Mr. Magazine

“I find words, and I understand why they’re used all of the time, but sometimes I bridle a little bit at words like content or products or platform, they seem a little cold. They seem a little remote and cold-blooded, because I think of The New Yorker as something much more warm-blooded or hot-blooded, which is alive. I don’t think of it as a can of soup or any of the other household products or a status symbol. I think of it as something, and I don’t care if it’s digital or on paper, I think of it as something that can reach your heart and mind in a unique way; in a surprising way. There aren’t too many household items or products that can do that.” David Remnick (on defining content in today’s digital age)…

“But here’s the thing, and this is the important thing; my job and our job in this moment in time is to get all of the technological things right, but never to lose sight of, or the feel for, what The New Yorker is or should be. That if we only concentrate on these questions of technology and business and all the rest, and lose sight of the soul of the place, of the purpose of the place, of the integrity of the place, all knowing that we’re going to make mistakes along the way, that if we lose sight of that then it’s not worth it.” David Remnick…

In this age of propaganda phrases like “fake news,” and “alternative facts,” The New Yorker brings forth a true journalism that many today are turning to for answers. In an article that Forbes.com ran this past February entitled, “10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts,” The New Yorker’s non-fiction content was deservedly touted as: long-form reports on politics, culture, business and other topics (that) often take months to report, write and fact check. The result is deep reporting and analysis each week that is hard to find elsewhere.

For over 92 years, The New Yorker has been providing its readers with excellence in journalism, whether it’s the brand’s commentary, fiction, satire, cartoons, poetry, or long-form stories that always give us food for thought and the information that we need to understand the issue at hand. For 19 years of that almost-century, David Remnick has been the editor and guiding force behind the award-winning publication. And while David himself is very quick to point out that The New Yorker is not, nor ever will be, a one-man show, he has left an indelible mark on the brand with his own strong beliefs in honesty, accuracy, fairness, and total teamwork.

I spoke with David recently and we talked about the status of true journalism in this age of Internet hoaxes, fake news, and alternative facts. It was an enlightening discussion with a man who lives in reality, recognizing that the dark powers of the Internet and the charlatans do exist, but also has the deep-seated integrity of his brand buried deep within his own chest, and believes that true reporting and accurate facts can be presented in both ink on paper and pixels on a screen.
So, I hope that you enjoy this very inspiring and delightful conversation with a man who began his reporting career at the Washington Post and has never forgotten the stalwart rules of good and true journalism, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with David Remnick, editor, The New Yorker.

But first the sound-bites:

On his feelings that today The New Yorker is the place to go for news, politics and humor, almost taking the place of newsweeklies: Well, I’m thrilled to hear it. I don’t think of The New Yorker at all as what we used to refer to as a newsweekly, like the old Time or Newsweek, or anything like that. The only parts of the print magazine that you could probably predict to some extent that we’re going to have something about that is in the cultural pages, in fact; reviews of this movie or that play. Beyond that, it’s open season. There’s a large measure of unpredictability in The New Yorker.

On where he thinks journalism is heading in 2018; is it the best of times, is it the worst of times for the profession: I think Dickens probably had it right. On the one hand, we live in an age in which the president of the United States and other leaders around the world have tried to muddy the waters about the difference between what is real and what is not real. What’s real and what’s fake. This phrase “fake news” is a weapon in the hands of, unfortunately, some very powerful people and their followers. On the other hand, I think a lot of people, many millions of people, reacted to this unfortunate turn by looking to what is best in journalism, what’s true. And that has been true at The New Yorker.

On The New Yorker’s revenues being 50/50 from print and digital: Well, obviously, print advertising everywhere is not a growth industry. And we also live in the reality that Facebook and Google own some enormous percentages of digital advertising as well. That’s just a reality. And we will go on battling for what part of the market we can get. And I think our advertisers will and should recognize that readers who seek out quality in their editorial matter are also great potential customers, but I leave those decisions to them.

On The New Yorker having a cult following and being almost a status symbol: I don’t mind the idea that readership of The New Yorker is somehow a club or an association or a marker, but I hope and pray that it’s something more serious than that. That it’s more joyful than that. That it’s not merely a status symbol, but something that people read and read deeply. And that it complicates and enlightens and brings joy to their lives. The idea that we can do that, with some very strange mixes, short fiction, journalism, humor, arts, and all the other ingredients that make up The New Yorker, that’s a very uplifting thing to know that you’re doing as a living.

On how he would define content today: I find words, and I understand why they’re used all of the time, but sometimes I bridle a little bit at words like content or products or platform, they seem a little cold. They seem a little remote and cold-blooded, because I think of The New Yorker as something much more warm-blooded or hot-blooded, which is alive. I don’t think of it as a can of soup or any of the other household products or a status symbol. I think of it as something, and I don’t care if it’s digital or on paper, I think of it as something that can reach your heart and mind in a unique way; in a surprising way. There aren’t too many household items or products that can do that.

On what The New Yorker is doing to ensure that true and factual journalism will always have a place in the industry: I can only speak with any authority about The New Yorker, I can’t speak for anybody else. And all I can tell you is that we have, at any one time, 17 or 18 fact-checkers working full-time, making sure the veracity of what we publish is as best as it can possibly be. We have all kinds of editors of enormous skill working with writers to make sure these pieces are clear, fair and rigorous. And at the same time, we don’t back away from a point of view, if that point of view can be substantiated and made clear.

On the voting down of Net Neutrality: If you ask me about Net Neutrality, I think that’s a shame. I think the Trump policy on Net Neutrality that really undermines the initial early idea of the Internet itself and gives great advantage to the biggest commercial companies, is an enormous step backward, if that’s what you’re asking.

On whether there is anything that traditional media companies can do about the recent vote: As an editor, all I can do is have The New Yorker voice its opinion and we’ve done that. And we’ve done it very clearly. Recently, on The New Yorker Radio Hour, one of my guests was Nicholas Thompson, who’s the editor of Wired, and I interviewed him and he was extremely forceful, and I agree with him. He was extremely forceful in his denunciation of the Trump policy rolling back New Neutrality.

On whether he can recall one moment in time of the 19 years he’s been the editor in chief of The New Yorker where he was thankful to be in that position or one moment where he said, oh my gosh, what am I doing here: (Laughs) That’s a good question. The feeling of “oh my gosh, what am I doing here” is what I first felt, because I’d never been the editor of anything and then suddenly, one second you aren’t and one second you are. One moment you’re not in that room, and then you’re in the room, and suddenly these decisions are yours to make. Or at least, you have to learn how to make them. So, I admit looking back in some early sense of panic that you can’t let show. But I’ve been grateful ever since.

On what’s next for The New Yorker: When you ask the question what’s next: I think in the last year especially, we’re living in this incredibly…I don’t know how to describe it. I have no clue what will happen from moment to moment. Dorothy Parker used to say, “What fresh hell is this?” And there is this feeling of what fresh hell will today bring, mainly from Washington, but not only. These are tough times.

On whether he feels that journalism as a whole is failing its audience, or that a few are managing to succeed: Well, I hope not. I’m not running around and patting myself on the back, and I don’t think that Dean Baquet is or Marty Baron, or any other editor worth his or her salt. I don’t think, at the same time, that we should hang our heads low just because the president is screaming fake news, just the opposite. You just have to redouble your efforts, because that’s the job. It’s not personal; it’s not a sense of personal defiance. It’s a sense of that’s the job.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: My boys are in their twenties and unfortunately they’re out of the house, happily for them, but unfortunately for nostalgic old me, but they’re well-launched. And I have an 18-year-old daughter who is at home and has autism, so it’s a personal challenge that will always be with us. So, that’s a large thing in my life and in my wife’s life. My wife is Esther Fein, who for many years was a reporter and editor at The New York Times. What do we do to relax? We try to spend some time together. And it’s not out of the question to watch the news on TV or even better, some show. But there’s a lot of reading to be done. It’s very hard to read in the office, and that means reading pieces that are actually going to go in the magazine or online, but also pieces that aren’t, that people send in and deserve an answer. Or reading galleys of books that may find their way into The New Yorker in some ways. And the reading never stops, but again I want to say that this is not by any stretch a one-person operation. It’s a very complicated, and ultimately team-oriented thing.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: I don’t know about me individually, but I want this place to be ruled by a sense of kindness, without swagger. I want there to be a sense of overall decency about The New Yorker. But again, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have disagreements, arguments, or bad days, or all the rest. But I want that sense of decency between and among us to prevail.

On what keeps him up at night: There’s no end to it; there’s no end to it. (Laughs) But that’s my problem, not yours; don’t worry about it.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with David Remnick, editor, The New Yorker.

Samir Husni: Whether intentionally or unintentionally, The New Yorker has become the place to go if you’re interested in news, politics and humor. It seems with most everyone I talk with, in and out of journalism schools, you have taken the place of a newsweekly on a daily basis.

