Thursday 4 December 2008

Monocle Pop-up



I love the fact Monocle, one of my favourite magazines, has created a pop-up shop on Marylebone High Street. It sells very Monocole products, think John Smedley knitwear, Scandinavian designer furniture and exclusive limited edition pieces you can't buy anywhere else in the world, such as a bespoke Comme Des Garcons fragrance.

It got me thinking why more magazines don't do this (Pop did it well at Selfridges and Dover Street market) and think more in terms of their publication as a brand and part of multiple revenue streams; the print mag itself might not even turn a profit as we're increasingly seeing. And I don't mean stuff like the awful Elle clothing line (how un-Elle can you get? It's so 1990s Kookai).

I write this as an ex member of staff of the Face magazine, one of the most powerful magazine brands in the world (and still is posthumously). I remember when the Face was closing down and we were thinking of ways to save it which included starting Face exhibitions and club nights. Vice magazine does this sort of thing really well now. I love the Vice Guide to Travel especially.

I also say it as I harbour ambitions to launch my own multimedia teen brand someday.