VIP (standing for Very Important Person) is both the title of a magazine and a publishing group owned by the Irish publisher Michael O'Doherty. It was launched in 1999, the second of O'Doherty's business ventures with his friend and business partner John Ryan, following Magill and before TV Now.[1] It features Irish celebrities in a fashion portrayed and displayed in a similar fashion to that of British publications such as Hello! and OK!. Its circulation is estimated at 35,000.[2] The magazine gives its name to the annual VIP Style Awards held each year at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.[3][4]
History
When the magazine was launched O'Doherty was criticised for producing for such a small market with few people who had celebrity status to choose from. However, the day after the first issue was released O'Doherty's wholesalers called him and informed him that a garage in Naas, County Kildare which had taken twenty copies of VIP had sold them all on the first day and was being inundated with requests for more copies. O'Doherty located some spare copies that were lying around his office and sent them directly to the garage in Naas to meet the demand. The wholesalers later informed him that they had never seen demand like there had been for the first issue of VIP. As of 2 November 2008, there have been 114 issues. O'Doherty has responded to those who suggest that VIP is a carbon-copy of Hello or OK for an Irish market by reiterating the similarities between respected newspapers such as The Times and its Irish counterpart The Irish Times. Lorraine Keane of TV3, described as "the Irish Anthea Turner, who was huge in those days", was the first celebrity the magazine pursued and she has featured in VIP on a number of occasions since. Attempts to lure Gay Byrne of Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) into the fold proved unsuccessful as with the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.[5]
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