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Emap Metro is to look for a new creative agency to represent the

Wagadon titles which it bought for an undisclosed sum last week.

Paul Keenan, managing director of Emap Metro, said he was keen to turn

around the declining circulations of Arena and The Face and return them

to the cutting edge of the men’s magazine sector. He added, however,

that he would appoint an agency which would ’not just do advertising,

but also come up with cogent brand communications for the

magazines’.

Emap Metro announced last Thursday that it had acquired Wagadon’s The

Face, Arena, Arena Homme Plus and Frank, the women’s title which

recently reduced its frequency from monthly to quarterly.

The future of Frank remains uncertain, but if Emap decides that plans

for the quarterly format are viable, it will be moved to Emap’s women’s

magazines division, Emap Elan. There will be no radical changes to The

Face, which suffered a 28 per cent fall in sales in the six months to

December to 78,173. But Keenan indicated that Arena would come under

closer scrutiny.

’We are not looking to do an FHM, but clearly there is a lot of market

space for a sophisticated fashion and style men’s magazine,’ he

said.

’Arena has had a tough circulation ride over the last year.’ Arena’s

circulation dropped 16 per cent in the six months to December 1998 over

the previous year, to just over 65,000.

Kevin Hand, Emap’s chief executive, said: ’The titles are

internationally recognised. We will offer a wider package of men’s and

fashion titles to advertisers. We will introduce electronic publishing

to titles which are well-established brands, and the return on our

investment should be rapid.’

Nick Logan, the founder of Wagadon, added: ’Wagadon has reached the

stage in its development where the level of support and resources we can

provide is not sufficient for the magazines to reach their full

potential.’