As reported two days ago Derwent Howard, one of Australia’s leading publishers of consumer and B2C customer magazines, is looking to expand its reach with its first office outside its native land. The man charged with setting the operation up is Jeremy Palmer, a veteran of the North West and Australian media scenes.

Palmer started his career with the Redwood Group, before working with The Sun and Times at News International’s base in Manchester. He then moved down under to head up Emap’s contract publishing group, before moving on to be a director at Bondi-based Derwent Howard.

However, after 10 years in Australia he decided the time, and the opportunities, were right to come back to the UK.

“The market’s matured a great deal here,” he told How-Do, “and there are so many opportunities now that didn’t exist before.”

These opportunities would seem to be in the realm of publishing customer magazines, with a specific focus on the retail and financial sectors. In Australia DH produce titles for Blockbuster, Ferrari, Sony, Microsoft and the huge Coles-Myer group and this appears to be a business model that Palmer wishes to replicate here.

“I realise the business here is in its infancy, and I don’t expect us to win huge contracts within the first year or so,” Palmer said, “but we’re already developing proposals for firms and there’s a great many companies in the North West (“we won’t be touching anyone south of the Midlands,” he noted) that could benefit from the uplift that a customer magazine would offer them.

“I want to show people what we’re capable of producing – what we have produced in Australia with great success. Our magazines are good enough to sell on the newsstand and we can supply the same thing right here.”

Although Palmer was coy about which companies he was talking to at present they are believed to be in the financial sector and based around the Manchester area.

He was not so coy about his desire to establish contacts after his decade away though, stressing that he is actively on the lookout for editors, designers, writers and may be looking to bring on board sales staff at a later date.

“Customer magazine experience isn’t the main thing,” he relayed. “I just want to speak to good people with good ideas who have worked in the industry. That’s the best way to create good publications.”

Palmer added that he would be looking to target a wide range of businesses across the region, with an aim of keeping local firms locally serviced.

“Derwent Howard may be a global business,” he noted, “but it’s based locally now and there’s no reason companies like Morrisons, Asda or anyone else with a northern base should be looking further afield.”

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