No Romance, Just a bad break up…
Posted on | October 6, 2009 | 14 Comments
Seemingly, it would be impossible and almost absurd to be writing a blog of this kind and ignore yesterday’s news; the closing of Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, Gourmet and Cookie. And yet, perusing the web I find a plethora of business and news entries and, forgive me if I’ve missed it, not one scintilla of analysis from anyone in the wedding business. Could it be that this lack of introspection is a piece of what’s wrong?
The editors of Modern Bride, most recently the innovative and sharp-as-a-tack Antonia Van der Meer, have been wonderful, supportive and close personal friends. For several years before Modern Bride was under the same rule as Brides, starting under the brilliant Stacey Morrison (now the editor in chief of Redbook) and continuing under Tony’s rule, I wrote a column for the magazine for which I was, and am, extremely grateful. I know each and every top editor and writer at Modern Bride and many at Elegant Bride, and have enormous professional regard for almost all of them, most of whom are major league talents.
So, how is this possible, and does that mean that out of deference we shouldn’t be analyzing what in the world happened? Well, I don’t think so…
To begin, the internal memo send to staffers from the CEO of Conde Nast, Chuck Townsend was ice cold:
“As a result of our review, Brides will increase its frequency to monthly to solidify its position as the most important brand in the bridal category, and Modern Bride and Elegant Bride will close…………
The editorial and business staffs of Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Gourmet, and Cookie all have earned their magazines large and devoted followings. We have been proud to publish these titles, and we are grateful to the staffs for their hard work and dedication.” Whew…
The fact is that the company decided it was not going to continue to fund publications that don’t make money- clear and simple.
Take a look at the last issues of Elegant Bride and Modern Bride- and now take a look at Brides, is there a mystery here? I can only tell you this: Brides pages are chock-a-block with information- Maria McBride’s (and yes, she’s one of my best friends) 32-page Floral Workshop 2009 is Outrageously Gorgeous AND filled with useful info and tools- there was clearly an investment of money and resources to produce it. In the painfully thin Modern Bride, the home piece by Linda Seidman and Linda Hirst (again- REALLY talented women who have turned out sparkling and stylish reception pieces for years) looks like it was culled from the outtakes of a Pottery Barn catalog.
Was too much money spent, as some insiders have suggested, on Trendsetters Awards or making stars of us “vendors” and not enough on getting under the skin of the brides? Was the staff just spread much too thin in this bare bones economy for them to be able to produce to their capabilities? Is it, as the New York Times suggested today about Gourmet, a commentary on the changing tastes and clout of the middle class?
A look at Elegant Bride is also enlightening. I have loved the fashion layouts under all the various incarnations that that poor magazine has gone through. But, a current FALL issue with a pink and fuschia cover? Or last issue’s Safari Theme wedding inspiration board? Or a precious FULL page on that “fabulous new idea” of custom wax seals on the back of envelopes with this in the copy: “You can pay a little extra to assure they do not go through automated machines at the post office, which would damage the seal.” Okay, remind me of that next time three of my staff and myself are in the post office begging some clerk to allow us to pay dearly for hand canceling.
So, where does this leave us?
I am neither Malcolm Gladwell nor Margaret Mead, nor am I pompous enough to give you an all encompassing treatise on the demise of the magazine industry. I can only tell you what I see in my own little corner of all this:
The editor-in-chief of Brides, Millie Martini Bratten, is very, very smart, very decent, and has assembled a great and loyal team. She has her work cut out for her, that is for sure. The powers that be have made it clear to all remaining that The Knot is the target, and, let’s not forget about all the other players in this market: Bridal Guide, InStyle Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings and the still very pretty, but also scarily skinny, Town & Country Weddings, plus the gazillions of others?
It’s going to be interesting for sure, and things are going to change, and putting our blushers down is not going to make it go away…
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14 Responses to “No Romance, Just a bad break up…”
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October 6th, 2009 @ 8:25 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by polkadotbride and weddingish. weddingish said: RT@polkadotbride Great post by @marcyblum on the closure of Elegant Bride & Modern Bride http://bit.ly/1u5tO1 [...]
October 6th, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
Thanks for sharing, Marcy. In light of the tragedy, it’s nice to get a somewhat-”insider’s view.”
October 6th, 2009 @ 8:37 pm
As far as Conde Nast investing more in the online resources is concerned, I’m not on board with the idea that the Knot is who they should be competing with in the digital space and I hope they reevaluate that strategy. The Knot has lost many advertisers over the past two years specifically to smaller and lower-trafficked sites (Weddingbee, Style Me Pretty, Snippet and Ink, etc) who can and do turn on a dime and who have leveraged social media to conduct relevant conversations. I have HUGE respect for the Knot and the people behind it, but they too need to innovate, and fast, as the web rapidly changes. Quick example: their recent “Twitterview” with a jewelry company didn’t even make use of a hashtag, which meant that entire promo couldn’t be accessed later in a search or read by people who may have missed it or even kept up with well by people chiming in and answering questions. Not good for business for either of the companies involved.
