Twice magazine will distribute its fourth issue in Manchester this Friday, hitting 450 distribution points with a circulation of 10,000.

It’s free, covers the ‘lifestyle spectrum’ (from fashion, to food, to theatre) in terms of content and is headed up by two ferociously ambitious individuals – publisher Gary Greenwood and editor in chief Graham Gartside-Bernier.

The two have transferred their business (trading in Manchester as Ampersand Media Group, owned by Greenwood) from Canada, where they published a Twice-equivalent for Vancouver, and seem, to the surprised business hack at any rate, pretty much set on publishing-world domination… and quickly.

“The plan is to start rolling out the format into new cities,” Gartside-Bernier revealed to How-Do.

The first Twice

“I guess you could say we have a model where someone like men’s title Shortlist is the competition,” he noted, by way of a comparison.

Gartside-Bernier seems surprisingly unfazed by the speed of this expansion, or the work involved (he’s currently doing 16 hour days, he admits), imparting that Twice’s mixture of previews, reviews, listings and culture will transfer smoothly from urban area to urban area.

“We’ll have someone on the ground in each city,” he elucidated, “and the plan will be to have tailored city sections that can be adapted to fit in with the wider, more general content.

“That will make it more of a national brand and it should be more appealing to advertisers who don’t, for example, just want to be in Manchester or Liverpool.”

In terms of the advertising Twice’s editor says that the uptake was cautious at first, but is gathering pace with each weekly helping.

A cracking idea?

“That confidence is building now,” he added, “and the reaction we’re getting is good.”

Greenwood has been solely responsible for this side of the operation so far, but is currently recruiting two additional sales staff to help drive the business forward.

(A quick download of one of the archived issues, all of which are available on the Twice website, revealed a collection of local-based advertisers such as restaurants, clubs and theatres.)

In terms of the production of the tabloid sized, full colour title, that appears to be largely marshalled by Gartside-Bernier, ably assisted by a beauty style editor, a design editor and photographer and, in his words, an army of contributors.

“We’re fighting people off with a stick at the moment,” he stated, indicating that he feels that the Twice format is one that’s connecting with people from the outset.

Whether it will continue to strike such a chord when it parachutes into new markets remains to be seen, but with the ambition behind it (not to mention the 16 hour days) there’s sure to be lot of new people looking out for Twice in the near future.

Ampersand has also started publishing a quarterly food magazine entitled Eat Me. Full details of Twice – including the ratecard for interested/nosy parties – are available at the website below.

www.twicemagazine.co.uk

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Comments (4)

2  By Terri , on 11-06-2008 20:45 The link is no longer working?   I'd be very curious to see something from Twice or any of the Ampersand Media Group's publications - I am a writer in Vancouver who was hired by Mr. Gartside to produce a number of articles for "The Men's Book," but since submitting my work I haven't received response to numerous emails - or payment for my contributions.  If anyone has any info, I'd be happy to receive an email! Report