The Business of Magazines

[8eight]

FRom last months Press Gazette re womens magazines and how they have stopped immovating.


3 August 2010
By Dominic Ponsford, Oliver Luft

Stylist editor Lisa Smosarski has criticised the conservatism in sections of the UK magazine market and called for greater print innovation to help reinvigorate established print titles.

Smasorski said that newsstand women's magazines have converged in their content and "become quite nervous".

"Everyone’s thinking about brand extension and digital platforms and thinking about magazines as multimedia brands – but actually it’s innovation in the core titles and engagement with the reader which will help them," Smasarski said in an interview with Press Gazette.

"There’s been a lot of focus on digital particularly, looking at different revenue streams and changing the business.

"But there is the bread and butter and magazines do remain at the heart of it, they have to lead and be exciting and invigorate the reader."

The former editor of More! helped launch Stylist as a free magazine in London last October as a sister title to free men’s title Shortlist, which launched in 2007.

The launch was sandwiched between the closures of free London daily titles thelondonpaper and London Lite, but Smosarski said the publishers were able to make a success of the title as there were a number of shortcomings in the existing women’s magazine market which it was able to exploit.

Stylist had a lunch ABC distribution of 410,000 instantly making it the fourth biggest women’s mag by distribution and according to Smasarski, advertising is ahead of target and the title is on course to reach breakeven by the middle of year three.

"I can remember going back to my university talking to the students a few years ago and saying the only thing I would genuinely be scared of in this market is a brilliant free women’s magazine," she said.

She told Press Gazette that lots of magazines were "playing it safe" and that the launch of Stylist provided the market which much needed innovation.

"People have been very negative about print over the last few years and very scared of the internet," she said.

"What’s interesting for us is we are not resting on the old publishing model. That’s possibly the problem for many people rather than the format that content is delivered."

Shei said readers have a "very intimate relationship" with print that the internet is unable to replicate and still made it a very appealing medium laced with potential.

"The problem is how that’s put into people’s hands. You’ve got multichannel TV, the internet, iPads, iPhones, all pushing content - you don’t have to go to a newsstand to get that media.

She said magazine companies had been slow in changing the way that they reach customers.

"The newsstand is a tough place at the moment and there are huge amount of titles competing for women’s attention," she said.

"What you’ve seen is a convergence of the content that’s being offered. In the celebrity pack for instance it’s really hard to differentiate between titles.

"People have got quite nervous and they did stop innovating…We said we are new, we’re going to break the rules and be different. It’s innovative titles that usually succeed."

The full interview with Lisa Smosarski can be found in this month’s issue of Press Gazette magazine.

 

[tigerrouge]

From JournAlert:

UK Esquire editor Jeremy Langmead leaves

Esquire's editor Jeremy Langmead is leaving his position at the magazine to join Mr Porter as editor in chief.

Langmead originally joined the National Magazine Company's men's title in March 2007, and founded the Esquire Man At The Top Awards as well as the Best Dressed Real Man competitions. Dan Davies, deputy editor at Esquire, will become acting editor until a replacement for Langmead is officially appointed.

Mr Porter is a newly-launched menswear website from Net-A-Porter.

 

[pacersfanatic36]

I'd originally posted this in the wrong place, the Lucky thread:

From nytimes.com

Kim France Out at Lucky; Brandon Holley of Yahoo Takes Over By David Carr
Kim France, the editor who invented Lucky magazine in 2000 along with James Truman, who was the Condé Nast editorial directer at the time, has left the magazine. She was replaced by Brandon Holley, who worked at Condé Nast in 2007 until Jane, the magazine she was editing, was closed. Since then, Ms. Holley has been working as editor in chief of Shine, Yahoo’s site for women.
Brandon Holley is the new editor of Lucky magazine.
Lucky, when it was first published in December 2000, was considered a major innovation or a huge abomination, depending on who was doing the considering. Although women’s magazines had always served as a nexus between aspiration and commerce, Lucky baldly celebrated shopping as a kind of sport.
It was, in retrospect, ahead of its time, a print rendering of a shopping portal on the Web. It was well received by both the news media and advertisers, in part because it was a well-crafted magazine that did not take itself too seriously and in part because Ms. France had significant magazine credentials. She had worked at Sassy, Elle, New York, 7 Days and Spin.

But as the recession deepened and shopping became less of a blood sport than a guilty pleasure, Lucky suffered a significant loss in advertising pages. Even as a weak recovery has brought other magazines part of the way back, Lucky has continued to languish. In the most recent Publishers Information Bureau statistics, advertising pages in Lucky were down 7.3 percent from April to June, compared to the same months in 2009; meanwhile, many other magazines directed at female readers recovered.
Given that Ms. France conceived a new category of magazine that did significant advertising business over the course of a decade, the news release announcing her departure was terse, without the usual filigree about her accomplishments; of Ms. Holley’s appointment it said: “She replaces Kim France, who is leaving the company.” That was all about Ms. France.
The appointment of Ms. Holley, who has extensive digital credentials, signals a level of seriousness around the Web components of Lucky’s business, but it could also foretell a time when Lucky – the brand — might exist only in a digital form. Condé Nast has shown very little sentimentality around preserving underperfoming magazines; it closed four publications last year. And executives there apparently decided that Lucky, which has had three publishers over the course of its existence, needed a fresh editorial approach.
Ms. France, who took inspiration from Japanese shopping magazines at the time and innovated an American version, was said to be reluctant to fundamentally alter what she created. Reached by e-mail, she sent a statement through a spokeswoman.
“I am exceptionally grateful to Condé Nast and Si Newhouse for what has been a tremendous opportunity, and something I will remember with only fondness,” Ms. France said.
The recent lack of sentiment in pushing out people and titles has people on cat’s paws at 4 Times Square, a headquarters that had long seemed to live a life beyond economic consequence. There continue to be rumors that Bon Appétit, which is the company’s sole food publication after Gourmet closed, will be moved back from the West Coast, and other magazines will be getting a hard look as well.