October 6th, 2009 @ 9:00 pm
Well said Marcy and the skinny magazines are starting to worry me too!
October 6th, 2009 @ 9:06 pm
Marcy,
Perhaps you missed my post.
http://weddingmarketing.net/blog/2009/10/06/wedding-industry-print-media-decline/
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority
October 6th, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
M – Heartfelt post with so many good points and I know just how difficult it was for you to write. As you well know, I come with a rather unique point-of-view on this ‘hot button’ topic as I have not only been an avid reader of every single issue [for too many years to count], featured in both as a contributor and even having our own wedding covered by Modern Bride and Elegant Bride many moons ago…but perhaps most importantly, I have been a CLIENT of all of these publications for 20+ years – advising, placing and buying media with all of the titles from 1991 through today on behalf of some of the largest advertisers in the entire industry. If you think about it, ultimately what Conde Nast did was obliterate 2 of their major competitors. BRIDES will now stand alone as the category leader in PRINT certainly in number of pages and also in longevity, tradition and history. Web, well that is a far different story and in my opinion always will be.
I remember the day when the big *shocker* was that Conde Nast had bought Modern Bride and then later Elegant Bride. Those were major industry paradigm shifts as well. And really, it was the beginning of the end. I cannot even tell you how many incarnations of publishers and sales reps have paraded through town presenting a new set of business cards with a new name for the division and a new story on how they were positioning the ‘group’ – sometimes selling all 3 pubs then months later doing a complete 180 and selling against each other-even though they were all working for the same company…my head would spin with keeping them all straight and it actually became a joke. That’s right, I said a joke. Their arrogance in the way that they have sold advertising is old school and it killed them. I do not believe it was the editorial at all – I think it was their inability to grasp [and complete ignorance] of the seismic shifts in the rest of the industry thinking that they were so powerful, so big, that no one could touch them. That advertisers NEEDED them. That they were more important than all of the rest of the 183 competitors in print [not to mention the websites and the blogs!] and that we as advertisers did not know what was going on. Well guess what. We did and they lost. Big time.
They completely missed [by years] the wave of the internet allowing The Knot to create such a head start that their first mover advantage, in my opinion, can and will never be caught up to. They did not ‘get it’ when they really needed to get it as the bridal industry category leader.
I do not blame our wonderful friends and colleagues on the editorial side for one second – I adore them and am beyond grateful to them all for their amazing and incredible support of me personally and professionally over these many years. But I do squarely blame the publishing side for too much separation of church and state, for refusing to understand their client and the shifting needs of the client and the challenging marketplace that we are all facing. Summed up in one word: ARROGANCE.
A sobering lesson to all of in this industry in a world that is changing by the minute. It will no longer work to ’sell’ or market the way you always have – particularly if you are the oldest, the most respected, the biggest player in your market. You are a sitting duck and there are plenty of smart, brilliant, nimble and hungry competitors just waiting to move in for the kill – and offer today’s consumer [or client] what they really want.
“Change or you WILL be changed.”
A sad, sad day for sure but one that we can all learn a big lesson from if we want to stay in the game.
October 6th, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Hi Marcy,
Its always more troubling when you know the people involved. The loyalties and effort that went into producing these former magazines run deep. But the operative word in this case seems to be “consolidation.”
I just shot a wedding for a bride who was a sales/project manager at Domino magazine when they shut the publication down this year. My wife and other women I know were floored! They LOVED this publication and there was deep loyalty to it.
But as my bride said to me, it just wasn’t sustainable anymore. And it wasn’t coming back.
Its no surprise that companies are trimming off the fat or closing down. People are not spending money like they used to and that behavior is not going to change anytime soon. Its only a matter of time that businesses simply run out of cash and have to close it down. It will continue to happen in every industry.
And I think businesses are reassessing their marketing dollars and platform. Seth Godin had it right. Your greatest asset right now is your ability to create your own platform. Not just throwing money at someone else who has an existing readership. Whether that be print or online.
If people are smart they will start creating their own audience through social networking/web marketing and reach people directly.
I personally think, as a photographer, spending money on print advertisement is a waste and low ROI. Submitting pictures for editorials and features is the way to go. Its a win-win.
Let the venues and jewelers pay for advertisement. You won’t have a magazine without professional images. But that is another conversation
http://www.ericgraf.com
Eric Graf
Louisville, KY
October 6th, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
I have to agree with all of you! This industry is changing as we speak and we always need to stay one step ahead and give our clients and consumers what they are looking for! Sometimes the way we have always done things does not work any more and we must change with the times! It is sad to see the magazines go but maybe other publications will learn from the mistakes of these magazines and they will be even better! Change is always good and change is something we all are having to do! The one thing about this fabulous industry is that it is never a dull moment and it keeps us on our toes…LITERALLY~
October 7th, 2009 @ 10:37 am
Marcy,
Thank you so much for writing this insightful piece. The times they are a changing and as an industry we need to embrace changing consumer tastes to remain relevant.