David Remnick: Well, I’m thrilled to hear it. I don’t think of The New Yorker at all as what we used to refer to as a newsweekly, like the old Time or Newsweek, or anything like that. The only parts of the print magazine that you could probably predict to some extent that we’re going to have something about that is in the cultural pages, in fact; reviews of this movie or that play. Beyond that, it’s open season. There’s a large measure of unpredictability in The New Yorker.

Now online, there are more pieces that are reactive to the news, whether it’s political news or cultural news. But I think a lot of our readers are reading both at once. It’s not important to me particularly whether they’re reading on a screen or a phone or on paper, but I think a lot of people are reading all of what we do, which is to say, everything that’s coming out of The New Yorker.com, whether it’s the daily pieces or the long-form ones; in order for The New Yorker to be The New Yorker there has to be a huge measure of serendipity, unpredictability, surprise, delight; as well as depth, seriousness and accuracy. It’s a complicated piece of business, The New Yorker. It’s hard to define in a few words. Louis Armstrong was once asked the definition of jazz and he said: if you can’t hear it, I can’t explain it to you. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

David Remnick: And the funny thing about The New Yorker is that it’s evolving, obviously. What we used to do, not so many years ago, was publish a dozen things, once a week, with some cartoons, very little of graphic interest. No photographs, just cartoons. And now we’re something much, much more and more varied, that exists both in the longer term and in the shorter term. It’s visual and also a deep-reading experience. I hope our soul is much the same; our DNA is much the same, but we’ve evolved quite a lot.

Samir Husni: Through that evolvement, and considering the current status of journalism, where do you think journalism is heading in 2018? Is it in a better place today? Or can we paraphrase Charles Dickens and say, “These are the best of times, these are the worst of times?”

David Remnick: I think Dickens probably had it right. On the one hand, we live in an age in which the president of the United States and other leaders around the world have tried to muddy the waters about the difference between what is real and what is not real. What’s real and what’s fake. This phrase “fake news” is a weapon in the hands of, unfortunately, some very powerful people and their followers.

On the other hand, I think a lot of people, many millions of people, reacted to this unfortunate turn by looking to what is best in journalism, what’s true. And that has been true at The New Yorker. I think my brothers and sisters at The New York Times and the Washington Post and other publications have also felt this in very concrete terms. In terms of more readers wanting what we do. And it becomes not less important to them in a noisy, complicated world, but more important.

So, I have great alarm about this war against fact; this profusion of lying in high places. But I also stake my claim with a journalism that tries to do the best it can. And do an honest job. Whether it’s traditional media or new media, that doesn’t matter, it’s a true media. It’s a media that seeks to separate the wheat from the chaff; the true from the false. So, it is a very mixed picture and Dickens had it right, but where he was talking about the French Revolution, we’re talking about the 21st century.

Samir Husni: Chris Mitchell (The New Yorker’s Chief Business Officer) told me that the revenues of The New Yorker now are like 50/50 from digital and print.

David Remnick: Well, obviously, print advertising everywhere is not a growth industry. And we also live in the reality that Facebook and Google own some enormous percentages of digital advertising as well. That’s just a reality. And we will go on battling for what part of the market we can get. And I think our advertisers will and should recognize that readers who seek out quality in their editorial matter are also great potential customers, but I leave those decisions to them.

The other part of the picture is that the ever-increasing net percentage of our revenue comes from consumer revenue, as opposed to ad revenue. And that’s a reflection of readers wanting what we do, and they’re willing to pay for it. And that’s incredibly encouraging about the future.

Samir Husni: When I first came to America, I had a professor at Missouri who talked about The New Yorker, saying that it had those cult-like worshippers, readers, who just had to get the magazine every single week. It was a status symbol.

David Remnick: I don’t mind the idea that readership of The New Yorker is somehow a club or an association or a marker, but I hope and pray that it’s something more serious than that. That it’s more joyful than that. That it’s not merely a status symbol, but something that people read and read deeply. And that it complicates and enlightens and brings joy to their lives. The idea that we can do that, with some very strange mixes, short fiction, journalism, humor, arts, and all the other ingredients that make up The New Yorker, that’s a very uplifting thing to know that you’re doing as a living.

Samir Husni: And that mix; is that your definition of content today? If someone were to ask you, David, how do you define content today?

David Remnick: I find words, and I understand why they’re used all of the time, but sometimes I bridle a little bit at words like content or products or platform, they seem a little cold. They seem a little remote and cold-blooded, because I think of The New Yorker as something much more warm-blooded or hot-blooded, which is alive. I don’t think of it as a can of soup or any of the other household products or a status symbol. I think of it as something, and I don’t care if it’s digital or on paper, I think of it as something that can reach your heart and mind in a unique way; in a surprising way. There aren’t too many household items or products that can do that.

I think of it in different terms. I don’t want to get all spiritual and gooey on you, but I think of it as something on a very emotional level as well. And I think what’s important is people’s attachment to it is very heartfelt and very emotional. I get letters and emails reflecting that all of the time.

Samir Husni: There are more so-called journalism outlets today than ever before. What are you doing to ensure that the true voice of journalism, the factual rather than the fake journalism, still has a place in the industry?

David Remnick: I can only speak with any authority about The New Yorker, I can’t speak for anybody else. And all I can tell you is that we have, at any one time, 17 or 18 fact-checkers working full-time, making sure the veracity of what we publish is as best as it can possibly be. We have all kinds of editors of enormous skill working with writers to make sure these pieces are clear, fair and rigorous. And at the same time, we don’t back away from a point of view, if that point of view can be substantiated and made clear.

What we’re against is sloppiness, fakery, and inaccuracy. I totally understand that we’re going to make mistakes; I just want to keep them to an absolute minimum. And keep good faith with the reader.

Samir Husni: As those readers are searching for the truth and hungry for the truth in this sea of chaos that exists out there, what do you think The New Yorker’s role, in both print and digital, should play in this time of the darker side of the Internet? I’m sure you’ve heard that they voted down Net Neutrality; so, where do you think we’re heading?

David Remnick: If you ask me about Net Neutrality, I think that’s a shame. I think the Trump policy on Net Neutrality that really undermines the initial early idea of the Internet itself and gives great advantage to the biggest commercial companies, is an enormous step backward, if that’s what you’re asking.

Samir Husni: Now that the vote is in, is there anything that traditional media companies can do about this?

David Remnick: As an editor, all I can do is have The New Yorker voice its opinion and we’ve done that. And we’ve done it very clearly. Recently, on The New Yorker Radio Hour, one of my guests was Nicholas Thompson, who’s the editor of Wired, and I interviewed him and he was extremely forceful, and I agree with him. He was extremely forceful in his denunciation of the Trump policy rolling back New Neutrality.

We have different platforms that The New Yorker can exploit. Again, the weekly magazine, the website, which is coming at you, not just every day, but every hour of a moment, a radio program, which is on I think 230 or 240 public radio stations around the country, and obviously podcasts. We had a television show with Amazon at one point, what I would call a noble experiment (Laughs). And we have all kinds of events, the biggest of which is The New Yorker Festival. And I look for more, but always with the idea toward the highest quality. Whatever we do; whatever new initiative we have has to be, if not right away, then soon, at the level of quality that we take pride in.

Samir Husni: During the 19 years of your tenure as editor of The New Yorker, can you look back on one moment that made you so thankful that you’re the editor of The New Yorker, or one moment that made you think: oh my gosh, what am I doing here?

David Remnick: (Laughs) That’s a good question. The feeling of “oh my gosh, what am I doing here” is what I first felt, because I’d never been the editor of anything and then suddenly, one second you aren’t and one second you are. One moment you’re not in that room, and then you’re in the room, and suddenly these decisions are yours to make. Or at least, you have to learn how to make them. So, I admit looking back in some early sense of panic that you can’t let show. But I’ve been grateful ever since.

Some stories we published are extremely painful or tough, but I feel great gratitude, not only to be the editor of The New Yorker, but to live in a place where we can do that without fear of favor, whether it’s the Harvey Weinstein material or the recent piece on opioids, written by Patrick Keefe, or Jane Mayer’s extraordinary political coverage, most recently her profile of Mike Pence; Evan Osnos’s work has been remarkable, and here I’m just talking about political stories. It’s a bounty.

And I’m extremely grateful to our editors, people like Daniel Zalewski or Henry Finder, Dorothy Wickenden, Susan Morrison; and these are people who have been around for quite a while, editing these pieces and making them better and working with writers. Pam McCarthy is the deputy editor and does about a million things, and Michael Luo who is the web editor and has been so effective.