I do not like this idea at all. I didn't follow Jane religiously, but I do think Holley made it noticeably worse.

Moreover, I saw Holley speak twice while she was at Jane. Once I saw her on an online media panel. The other was in a "focus group" setting (young women talked with the staff about what they wanted to see in the magazine). On the whole, she seemed kind of directionless and out-of-ideas (not what one wants in an Editor-in-Chief). She was more impressive in the "focus group" situation, but I expected more from someone with her title (a strong creative vision, as cliche as it sounds).

I wonder if Andrea Linett will also leave; I think her and Kim have been close since their days at Sassy. And I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the Conde Nast cafeteria! Brandon Holley replacing both of the queens of Sassy!

​

 

[tentalicious]

Press Release by Parlan Publishing Group

Further to the press release issued on September 1, 2010 by the Jalou Publishers (France), and announcing the replacement of the publishing house for the L'OFFICIEL magazine in Russia, the Parlan Publishing Group makes the following statement.

The Parlan Publishing Group and the French Les Editions Jalou publishers entered into license agreement, under which the Parlan Publishing Group is a publisher for the Russian version of the L’OFFICIEL magazine. This agreement shall be effective until December 31, 2011.

Moreover the Parlan Publishing Group has a preferential right to conclude a new license agreement for publication of the L'OFFICIEL magazine.

The French publishers, which illegitimately, without any legal grounds, made a statement on the unilateral termination of the license agreement and on signing of contract with “ACT” Publishers, act in bad faith and intentionally abuse their rights in order to disrespect thereby undertaken contract obligations.

The Parlan Publishing Group strongly affirms that as long as the aforesaid license agreement has been effective, it did not commit any breaches, whether provided or not by the agreement, and therefore, as a matter of principle, there are no grounds for termination thereof.

Furthermore, the said contract does not provide a case for its unilateral termination by initiative of either party.

Should the French publishing house Jalou choose not to issue an official disclaimer of its press release, and should it execute the illegitimate actions specified therein, the Parlan Publishing Group will be constrained to submit petitions to competent French and Russian courts in order to prevent from violation of its rights by “ACT” publishing house that might start issuing a magazine, related to female high fashion, in the Russian market, which magazine would have a title including the word “L'OFFICIEL”, or have another similar title that could be mixed up therewith – that is, to prevent from such actions for the period of litigation. We have all the reasons to assume that upon our claim, the Russian court will put under restraint the bad faith actions of the Jalou publishers and “ACT” in Russia.

We also state that notwithstanding the information circulated by the Jalou publishers, the Parlan Publishing Group will continue to issue the Russian version of the L'OFFICIEL magazine and will unconditionally secure fulfillment of all obligations to our advertisers and counterparties.

[via lofficiel russia@facebook]​

 

[Thefrenchy]

I was just reading an article about Xavier ROMATET, CEO of Conde Nast France and he said that their turnover (is it the correct word) this year should be of 80 million euros. The most interesting was that he said they may launch a new magazine in 2012, and that the name of the mag will be revealed in the next 18 months.

I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to do a French version of Vanity Fair. I remember reading, back in 2008, that they hesitated between releasing GQ or Vanity Fair. And turns out they chose GQ; but maybe that'll be VF's turns this time... Could also be W...

 

[tentalicious]

^hope it will be W!

 

[MissMagAddict]

Kim France didn't invent Lucky It was Kate Betts & James Truman that came up with the idea for Vogue Index after being influenced by Japanese fashion magazines. Which in turn gave birth to Lucky, Cargo & Domino.

 

[tigerrouge]

News about Conde Nast's UK iPad strategy (guardian.co.uk

Vogue slims down for iPad edition

Conde Nast is launching iPad apps for Vogue and Wired

The September issue of Vogue will never be the same again.

Traditionally the biggest of the year, and as hefty as a brick, in future the magazine is likely to be a waif-like half-inch thick, no matter how much advertising is packed between its glossy pages. Welcome to the iPad edition, publishing's equivalent of a size zero.

Publisher Conde Nast announced today it would launch iPad applications for the fashion bible beginning with the December issue, out next month. It will also launch an iPad app for the December issue of Wired, the technology magazine. The company has already launched a number of iPad apps for titles in the US, but this will be its first move in Britain.

The apps will be priced at virtually the same as the print editions, at £3.99, compared to £4 for the physical edition of Wired and £4.10 for Vogue. The app is priced for a single edition, which means regular buyers would need to pay £3.99 each month.

At a presentation on the publisher's digital strategy, Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast in the UK, said he saw no reason to discount electronic editions. "We don't want to get into selling our content cheaper on the internet," he said.

He forecast that as much as 40% of the publisher's sales could come from apps for Apple's iPad and similar devices within 15 years. The company also publishes titles including GQ, Vanity Fair and Glamour.

Last month the iPad was described by Rupert Murdoch as a "game changer" for news media.He predicted that "hundreds and hundreds of millions" of similar tablet computers will eventually be sold around the world.

Albert Read, general manager at Conde Nast, was equally lavish in his praise, saying the iPad's arrival "marks a significant shift" for the publishing industry. "We have arrived at a point where magazine publishers have before them what they have long dreamt of – an opportunity to transfer the magazine qualities of deep immersion, high resolution images, long form journalism and storytelling to a digital format," he said.

Advertisers appearing in the print editions of the two magazines will appear automatically on the iPad app. There will be a chance to include a link to advertisers' sites and a limited number will be offered the chance to augment their advertising, whether with video, slideshows or other media.

Wired has one of the most natural constituencies for an iPad app of any magazine; Conde Nast claims that 18% of its readers, a circulation of 50,000, already own a device.

