What were your goals when you came to W?

     I had no idea.
     Basically, my goal was to work with Mary. I have known her for 15 years, and I have worked with her for five.
    I was also excited to be working with Patrick McCarthy [Fairchild editorial director] who I think is so talented and has such a respect for the business side, which makes this a great partnership. 
   When I came I had no idea what would be that next step. Obviously to grow the business, but what that means, what makes sense, and what is do-able isn't clear until you get in and start digging.  

How does W differ from Vogue and the other fashion magazines?

    It is so completely different. I have never worked for such a distinct magazine with such a distinct voice, and the reason being is that it marries a fabulous setting and environment with a luxury customer that is unlike any magazine.
    Let me put it in perspective. The new Monroe-Mendelson syndicated research study lists magazines in order of reader affluence. The top magazine is Departures, No. 2 is The Robb Report, No. 3 is The Economist and No. 4 W, and it is followed by The Harvard Business Review. 
    You don't get to another women's magazine till you are in rankings in the 30s or 40s.
    Basically, W is not just a pretty face. We have a very wealthy consumer,  and the other thing that makes it different is that there's a male audience as well that brings it in line with Vanity Fair. We have a male readership that the other fashion and beauty magazines don't have. 
    Finally, it is a more intelligent, higher-end read that is not made for the masses and never will be.

With last year's integration of Fairchild into Advance Publications, how has life for W been different, if at all?

     I don't know, we live in our own world over here. There are over 800 employees at Fairchild, so it's not like we are a little team. We're a big company. The one thing that we do work together very closely on is the Conde Nast Super Buy [an ad sales package that allows an advertiser to buy across  a range of Conde Nast and Fairchild publications]. 
     I think that that has been a tremendous advantage for Fairchild, W and Conde Nast because we have built new Super Buys based on our partnership and ownership.

Just how important has being included in the Conde Nast Super Buy been for W?

    Right now I'm still not completely clear. I haven't really seen results yet. I'll know more probably in a couple months when we close all of our negotiations. 
     Obviously for the endemic business, like the fashion, jewelry and the retail business, we were already very successful in garnering it. 
   It's the non-endemic that for W is the next step. As I mentioned, we have a very affluent reader, so the advertising base of Conde Nast Traveler or Architectural Digest would be a great partnership. That's some of the territory that W hasn't traditionally been out there in. 
     So I think the Super Buy might be able to help us in some of those areas of finance and in travel and the other more non-endemic categories. 
   As for the endemic, we are in pretty good shape because we are getting more than our fair share. So for that I don't think that the Super Buy has a great upside.

W is included on style.com with Vogue. What are the advantages to being on it?  What are the disadvantages? What can or cannot the internet do for fashion magazines?

    I think that it makes sense partnering rather than for us to stand alone, in terms of our content. The advertising shows promising results but nothing compared to our primary business, print advertising sales, which is so lucrative for us. So it's great having experienced people doing what's right for the magazine online so you don't have to take your eye off of the print vehicle.

We've seen Teen Vogue. We're going to see Teen Elle. Are we going to see Teen W? Why or why not would W lend itself to a teen brand extension?

     I can't imagine it and only because I have already done my thing with teens.  At this point, the arena is overly crowded. I'm a little over it. I don't think we have very much potential.   

Why do you think the other titles have decided to branch out like that? What do you think it does or doesn't do for the title?

     I'm not surprised. If you look at their existing readership, it's very young. With a lot of young readers it's completely aspirational. I think that if you already have the brand relationship with the 16-year-olds, why not make something completely for them? 
    But at the same time while I say that it sounds kind of redundant as well. I think you have to be extraordinarily careful.    

What kind of year was 2000 for fashion magazines? What kind of year will 2001 be?

     The year 2000 was  great. Everybody made out well. The overall market was up. Beauty and fashion magazines were up 10 percent to 11 percent, depending on where you look. I think the magazines performed well, and I think that the wealth was shared.
     Obviously, when you come off such a high it will mean a little bit more of a challenge for 2001, but I'm not quite as pessimistic as my competitors. 
    January and February are a little rough, but that is not a big indicator because they are never big months for beauty and fashion. 
   Overall, March looks up and our year looks up. We are pretty much negotiating and giving in our results as we speak for all of our big companies for the year, and it looks strong. We won't see what we saw last year, but I think we will see a decent year. 

What are the major forces at play here?

    I think there was concern over the retail sales, which makes everyone a little anxious. If retail is down then the first thing they do is cut their orders with the manufacturers. The manufacturers for the beauty and fashion books include everyone from Dolce and Gabana to Chanel to Ellen Tracy.
   When their orders are cut, the first thing that they try to do is maximize their business. The smart marketers know to spend more when business isn't great to increase market share, even if overall sales aren't up. 
     So that's what's putting pressure and causing concern.
     The upside for us is that while consumer confidence is down, people are still more wealthy than they were yesterday and five years ago and 10 years ago. 
    Because we are a luxury magazine we are able to balance our advertising base so that it isn't just beauty and fashion but jewelry and watches, which is one of our biggest categories. 
    Again, by going to the non-endemic like finance and travel we are a little bit more protected by the diversity of our ad base.

Are fashion magazine readers brand-loyal or will they pick up whatever they see on the newsstand? How much reader crossover exists?

     Yes, there is a lot of duplication of readership. But W really is a different type of animal. We pull a different type of crowd and have a low duplication even amongst the other fashion and beauty magazines because we reach a different audience. 
   W is pretty consistent with its readership month to month. It is 85 percent subscription, so we aren't so contingent on the newsstand. 
   Essentially, we don't go through the highs and lows every month that the other magazines do. The other fashion magazines, especially the big fashion ones, are very dependent on the high-fashion seasons like spring or August and September. 

Any rate base increases coming up?

    Yes, this January we saw a rate-base increase of 25,000. We are strong on the circulation front, but  W magazine will never be a big magazine because it's a magazine that's not for everybody. 
   We want to grow in the right places at the right time with the right people. I have never worked for a magazine where it's so okay to say, "You know what, we are not for everybody." As a result, the crowd we reach is pretty awesome from an advertiser's standpoint. 

-Niharika Desai is a staff writer for Media Life.

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