FINAL CURTAIN CALL FOR A DEAD BRAND?

Last month I blogged about the Thai licensed edition of Arena magazine, and the fact it had not produced an edition since June. In March I wrote about the decision by publisher Bauer to suspend publication in the U.K., however at that time I felt the Thai edition might survive. It now seems that's not going to happen.
This month Arena Thailand, which launched in September 2006 and was claiming a circulation of 100,000 copies per issue, has produced a special "Best of .." edition. And the editors notes suggest this is the end for Arena in Thailand, for now at least.
Arguably this is the final curtain call for a dead brand. The regurgitated content has gathered just nine pages of advertising in this 164-page issue. Contrast this to the November 2008 edition (which I just happened to have laying around) which had three times that number of ads.
Inspire Entertainment, publishers of the Thai edition of Arena, were also hit earlier this year with the demise of another of its licensed magazines Cawaii!. In this case the magazine lives on as Scawaii!.
Licensing a global brand is one way to publish, however as with Arena the ultimate success of your brand is not always yours to control.