Conde Nast launched its first iPhone apps in Britain in July, with the Conde Nast Traveller City Guides. The guides for Rome, New York, Barcelona and Paris are updated free of charge quarterly and include insider guides, restaurant reviews and a function to call and make a reservation, as well as GPS to get you to the door. The publisher is developing iPhone apps for GQ and Brides, which will be launched at the end of the year.

 

[tigerrouge]

David Lynch set to do strange things with Wallpaper (same source

David Lynch edits Wallpaper* section

Wallpaper* October issue sees Lynch share editor's chair with stage director Robert Wilson

Film director David Lynch has guest-edited a section of the October issue of IPC Media's design, fashion and lifestyle magazine Wallpaper*.

Lynch, whose credits include Blue Velvet, Eraserhead and Twin Peaks, and stage director Robert Wilson have each edited a section of the magazine's latest issue, as well as creating their own covers.

In a collaboration with creative communications agency Dentsu London, Wallpaper* readers will be able to animate Wilson's still images by using a striped sheet of acetate provided by the magazine.

Readers can also use a QR code – a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be scanned by a smartphone - to go to a web page where they can view Wilson's films, which feature Isabella Rossellini, Brad Pitt, a sumo wrestling champion and snowy owls.

Wallpaper* will also launch its first iPad app with the October issue, The Director's Cut.

 

[tigerrouge]

James Brown's new business model... and his description of working at UK Conde Nast - "It's a beautiful place to be bored." (same source

Loaded founder James Brown on his new digital venture

Sabotage Times, edited by Brown, has about 150 writers who only get paid if their work is picked up by other sites

James Brown is an unlikely birdwatcher. The former Loaded editor has spent 90 minutes discussing football, fashion and his new online project when he begins to wax lyrical about the joys of watching birds from his cottage on the east Sussex coast.

"Great big seabirds coming into land like fighter planes," he enthuses. "Who cares about magazines when you could be watching gulls on the wind?"

Brown has long had a capacity to surprise, from taking the magazine world unawares with the launch of Loaded 16 years ago to his ill-fated tenure in charge of GQ and the various consultancy roles he has had in recent years, helping everyone from the Mail on Sunday and Reader's Digest to Jamie Oliver and the Daily Sport.

He says his days as a gun for hire are behind him, and shows no inclination to discuss his work on the Sport, where he worked on its relaunch two years ago. "That was just one of 20 [jobs] that I did, a few days here and a few days there. I have stopped all of that … I was sick of it. I wanted to create something."

So Brown has become an editor again, ploughing £30,000 into his new digital venture, the Sabotage Times, with its strapline: "We can't concentrate so why should you?" The site, which had a soft launch in May, has a stable of around 150 writers (or "saboteurs") writing about football, fashion, entertainment and sex.

Unusually, none of its contributors are paid upfront, receiving payment only if their work is syndicated via the site to other publications. What it offers them, argues Brown, is a shop window and the chance to be published alongside established writers such as his old pal Irvine Welsh, who also appears on the site.

Unlike Brown's previous ventures, it does not have an office and has only two members of staff: Brown and his deputy Matt Weiner, formerly the number two on Haymarket's football magazine, FourFourTwo, edit the site on the hoof. "This is my office," says Brown, holding up his iPhone. "The technology allows you not to invest in bricks and mortar any more. It's a new type of business – a business of ideas and content, a business without a building."

Celebrity weekly

One of his writers has already got a job on Bauer Media's celebrity weekly Heat, he says Brown. "I recognised there is a generation of writers who could be gathered together in one place.

"There are lots of people blogging out of passion, who have the talent and the expertise but who aren't used to being paid for it. You could put them all together in one place and mix it with some of the great writers I have had the opportunity to publish over the years. I also wanted somewhere I would feel comfortable to write myself."

Brown says he has discovered "four or five really good writers" from Twitter, including David Hart, who runs the Nottingham fashion blog the Highrise, Olivia Foster and Andy Dawson, responsible for the Twitter feed DianaInHeaven.

Sabotage Times – a reference to the Beastie Boys song, Sabotage – has two big-name backers but he is reluctant to disclose their identity without their permission. "One is just launching a business in India, the other has got a worldwide business," is all he proffers. One was also an investor in one of his previous ventures. Brown says the site, which had around 85,000 unique visitors last month, is breaking even, perhaps not surprising given its payment structure and tiny staff. "No-one's getting paid. I don't get paid, the writers aren't getting paid. They get paid if we sell the material." The aim is to carry advertising and sponsorship eventually and Brown will look to generate more revenue by creating branded content for commercial partners. He staged his first exhibition earlier this year with the cult cartoonists and animators, Modern Toss.

"I was talking to Andy Dawson, who is developing DianaInHeaven as a sitcom. I said 'what the **** for? Let's just get an actress to do a Talking Heads like Alan Bennett and do it on a daily basis. Why would you want to wait 18 months for somebody at Channel 4 to make a decision and then give three quarters of the money to the production company? We can do it now.'"

With a design partly inspired by the Daily Beast – "I thought what Tina Brown did there was really good" – the site does not have a target reader in spite of its focus on men. "We have a target writer. We are a location to go to when you want to be distracted. We will float things through that we think are eye-catching."

An essay about a father and son brought together by their love of football, picked up from a Millwall FC fanzine, and a rant about the east London district of Dalston are two of its most popular stories to date.

The site's masthead has various sub-headings, such as "Travel" and "Fashion & Style", and I express mild surprise, given his background, that there is not a "girls" gallery featuring scantily clad women. "That whole aspect [of Loaded's success] has been overplayed," he says, clearly irritated.

"That's other people's stuff. Go and ask [Zoo founding editor] Paul Merrill about that, the boys who started the weeklies."