And I mention these people, not just to throw bouquets in various people’s direction, because there are many more, but also because I don’t believe in this business of the imperial editor. I don’t believe that one person has enough creativity or enough ideas or intellectual versatility to be capable of singlehandedly putting out something like The New Yorker. It requires a team. A team that argues; a team that gets along; a team that treats each other decently; a team that gets annoyed with each other once in a blue moon, like in any good team or family or whatever. It’s hard work, but it’s not the work of one person. And if you publish anything; I would appreciate you publishing that, because I think it’s true. And I’m not mentioning nearly enough people, I know that.

Samir Husni: What’s next for The New Yorker?

David Remnick: In terms of next week or in terms of six months from now or forever?

Samir Husni: (Laughs)

David Remnick: When you ask the question what’s next; I think in the last year especially, we’re living in this incredibly…I don’t know how to describe it. I have no clue what will happen from moment to moment. Dorothy Parker used to say, “What fresh hell is this?”

Samir Husni: (Laughs)

David Remnick: And there is this feeling of what fresh hell will today bring, mainly from Washington, but not only. These are tough times. We have existential crises that range from the global environment to the threat of a nuclear war with North Korea, to a renewed and very dangerous political rivalry with Russia, an ascendant China, which we seem to be mishandling spectacularly.

And it’s only incidentally that we see a story, you can barely breathe on the streets of New Delhi. There are real existential crises going on and we are, at the same time, obsessed with a million other things that are smaller and sucking the wind out of us. It’s very hard to live, it seems at times.

We just had a political race where we’re relieved and delighted that an accused sex offender and racist barely lost. This is what constitutes relief. These are tough times. And so it’s a big sense of responsibility.

I remember the morning after Trump won and talking with the staff about essential responsibility, about the need for rigor and covering the story in all its many directions with real boundless energy, and it’s tough. It takes a toll; it tires people out. But we can’t afford to be worn out by this; we have to be alert and on it.

Samir Husni: Do you feel that collectively, journalism as a whole is failing its audience, or that a few are managing to succeed?

David Remnick: Well, I hope not. I’m not running around and patting myself on the back, and I don’t think that Dean Baquet is or Marty Baron, or any other editor worth his or her salt. I don’t think, at the same time, that we should hang our heads low just because the president is screaming fake news, just the opposite. You just have to redouble your efforts, because that’s the job. It’s not personal; it’s not a sense of personal defiance. It’s a sense of that’s the job.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

David Remnick: It could be any of those things. My boys are in their twenties and unfortunately they’re out of the house, happily for them, but unfortunately for nostalgic old me, but they’re well-launched. And I have an 18-year-old daughter who is at home and has autism, so it’s a personal challenge that will always be with us. So, that’s a large thing in my life and in my wife’s life. My wife is Esther Fein, who for many years was a reporter and editor at The New York Times.

What do we do to relax? We try to spend some time together. And it’s not out of the question to watch the news on TV or even better, some show. But there’s a lot of reading to be done. It’s very hard to read in the office, and that means reading pieces that are actually going to go in the magazine or online, but also pieces that aren’t, that people send in and deserve an answer. Or reading galleys of books that may find their way into The New Yorker in some ways. And the reading never stops, but again I want to say that this is not by any stretch a one-person operation. It’s a very complicated, and ultimately team-oriented thing.

And the editors that I mentioned before, whom I hope you will mention; it’s only the start of it. I didn’t even mention the fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, who is remarkable and is publishing a story a week, and just published a story that went incredibly viral.

We’re in an innovative stage at The New Yorker. For years, because of the nature of technology and for commercial reasons, 90 percent of the task or more was putting out this print magazine of enormous quality. And I’m sure nobody thought that was easy. But now we do that and we do much else, and we also have to figure out all kinds of technological questions to make sure that 19-year-old readers and 25-year-old readers will find The New Yorker something that’s not only fascinating and enriching, but also convenient, easy to access, and modern in the best sense. And we’re experimenting with different ways of telling stories on film, or presenting stories online that are different from the way we were doing it two years ago or last week.

But here’s the thing, and this is the important thing; my job and our job in this moment in time is to get all of the technological things right, but never to lose sight of, or the feel for, what The New Yorker is or should be. That if we only concentrate on these questions of technology and business and all the rest, and lose sight of the soul of the place, of the purpose of the place, of the integrity of the place, all knowing that we’re going to make mistakes along the way, that if we lose sight of that then it’s not worth it. But if I can help us, along with all of my colleagues, by all means, modernize The New Yorker, but make it The New Yorker that we want it to be, that we’re proud of, that deeply values accuracy, fairness, rigor and clarity, and originality in writing, and soul, then we will have accomplished something great.

That’s a long answer to a question that really wanted to know if I have a glass of wine; the answer is I usually have a beer.

Samir Husni: (Laughs)

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

David Remnick: I don’t know about me individually, but I want this place to be ruled by a sense of kindness, without swagger. I want there to be a sense of overall decency about The New Yorker. But again, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have disagreements, arguments, or bad days, or all the rest. But I want that sense of decency between and among us to prevail.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

David Remnick: There’s no end to it; there’s no end to it. (Laughs) But that’s my problem, not yours; don’t worry about it.

Samir Husni: (Laughs)

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“My view as part of the Industry Association is that we need to be able to continue to push the envelope; we need to make sure that we are ahead of the curve, in the sense of what are the topics and what are the issues; what’s on the agenda and the radar, because when it’s obvious, it’s too late. We need to make sure that we’re putting forward the topics.” Mike Marchesano…

“The idea of print being gone forever will not be, certainly, in my lifetime. I have two children, 30 and 25; I don’t know, maybe in their lifetimes. But right now, no. I see print as part of the equation; it’s part of the branding; it’s part of the history.”Mike Marchesano…

The Software & Information Industry Association’s Connectiv (formerly American Business Media ABM), is the Business Information Association that strives to help members and nonmembers alike to understand the behaviors of their audiences. In the B2B space, information is critical and with the ever-changing technological landscape, staying on top of the many ways customers can and want to consume that information is just as vital.

Michael (Mike) Marchesano is managing director of Connectiv and joined SIIA in 2013, but he has been in the B2B field, in some capacity, for his entire career. Before coming onboard at SIIA, he was President and CEO of Aequor Media, a consulting firm dedicated to providing strategic, customized technology solutions for B2B and consumer magazines, newspapers, and Fortune 1000 companies. He was also Managing Director at the Jordan Edmiston Group, an investment banking firm, and before that, Executive Vice President & Chief Transformation Officer at the Nielsen Company; President and CEO at VNU Business Media; and President at BPA International (now BPA Worldwide). So, Mr. Magazine thinks it’s safe to say that Mike is a bit of a notable in the field of B2B.

I spoke with Mike on a recent trip to New York, and we talked about the B2B industry in general, and the status of the Association in 2017 and beyond. It was an enlightening conversation about an industry that is as complex as its sister counterpart, consumer magazines. Where business information is giving way to technology, Mike is convinced that just having technology isn’t enough, but having the right technology is all-important. Being where and when your audience wants you is critical. And knowing what the topics and the issues are beforehand, and what’s on the agenda and the radar, can be the difference between success and failure, because when it’s obvious, it’s too late.

So, I hope that you enjoy this very informative conversation with a man immersed in the B2B industry and who knows that in today’s media world, it doesn’t matter whether you’re print, digital, mobile, or video, as long as you’re all of the above and completely agnostic when it comes to platform, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Mike Marchesano, managing director, Connectiv.

But first the sound-bites:

On where the B2B market is today as we approach the end of 2017: I would say that it’s very strong. The association that represents B2B media information companies, Connectiv, which was originally American Business Media (ABM), which before that was American Business Press, continues to be strong and is a reflection of the strength that B2B is presenting in probably over 100 different market sectors. And as the need for information becomes more and more critical, because technology is impacting every market, the need for independent, objective journalism and content is critical.

On whether his tenure at SIIA Association’s Connectiv has held its challenges: It’s been a challenging time for associations, because associations are going through transformations as well, as audiences rethink what’s the value of an association. The Great Recession really affected the Association and B2B, because as a result of it and the continued secular change that was happening in media investment, print was really becoming less and less the revenue-driver that it had once been. Digital was transforming the business, but digital was not closing the gap. The digital dimes weren’t replacing the print dollars.

On whether culture has been the biggest obstacle when it comes to the changes in the B2B space: Absolutely; absolutely. It really does require a mind shift in all aspects, whether it’s an editorial and content development, sales, in collaboration; you need a whole new DNA and a willingness to understand how to adapt to change. Some companies are better than others at it, but that’s a major challenge to make that pivot.

On what Connectiv is doing to make that pivot: We have really focused on two key temples for our organization; we are a learning and networking community. So, we do the learning through a variety of ways, through our events; we have a number of high-profile events that really bring together the C-Suite and their teams and then down a level to those that are really in the trenches to help affect change.

