New equation takes Hip2b² magazine national

“We also re-engineered the design and content to make Hip2b² the ‘smartest' youth magazine on the planet,” comments creative director Crispian Brown.

“With a circulation of 80 000 and a readership of over 500 000 learners, Hip2b² offers advertisers the biggest and most exciting youth market reach in print,” says publisher Helena Gavera.

“Our readers are the smartest young people in South Africa: tomorrow's doctors, scientists, captains of industry, Nobel laureates and afronauts,” adds editor Nevelia Heilbron.

When Mark Shuttleworth, a self-confessed geek who became a billionaire in his twenties by breaking new frontiers in computer technology, launched the Hip2b brand five years ago, his aim was to make subjects such as science, maths and technology ‘sexy' to high school learners. “I see these subjects as a launch pad to many exciting careers. Working hard at them gives you so many more options when you leave school,” he says.

Distributed free to schools across the spectrum, Hip2b² magazine appeals to a culturally diverse – yet intellectually similar – cross-section of the South African youth market. “Hip2b² is fascinating, fun and compellingly clever – an antithesis to the general dumbing down of communication worldwide,” says Heilbron. “Our goal is to provide content that makes youths want to learn more and develop a curiosity about the world around them.”

Copies of Hip2b² magazine are also available at Cape Town's MTN SciencCentre and the Sci Bono Centre in Johannesburg. For more information about the magazine and its initiatives, go to www.Hip2b2.com. “Demand for the publication from schools is growing,” says Gavera. “In some instances teachers are making colour copies so that more issues can be handed out. It's very exciting.”