The pioneer of the modern lads' mag, Brown founded Loaded in 1994 after stints at Sounds and NME and a brief career as a rock band manager. Awards included the prestigious BSME editors' editor of the year prize, but he quit IPC Media in 1997 to edit Condé Nast's GQ.

This surprise appointment also proved short-lived. Nicholas Coleridge, the managing director of Condé Nast, memorably blamed "philosophical differences" for Brown's departure after just 18 months, following the appearance of the Nazis and Field Marshal Rommel in a feature on the century's 200 most stylish men.

"I was bored there," says Brown, whose final GQ cover featured a naked and handcuffed Caprice baring all. "It's a beautiful place to be bored. It wasn't the right job. I am still friends with [Condé Nast international chairman] Jonathan Newhouse. I don't have any bitterness or resentment."

If Brown does have regrets, it is about his men's title Jack, which he launched in 2002 ; it was the flagship title of his publishing company, I Feel Good (IFG), which he floated on the alternative investment market and sold to Felix Dennis in 2003.

Magazine failed

Described as a cross between National Geographic and Loaded and aimed at a more mature, over-30s market, the A5 magazine failed to find an audience and closed in 2004.

"I made a lot of mistakes," he admits. "I looked at an issue the other day, and I thought why did it have two features about the second world war? There didn't seem to be a lot of interesting people around to interview. There are again now."

Brown was inspired to return to editing after reading the former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans's memoirs My Paper Chase while on holiday. "He was the opposite of me, he worked so hard – I mean, I worked hard when I was young – but he was really determined and it made me feel a bit embarrassed about how little I had made of the opportunities I had created.

"When I sold I Feel Good I arrogantly announced I had retired, but then I just didn't really know what to do. I was offered a chatshow commission and newspapers to edit, I tossed a lot of opportunities away. I was just sitting around playing Scrabble on the internet, banging on about the past."

Brown also had "personal stuff" going on – he got divorced from the mother of his son in 2007 – "and that affected my financial position". The sale of IFG was reported to have made him £1.2m. He has no desire to go back to "dead tree" publishing. "With a high volume, high frequency publication you end up spending a lot of your time thinking about printers, distributors, what's on the cover, and actually you don't spend much time thinking about the journalism, and that is at the heart of it."

But he will continue his work as a consultant to Sky Sports on its subscriber magazine, and does not rule out occasional magazine ventures through Sabotage Times. "We could do some one-offs, a couple a year." An hour after we meet, he messages me on Twitter. "Enjoyed interview. Watching gulls fly more important than old mags the key thing I said IMO."

Either he's joking or he really should start thinking about a birdwatching magazine. Online, presumably.

 

[Flashbang]

60 Seconds With Stefano Tonchi

Last night, we found ourselves back in familiar territory at DVF Studio, where we had our epic FNO event. This time, we were there for a intimate fete hosted by Diane Von Furstenberg to celebrate the publication of Walter Albini and His Times: All Power to the Imagination, a biography of the fashion and costume designer by Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi. While at the signing for the tome, we caught up with the dapper Tonchi to chat about his new position as W's EIC. He dropped some hints on upcoming covers...we're dying to hear your guesses!

Has Fashion Week changed for you now that you're the EIC at W?
"It's a different experience, it's a different mind than working at The New York Times. September was the first step of a long period of issues—there's a lot of new elements, but, still, a lot of the old. The fashion is really important and strong but we added a lot of great writing and words."

In terms of covers, you obviously went with a very different choice for the first issue...
"The it-girls! Jennifer Lawrence, she is fantastic—we all think she will be Oscar nominated for Winter's Bone, and, you know, we would have been the first to recognize that. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams on the second—we want always to connect the content of the magazine to what is on the cover."

Do you have any sort of celebrity wish-list?
"Not really...Each issue has its own focus. October is "His and Hers," so we had a couple there. November is the art cover, so we collaborated with an artist, and we have a great reality TV person!"

Kim Kardashian??
"It's someone very different from what you expect for the magazine. Then December is a very special "family issue," with kids! I want W to be a little be divisive and unexpected."

What did you think of the Lady Gaga cover dressed in a meat dress on the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan?
"I have not seen that cover, only the Vanity Fair one. I believe she has done these very surreal images. She always likes those surreal images."

Would you ever consider for W's cover?
"Umm, I think we would be really late after VF and everybody else, so we will have to wait for the next time around. But, you know, at the same time it's all about how you do it. If we agree on some concept that serves the magazine, why not? You work on the web, you know—it's never about being first, it's about how you do it."

Are you trying to find someone to fill the roles of The Countess or Suzy? We grew up with them. (we're available!)?
"Right now, we have really not had a lot of time to look for columnists or column names. We will see how it goes."

How much are you focusing on wmag.com?
"We redesigned it. We are doing a lot of videos. We want a lot of fashion videos—that will be the focus of the website. We are not going to be in the business of news, because I don't have have the staff to do that. But we cleaned it up. There is a lot that will happen...we are doing "Fashion on Film" in the end of October. It's an online film festival...you can submit yourself!

Any Fashion Week vices?
"Just sleep. Lots and lots of it."

dailyfrontrow.com

 

[tigerrouge]

Some snippets from the past week or so (ediabuyerplanner.com

‘Elle’ Mag’s Four-Way Cover Brings in Advertisers

The U.S. edition of Elle magazine marked its 25th birthday with the October issue, and advertisers were quick to sign on to help celebrate, boosting the title to a 47.37% gain in ad pages.

The October issue had a split run, with four different covers. Each cover featured a different 25-year-old actress, including Amanda Seyfried, Gabourey Sidibe, Lauren Conrad and Megan Fox, writes minonline.

The issue is also the first to be featured via a new iPad app, which “offered extra incentive for our advertisers,” says vp/brand publisher Kevin Martinez.

October Issues Trending Up

Of the 150 monthly magazines tracked by minonline, October saw an overall ad-page gain of 10.66%. Elle led the pack in terms of ad increases, followed by Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Conde Nast Traveler, and InStyle.