On whether he thinks Connectiv and other information companies can compete with technology companies as media companies: I think it’s not so much becoming a technology company, but it’s having the right technology that allows you to deliver your content in a way that your audiences will really want. So, yes, it’s not that we’re saying we won’t be technology companies, but there’s a big technology investment for a partnership.

On how he envisions moving business forward, in terms of the content and the information that the B2B audience is wanting: There’s more and more focus on audience, audience segmentation and understanding audience behavior. And what is the persona of your audience? And what are the different personas, because it isn’t just one. Through the different tools, you can go in and really understand how your audience is consuming information, which lets the media owner understand how they deliver value; how they use that to say to their advertisers: you’re interested in this particular segment of segments. I can show you how my audience, through these tools, is consuming this information. So, allowing that alignment of audience and marketer’s information.

On whether data and mining your audience is a trending buzzword phrase or the future: I would say it’s the future. But to really make it work, you just can’t flip a switch. There’s an investment; you have to build the platform to be able to collect the data and have it. And then you need a team to really analyze the data. It’s almost like, to use an example, you put sales force in, but if your team isn’t trained on how to use it, or any tool, you’re not going to get an ROI.

On where you find data scientists and data analysts: (Laughs) It’s a challenge; they’re not inexpensive. But they’re there, and companies are finding them. And the ones that are putting them into place and have the vision and the strategy; I think they’ll pay dividends.

On whether he can envision a day where print won’t be a part of B2B: The idea of print being gone forever will not be, certainly, in my lifetime. I have two children, 30 and 25; I don’t know, maybe in their lifetimes. But right now, no. I see print as part of the equation; it’s part of the branding; it’s part of the history.

On the biggest landmine he wants people to avoid in 2018: Not to be too risk-adverse. I think this is an exciting and interesting time. Not that you want to have a cavalier attitude, but change is happening so quickly and you really have to look at your audience and understand the audience behaviors.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: Committed to exceeding expectations.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: Reading B2B magazines. I have a long commute, so I do read a lot. Although, I’m old school; I read two newspapers in the morning, print papers. I don’t read online. And at night I read too. But at the end of the day, my eyes do get tired. (Laughs) But I do like magazines. I am a consumer of information. I like media, but I do like real estate and design, travel and food service. And those are crossover markets that go from B2B to consumer.

On what keeps him up at night: Just making sure that we can continue to deliver and have a valued proposition for our members and for our industry. I think about that all of the time. And as I said, what’s next and when it’s obvious, it’s too late. Those are the questions that I ask myself. What are we not doing? What should we be doing? And to continue to elevate and put a spotlight on what our member companies are doing.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Mike Marchesano, Managing Director, Connectiv.

Samir Husni: All the talk we hear in the media business is mainly about consumer magazines, yet there is a big segment of the business that consists of the B2B market. Can you give me an overview of where B2B magazine media is today, as we approach the end of 2017?

Visiting with Mike Marchesano in NYC.

Audiences now have so many choices for information, more so than ever before. B2B and the strength of B2B, and it’s recognition of being an independent third party with credible journalists, continues to serve the markets. So, I would say the state of B2B content continues to be very strong for its audiences.

There are challenges, absolutely; significant challenges, because audiences want content when they want it, where they want it, almost in a 24/7 environment. So, media owners really have to think about not how they want to deliver it, but how their audiences want to consume information. And that has impacted investment, staffing, technology and platform. So, the onus is on media owners to really understand and create a strategy and a plan to deliver continued value to its audiences.

Samir Husni: During your tenure at the association, what has been some of the major stumbling blocks that you’ve faced and how did you overcome them? Or has it been a walk in a rose garden?

Mike Marchesano: (Laughs) No, it’s been a challenging time for associations, because associations are going through transformations as well, as audiences rethink what’s the value of an association. But that aside, I’ve been leading Connectiv since 2013, so coming up it will be four years. But I’ve been in B2B my entire career, I ran BPA, the circulation auditing firm for five years as CEO, but I was there for 21, so I learned about B2B in its glory days, the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. And then I ran a media company, Nielsen, VNU Media, and did some work in investment banking, so I have a long history of B2B. And I was on the board of ABM in 2001 to 2006.

The Great Recession really affected the Association and B2B, because as a result of it and the continued secular change that was happening in media investment, print was really becoming less and less the revenue-driver that it had once been. Digital was transforming the business, but digital was not closing the gap. The digital dimes weren’t replacing the print dollars. So, there was a lot of stress on B2B.

Also, a lot of the big players in B2B started to leave the market. There was McGraw-Hill, which was an institution in B2B; they really exited the market. There were big players like Reed Business Information. They started selling all of their brands and exited B2B.

VNU Business Media, which I was the CEO; when Nielsen came in as far as being part of the equation with A.C. Nielsen and Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen sold off the media assets, it kept the trade shows, but eventually sold off the media assets. So, big companies that were major players started leaving the Association and leaving the industry. That put a financial strain on the Association.

In 2013, ABM merged with the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) for strategic and economic reasons, economic because they could become part of the larger constellation, if you will, and a lot of the support services that were made up of the SIIA, and could be provided to ABM to reduce our head count.

But there was a strategic reason for it, and I think the strategic reason was the current challenge and opportunity for B2B. And what I mean by that is, within SIIA there are different communities: education, technology and financial services. And within SIIA there is a content information group, so companies like Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis; that’s where they played. And these were business to business companies, information providers that really focused on their audiences and created data and information products, solutions and content, but it was really subscription-based, not an advertising model.

More and more B2B media companies were looking at how they could evolve into becoming information companies. So, that merger, bringing those two communities together was strategic. Fast forward four years later, that is still part of the equation, but it’s very different changing your moniker from media company to information company; that’s easy to do. Really, actually having the DNA within your organization to create the products and services that really deliver that type of value to your audience, for a media company that’s a challenge. That’s a work in progress.

A great successful example of that in my view is Hanley Wood and Frank Anton. Probably a decade ago they started looking at how data and information assets would help enhance their leadership position in residential real estate. So they bought a company called Meyers Research, which provided product information that went into a residential project. Then they doubled-down maybe five years ago; they sold all of their trade shows, which were formidable, and took those proceeds to buy probably the leading information company in their space, Metrostudy, and pivoted, an aggressive pivot, and they became truly a media and information company.

My view is, that was a bold move; it was a risk, but Hanley Wood has always been a leader in its space and I would say it’s now paying dividends, because they really are positioned as a media and information company in that space.

Another good example is a company called Winsight and Mike Wood, Jr. is CEO, son of one of the founders of Hanley Wood. And over the last five to seven years, he acquired B2B assets in the food service group, which is a strong business, one of the big brands that he acquired. And he built a nice business, but about two years ago he acquired an information company called Technomic, which is sort of the Metrostudy for restaurants and food service, and it’s doing exactly that. It’s truly creating a media and information company.

And from that, obviously they have the print brands, a strong, digital platform; a very strong information platform, and events. To me that is the opportunity for B2B media; a strong marketing services and solutions element to that. So, it’s creating this bundle of services that, going back to the earlier point, provides the audience with just a host of information that they need to be successful in their market. And obviously, when you capture the audience, the marketers will follow.

So, those are just two examples of big change and big pivots; some risks, but knowing your market – I mean, Hanley Wood knows residential construction six ways to Sunday, and really changing what is a B2B media and information company going forward.

But that’s a bold move and not every company can get there, has the resources, has the opportunity to acquire those assets, or is even comfortable with that model, because that takes a different DNA. It’s taking a traditional print B2B media company and not just saying: well, tomorrow let’s change our whole structure, it’s hard work.

Samir Husni: One of the things that I hear a lot with the consumer magazine business is that the culture has been the biggest obstacle in all of the change. Is that true in the B2B space?

Mike Marchesano: Absolutely; absolutely. It really does require a mind shift in all aspects, whether it’s an editorial and content development, sales, in collaboration; you need a whole new DNA and a willingness to understand how to adapt to change. Some companies are better than others at it, but that’s a major challenge to make that pivot.

Samir Husni: What is Connectiv doing to help make that pivot?

Mike Marchesano: We have really focused on two key temples for our organization; we are a learning and networking community. So, we do the learning through a variety of ways, through our events; we have a number of high-profile events that really bring together the C-Suite and their teams and then down a level to those that are really in the trenches to help affect change.

And a great example of this is our Business Information Media Summit, which occurred November 13-15 in Ft. Lauderdale. We had about 300 attendees for two and a half days, looking at the entire business to business media and information landscape. And we did this through the keynotes; we had four keynotes. The lead keynote was Debra Walton, who is the chief content information officer for Thomson Reuters, talking about how they have migrated their different platforms of content and information to serve mainly the financial services industry.