October 7th, 2009 @ 11:35 am
Thanks for posting your thoughts, Marcy. I agree that it’s extremely important for the industry to examine why this happened and how it embodies the changes, both economic and philosophical, going on in media today.
I had the great pleasure of working with Antonia and the amazing people at Modern Bride and Elegant Bride for five wonderful years. When I started with MB, it was owned by Primedia, under-resourced and ambitiously striving to change the way bridal was perceived. In my beat, the travel section, the writing was outdated and controlled by sales. Editors were asked not to include specific hotels in their stories lest advertisers get upset; every issue contained a Poconos feature, decreed by advertising instead of what readers wanted; and brides’ true needs seemed of secondary importance ‚ it seemed almost like the minute a woman became engaged, she was demoted back to the 1950s. When we asked for the reasoning behind it, the answer was simply, “That’s how things have always been done.”
The brilliant Carley Roney and The Knot changed the game by introducing the Web component and putting the spotlight where it should be — on real life, real brides, real interaction. Similarly, Antonia challenged the sales attitude at MB and put the focus on the bride: what she needed, not which advertiser had the most money to spend. We updated the focus and played with formats, and when Primedia imploded, Condé Nast came to the rescue and bought us, letting go of much of the sales team but keeping the edit team virtually untouched.
Condé Nast was an amazing place to work, but from my viewpoint, the bridal group was always tenuous. Brides and Modern Bride were pitted to compete with, not complement, each other. Elegant Bride was purchased and then redesigned twice, but it never really found its niche despite its talented staff. When the Modern Bride and Elegant Bride websites were consolidated under the brides.com umbrella, it was the first inkling that the writing was on the wall. Still, Monday came as a shock.
I’m heartbroken for the teams at MB and EB, and concerned for the future of programs like the Trendsetter Awards, which do so much to recognize the stellar innovators in our industry. But from a cultural perspective, the move is really interesting. Taking Brides monthly means bridal is no longer relegated to “niche”; it will stand tall next to Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and other women’s mags, as it should. The seasoned, deeply respected Millie Martini-Bratten is an excellent choice to lead that change.
The decision may also be an attempt to compete with blogs, as some have pointed out here. It may have been influenced by the increasing prominence of content-targeted publications like ours (Destination Weddings & Honeymoons), which present a focused segment of information in a print format. But comparing print to Web is apples to oranges. People go to the Web for fast snippets of information and ideas, often while multitasking — at work, while talking on the phone, while watching TV. The term “search engine” accurately reflects the Web user’s goal — they are actively searching for something NOW, and nothing delivers as quickly as the Web.
Print is an entirely different beast philosophically. Magazines force the reader to slow down and focus. People go to the Web out of need; they go to magazines for pleasure, much like sitting down with a trusted friend. To connect with readers in all facets of their lives, magazines have moved far beyond print, becoming brands that radiate from print into Web, TV, events, social media and trending technology such as iPhone apps. That’s what makes this such an exciting time to be in media, despite the current economic issues facing us all.
No matter what the platform, we as an industry share a common goal: to reach and serve our respective audiences, the modern, multifaceted couple of today who wants to mark a huge personal milestone with grace, style and a true reflection of their own personalities. I find that goal exhilarating and inspiring, and I look forward to seeing what develops as our industry plunges headlong into the future, no matter how painful some of the hurdles may be along the way.
October 7th, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
Could it be that many of the modern and elegant brides out there are out of work themselves?
Thank you for such insightful and honest commentary Marcy. What scares me the most is not the shuttering of these fine magazines but that our economic upswing is perhaps farther off than we can even imagine.
October 7th, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
“Eleven Responses”? These comprise a superb forum worthy of a televised debate to enlighten struggling businesses of any service area. Such a preponderance of experience and knowledge. If only our financial leaders had such a grasp on that issue!
October 9th, 2009 @ 11:32 am
Neither magazine have offered anything fresh for a long time. There is a saturation and the magazines’ biggest competitors are not just other magazines but brides themselves who are sharing their personalized ideas online.
December 21st, 2009 @ 6:23 pm
I loved working with those guys, especially Modern Bride, who gave me my first big break. The art directors and editors inspired you to do your best work without telling you how to do it. It all happened so fast, yet in the middle of the chaos of cleaning out her desk and rapping her head around what was happening Amy Jaffe took the time to contact me about the story I’d been working on and get photos to off me. It was so thoughtful and professional, and completely in keeping with all of my experiences with them.