In September, magazines tracked by min increased 8.1%, for a total increase of 8.2% in the third quarter. That followed a 4.9% increase in ad pages in Q2. The first quarter of the year saw a 5.7% decline in ad pages.

The increases are good news to an industry that has seen declines for years: Between 2006 and 2009, magazines saw ad pages slip by 31%.

 

[tigerrouge]

Lemarchand Is Out At Hachette, Replaced By Parr

Lagardere executives are moving out Alain Lemarchand as president and CEO of HFMUS, the magazine publisher of Elle, Woman’s Day and Car and Driver, and are moving in former president of Primedia (NYSE: PRM) Enthusiast Media and Source Interlink Steve Parr to replace him. Parr’s hiring is billed as the next step in a multi-year plan for HFMUS after the restructuring and cost-cutting that began under Lemarchand, who was installed in the post two years ago.

So with costs under control, Parr’s job will be to focus on building market share for all the publisher’s various brands, but with particular attention to its strongest title, Elle. Secondly, he is charged with ramping up digital development in automotive through the Jumpstart Automotive Group and women’s segments (including Woman’s Day). On top of that, he will be expected to come up with a plan to create a profitable marketing and revenue growth strategy that involves integrating print and digital, while increasing general profitability.

Given ad recovery, these tasks might not seem as impossible as they might have last year. But the print mag business is still struggling to a large degree as revenues and profits are generally down from where they were a few years ago.

(paidcontent.org)

 

[tigerrouge]

Condé Nast Creates Award, Perk for Business-Savvy Editors

Historically, Condé Nast editors have worked in a rarified world where they were encouraged to put out the best quality magazines possible, without regard to costs.

Now come new signs that editors are being encouraged to adopt a business mind-set.

Condé Nast has created a new award for the publisher and editor who come up with the best money-making business for the company, the winner in this case getting credits for travel. Traditionally, the company’s awards have been reserved for the sales side.

And in what would be another first, the purveyor of luxury brands like Vogue and Vanity Fair is also considering having editors speak about their brands at the next publishers' meeting, periodic gatherings that historically have been sales-side affairs. “The editors are becoming part of the conversation,” one publishing exec there said.

Of course, it hasn’t been business as usual at Condé Nast in a while. Since advertising nosedived, editors were called on, along with their sales-side brethren, to cut about 25 percent from their budgets following a review of the business by consultants from McKinsey & Co.

This past year, editors have been called on to come up with ideas for licensing deals and other new revenue streams to help offset softening print advertising. CEO Chuck Townsend solicited ideas to help the company—Gourmet Live, the social gaming/food app, got one of the first $10,000 prizes.

Andrea Luhtanen, president, Haworth Marketing + Media, said efforts to promote a stronger working relationship between sales and edit can help titles at a time when advertisers are pushing for programs that involve editorial tie-ins.

“You have to respect church and state, but you also have to know you’re going to get through,” she said. “I like the credibility that has, but they’ve got to change with the times.”

Condé Nast editors also seem less secure these days. In recent weeks, the company has removed editors at Architectural Digest, Lucky and Bon Appétit.

Elsewhere, editors have been less shielded from the financial ups and downs of their businesses. At other companies like Hearst, Mere-dith and Time Inc., top editors get bonuses tied to criteria like their newsstand performance and overall company and brand profitability.

At Elle and Women’s Day parent Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. (or HFMUS, as it’s now calling itself), president/CEO Alain Lemarchand last year changed editors’ incentive plans to encourage them to think about new revenue streams. In the past, bonuses were just based on cost management and circulation performance. Now, they reflect their brand’s profitability and consumer revenue growth from all streams. Editors were renamed vp, brand content and now report to the sales side.

“For decades, [editors] have been about magazines only,” Lemarchand said. “It’s very important that they keep editorial integrity because it’s very much at the heart of the product. At the same time, they have to contribute to the business itself.”

(mediaweek.com)

 

[tigerrouge]

The X Factor spawns weekly publication, Simon Cowell moves into magazines (mediaweek.co.uk

X Magazine a 'genuine alternative' for upmarket women

Natasha Sundharawipata, publishing director of X Magazine at Fremantle Media Enterprises, tells Media Week why the new weekly X Factor spin-off will compete in the most lucrative part of the magazine market

It was surely only a matter of time before The X Factor, the annual ITV pop talent show that draws in 20 million viewers and has been licensed to 20 countries around the world, became a magazine - and this week, the results are in.

On Tuesday (14 September), shoppers at Tesco noticed a new entrant to the supermarket’s shelves in the form of X Magazine, whose launch issue features a smiling Cheryl Cole and the exclusive: "Seven days that shook The X Factor."

Whether the future of the appointment-to-view programming monster - which earns its creator Simon Cowell £7m a year for judging alone - was ever "shaky" is doubtful, but as a bold brand spin-off, the magazine certainly delivers.

Everything about the new music weekly is larger than life and designed to appeal to the masses - niche media this isn’t. It has 100 pages, a print-run of "hundreds of thousands" and is distributed exclusively - for now - through the nation’s largest supermarket, in a deal designed to saturate the UK’s TV homes.

Issue one contains the details of Cheryl Cole’s near-fatal battle with malaria (pictured above), an audience with Kylie, a "Style File" on former contestant Diana Vickers and an insight into what Beyonce carries in her hand luggage.

You can even (on page 83) see an artist’s impression of Lady Gaga eating a unicorn - and all for £1.95, priced bullishly at 30p more than Bauer’s Heat, which seems to have ‘inspired’ the tone and design of the title.

However, publishing director Natasha Sundharawipata insists X Magazine sits in the quality women’s sector - on a par with Grazia, say, rather than Reveal - with ad rates "pegged at similar levels to the other quality women’s weeklies".