And she really talked broadly about Thomson Reuters, and did a great job because she used Thomson Reuters as an example, but brought into play that if you’re not Thomson Reuters, and not many of us are; how could you apply this to your business? What are the struggles; what are the challenges; what are the opportunities that I need to be thinking through? So, that was a great keynote.

Then we had a different sort of take, a company called Brief Media; Elizabeth Green is the CEO and founder of this business. And she talked about being a small to midsized company; how she sort of broke the rules and really engaged her team and her company to take risks, which I think is important as you’re trying to transform your business. She gave her team the confidence to challenge and break through the models that maybe they had accepted and not challenged.

She gave two examples, and this was in the early 2000s. They were thinking about how to deliver their content digitally and this was when Apple and the iPad really weren’t making a big push. They asked themselves why they wanted to be limited to that device; instead they would invest in responsive design, so that they would be platform agnostic. And that was a big bet and a risk; it was a debate inside her team and they went forward and it was a great move. So, that was an example that the audience really took to heart. It doesn’t always go with what you think is expected behavior.

The other was she said they fired their best customer, because strategically and going forward, it wasn’t going to be, on the long term, the best for their business; it was a big move and a risk because they were losing a significant amount of revenue, but again, it paid off. It gave them the courage and the opportunity to push through and to find other markets.

So, those are some examples of an event where the speakers and the conversation really focuses on that. The Summit includes five tracks, dedicated tracks, on building data information products; on audience marketing and development; on strategy; on revenue-generating tactics that really give the audience the opportunity over those two and a half days to do a deep dive into those topics. It’s about 70 sessions and it really speaks to those issues. That’s our real learning community.

Our CEO Summit, which will be May 2018 in New Orleans, looks at the big issues and challenges that will be moving the business forward, so the theme for 2018 is how to truly move from an information company to a technology company. And we’ll look at the investments, challenges and opportunities to create the new technology stack. In our board meeting we talked about that; how do you look at the technology stack through business and how does it affect your entire business? Whether it’s audience, marketing; whether it’s account-based marketing or audience-segmentation. So, those are the big issues, and that’s really a CEO meeting.

Then we have 10 committees, 10 different subject matter committees, that bring the managers on the ground who have to execute the strategy of their CEOs, and those are virtual meetings. They meet periodically throughout the year and cover topics such as audience, data and information, revenue and digital So, those are roll-up-your-sleeve type meetings.

And then the last element is that in July 2017 we introduced Connectiv U, which is an online learning platform for distance learning that will allow members and nonmembers to go into different topic areas and really have a learning environment that they can go to whenever they need it. We led with digital to grid sales training, which is a curriculum of 10 courses. They are bite sized, anywhere from 10 to 14 minutes, focused on digital topics, from media to consultive selling.

And that is the first of a number of other curriculum that we’ll be adding, such as a curriculum on building data information products. And a curriculum on content development; social media strategies to video storytelling. And a track on events and conferences, because events and conferences are a big part of B2B, and a revenue driver for them.

So, those are just some of the examples of the dialogues that we’re having, and my view as part of the Industry Association is that we need to be able to continue to push the envelope; we need to make sure that we are ahead of the curve, in the sense of what are the topics and what are the issues; what’s on the agenda and the radar, because when it’s obvious, it’s too late. We need to make sure that we’re putting forward the topics.

In 2015, we had a session at our CEO Summit on artificial intelligence. We had the Director of Partnerships at the New England Journal of Medicine with IBM Watson talking about the partnership that they had entered into back in 2013 or so, where they were using IBM and the New England Journal of Medicine’s great content to further patient diagnostics for physicians.

And that was really: what are you talking about? And now, in 2017, we brought in the head of a company, NAI, who was a part of the team that founded Siri. And he spoke about artificial intelligence in applications of retail and media.

And again, fast forward from 2015 to 2017, some thought it was terrific; they really went away thinking, how do I apply this to my business? Others were not sure why that speaker was there, but you’re not going to get everyone to stand up and say this or that is great, but again, picking topics or having discussions that really move the agenda forward is what we need to be doing.

Samir Husni: Do you think the CEO Summit next May about changing from an information company to a technology company is a wise move? Can you compete with technology companies as media companies?

Mike Marchesano: I think it’s not so much becoming a technology company, but it’s having the right technology that allows you to deliver your content in a way that your audiences will really want. So, yes, it’s not that we’re saying we won’t be technology companies, but there’s a big technology investment for a partnership.

One of the things that we introduced this past year was our Innovation Awards. The Innovation Awards look at innovation in a half a dozen different categories. One of the categories that was probably the most popular was, “How do you use innovation with third-party partnerships to advance your agenda?” It used to be “Bill versus Bobby.” And now it’s “Bill, Buy or Rent,” and that partnership is the renting element. More and more B2B media companies that are not technology companies are partnering with third-party technology companies that really give them that DNA and that IQ that they need to advance that agenda.

So, it’s not really becoming a technology company, but the technology stack, whether you own it or rent it, is critical to how you’re going to move your business forward.

Samir Husni: And how do you envision moving that business forward, in terms of the content and the information that the B2B audience is wanting?

Mike Marchesano: There’s more and more focus on audience, audience segmentation and understanding audience behavior. And what is the persona of your audience? And what are the different personas, because it isn’t just one. Through the different tools, you can go in and really understand how your audience is consuming information, which lets the media owner understand how they deliver value; how they use that to say to their advertisers: you’re interested in this particular segment of segments. I can show you how my audience, through these tools, is consuming this information. So, allowing that alignment of audience and marketer’s information.

That’s one way, and the other is, when you look at audience behaviors, you find the ability to create new products. A good example is a company that was looking at particular key topics; what’s trending; what are the audience behaviors when it comes to these topics? And they saw a concentration in certain areas. From there, they said, okay, let’s build a conference. They had never done a conference on that topic, but they saw the behaviors and the trending of their audience in this type of content consumption, and they used that and it became a big draw for them and a revenue-driver.

So, the tools in the toolbox now are getting more and more sophisticated so that you can really zero in through these technology solutions and personalization to create new offerings that benefit your audience, but are also marketing opportunities for your customers. So, it’s a much more strategic, account-based marketing type of approach, as opposed to a broad base. It’s like fishing with a spear, as opposed to just fishing.

Samir Husni: We hear a lot about the importance of data and mining your audience; is it a buzzword phrase for just a year or two, or is it the future?

Mike Marchesano: I would say it’s the future. But to really make it work, you just can’t flip a switch. There’s an investment; you have to build the platform to be able to collect the data and have it. And then you need a team to really analyze the data. It’s almost like, to use an example, you put sales force in, but if your team isn’t trained on how to use it, or any tool, you’re not going to get an ROI.

If you’re going to really get into data and data mining, you have to put the platform in; you have to have a team that’s trained to do it. So, the idea of a data scientist five or seven years ago wasn’t even in the realms of possibility, but today you hear of it in more and more companies as you look at staffing. What are the functional areas that are most important: data scientists; data analysts, those are key functions that are now part of the marketing team; it’s a part of audience

The whole idea of digital, marketing content and audience, is all tied together. It’s not separate plumbing; it’s not siloed. And the data analysts and data scientists sit over and really create that.

Samir Husni: Where do you find those people?

Mike Marchesano: (Laughs) It’s a challenge; they’re not inexpensive. But they’re there, and companies are finding them. And the ones that are putting them into place and have the vision and the strategy; I think they’ll pay dividends.

Samir Husni: People used to talk about magazines as a magazine, whether it was Ad Age or Automotive News or Waste Age, but now they’ve become brands. Can you envision a day where some of the platforms that have existed will no longer be there? Can B2B survive without print publications? Can they go digital-only?

Mike Marchesano: The idea of print being gone forever will not be, certainly, in my lifetime. I have two children, 30 and 25; I don’t know, maybe in their lifetimes. But right now, no. I see print as part of the equation; it’s part of the branding; it’s part of the history.

Is it the future; no, it’s not the future, because audiences will continue to look for different ways to consume. But for now it’s part of the equation, but it’s a legacy part of the business, so media CEOs have to optimize it for profitability, making sure it’s as efficient as possible. And rethink how they’re delivering in print. A lot of companies are rethinking frequency. If they’ve always been 12 times; why are they 12 times? Is there a more efficient way to communicate in print with our audiences? So, I think that’s part of the examination.

As far as the brand, I do think that while companies have built their brands with print, that’s evolving, but still part of the equation. And now it’s how do we, through digital, through marketing services, through events and conferences, through data solutions, and print, serve our audiences. I think a good example of that transformation is in the AG market. It’s a really interesting market. It’s almost like a tale of two cities, because you have an audience where print is still part of the equation, they’re not office-based, they’re field-based, but information is still critical. So texting is very important. Data information on weather conditions; using data information for the way they feed their livestock and crops is critical. The radio is important, but so is print. So, it’s an interesting market where print is still part of the equation.

