International lifestyle magazine publisher Condé Nast has confirmed it’s entry into the Hong Kong market.
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It will launch a local edition of fashion bible Vogue, which is set to debut in spring 2019.
Vogue Hong Kong will be the 26th edition of the glossy publication and will be published under a licensing agreement with Rubicon Media.
Desiree Au has been appointed publisher of Vogue Hong Kong, whose fashion and lifestyle content will be distributed in print, online and on social media.
The print edition of the magazine will be published in traditional Chinese, while its website will be bilingual (Chinese and English).
This is not Condé Nast International’s first foray into Southeast Asia.
In 2013 the company launched Vogue Thailand in partnership with Serendipity Media and, unbeknown to many, also started a Singapore edition of Vogue in 1994 before shutting down the title in January 1997.
Hong Kong is a relatively mature market, especially when it comes to women’s fashion publishing.
Just this year, Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong celebrated its 30th anniversary (Elle Hong Kong reached that milestone in 2017 and Cosmopolitan Hong Kong in 2014), while Marie Claire has been around since 1990.
This makes Vogue a latecomer to the city’s fashion and lifestyle publishing industry, but Markus Grindel, managing director of brand licensing at Condé Nast International in London, says that Hong Kong is big enough to sustain its own edition of Vogue, not only because of the size of its advertising and luxury business but most importantly because it has a highly educated demographic interested in reading a magazine such as Vogue.
“Hong Kong has a very rich culture, and with Art Basel and a long history in fashion, it combines to create a very sophisticated reader,” he says. “That for us is the measurement that says that a market is ready for us.”
In the past three years, Condé Nast International has entered emerging markets such as the Middle East, where it launched Vogue Arabia in 2016, and Eastern Europe, where it debuted Vogue Poland and Vogue Czech Republic and Slovakia earlier this year, all under licence.
While Condé Nast International is ramping up its expansion plans around the world, Condé Nast in the United States has been grappling with significant challenges in recent years, shuttering print titles such as Gourmet in 2009 and, early this year, Teen Vogue (Teen Vogue still exists online); making repeated rounds of lay-offs; putting magazines such as W and Brides up for sale; and reducing the frequency of key publications such as GQ, Architectural Digest and Condé Nast Traveler. The latter will merge next year with Condé Nast Traveller, the UK version.
This last development is the beginning of a global consolidation plan for the company, which until now has operated as two separate entities, one based in New York and the other in London, operating all the international titles.
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Grindel says that there’s bound to be some sharing of content between Vogue Hong Kong and its sister editions around the world, such as Vogue China, but he also emphasises the individual nature of each edition of Vogue.
As for whether Condé Nast will expand further in the region – Singapore is said to be in the publisher’s sights – Grindel says the company likes to take a wait-and-see approach to new launches, especially when it comes to Vogue, its flagship title.
Neither Condé Nast nor Au was able to elaborate on editorial appointments, which suggests that key positions have yet to be filled. While Au is said to have approached candidates from international publications in countries such as China, one name that has been bandied about for the coveted role of editor in chief is that of veteran journalist Peter Wong, formerly of Hong Kong Economic Journal and most recently the founder and editor of Magazine P.
Meanwhile, Condé Nast has been acting to stay up to date with the growing roel taken by social media influencers.
Condé Nast Italia has debuted the Social Talent Agency, a new agency focused on developing influencers.
To start, the agency has enlisted 27 Italian and international influencers who span fashion, modeling, beauty, sport, travel and automotive.
Some members previously participated in the Condé Nast Social Academy, a partnership between L’Oreal Italia’s luxury division and supported by Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management.
Riccardo Pozzoli, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of TheBlondeSalad, is a Condé Nast Social Academy coach and will serve as the creative director of the newly formed agency.
(Source: South China Morning Post)