"X Magazine is not a youth magazine; our target market is 18 to 34 year-old women. It’s a quality women’s weekly that will compete in the most lucrative part of the magazine market because it is not like anything else on the shelves."

She adds: "This is not another celebrity "me-too" magazine and we are not looking to cannibalise readership from other magazines. We want to create a genuine alternative for women wanting to be up-to-date on the music world."

Celebrating pop

The project is a collaboration between - and is funded by - The X Factor’s co-producers Syco Entertainment and Fremantle Media Enterprises (FME), a division of TalkbackThames owner Fremantle Media.

Together, the super-producers developed the concept for the magazine and appointed publisher Haymarket Network to deliver an editorial product that is "top quality, exciting, popular and, ultimately, successful".

"X Magazine will have a unique and competitive position in the UK market as the only women’s weekly that loves music and celebrates pop as one of the UK’s most vibrant music genres," Sundharawipata elaborates.

"It will feature international music stars from across the industry and give readers behind-the-scenes access to the hit TV show, with fashion and beauty features, celebrity news and gossip."

FME manages licensing activity for the X Factor franchise, and the magazine is the latest brand extension following this year’s launches of a multi-console game, clothing and fashion accessories and - naturally - karaoke products.

The publishing team hope the magazine’s "instant brand recognition" - which Sundharawipata describes as "priceless in terms of promotional value" - will persuade people to become regular buyers. But, just to make sure, Tesco is backing the magazine with a "significant" national promotional campaign to "ensure their customers come in store to buy it".

FME is also harnessing the power of its X Factor fanbase, running further promotions and social media campaigns to attract its legions of website and Facebook followers, boosted by significant on-air and local radio advertising.

The magazine will originally be distributed exclusively to Tesco for the launch period, before being rolled out on newsstands nationwide. FME declines to say how long the magazine’s launch phase will last for, but it is expected X Magazine will be available on the newsstand within the current series of the TV show.

While The X Factor is on-air, X Magazine will "focus strongly" on related stories such as contestants, judges, songs and guest stars, with contributions from Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh.

The show’s "internationally renowned" guest artists will also contribute, as will its stylists and choreographers from behind the scenes who will, apparently, provide "insight and ideas".

But the magazine will have a life beyond each autumn’s series of the TV show, says Sundharawipata, who describes it as "a year-round showcase of great music, big star interviews and celebrity culture and style".

"We will be breaking new artists and brands, going backstage at festivals and offering readers in-depth interviews. X Magazine will celebrate both today’s pop stars and the legends of the past."

She adds: "The X Factor brand provides year-round content from the Live Tour, the US show launching in 2011, past contestant stories and then the start of the auditions again in late spring 2011, so we certainly won’t be short of content."

A continuous cycle of Cowell-fuelled content - that's either a very good, or a very bad thing, depending on your point of view. But, judging by the past form of Cowell's other media ventures, at least it is sure to make money.

 

[GlamorousBoy]

ELLE à Table comes to Czech Republic. First issue will be on sale from 30th September.

 

[MissMagAddict]

source | blogs.runway.nytimes.com

Q&A With Carine Roitfeld
By Eric Wilson

The 90th-anniversary issue of Vogue Paris hit newsstands here this week, just in time for the Paris collections and an elaborate masked ball that Carine Roitfeld, the editor, is planning on Thursday night in a hotel particulier. The theme of the party is “Eyes Wide Shut,” and Ms. Roitfeld expects everyone to look as good as her October cover model, Lara Stone, who appears in a lace mask by Philip Treacy.
Ms. Roitfeld’s new issue set a record for the publication with 620 pages, many of them advertisements created specially for the anniversary, like one by Chanel that consists of a sketch by Karl Lagerfeld that shows the designer standing just behind Coco Chanel herself, her hands stuffed in her skirt pockets. For the magazine’s feature well, Ms. Roitfeld opened each photo portfolio with an archival image, followed by a contemporary take on fashion inspired by the same story. For example, a Horst P. Horst image of a masked ball from 1934 leads into a an erotic fantasy of masked models by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot. Mario Sorrenti, David Sims, Steven Klein and Hedi Slimane also contributed to the issue.
Perhaps the most controversial story will be Terry Richardson’s images of Crystal Renn, the (not quite) plus-size model who has become a vocal advocate for incorporating different sizes in fashion magazines. Here, she is shown gorging on an endless feast, about to stuff an entire squid into her mouth in one picture, gnawing on beef, sausage and poultry in others. It’s a statement.
Ms. Roitfeld, when I met her in her office, said the shoot was actually inspired by the 1973 movie “La Grande Bouffe,” the dark Marco Ferreri film about a group of men who retire to a villa to eat themselves to death. Ms. Roitfeld said she realized, while looking at the provocative — and sometimes shocking — imagery from Vogue’s past, that it is the job of fashion magazines to continue to push boundaries and provoke, even in the face of attacks on their judgment.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation:

