Dubai company signs International Cosmetic News magazine

UAE. Strategy Garden, publisher of the BusinessIntelligence-Middle East website, has made a major move into print media with its appointment for the Middle East edition of International Cosmetic News. ICN-Middle East will launch in November as the first-ever regional magazine dedicted to the perfumes and cosmetics business. It is the fruit of an agreement with Paris-based Cosmedias, publishers of the international edition.

The concept of the bilingual (English and Arabic) B2B publication is to provide complete information for the beauty professional every two months, the most in-depth coverage ever of the Middle East perfumery and related markets.

Supported by the ICN international edition, ICN Middle East will take a highly-focused regional approach to the beauty industry and is to be distributed in more than 20 countries. It will launch with a circulation of 4,000 serving the booming regional beauty market estimated to be worth US$2.1 billion.

ICN covers all the major beauty markets, all segments (fragrances, cosmetics, skincare, haircare, packaging and components suppliers) and all distribution channels, from retailers to agents, to local and regional distributors.

The launch of ICN-Middle East will coincide with the major global duty free exhibition TFWA World, held in Cannes (31 October). Special editorial features are also planned to coincide with markets connected to the Middle East culturally and in trade terms such as Professional Beauty India in New Delhi (28 November), the luxury goods exhbition for the region Middle East Exclusive in Dubai, Middle East Exclusive (4 December), plus the Natural Products Expo (Dubai, 6 December), Autumn Perfumes (Kuwait, 21 December) and all major regional events.

Special events and editorials are planned to coincide with BeautyWorld/Wellness & Spas (Dubai, 22 May 2006), Beauty Arabia (Bahrain, 21 February), International Perfumes & Cosmetics (Kuwait, 22 March) as well as Beauty Central Asia (Almaty, 15 September).

Each issue will feature a regional report dedicated to a specific area of the Middle East, the GCC, the Levant, Egypt & North Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia and other important markets. There will also be a regular series focussing on suppliers (including parts, packaging, components suppliers and product design) and product categories, including makeup, suncare, fragrances and new materials and emerging product niches such as spas and salons, wellbeing and natural products.

This is the second licensing agreement for ICN and Cosmedias. The French company signed an agreement with Beijing-based company Ceico Mesago to launch ICN-China.

"We have seen a positive response to ICN-China and we are certain we can replicate this success with our newest licence in the Middle East," commented Jacques Louvet, Cosmedias Managing Director.

Strategy Garden Managing Editor Trevor Lloyd-Jones added: "We are delighted to be partnered with ICN, the premier source of information for the global beauty industry. The Middle East is such a diverse and rapidly expanding market. It represents an opportunity to take a strong regional focus on the business, with more in-depth analysis than has ever been possible before."