We do a research study every two years, a channel study, with the AG market. We’re getting ready to do one in 2018. We essentially look all of our titles in the group, which is significant, and we do a composite audience selection. And we ask them what channels they’re using, and print continues to be an important part of it.

As you look at the age breaks, 65 and older, they love print and they’re not going to change their behavior. They do look a little at the technology tools, but as you look at the next generation of leadership, the owner-operators that are 45-65, they’re using the tools more and more. They still use print, but are more interested in what is the technology toolbox. And then the 45 and under are shifting as well.

So, it’s a good example of print being a part of the equation, but it’s evolving, moving and changing. But that technology part, information and data, is really critical in the AG market. I think that’s a good example of maybe how other markets are going to follow as well. And that builds the brand, such as Farm Journal; great brand. Meister; they’re all really strong brands in that field.

Samir Husni: What’s the biggest landmine you want your people to avoid in 2018?

Mike Marchesano: Not to be too risk-adverse. I think this is an exciting and interesting time. Not that you want to have a cavalier attitude, but change is happening so quickly and you really have to look at your audience and understand the audience behaviors. And not where we are now, but as I said; when it’s obvious, it’s too late. So, you really have to start looking beyond the pale and start moving and pushing and thinking about what’s next.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Mike Marchesano: Committed to exceeding expectations.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Mike Marchesano: Reading B2B magazines. I have a long commute, so I do read a lot. Although, I’m old school; I read two newspapers in the morning, print papers. I don’t read online. And at night I read too. But at the end of the day, my eyes do get tired. (Laughs) But I do like magazines. I am a consumer of information. I like media, but I do like real estate and design, travel and food service. And those are crossover markets that go from B2B to consumer.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Mike Marchesano: Just making sure that we can continue to deliver and have a valued proposition for our members and for our industry. I think about that all of the time. And as I said, what’s next and when it’s obvious, it’s too late. Those are the questions that I ask myself. What are we not doing? What should we be doing? And to continue to elevate and put a spotlight on what our member companies are doing.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“I think you’re seeing a move-back to print; a move-back to the appreciation that print is restorative; it’s actually information that you take in. We know that there was a connection between the tactile, taking in of information… so, the touching of print and the absorption of information. And I feel very confident that print will continue to evolve and remain relevant.” Joanna Coles…

“In a magazine, you want to indulge in fabulous flights of fantasy with great photographers who can transport you and take you on a voyage of discovery that you didn’t know you wanted to go on. If you’re on your phone, you want digestible bits of information, some to make you laugh, some to make you feel, and some to inform you.” Joanna Coles…

“What is content? I think it is information served up in a responsible and entertaining way, that helps you understand and appreciate the world that you’re living in. And at its best, it resonates, and adds to your appreciation and understanding of the world we live in. And it’s also a fantastic emotional distraction. And at its worst, it’s full of misinformation and leaves you depressed and restless.” Joanna Coles…

From New York bureau chief for The Guardian to New York columnist for The Times of London, Joanna Coles knows her way around the world of journalism. With a stalwart stance on the future of her company and its print core, along with a vast knowledge of the digital world, where she sits on the board of Snapchat, part of her editorial strength lies in her talent, skillsets, and creativity. The other part is a combination of her humbleness when it comes to her own contributions, unequivocally giving credit to the teamwork at Hearst, and her own belief that the disruption of digital has only made print stronger.

I spoke with Joanna recently, upon a return trip from New York, where I had the pleasure of speaking with David Carey and Michael Clinton for an earlier Mr. Magazine™ interview, so it seemed only natural to talk with the first-ever chief content officer at Hearst Magazines, a position that Joanna Coles seems tailor-made for. With the intimate, tightly knit leadership that keeps Hearst Magazines on a steady course, Joanna’s adamant belief in print and intriguing eye on the company’s digital future is in sync, making it apparent that this woman knows how to define content; good, high quality content. The only kind Hearst creates.

In fact, she defined the word for me: “information served up in a responsible and entertaining way, that helps you understand and appreciate the world that you’re living in,” with a bit more added. And if out of those 21 words, the one that grabs you most is “responsible,” you would be in perfect accord with Joanna, because she feels responsible and accurate journalism is the only acceptable kind.

So, I hope that you enjoy this Mr. Magazine™ interview with a woman who is navigating her part of the Hearst vessel with a steady hand and an eye on that future with the expanding horizons, Joanna Coles, chief content officer, Hearst Magazines.

But first the sound-bites:

On what makes her enjoy journalism most in this day and age: It’s really a great time to be a magazine journalist, because there’s so much news going on and everybody is trying to make heads or tails of it. And we’re in the perfect position to do that. Not only have you seen magazines like The New Yorker completely changing the conversation around sexual harassment, but you also see a lot of magazines that are able to help readers make sense of a world that doesn’t feel like it makes sense anymore.

On whether she feels magazines are now well-primed to be the future leaders of the media industry: I do. I think that digital, which I’m also a part of through my connection on the Snapchat Board; digital has grown very much in the moment. What magazines are able to do is to think about where we are going as a culture; what kind of conversations we will be having; and we are soothsayers to the future. We are the predictors of what will happen. And it’s a very different skillset. And I think digital has only made us stronger and better.

On her being quoted as saying print isn’t dead yet: Well, I was being ironic, because since I’m British, I tend to end everything with “yet.” Print is never going to go away, and actually what we’re seeing now and what I like to say, which I’m very intrigued by too, is that we’re now in a moment of “post-the-euphoria-of-digital.” And we’re now beginning to understand the more destructive impact that some digital media have. And I think people are beginning to understand through their own behavior, which as we know is still very, very new, that if you spend a certain amount of time on your phone, you don’t actually end up feeling better educationally informed, you actually end up feeling restless and like you can’t focus or concentrate on anything.

On how, as the first-ever chief content officer at Hearst Magazines, she wraps her mind around all of the many titles that she’s in charge of: David (Carey) runs an incredibly organized ship. So, we have issue previews, where we learn what’s going to be in the magazine coming up, so we have regular meetings with the editors and publishers. I have a regular once-a-month, editor in chief meeting, where all of the editors come together; sometimes we bring in outside speakers from other industries to inspire us and to help us think strategically.

On how she feels the role of editor has changed in the last five years: The basic elements of journalism remains the same, which is to ask questions. What has become more challenging is the number of outlets to try and keep on top of, in terms of just the sheer amount of content they generate. And also the speed with which stuff goes out there with digital, that is really challenging and we’ve seen numerous incidents where people have gone out too early with misinformation that has caused enormous ramifications.

On what letter grade she would give present-day journalism: I think the journalism being practiced at the moment is extraordinary. The Washington Post; The New Yorker; Esquire: Town & Country; The New York Times, are all doing exceptional jobs of really trying to reflect the chaos going on in Washington and to explain it. I think we have some extraordinarily brave and dedicated journalists who are doing their jobs. And I’m sure they’re exhausted. The trolling that goes on with journalists is really a depressing development, but I think we have some astonishingly good journalism going on at the moment.

On what she expects to see editorially from Hearst in 2018: It’s always exciting to have new energy come in to the company, so we’re very excited about expanding to include both Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Prevention. And what those three titles do is give us even more expertise in the health and wellness area. And I think if you look at the demographic of the population, you look at what people are interested in; health and wellness and fitness are subjects that people are increasingly excited about. And also the sense of mental health and mindfulness are important to people. So, being able to offer more to readers around those subjects is really great for us.

On whether all of this seems like a walk in a rose garden, or she sees some thorns along the way: We are going through a walk in a rose garden, but we’re paying attention to the thorns along the way. (Laughs) I mean, I don’t want to pretend that this isn’t a challenging time, but as David is always telling us, the same word in Chinese that means crisis also means opportunity.

On her definition of content today: That’s a very good question; no one has asked me that before. What is content? I think it is information served up in a responsible and entertaining way, that helps you understand and appreciate the world that you’re living in. And at its best, it resonates, and adds to your appreciation and understanding of the world we live in. And it’s also a fantastic emotional distraction. And at its worst, it’s full of misinformation and leaves you depressed and restless.

On whether she believes content differs with the different platforms: Of course, because you want to always play to a platform’s strength. So, in a magazine, you want to indulge in fabulous flights of fantasy with great photographers who can transport you and take you on a voyage of discovery that you didn’t know you wanted to go on. If you’re on your phone, you want digestible bits of information, some to make you laugh, some to make you feel, and some to inform you.

On how she decides what content goes where: The editors make that decision. The editors are always thinking through the prism of their own brand; is this right for video, is this right for digital, is this print, is this a podcast, so the individual editors will have a good sense of where that material goes. For example, if you shoot Miley Cyrus, as Cosmo did recently; Miley Cyrus took Cosmo through her old childhood home and back to her childhood bedroom. That is a great story in print, because it’s emotional; the photos were terrific. But it was also a great video and it got great traction online, because you the viewer were taken into a private place that you don’t normally have access to. But in print, it was equally powerful.