How do you feel about the magazine at 90?
In 90 years, we haven’t changed the mood of the magazine. It’s still very audacious. It’s still about beauty. It’s still about excess. It’s still very avant-garde. When we started to do the research, we discovered the same mood in the past, so we are very happy to feel that we are still looking like the iconic Vogue of Newton and Guy Bourdin. We try to be sophisticated, while a little on the edge all the time. But what I can see is that now, the censoring is bigger than it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. I think we have less freedom. Today some pictures would not even be publishable. It’s not just about the nudity, but when you talk about things politically, the military, kids, it would all be politically incorrect and not publishable today.
How does that make you feel as an editor?
That we have to fight to keep this un-politically correct attitude of French Vogue, but it’s more and more difficult to be able do that. You cannot smoke, you cannot show arms, you cannot show little girls, because everyone now is very anxious not to have problems with the law. Everything we do now is like walking in high heels on the ice, but we keep trying to do it.
When you explain your philosophy about fashion to anyone who wants to contribute to French Vogue, what is it that you tell them?
Vogue is a very specific world. You are Vogue, or not Vogue. There are some editors and writers who can be very good, and still not Vogue. How can I describe it? It is, first, having the sense of luxury. It’s a sense of craziness, a bit. It’s a sense of beauty, because the images we are printing, most of them are going to be in a museum. It has to be cultural, because I think the French woman is not just interested in fashion. She is interested in painting, reading, movies and art, so it is a lot of things, altogether, to be a Vogue photographer, writer or stylist. And a Vogue reader.
What are you most proud of that you have brought to this magazine in the last 10 years?
When I see this anniversary issue, I think it is the best coffee-table book. I think it is good when something can stay interesting for a long time. It’s not just a trend for one month. What we did in this issue, I hope, in 10 years, will not be démodé, because now everyone can see fashion on the Internet. You can go on Style.com and see everything, but not how to wear it. This is what we try to give to the readers of Vogue.
How do you remain personally engaged with fashion when everyone else can see it online?
It’s still exciting to me, because when I am going to a fashion show, I’m not just looking at the clothes. I’m looking at the mood, I’m listening to the music, so sometimes, I can be a bit disappointed in one, two or three shows, and then I see a great one and my energy goes up again. There were some big fashion moments last week in Italy, like when you go to Prada, and wonder what’s she going to do this time, or at Dolce & Gabbana, and you are almost ready to cry. Maybe I still like the clothes. I don’t see them just to wear them, I see them as a piece of art sometimes.
With all the new designers hoping to be discovered, how do you know when someone really has it?
It is difficult. First, we have to find a moment to look at these young stylists, because we are overbooked with shows, overbooked with appointments and work like everyone else. But we try to find the time, because they are the future of tomorrow. When you talk to them, you know almost instantly. It’s like an instinct when you see a young painter or photographer. Because we have a big power, we have to use it to give an opportunity to some young kids, designers, makeup artists, photographers and models. It’s good that Anna Wintour was the one who needed to kick our butt, in a way, to do something. She did a lot in America, but in Paris, we were a bit slow. Now we understand, and we’ve seen so much return that we are going to be more and more aware to help.
Who do you think among the younger generation has the potential to become big?
I am very surprised by someone like Alexander Wang. I am amazed how he is good with fashion, with business, with public relations himself, with an attitude in his clothes that is spoken immediately. And I think a young guy called Joseph Altuzarra, who went to New York, is the next one to be big. The clothes he makes are very beautiful, and they are very wearable.
What bothers you about fashion today?
Sometimes I think, Why do I have to go to a show? Half an hour driving, half an hour waiting, seeing the show, then half an hour back. And when I get back, I see the show on the Internet. Sometimes it goes too quick sometimes. I like the idea of what Tom Ford did in New York. No one saw one outfit, except the 100 people who were guests. It was smart, because it makes envy. It’s too easy that Prada makes a collection and two hours later its on the Net and everyone can copy it. It’s too quick now, but I don’t think we can do anything about that. It’s just the time.
What’s next for you?
I’m full of ideas, and I want to have more parties and shows for the public. I want to make fashion more festive in Paris. This week we have the Vogue bar at the Crillon, where we changed the décor, the cocktail list, the pictures on the wall. The drinks are named after people. My drink is a Testarossa. It’s Campari and vodka, to fly very high, very far, very quick. We have the dirty martini of Stephen Gan — it’s delicious — and the apple martini of Tom Ford. I have a new job now: bartender. That is my dream, and also to open a karaoke.
What would be your song?
“You’re So Vain.” I think in this business, it’s a good song. It’s dedicated to a lot of people.
​

 

[tigerrouge]

An organisation you've probably never heard of has changed its name (pr-usa.net

Magazine Publishers of America Adopts New Name, Tagline and Logo

Reflecting the growing ways – online and offline – that magazine content reaches consumers, industry leaders today unveiled a new name, tagline and logo for their trade group: MPA – The Association of Magazine Media.

By adopting the well-established initials, MPA, as the organization's formal name and dropping 'publishers' from its tagline, MPA is underscoring the fact that magazine media content engages consumers across multiple platforms, including websites, tablets, smartphones, books, live events and more.

MPA will officially launch its new name and logo to its membership at the annual American Magazine Conference (AMC) on Monday, October 4, in Chicago.

MPA's new, animated logo replaces its classic turning page symbol with two rectangular frames that appear horizontally and vertically around the letters M-P-A, evoking the multiple ways through which magazine media are being experienced and enjoyed today.

"Magazine media companies are rapidly embracing cross-platform business models that incorporate print, digital and other ways of providing content to consumers," said Jack Griffin, incoming Chair of MPA, and CEO of Time Inc.

"MPA's new identity expresses our strong belief that, together, all of these forms collectively express what it means to be a magazine media company."

Added Nina Link, MPA President and CEO, "The essence of what consumers love about magazines – the immersive experience, the curated content, the sense of community and the award-winning photography and design – is now being enhanced by technologies and devices that support high definition imagery, video animation, mobile e-reading and Web access. The future of magazine reading is undergoing a transformation; audiences and advertisers now interact with magazine brands on so many different levels and platforms. MPA's identity simply had to reflect this fact."

To showcase the growing ways that magazine brands connect with consumers, MPA will premiere a new series of videos at AMC called 'Magazine Media Minutes'. Produced by the editors of various magazine titles, these mini-documentaries spotlight how innovative magazine titles are creating content and brand experiences across a variety of media platforms.

Participating magazines include Food & Wine, Glamour, GQ, Men's Health, More, Natural Home, People, Popular Mechanics, Real Simple, Runner's World and Yoga Journal.

