Ikonz
Encyclopedia
Background
The publication was launched as a regional monthly glossy in December 2006 by AEM Worldwide. Its official national UK launch took place in February 2007.Ikonz caters for young British Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
s, focusing on the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and music industry in both Hollywood and Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
. The magazine also carries mainstream British celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
gossip, fashion and entertainment stories throughout.
Content
Ikonz is primarily aimed at British Asian women, although not as directly as in other Asian magazines. Initially, the publication balanced editorial for both male and female audiences with distinct urban influences. Following a revamp in September 2007, a large portion of the magazine adopted a more female orientated theme with equal coverage afforded to mainstream content.A series of high profile mainstream interviews, including exclusives with Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
, and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, have encouraged the growth of the publication. These, along with Brit-Asian and urban interviews such as Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
, Keisha White
Keisha White
Keisha White is an English R&B singer. She has released two albums so far, Seventeen, which was released in 2005, and her latest album Out Of My Hands, which was released on 3 July 2006.-Biography:...
, Richard Blackwood
Richard Blackwood
Richard Blackwood , is an English comedian, media personality, occasional actor and MC. Blackwood is step-brother of Naomi Campbell after his father was married to her mother for a time...
, Jay Sean and 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, have allowed the publication to increase its appeal
However, the magazine's key south Asian content remains in the form of Bollywood interviews with A-list artists including Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
, Shah Rukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...
, Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994...
and Bipasha Basu
Bipasha Basu
Bipasha Basu is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Bollywood films. A former model, she was the winner of the Ford's Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest in 1996.-Early life:...
. In July 2007, it ran special coverage of the IIFA awards. Also featured heavily are British Bhangra artists.
Ikonz is the only British Asian publication to have regular contributions from mainstream celebrities. In October 2007, actors Kevin Sacre
Kevin Sacre
Kevin Sacre is a British actor. He is most famous for his performance as Jake Dean in the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, a role he played from 2002 to 2010.-Early life:...
, Ricky Whittle
Ricky Whittle
Ricky Whittle is a British actor from Oldham, Greater Manchester.-Biography:The son of former Royal Air Force serviceman Harry Whittle, Whittle grew up travelling with his father's career around the world, with a home base at Burghfield Common near Reading, Berkshire.A keen sportsman, Whittle...
and Sam Darbyshire
Sam Darbyshire
Sam Darbyshire is a television actor best known for his role as Jamie "Fletch" Fletcher on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. He has, however, also appeared in several advertisements and had a small role in Coronation Street. He belongs to a local youth theatre group in Wigan, Willpower Youth...
from television soap Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
appeared in a special Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
photo feature for the magazine, alongside presenters from the BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British radio station serving those originating from and around the Indian subcontinent. The music and news comes out of the main urban areas where there are significant communities with these backgrounds. The station has production centres in Birmingham, Leicester and London...
. The feature was reproduced by national publications including the Daily Star and More (magazine)
More (magazine)
More, launched in September 1998, is a women's lifestyle magazine published once a month by the Meredith Corporation with a rate base of 1.3 million and a circulation of 1.5 million...
.
The magazine took the step to support glamour model Katie Price in November 2007, following the publication in Heat (magazine)
Heat (magazine)
Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by German company Bauer Media Group. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in...
of an offensive sticker mocking Price's son Harvey.
Personnel
The editor of Ikonz is Reena Combo, with Adam YosefAdam Yosef
Adam Yosef is a British multimedia journalist and community activist.-Activism:Between 2003 and 2004, Yosef was employed by the Birmingham Mosque Trust as a Press & Public Relations representative...
as the sub editor.
The magazine's editorial team includes editorial assistants, contributors, international correspondents and freelance writers and photographers.
New Media
Ikonz magazine is complemented by a website, an online video channel, a blog and online profiles including myspaceMyspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
.
These mediums are edited by the Ikonz New Media Team and are an online interpretation of the magazine's style and 'personality'.
In September 2007, the magazine launched a television advertising campaign.
In February 2011, Ikonz magazine was relaunched as an online-only format, rebranded as 'Ikonz World'.
Charity
In December 2007, Ikonz donated ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
gifts to the Birmingham Children's Hospital
Birmingham Children's Hospital
The Birmingham Children's Hospital is a children's hospital located in Birmingham, England.It provides general and emergency health care services to children in Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond. It specialises in liver transplantation, cardiac, and neonatal surgery...
.
Recognition
- In December 2007, Ikonz became the only ethnic partner for Clothes Show LiveThe Clothes ShowThe Clothes Show is a British television show about fashion that can currently be seen weeknights on Really. It was formerly broadcast on BBC One from 1986 to 2000.-BBC series :...
. - In December 2007, the magazine became an official partner of the Asian Style Awards, due to be held in 2008.
- In November 2007, editor Reena Combo was nominated by the Institute of Asian Business (IAB), a division of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, as Outstanding Woman in Business 2007.
- In August 2007, Ikonz joined forces with Madame TussaudsMadame TussaudsMadame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...
to select the next Bollywood star to appear at the LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
attraction. - In June 2007, Ikonz was appointed an official partner to the IIFA awards, held in YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.