On something that wished she hadn’t done during her professional career as an editor: I never think about what I shouldn’t have done. I’ve spent half my life in the fetal position about what I shouldn’t have done, but I also move on. I’ve made hundreds of mistakes, everybody who’s doing a job well has made hundreds of mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them.

On the best decision she’s made in her professional career: Probably saying yes to opportunity.

On the advice she might give a millennial who wanted to become the next Joanna Coles: First of all, I would instruct them to have fun. If you’re not passionate about doing it then you won’t enjoy it, because it’s a hard job; it’s long hours, but if you love it, it whistles past. And to be good to your peer group, because you will rise and fall with them, and there is no room in this business for people who misbehave. And the job is too big to waste energy treating people poorly.

On anything she’d like to add: I think that the importance of teamwork is one that gets overlooked in this business. Editors in particular get lavished with a lot of attention, but behind every good editor, or every editor with a certain amount of bravery to push the brand forward, there is always a loyal team who have got your back. And that’s the thing that I would like to make clear, that it’s easier to focus on individual people, but actually it’s always teamwork.

On what she would have tattooed upon her brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about her: When my husband first saw me at a party, he wanted to know who I was and the man next to him said, oh, that’s Joanna Coles, she’s the rudest woman in London, which of course intrigued him. I hope they wouldn’t say that now. I think if they knew me and had worked with me, I hope that they would say that she was fun to work with.

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at her home: You would find me walking the dog.

On what keeps her up at night: I’m embarrassed to say that I sleep like a log. Nothing keeps me up at night. I go to bed thoroughly exhausted and very excited about waking up the next morning.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Joanna Coles, chief content officer, Hearst Magazines.

Samir Husni: Joanna, you’ve done it all. You’ve been in newspapers, on TV; you’ve been in film, and magazines. What makes Joanna Coles enjoy this profession of journalism most in this day and age?

Joanna Coles: It’s really a great time to be a magazine journalist, because there’s so much news going on and everybody is trying to make heads or tails of it. And we’re in the perfect position to do that. Not only have you seen magazines like The New Yorker completely changing the conversation around sexual harassment, but you also see a lot of magazines that are able to help readers make sense of a world that doesn’t feel like it makes sense anymore.

Samir Husni: Do you feel that magazines are now well-primed to be the future leaders of print; of the industry?

Joanna Coles: I do. I think that digital, which I’m also a part of through my connection on the Snapchat Board; digital has grown very much in the moment. What magazines are able to do is to think about where we are going as a culture; what kind of conversations we will be having; and we are soothsayers to the future. We are the predictors of what will happen. And it’s a very different skillset. And I think digital has only made us stronger and better. But there is no question that as agenda-setters, magazines are very much still out in the forefront.

Samir Husni: You’ve been quoted as saying that print is not dead yet…

Joanna Coles: Well, I was being ironic, because since I’m British, I tend to end everything with “yet.”

Samir Husni: (Laughs).

Joanna Coles: And when people ask me how am I doing, I say, well, I’m still working. I don’t mean that I actually think I’m going to “stop” working; I’m always grateful for whatever I have and I’m happy to acknowledge that the future is unpredictable, but I don’t mean it literally. I’m sure that I said that in response to someone probably asking me if print is dead.

Print is never going to go away, and actually what we’re seeing now and what I like to say, which I’m very intrigued by too, is that we’re now in a moment of “post-the-euphoria-of-digital.” And we’re now beginning to understand the more destructive impact that some digital media have. And I think people are beginning to understand through their own behavior, which as we know is still very, very new, that if you spend a certain amount of time on your phone, you don’t actually end up feeling better educationally informed, you actually end up feeling restless and like you can’t focus or concentrate on anything.

And so, I think you’re seeing a move-back to print; a move-back to the appreciation that print is restorative; it’s actually information that you take in. We know that there was a connection between the tactile, taking in of information…so, the touching of print and the absorption of information. And I feel very confident that print will continue to evolve and remain relevant.

With our fashion titles, you see extraordinarily creative photography that cannot be replicated online. And you see people wanting to disengage or unplug from their phones. It’s not a zero-sum game, which is how people seem to think of it; it’s very much an additive game, I think.

Samir Husni: Your role is the first-ever chief content officer at Hearst Magazines, and one of the things that David (Carey) and Michael (Clinton) mentioned to me recently in New York was how small the leadership circle is at Hearst Magazines. There are five of you in top leadership positions and that’s one reason for the stability at Hearst. But as the chief content officer, you have a large portfolio under your leadership.

Joanna Coles: I do and it’s a portfolio that I hope will grow. We’ve added two new magazines this year: The Pioneer Woman and Airbnb, which we’re phenomenally excited about. And of course, we’ve just bought Rodale, so we’ll be adding Men’s Health and Women’s Health to the mix, and Prevention, Runner’s World and Bicycling.

Samir Husni: How do you wrap your mind around all of these different titles and the fact that you’re in charge of all of them?

Joanna Coles: David (Carey) runs an incredibly organized ship. So, we have issue previews, where we learn what’s going to be in the magazine coming up, so we have regular meetings with the editors and publishers. I have a regular once-a-month, editor in chief meeting, where all of the editors come together; sometimes we bring in outside speakers from other industries to inspire us and to help us think strategically.

There is always some minor crisis going on (Laughs), and then we’re always out thinking about new business; thinking about new partnerships. Hearst is a very creative partner, with the way that we work. There is an enormous team of extremely talented people at Hearst who do all of the work. And honestly, I do sit and listen to them and just say yes or no.

Samir Husni: From your days in the U.K. with The Guardian and The Times; you’ve seen a lot; what do you think was the major change that took place in your job as a magazine editor, as a journalist? How are things different from five years ago; from your days at Cosmo?

Joanna Coles: The basic elements of journalism remains the same, which is to ask questions. What has become more challenging is the number of outlets to try and keep on top of, in terms of just the sheer amount of content they generate. And also the speed with which stuff goes out there with digital, that is really challenging and we’ve seen numerous incidents where people have gone out too early with misinformation that has caused enormous ramifications. So, the speed to publish has changed dramatically and the scale of what’s out there has also changed dramatically, but the fundamental responsibility of journalism is more important now than ever, which is to hold the powerful to account and to keep on asking questions when everybody obfuscates or lies to your face.

Samir Husni: If you are awarded a Ph.D. in journalism and you’re teaching journalism today, what grade would you give present-day journalism as a whole?

Joanna Coles: I think the journalism being practiced at the moment is extraordinary. The Washington Post; The New Yorker; Esquire: Town & Country; The New York Times, are all doing exceptional jobs of really trying to reflect the chaos going on in Washington and to explain it. I think we have some extraordinarily brave and dedicated journalists who are doing their jobs. And I’m sure they’re exhausted. The trolling that goes on with journalists is really a depressing development, but I think we have some astonishingly good journalism going on at the moment.

Samir Husni: So, that’s A+ or an A?

Joanna Coles: I wouldn’t say an A+, because I think in the runs after the election there was some disappointing mix in understanding what was going on in the country, but I think the election was a wakeup call that journalists were out to touch the elite, where the elite from both coasts had somehow missed the story that was going on in rural communities. And I believe that everyone is very conscious that they’re trying to reflect the country as it is and reflect what’s going on in D.C. as it is, as well. They all need to double their staff, because there’s just so much news at the moment.

Samir Husni: Hearst launched two new magazines this year, and now you have acquired Rodale. If you were to put your editorial fortuneteller hat on; what do you expect to see in 2018?

Joanna Coles: It’s always exciting to have new energy come in to the company, so we’re very excited about expanding to include both Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Prevention. And what those three titles do is give us even more expertise in the health and wellness area. And I think if you look at the demographic of the population, you look at what people are interested in; health and wellness and fitness are subjects that people are increasingly excited about. And also the sense of mental health and mindfulness are important to people. So, being able to offer more to readers around those subjects is really great for us.

We already offer extraordinary riches when it comes to food. We have the Food Network Magazine; Good Housekeeping; Woman’s Day; Redbook; we have our online brand, Delish. So, we’re extraordinarily powerful in food. In the women’s fashion space, we have Marie Claire; Elle; Harper’s Bazaar; so again, extreme strength there.

We had traditionally less strength in the health and wellness space, which we’ve now doubled-down on with the Rodale purchase. And if you also throw in Oprah Magazine there, which has tremendous strength in the mental health and wellness fields, we build up an industry expertise which is unrivaled.

Samir Husni: So, do you think this transition will be a walk in a rose garden, or do you think there will be some thorns along the way?

