Condé Nast to launch new business media title Vogue Business

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 28, 2019

Condé Nast may be shuttering print issues of magazines in the USA and putting others on the block, but over in Europe, the glossy publisher is about to launch a new title.

Named Vogue Business, it will be a website and newsletter designed to be a fresh business media title “offering a truly global perspective on the fashion, beauty and luxury industries.”
 
The new site is due to launch on Tuesday, 29, under Chief Editor Lauren Indvik; a relatively unknown fashion editor, who cut her teeth first at Fashionista.com, rising to become that site’s editor-in-chief. For the past two years, Indvik has been head of news and features at  Vogue International.

The news comes after several dramatic months at Condé Nast, which has seen the ousting of CEO Bob Sauerberg; dramatic staff reductions; and the number of floors it operates at One World Trade Center brutally shaved from 23 to 17.
 
Vogue Business will be based in London, and designed to tap “into insights from 29 markets, from China to the United States,” said Condé Nast International  – the publisher’s arm outside the United States - in a release. Adding that it would exploit the group’s “unrivalled global network of brands – Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Wired – fashion and luxury experts, industry leaders and business partners”.
 
The publisher was careful to stress that Vogue Business will be “operated as a wholly separate entity with an independent editorial team, developed with its own distinctive voice.” Other than that, Condé Nast was light on precise information on the new title.
 
“Rooted in facts and data, Vogue Business fills the gap in the market for industry decision-makers, from startups to CEOs,” insisted Condé Nast in its release. This will come as a surprise to readers of FashionNetwork.com, Business of Fashion and Women’s Wear Daily, previously the historic bible of the fashion industry. Doubly so, as Condé Nast once owned WWD, only selling it to Penske Media  in 2014.
 
The Vogue Business website goes live at 12.01 GMT on Tuesday, Jan. 28. It will also send out a free newsletter, twice a week initially, though increasing the frequency over time.  There are no plans to launch a physical printed version, according to a spokeswoman. Though Condé Nast does plan to roll out Vogue Business in different languages. The new title will be based in CNI’s London offices, with an initial staff of 21, six of them editors.

The spokeswoman declined to predict any readership target and the corporate release emphasized that the project would be “prioritizing high engagement with a select audience over total reach.”
 
Unlike its famed printed titles like Vogue or GQ, which frequently derived some 80% of their revenues from consumer advertising by fashion and luxury brands, Vogue Business appears to want to target what it terms “associated services,” like research, trend analysis and consultancy as key parts of its overall offering; using constant experimentation with beta users in 29 markets to refine its product.
 
“No-one else in the world employs more fashion journalists in more places than we do. Our global network of journalists, digital editors and researchers are immersed in the relevant trends on all inhabited continents, giving the team of Vogue Business access to an unparalleled depth of knowledge, from local design trends to changes in manufacturing, training, technology and distribution,” said Wolfgang Blau, president of Condé Nast International.
 
Added editor Indvik: "Our journalism is designed for maximum impact and accessibility, making it easy to understand key ideas at a glance, and to enable fashion leaders to make the decisions that will grow and future-proof their businesses and careers.”

CNI is headquartered in London, and operates in China, Japan, Taiwan, India, Russia, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the UK and Mexico. In addition to publishing 30 brands, it runs a licensing and restaurant division with local partners in 17 markets, the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference and several ventures in education.