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I’ve noticed two stories from this week about magazines (specifically Conde Nast) extending their brands beyond publishing toward other lifestyle pursuits. The first, “Magazines Begin To Sell the Fashion They Review” in the Sunday Styles section of the NYT consolidates a trend that’s been in the pipeline for a while: buying the clothes in magazines right on their sites (leaving Vogue or Elle with a small commission) or through co-branded efforts with dedicated e-commerce.
“On Park & Bond, a new e-commerce site for designer men’s wear, Jim Moore, the creative director for GQ, can be found describing a red Calvin Klein turtleneck as “something that can take that gray flannel suit and give it a little bon vivant.” The sweater, which costs $225, is tagged as a GQ Pick, inside the GQ Store.”
It’s official: fashion media has reached mass advertorialization. Consumers are buying where they read, and a new kind of seamlessness in is in the works, a trend we sometimes call “Instapurchasing,” in which integrated buy-it-now options speed up consumer spending. This is not cynicism: there’s a good reason to believe that consumers can benefit. Good content and good products, especially in fields like fashion and hospitality, do not suffer in close proximity to one another. The magazine-as-retailer is only a logical inversion of the concept boutique.
The day after the New York Times piece, WWD announced that Conde Nast International has licensed a new set of bars and restaurants with its magazines’ names:
“CONDE NAST SETS MORE RESTAURANTS: The publisher said it will open a Vogue Café in Kiev and a GQ Bar in Istanbul in 2012. The new establishments are in addition to Condé Nast International’s existing restaurants in Moscow, which number a Vogue Café, a GQ Bar and a Tatler Club. The Vogue Café in Kiev will open in partnership with the Otrada Luxury Group, which owns businesses including the Buddha Bar in Kiev, while the GQ Bar in Istanbul will open in partnership with the Dogus Group, which has interests in hospitality, banking, media and retailing.”
Nate Freeman, at the New York Observer, offered some playful suggestions for how Conde Nast might extend the franchise:
“The Teen Vogue Totally Virgin Margarita Bar! ( King of Prussia Mall, Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania): When you’re 15, running around the mall shopping all day can get exhausting. Why not sit down and have a refreshing summery beverage? Everyone loves margaritas — but don’t worry, mom and dad, Conde Nast will make sure these drinks are completely booze-free. Located in the biggest mall in the east coast, The Teen Vogue Totally Virgin Margarita Bar! will sling a warm weather favorite to girls who want to relax, open up a magazine and discover new ways to trick boys with their wiles. Nail polish not included.”
Partnering with companies like “the Dogus Group, which has interests in hospitality, banking, media and retailing” presents interesting possibilities for how publishing might reinvent itself in an age of media turmoil. Commercial interests in publishing continue to be tricky double-edged lifelines (the “Crunchgate” TechCrunch/VC money scandal is only one recent example). It might be smart to redefine “conflict of interest” as “seamless lifestyle experience”: what happens when the GQ online store interfaces with the GQ lounge?
Current realities like Amazon one-click-purchasing and wired NYC subway stations mean you can go to a store, try on a pair of jeans, take them off, leave the store, and purchase them on your phone while sitting on the subway platform. As new applications like Google Wallet and Net-a-Porter’s Window Shop gain momentum, retail will need to focus less on the moment of purchase (since it might happen anywhere) and more on brand experience as a flow. Let’s call it ambient retail.
In 100 years, will Conde Nast be like the Ace hotel (or Trump), holding down united hospitality and retail properties all over the world? Could it become a luxury behemoth like LVMH? Or the Shinsegae group, which runs “chic outlet shopping” such as Woodbury Commons? What about something like the coming Meadowlands megamall-slash-waterpark development?
Here’s a proposition to save both publishing and the suffering city of Las Vegas: Vogue should become a casino, offering nightlife, lodging, shopping, and gaming under a single roof. One day people will be shocked to hear it was ever just a magazine.
(Emily Segal)
Photo courtesy of letitflow.com