From Strength to Strength

mivision has been enthusiastically embraced by the ophthalmic industry and its professions.

Now in its third year of publication mivision continues to build and grows from strength to strength.

Feb 08: Associate Professor Gerard Sutton was introduced as the monthly contributor to mivision's miophthalmology column. 

Dec 07: mivision was officially apppointed by Optometry Giving Sight as its 'Gold National Media Sponsor'.

mivision's content continues to grow with the magazine now 76 pages each month.

Nov 7: Toma Publishing appointed former News Ltd news reporter Norm Lipson to the post of Senior Writer who broke the story on health fund fraud in the Dec 07 issue called 'The Great Spectacle Scam', which was subsequently picked up by the major television networks. 

Oct 07: From March to October 07, Toma Publishing Pty Ltd employed Dr. Stephen Kwok, an optometrist and eye care educator, as the full-time editor of mivision. After which co-publisher Mark Cushway officially took over the reign's as Managing Editor of mivision.

Sep 07: CAB Audit confirms that mivision average net distribution in Australia and New Zealand was 7,230.

Jul 07: One of the pertinent stats from Odmafair 07 was that 85% of exhibitors and visitors to Odmafair 07 stated that the 'Odmafair 07 Guide & Catalogue to Exhibitors' published by mivision and eyetalk was "excellent" or "very good".

Mar 07: mivision monthly contributors now include the State divisions of the Australian OAA; the New Zealand OA; RANZCO and the ADOA president, Glenn Marsh.

Feb 07: mivision, in association with the eyetalk reference guide, was appointed to produce the official 'Odmafair 07 Guide & Catalogue to Exhibitors'.

Jan 07: Suppliers to the ophthalmic market, who advertised in mivision's first year, rebooked schedules again for 2007, strengthening mivision's future success and reinforcing its leading position in the ophthalmic landscape.

Nov 06: as mivision's content forced page numbers to increase to 56, distribution also increased to 6,465. The CAB Audit of mivision confirmed that it was the only monthly optical magazine that went to all eye care professionals in both Australia and New Zealand. 

Oct 06: In its first six months, mivision received approximately 150 requests per month from individual members of the eye care industry to be added to its growing mailing list.

Sep 06: mivision inserted a reader's survey in its September 06 issue to discover what the industry thought of the new venture. The results were very positive:

  • 465 responses in three weeks (ca. 7% of readers).
  • Satisfaction level of readers that showed that 69% were 'very satisfied' with mivision, with the other 31% 'satisfied'.
  • mivision is primarily read by optometrists (53% of respondents)
  • mivision impact - although only six issues old at the time of our survey, 49% of readers say mivision is the first magazine they refer to first each month ahead of industry veterans Insight and Australian Optometry

Jun 06: Feedback from readers of mivision is strong and Toma Publishing is commended by the ophthalmic industry and its professionals for its initiative to launch a new ophthalmic monthly magazine which presents a fresh and positve view of the professions.

Apr 06: miviision is launched in Australia and New Zealand

 

In The Beginning

After researching the leading trade journals in Australia, and the rest of the world, the publishers looked at what was missing in the optical market in Australia.

They realised there was a need for an independent industry publication that represented and reflected the opinions and interests of the industry as a whole, not in part. It was also important that the publication be unbiased, objective and fair in its coverage of eye care and eyewear issues.

It was necessary for the publication to be distributed to both Australia and New Zealand to conform to the economic reality for wholesalers who supply both markets.

Out of these realities, mivision was born.

On the 12th December 2005, the publishers realised the concept of an ophthalmic monthly ‘created by the industry for the industry' and took it to the market. It was immediately embraced by suppliers who booked long term advertising schedules.

These suppliers to the ophthalmic industry enthusiastically threw themselves behind the magazine as they stated again and again, that they were in need of a fresh voice to reach their target market.

This support not only confirmed the prepublication research but guaranteed mivision's success in its first year of operation.

Toma Publishing Pty Ltd painstakingly assembled a database of names for distribution from data which is available in the public domain. The publishers compiled 6,000 names of people who work within the optical industry: optometrists; optical dispensers; ophthalmologists; orthoptists; ophthalmic nurses; suppliers, etc.

 

The Publication

Toma Publishing Pty Ltd launched the first issue of mivision in April 2006 as a 48 page publication.

mivision is the only ophthalmic monthly distributed to both Australia and New Zealand.

mivision is an independent publication. It has no allegiance (or alliance) with any commercial association, buying group, supplier or wholesaler.

Each issue of mivision is led by a cover story that focuses on a topical eye care issue and the feature story looks at the more human side of the industry.

mivision is divided into easily defined sections which reflect the key sectors of the optical industry - clinical eye care, ophthalmic lenses, contact lenses, equipment, optical dispensing, business and fashion.

For the first six issues, the publishers identified leading professionals in the industry to contribute to each section of the magazine on a regular basis. mivision subsequently moved into its second editorial phase and introduced a mix of contributors for each section.