Nicolas Shammas is the founder of Bespoke Magazine, a Pan-Arab lifestyle and luxury magazine, published on a bi-monthly basis in English and Arabic, that was launched several years ago in a bid to capture the interest of MENA's high net-worth executives and individuals. The magazine covers the business world, high-end products and luxury travel on a global level. As the company likes to state in its promotional material: "our editorial content is engaging as our design is captivating. We count on some of the region’s most accomplished writers and photographers as part of our team, as well as regular contributions from international experts". Bespoke Magazine deliberately chose to exclusively target a specific target market: the Middle East's high net-worth individuals. That being said, many other publications target that exact same niche and many for way longer than Bespoke. Whether they have been successful or not is anybody's guess as they all tend to give you the same "we are doing great" spiel when asked about how effective they are (or have been). Also, the circulation of such publications remains low, the reasoning behind this being that they are going after a really select niche. The underlying economic reasoning being that the publications attract premium advertisers willing to pay premium prices. It however remains unclear whether the higher advertising rates ultimately compensate for the low circulation. After all, there is only so much premium brands are willing to pay for "premium advertising" and at the end of the day, total readership does obviously greatly matter. Again, there is only so far the "niche advertising" concept can go and at some stage total readership will naturally reclaim its pole position rights. That being said, Bespoke Magazine is a well though out publication that has the merit to go where a lot of its competition doesn't and tackle compelling subjects and areas. As the publication is catering to an exclusive niche market, its remain very selective on where it can be found: a hand-picked selection of private jets, hotels and bookstores. You can learn more about Bespoke by watching Nicolas Shammas' exclusive interview on LBC shot at City Centre/Carrefour HERE.
