FIPP member profile: Condé Nast
CONDÉ NAST TIMELINE 1913 Vanity Fair US launched 1915 House & Garden acquired 1916 British Vogue launched 1920 Vogue Paris launched 1959 Vogue Australia launched 1959 Brides acquired 1965 Vogue Italy launched
1975 Vogue Brazil and Casa Vogue launched
1979 Vogue Germany launched 1979 GQ acquired 1985 The New Yorker acquired 1988 Vogue Spain launched 1993 Architectural Digest acquired 1995
Vogue.co.uk is launched. 1996 Vogue Korea launched 1997 Condé Nast India established 1998 Wired acquired
Germany, and the UK are all recovering, China should show strong growth. Russia is stable, while Italy has not completed its recovery. South America, particularly Mexico, is also strong, and Japan has made a dramatic comeback. All the editions of Vogue came together in 2011 to co-host Fashion’s Night Out in Tokyo, eight months after the tsunami in Japan. The fashion business there recovered, and has never looked back, and a very good year ahead is expected.
Digital is a core business alongside print at Condé Nast, and both are completely integrated. Although digital is no longer seen as a separate business, how is it performing? I don’t think today we could produce a print product without digital, or vice versa. In a sense, they are indivisible parts of the same business. Mobile has the greatest growth potential for Condé Nast International, and digitised copies served on tablet devices and smartphones are an increasingly important route for circulation and distribution. In markets where circulation is audited, as much as 20 per cent of total circulation is coming via digital, with, for example, over 10 per cent of British GQ readers accessing their monthly issues digitally. Not surprisingly, the percentages for Wired are even higher. The growth of digitised copy sales is a fundamental driver for our business. We no longer produce separate financials for print and digital, but if we did, print revenue is growing five per cent a year on average, while digital is growing at an average of 25 per cent.”
How is the advertising market faring? Very good, with variations depending on sector or country. We are getting very strong advertising support from our traditional luxury, fashion and beauty advertisers, as well as the automotive and technologies sector, while digital is attracting
new lines of business we did not always reach in the past.
What are your best performing brands – and are they likely to remain so? Vogue is the flagship, and is the largest brand in revenue and profit. It is very stable in the older markets while growing in new markets, and it is very influential. GQ is also very stable, while Vanity Fair is a growing brand. It recently launched in France (with the July 2013 issue) while the weekly edition of Vanity Fair in Italy has the highest number of ad pages annually of any of the Condé Nast International magazines, with more than 5,000 pages. Glamour, it has to be said, is under pressure in some markets in terms of circulation, although this is true of its competitors too. It remains very stable in Germany, where it is number one in its sector, as it is in the UK. The dynamic of brands is that the strong
brands which deliver on their promise flourish, growing even stronger. The Condé Nast brands are each powerful and dominant in their sectors.
Where do you see the company in five years? I’m not going to say as others might that we will be completely digital, and print won’t be
Wired’s tablet edition was one of the first to hit digital newsstands and continues to innovate, with an example being a recent ‘selfie’ cover (left)
important. At least not for our brands. We will be delivering our products on an increasingly wide range of devices and the experience for many of our readers will be consistent throughout. Print is not going away and remains important for our readers. When I meet with business owners like Bernard Arnault and François- Henri Pinault, what they want to talk about is print. So I believe print will remain relevant. I also believe we’ll have a presence in businesses in which we are not yet deeply involved – for example video, to which we have a big commitment. As video has moved beyond broadcast to online, via social media and mobile platforms, there are new opportunities for our brands. Condé Nast International will continue to move
into new geographic markets. We may have a greater presence in Africa. We already publish in South Africa, and, possibly, we may expand on the continent in the years to come. Growth can be expected in Asia and in the Middle East, too.
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The concept for Condé Nast International Restaurants began several years ago in Russia, and Vogue cafes are now present in other locations, including Dubai
fipp.com
1998 Glamour Mexico launched 1998 Vogue Russia launched 1999 Vogue Japan launched 2001 British Glamour launched 2002 Vogue Café Moscow opens 2005 Vogue China launched 2007 Vogue India launched 2009 Love launched 2009 Tatler Russia launched
2010 Condé Nast International Restaurant division formed
2012 Allure Russia launched 2013 Vogue Thailand launched
2013 Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design opens in London
2013 Vanity Fair France launched
2013 Condé Nast Traveller Middle East launched
2013 Vogue Café Kiev opens
We already publish in South Africa, and we may expand on the continent in years to come...
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