09/01/2010 01:30FT.com / Style - The boom in branded magazines

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The boom in branded magazinesBy Lucie GreenePublished: January 8 2010 23:11 | Last updated: January 8 2010 23:11

Yves Saint Laurent’s Manifesto and the Acne Paper

These are tough times for fashion bibles. Magazines once the size of phone books are nowpamphlet-thin as advertising recedes and consumers decamp to the blogosphere. But there isone glossy publishing sector that is blossoming – branded magazines.

Increasingly, luxury brands are introducing innovative editorial-style brochures and “look books”for their clients. Last month Karl Lagerfeld teamed with Purple Fashion Magazine editor OlivierZahm to create 31 Rue Cambon, a luscious magazine-style catalogue available to all newcustomers throughout Chanel stores globally. Denim brand Acne’s bi-annual magazine,launched in 2005, includes work by Mario Testino, David Bailey and Tilda Swinton. Yves SaintLaurent continues to publish its “manifesto”– large format “look books” distributed in majorcities – and both Cartier and Hermès produce luxurious titles.

Retailers, too, are upping the ante with lifestyle magazines, blogs and e-magazines featuringproducts alongside entertainment and celebrity features.

In December the US retailer Forever 21 launched a new print and online magazine distributedacross all its stores in the US, Korea and Japan; and Barney’s has unveiled its own e-zinecomplete with video excerpts from creative director Simon Doonan dressed as a bright green“cranky elf”. This spring Selfridges department store is launching an online editorial platform topartner its web retail. These join a gaggle of others, including Net-a-Porter.com andAsos.com’s highly successful own-brand magazines, which combine product publicity withfashion “editorial”.

According to the UK research body Mintel, this type of “customer publishing” is booming. Itestimates that the industry in the UK alone is likely to be worth £1bn by 2013. Between 2008and 2009 it grew 16 per cent, and by 2013 it is projected to increase by a further 22 per cent –no mean feat when the rest of the glossy magazine world is in the doldrums.

What attracts companies is the direct impact on consumers. “Our research has shown thatthese magazines create an eight per cent uptick in sales,” says Julia Hutchison, chief operatingofficer of the Association of Publishing Agencies, the representative for the customer publishingindustry in the UK. “On average, every customer spends 25 minutes reading these titles. That’s25 minutes spent with the brand. Lots of companies are redirecting their ad and marketingspends to this avenue.”

Which raises the question: could this be the future of fashion publishing? And, by extension,the death of independent editorial? “Very few magazines are totally independent now, andthere’s no going back from that,” says Ilaria Alber-Glanstaetten, CEO of Provenance, a luxurybranding consultancy owned by M&C Saatchi. “For magazines that are, it’s a unique sellingpoint, but they’re going to have to fight for their place on the landscape.”

Alison Loehnis, VP, Sales & Marketing at Net-a-Porter, says, “It’s about instant gratification –bridging the gap between seeing something in a magazine and actually buying it.”

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09/01/2010 01:30FT.com / Style - The boom in branded magazines

Page 2 of 2http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/82754772-fbe0-11de-9c29-00144feab49a.html

Whereas in-house magazines used to be glorified advertorials, today the branding is muchmore subtle and there’s a genuine effort to tap top editorial talents and introduce originalmaterial; Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, photographic stalwarts of the fashionpublications Vogue and Visionaire, shot the latest YSL manifesto.

The investment makes sense: it gives depth to a brand in an environment they can control. Itpushes product without the obvious “sell”, and in many instances may be cheaper thanadvertising.

Asos’ title, for instance, which is known for its mix of celebrity, shopping and entertainment, isnow the second largest women’s fashion title in the UK with an annual circulation of 471,522.

Terri Westlake, head of media at Asos.com, says, “Customers are savvy; they understand thatit’s a brand title (and not independent), but they still appreciate a very good free magazine.”

Graham Hales, managing director at branding consultancy Interbrand, agrees, “Customershave bought into the brands anyway, so they’ll buy into the magazines. Look at Apple: if theyproduced a technology magazine, there’d be a huge audience because people respect it.”

But can consumers tell the difference between customer and independent publications? “I flickthrough [brand magazines] but am always very aware,” says London-based consultant SophieHughes, a regular customer with Asos.com and Net-a-Porter. “They’re exactly what they sayon the tin. I think they’re clever, but they’re still a poor man’s Grazia or weekend newspapersupplement. They’re quite repetitive. Personally, I still prefer regular magazines. I knowadvertisers play a part in these too, but at least editors are taking a journalistic eye to whichscarf is nicest, which face cream is best.”

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