regardless of their beliefs, 27% of men wouldn't mind a sneaky hook-up with their best mate's significant other. Succumbing to temptation is a lot less appealing when you consider the outcome - but would that stop you pursuing the bad boy, even knowing the heartbreak that will follow the excitement?

The 2010 Harlequin Romance Report reveals the greatest temptations facing modern women… and they're not what you might expect. This comprehensive study, conducted online and encompassing confessions from around the world reveals what we're willing to forgo to indulge.

Click to find out

Overseas Customer Snapshot - Canada

Firstly a quick overview of the Canadian market:

A bit like Canada's Olympic team, the economy got much, much stronger in the second half of 2009. Canadian real GDP rose at a robust 5.0% annual rate in Q4, a full point above expectations, marking a clean break from recession and miles from the devastating 7.0% decline in the first quarter of last year. Q3 was also revised up to +0.9% annualized from +0.4% initially, although the first two quarters of last year were revised into even deeper declines (Q2 to -3.5% from -3.1%, and Q1 to -7.0% from -6.2%).The monthly GDP result was strong for December at +0.6%, setting the stage for a very solid growth rate in Q1 as well. The Q4 result was clean, since growth did not rely on inventories (which the 5.9% U.S. Q4 result did) - final sales jumped at a 6.5% clip. The savings rate ticked down to 4.6% from 4.9% in Q3 and a year ago.

8Pt fact: (related to nothing, but for some perspective): Canada's 14 gold medals in Vancouver were more than the country won in the first 15 Winter Olympics combined (from 1924 to 1988).

Currently one Australian Dollar buys $0.94 Canadian Dollars.

Eight Point utilize the services of SpeedImpex in this market. SpeedImpex is a member of a group of companies including SpeedImpex Australia, SpeedImpex USA, S.A.S.S. Srl and Euromag.

Speedimpex was founded by Mr. Francesco Calvelli in 1962 in order to satisfy the demand of the ethnic Communities in Canada. Over the years, direct distribution was established in the cities of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and via several agents, in the other major cities across the country. Today, Speedimpex has been entrusted with a large selection of European & Middle-East Newspapers and an even larger range of magazines from several Countries including Australia. SpeedImpex offers to the Publishers a special network of news agencies and bookstores. Each title has a customised distribution and will never be "lost in the crowd". A full subscription service is also available with partial or complete management of the title. SpeedImpex specialise in subscriptions of foreign trade magazines in the field of Fashion, Design, Architecture and Graphic Arts.

Currently Eight Point's portfolio exported to Canada includes the following titles: Australian House & Garden, belle, CLEO, Dolly, FHM, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Harper's BAZAAR, Men's Style, Ralph, Wine Magazine, Acclaim: Street Lifestyle Magazine, Collecting Bears & Dolls, Cream, DMAG and Recipes+.

Domestic distribution

We are working tirelessly again to bring you the very best of the high quality titles managed by 8Pt's domestic division. In February we successfully distributed Art Monthly Australia (issue #227), Artichoke (issue #30) and Indesign (issue #40)
Some key facts about using our domestic distribution service:

1. We trade full SOR and cover all delivery costs to interstate stores
2. We hand deliver all magazines in the Sydney Metropolitan area
3. We currently trade with bookstores, Magnation, Berkelouw, Art Galleries, Museums, Clothing stores and independent retailers
4. We have over 80 stores on the list and we are adding 10 new stores a month
5. Sales are achieving 61% across the board
6. We represent 11 titles
7. We represent 7 Publishers
8. Our turnaround policy for re-orders is 24 hours - no questions asked!

Finally a few more photos we found on our camera