Glamour drops print frequency from monthly to biannual in beauty-led, digital strategy
Condé Nast glossy Glamour has announced it will cut its print frequency from monthly to just twice a year, as part of its implementation of a rebooted ‘mobile-first, social-first’ strategy aimed at cornering those with a passion for beauty.
Glamour is now set to be published just twice a year
The brand wants to become the go-to online beauty destination for UK customers and advertisers alike. The magazine and website currently propagates a mix of celebrity gossip, fashion trends and lifestyle editorial, as well as beauty coverage.
The title noted the latter has been a ‘leading traffic generator’ for its website, and also cited the success of its Beauty Club sample subscription service and Beauty Festival event as the reasons behind the narrower and deeper focus. It will continue to cover celebrity and fashion editorial, yet ‘through the lens of a beauty-lover’.
It hasn’t been an easy few years for Glamour: the title’s 26% drop in circulation was cited as a major factor in Condé Nast suffering its biggest audience decline in the ABC six month figures ending December 2016. It was put through its last print redesign less than a year ago to create a 'luxurious and indulgent' reader experience.
While Glamour will, like the majority of its competitors, now implement a logical mobile-first, social-first strategy, the brand noted print is still in demand from its audience. It will now publish two issues a year focusing on beauty and style for the upcoming season.
Albert Read, managing director of Condé Nast Britain, said: “Today’s Glamour consumer moves to a different rhythm than the one who bought the magazine when it launched in 2001. It is a faster, more focused, multi-platform relationship.
“The quality of ideas, vision and execution remain central, but the way in which it is delivered must change fundamentally with Glamour’s new mix of digital, social, video, live and print, and its focus on beauty. We have the brand, the creativity and the access – an enormous competitive edge in the market - and we are rendering it in new ways around beauty to reflect the Glamour woman of today, and of tomorrow."
Condé Nast Britain chief digital officer Simon Gresham Jones will be leading the transformation. The last monthly magazine will be published in December before the relaunch in early 2018, however changes to the website are expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Glamour is the latest in a long line of women’s glossies reinventing themselves for a modern woman, both in terms of editorial and production strategy. After several rebrand attempts, Company magazine went online-only in 2014, only to close up shop completely soon after, while stalwarts Vogue and Cosmopolitan are both currently seeking out new, younger audiences on Snapchat.