Kylie Barnes
Publisher, Image Magazine

Written by Fiona Ahern on 2008-10-24

What do you see happening in the next five years in the Street Press industry?

The next five years will see a dramatic expansion in street press particularly in the gloss magazine market. There have been a number of major investments in local gloss press capacity and barriers to entry for new start-up independent businesses are extremely low.

Local ‘niche’ markets will continue to expand rapidly, with the key difference being ‘the audience is now in charge’. Today’s audience is time poor and our magazines need to ensure they continue to remain highly relevant to their markets and provide good value earning our readers ongoing loyalty and engagement.

What are the biggest challenges you and your organisation face as a member of the Brisbane media community?

We need to embrace constant change as an exciting challenge and opportunity. We are blessed to be a part of the exciting evolution of South-East Queensland and look forward to helping our readers and customers celebrate their successes and overcome challenges.

We will need to continue to allow flexibility in audience participation whether they choose to engage with our products in print, online or mobile providing timely contributions to their lives and further developing our strong position of trust.

What are the most important/valuable skills that graduates can bring to your industry?

Honesty and integrity. A passion for making a difference in the lives of our communities. The ability to work hard for a positive outcome and maintain a sense of fun and optimism.

How would you rate the performance of Brisbane-based media organisations in comparison to other national and international media hubs?

I think many Brisbane based media organisations have had to work hard to gain recognition both nationally and internationally and the result of that hard work means that we are now well positioned to capitalise on the continued growth expected across South East Queensland. There are some tough times ahead but Brisbane is well positioned to fight off any long term major impacts and weather the storm intact.

How has new media such as the Internet and mobile communications revolutionised your workplace?

New media has presented both a challenge and a great opportunity to our business. It has demanded change, which is always difficult for any organisation, but at the same time it has allowed us to expand our product offering, to develop major efficiencies in our systems and processes and tap into a host of great ideas and solutions globally.

As a business we are continually learning, growing and evolving alongside our readers and customers. Our staff need to be skilled in delivering innovative multi-platform advertising solutions to effectively assist our customers in growing and developing their individual businesses.

The internet has been a wonderful tool in allowing our parent business to develop some exciting new platforms enabling our audience to connect with local business and each other online such as truelocal.com.au.

What has the online version of Image magazine done for the organisation? Have distribution figures been affected by this move?

The online version of Image magazine allows our readers and customers to connect with our products simply and easily at a time of their choosing.
Currently, visitors can view all of our magazines online including back issues, enter our great monthly range of exciting giveaways, access information on the individual products, download our media kit and meet the team.

Our distribution figures have not been affected by our online portal, if anything we have seen an increase in demand for our printed products across most markets.

With audiences gravitating more and more online and becoming acutely concerned with environmental issues, how do you see the future of the publication? Will Image eventually become an online only magazine? Or do you feel the nature of the way we read magazines will keep the offline format alive?

It is difficult to see into a crystal ball, but the short to medium term future for print is very strong. The strongest decision making from consumers occurs with a combination of print advertising stimulating awareness and further research online.

Certainly I believe our print products are able to maintain a much higher degree of trust, integrity and credibility that can not currently be matched by online offerings.

As a suite of lifestyle magazines image provides the emotional connection our readers crave in a format that is relevant to their local communities.
As an advertising platform our premium gloss stock and design excellence plays a definitive role in engaging our audience with the best of their world.