Ex-Loaded and Chat editor Keith Kendrick is to head up the launch of Bauer's first women's weekly in 11 years, In the Know.
H Bauer has confirmed that it will launch the new weekly, which will be "topical and relevant", on 29 August with a cover price of £1 and a print run of 900,000.
Kendrick moved through the ranks in IPC, leaving Loaded in October 2002 to head IPC Ignite's strategic growth programme.
In August 2003 he became editor of the Daily Mirror's TV listings magazine We Love Telly! He joined Bauer in May 2005 to lead the editorial side of new product development, of which In the Know was the top priority.
Bauer is insisting that In the Know will not be a clone of existing titles in the increasingly crowded market. But it is rumoured to closest in content to Emap's First.
"There has been a plethora of launches into the women's weekly market, many of which are me-too products that risk saturating the market," said David Goodchild, managing director of the German-based publisher.
"This new launch is the result of 18 months planning and concept development, and certainly won't fall within that bracket."
The launch will be the first by the company in the women's weekly sector since That's Life in 1995.
Bauer has suffered falls in its traditional women's weeklies — even market leader Take a Break dropped 3.7 per cent from 1,200,397 to 1,155,886 copies according to the last ABCs, while That's Life fell 3.4 per cent from 569,631 to 550,036 and Bella fell 2.1 per cent from 389,100 to 380,973.
News International's Project Dannii, led by former Hello! editor Maria Trkulja, is still scheduled for launch on the market this autumn, while Northern & Shell has denied it is also in the process of gathering a team for a new weekly launch.
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