Richard Desmond ploughs £10m into shopping magazine

by Colin Grimshaw,, Marketing 04-Jan-05, 11:00

LONDON - Richard Desmond is investing up to £10m in women's magazine Happy, which launches in April. The title will feature shopping content linked to the Express Shopping TV Channel.

The £10m budget for the magazine, which was originally to have been called B Happy, is several times the level previously indicated, and will fund a heavyweight pre-launch TV campaign.

Reports that Happy would be a high-fashion magazine competing with Elle and Vogue are wide of the mark. Fashion and beauty will be a big feature of the title, but content will be geared to the retail shopping experience.

Desmond's move into the sector comes despite the failed attempts of rivals. The National Magazine Company axed Shop! last year and Emap scrapped plans for a similar title.

Some products featured in Happy will be sold on the Express Shopping Channel, a multimillion-pound joint venture formed in October between Desmond's Northern & Shell and catalogue company N Brown.

Former Tatler editor Jane Proctor has been appointed consultant editor of the title. The editor is to be named shortly.

Separately, Desmond's plans to launch a lads' weekly, KO!, have been put on hold.

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