At AMC, MPA will also announce a clear, focused leadership agenda that will concentrate the organization's efforts and resources in four core areas: convening industry leaders to advance common interests; advocating on behalf of the industry with state and federal policymakers; promoting the value and vitality of magazine media to critical constituencies including advertisers, consumers, the financial community and the press; and driving innovation, thought leadership and best practices in magazine media.

"In defining our business as magazine media we are explicitly focusing MPA's leadership agenda on promoting magazine brands and their unique relationships with consumers across all platforms," said John Q. Griffin, outgoing MPA Chair and President of National Geographic Publishing Group.

MPA – The Association of Magazine Media is the industry association for multi-platform magazine companies. Established in 1919, MPA represents approximately 225 domestic magazine media companies with more than 1,000 titles, nearly 50 international companies and more than 100 associate members. Staffed by magazine industry specialists, MPA is headquartered in New York City, with a government affairs office in Washington, DC.

 

[tigerrouge]

Someone gets good news (adage.com

People StyleWatch Is Ad Age's Magazine of the Year

Shopping Title's Sharp Editing Brings Web Sensibility to Print

Lots of fashion magazines cover high and low, but few are as relentlessly real about fashion as the sunny People StyleWatch, a magazine that makes cover stars out of boots, tops, bracelets and bags under $100. And none are adding readers and advertisers as rapidly.

Look at its newsstand sales, where many advertisers gauge a title's vitality. It increased 15% in the first half of this year, compared with the first half of last year, according to its report with the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Single-copy sales across the magazines reporting to the bureau fell 5.6% by comparison.

Subscriptions are flying as well, surging 36.1% in the first half. Total paid circulation climbed 17.7% to 882,683, giving its advertisers a big overdelivery on the guaranteed 725,000. The magazine, which has increased its circulation guarantee every year since 2006, is planning another bump for February 2011, when its rate base will go to 775,000. Oh yeah, and an 11th issue is joining the schedule in July.

Advertisers are coming along almost as quickly as readers. As a young magazine that hadn't yet reached cruising altitude, People StyleWatch was able to keep climbing even in the brutal business climate of 2009. Magazines as a whole lost more than a quarter of their ad pages last year, but People StyleWatch added 24.4%, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

There's either something special going on here or it's still a young brand climbing toward arguably high potential.

"There was always some fashion in there, but we're becoming more and more core," said Karin Tracy, the publisher since February, when founding publisher Michelle Myers defected to Lucky, the original shopping title from Condé Nast. "There was some education that had to be done there because we look different from a traditional fashion magazine. But that's what works."

Under a deal with JCPenney that brought the magazine increased ad pages, People StyleWatch's 'Must-Haves' editorial feature is appearing now in 1,100 JCPenney stores around the country. Starting next February, shoppers at the stores will get special subscription offers, too, to the magazine and its siblings at Time Inc. "They are a very talented and creative team who give instant credibility to our style authority," said Myron Ullman, chairman-CEO of JCPenney.

Much of the advertising growth this year has come from fashion and retail marketers, with new buys from brands including Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Levi's, DKNY, Lord & Taylor, Piperlime and Express.

"They've all realized that times have changed, and in order to get this consumer you have to think differently," Ms. Tracy said. "And I think a lot of it also came from them getting comfortable with the web. We are almost a print vehicle that takes the best practices from the web."

That means the magazine has a singular function and a tight focus, much like a website that appeals because it gets something done. Susan Kaufman, the editor since its official 10-times-a-year launch in 2006, keeps her treatments of boots and bags fast and succinct. And she keeps a very close eye on reader reactions.

At first the magazine was doing shoots with celebrities like Rachel McAdams and Jessica Alba. "I came from Glamour and Mademoiselle, pretty traditional fashion magazines," Ms. Kaufman recalled. "In fashion magazines you do shoots.

"Over time when we were getting back the reader reports, it was becoming very clear that those were the lowest-rated pages in the magazine," she said. "After about four or five issues, I said to myself, 'Why are we doing this? They don't even like it. Why not use paparazzi photos of celebrities in real clothes, not the clothes we put them in?' There's no payback to the reader, so we don't need to be traditional, we don't need to be like other magazines."

She once explored slightly longer packages -- "if you can call a page-and-a-half of trying out a stiletto a 'longer article," Ms. Kaufman said -- but reversed course when readers started skimming. "Even that was too much for the reader," she said. "They really want that quick snap."

It may attract consumers like a website, but People StyleWatch holds them like a magazine. Readers spend an average of 109 minutes with an issue, according to the title's internal research. And while they enjoy the celebrity photos, the magazine's real benefit is that it's actionable.

"As editors we are curating and editing a lot of fashion noise ... narrowing down to the things you need to know, the best things you need to buy at the best price points," Ms. Kaufman said. "We're sort of doing the best of the web and the best of magazines, and that's probably another reason it has resonated with readers."

It's not obvious to readers, or probably much of the industry, how much editorial work goes into executing on the mission, looking for ways People StyleWatch can evolve, exercising discipline when an experiment proves to be a digression, and getting questions of taste and style right issue after issue. This is not a magazine that's getting nominations for National Magazine Awards. But all those elements are required and supplied in good measure by Ms. Kaufman and her staff.

And there are tricks to getting a shopping magazine right -- as former shopping magazines from Cargo to Vitals to Shop Etc. could attest from their graves. Respect is key. "If we're doing an 'Under $100' story, we're not going to show a T-shirt for $99," Ms. Kaufman said. "That's insulting to readers."

She added: "I ask around the office, ask the assistants, because I want the reality, when a lot of fashion magazines are pretty insulated."

For its obvious and still-growing pull on readers and advertisers, not to mention how easy Ms. Kaufman makes it all look on the page, People StyleWatch is the Advertising Age Magazine of the Year, and Ms. Kaufman is our Editor of the Year.

 

[loladonna]

^I love People Stylewatch. They remove all the pretentiousness of Lucky and just focus on clothes and accessories.