Joanna Coles: We are going through a walk in a rose garden, but we’re paying attention to the thorns along the way. (Laughs) I mean, I don’t want to pretend that this isn’t a challenging time, but as David is always telling us, the same word in Chinese that means crisis also means opportunity.

The other thing that is becoming obvious is that the big tech companies are all feeling more responsibility toward thinking about content. We are constantly approached now by the companies on the West Coast, wanting to partner with us to create good quality content. And I think everybody realizes now there is an absolute block of, quite frankly, crap out there, and that brand feels both an obligation and an excitement around producing high quality, premium content.

Not only are there moral reasons for doing that, but there are also great business reasons for doing that. If you’re AT&T, or you’re JPMorgan Chase, you don’t want to be advertising next to nonsensical stories. You want to be up against high quality content, and that’s what Hearst is in the business of doing. I know, because I field a lot of the calls. There’s tremendous excitement working with a company like Hearst that knows what we’re doing.

We’ve just launched My Beauty Chat with Amazon and it uses Alexa Skill. And they’re incredibly upbeat about the potential for that. And we’ll definitely be doing more content with emerging text, with voice being a part of that. So, I see us developing that a lot. And obviously, Apple has its HomePod coming out next year, it’s just been delayed, but they’re excited to work with Google Home. We’re working on a lot of what we call “listenables,” which is bite sized pieces of audio content. So, I’m having conversations with chief content officers at many different companies than I would have been doing three years ago.

Samir Husni: Would you define the word content for me today? What’s content in 2018?

Joanna Coles: That’s a very good question; no one has asked me that before. What is content? I think it is information served up in a responsible and entertaining way, that helps you understand and appreciate the world that you’re living in. And at its best, it resonates, and adds to your appreciation and understanding of the world we live in. And it’s also a fantastic emotional distraction. And at its worst, it’s full of misinformation and leaves you depressed and restless.

Samir Husni: And does content differ with the many platforms?

Joanna Coles: Of course, because you want to always play to a platform’s strength. So, in a magazine, you want to indulge in fabulous flights of fantasy with great photographers who can transport you and take you on a voyage of discovery that you didn’t know you wanted to go on. If you’re on your phone, you want digestible bits of information, some to make you laugh, some to make you feel, and some to inform you.

Samir Husni: As you go through your day, how do you decide where the content goes? This belongs to print, this belongs to digital, this content is voice, this content is video; do you have to really think about those decisions or does it just come naturally to you?

Joanna Coles: The editors make that decision. The editors are always thinking through the prism of their own brand; is this right for video, is this right for digital, is this print, is this a podcast, so the individual editors will have a good sense of where that material goes. For example, if you shoot Miley Cyrus, as Cosmo did recently; Miley Cyrus took Cosmo through her old childhood home and back to her childhood bedroom. That is a great story in print, because it’s emotional; the photos were terrific. But it was also a great video and it got great traction online, because you the viewer were taken into a private place that you don’t normally have access to. But in print, it was equally powerful.

There are many subjects which lend themselves to the different forms of content, but the ideal is when you’re doing one story and you can package it out across all different media.

Samir Husni: What has been something that you wished you wouldn’t have done in your professional career as an editor?

Joanna Coles: I never think about what I shouldn’t have done. I’ve spent half my life in the fetal position about what I shouldn’t have done, but I also move on. I’ve made hundreds of mistakes, everybody who’s doing a job well has made hundreds of mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them.

Samir Husni: What’s the best decision you’ve made in your professional career?

Joanna Coles: Probably saying yes to opportunity.

Samir Husni: What advice would you give millennials who might want to follow in your footsteps? How can someone become the next Joanna Coles?

Joanna Coles: First of all, I would instruct them to have fun. If you’re not passionate about doing it then you won’t enjoy it, because it’s a hard job; it’s long hours, but if you love it, it whistles past. And to be good to your peer group, because you will rise and fall with them, and there is no room in this business for people who misbehave. And the job is too big to waste energy treating people poorly.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Joanna Coles: I think that the importance of teamwork is one that gets overlooked in this business. Editors in particular get lavished with a lot of attention, but behind every good editor, or every editor with a certain amount of bravery to push the brand forward, there is always a loyal team who have got your back. And that’s the thing that I would like to make clear, that it’s easier to focus on individual people, but actually it’s always teamwork. And the real skill of a good editor in chief is managing a team. And also balancing all of their creative differences to make sure that you get the sum of the part, not the fragment of the part.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Joanna Coles: When my husband first saw me at a party, he wanted to know who I was and the man next to him said, oh, that’s Joanna Coles, she’s the rudest woman in London, which of course intrigued him. I hope they wouldn’t say that now. I think if they knew me and had worked with me, I hope that they would say that she was fun to work with.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Joanna Coles: You would find me walking the dog.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Joanna Coles: I’m embarrassed to say that I sleep like a log. Nothing keeps me up at night. I go to bed thoroughly exhausted and very excited about waking up the next morning.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“I’m one of those people who believe that despite all of the changes we’ve seen, magazines have a very important place, their print components as well, and I don’t think they’re going away anytime soon. I think they may shift and change in frequency and circulation size and advertising, but they are a very important part of this culture and I think people continue to recognize that.” Chris Mitchell…

The power of the brand as a whole is a vital component to the health wheel of publishing, and when you have a very significant number of powerful brands, bringing them together into a collection of culture is an innovative and intriguing direction. And Condé Nast certainly has the number of powerful, individual brands to make that collection even stronger than it was, especially with the right person moving that force into the future.

Chris Mitchell is definitely the right person. Chris has held the responsibility of publisher and chief revenue officer of Vanity Fair since 2014, and now has become the chief business officer for seven different brands under the Condé Nast banner. From The New Yorker to Vanity Fair to W to Teen Vogue to them platform to the Fashion Enterprise and the Entertainment Enterprise, Chris sees the diversity of demographics as a plus not a minus, and is determined to use the power of the individual brand to reinforce each other and bring even more strength and solidarity to the company.

I spoke with Chris recently and we talked about this new position he finds himself in. Chris said he is both excited and busy as he slides into the driver’s seat of his shiny, new machine. Busy, because of the hectic nature of his schedule, excited because of the possibilities this opportunity offers Condé Nast. New revenue streams, new advertising business; just the entire move seems right and he’s ready to take on the challenge. It’s the perfect time and he’s looking forward to a broader spectrum of responsibilities and possibilities.

So, I hope that you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with a man who is the Tsar of Culture in a Collection of diverse strength and power – Chris Mitchell, chief business officer, The Condé Nast Culture Collection.

But first the sound-bites:

On being named chief business officer of the new Condé Nast Culture Collection: Obviously, it’s been a little bit hectic in this transition phase, but it’s also been really fun. It’s giving me new and different things to do, which I’m enjoying a lot. And that’s been rewarding.

On the difference between his role as publisher, and today as chief business officer and whether it’s just semantics: I’m sure some of it is semantics, because obviously much of the role that I did before as a publisher, I’m still doing as a chief business officer. I’d say the notable difference is as our business evolves, the company sort of charged all of the CBOs with thinking even more broadly than the advertising responsibilities that we previously thought of ourselves as really owning as a publisher.

On whether overseeing the pure digital entity “Them” required a mind adjustment for him or it just came naturally: I’m sure the dynamic will be slightly different because it is digital-only. And The New Yorker, as you probably well know, has become a very sizeable digital business; something like The New Yorker is really evenly split between its print and digital revenues, which I think is another interesting dynamic. So, they are further along in this evolution of truly becoming a balanced business between print and digital. But Vanity Fair is a sizeable, $20 million digital business in and of itself, so while there is even a certainly larger print business at Vanity Fair to run, we’ve had experience running a pretty big digital business already.

On whether he envisions a day where everyone will be talking about brand advertising, rather than print or digital or print plus digital advertising: I can tell you that we’re experimenting with some things in some of the enterprise accounts and enterprise selling that we’re doing. What we want our advertising partners to really think of the relationship with Condé Nast as, is a marketing relationship. We want that investment to be a holistic investment as a marketing partner now.

On whether today it’s about the Condé Nast brand as a whole, rather than individual entities having their own brands, such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker: I think this can happen on an enterprise level, on a Condé Nast level, where we’re going to marketing partners and saying Condé Nast, with its 100 million consumers and multi 100 million digital and social footprints is something that we can aggregate across all of our brands for these partners. But at the same time, individual brands, or individual brand collections, The Culture Collection being a great example, I can go to a marketing partner and give them some real scale across the various titles and various demographics within The Culture Collection.

On the biggest challenge he’s faced so far and how he overcame it: As you said, it’s early days, so I’m sure I’m yet to face my biggest challenge, but I think broadly speaking, this is an important time management exercise for me. So, I’d like to think that where I’ve found success at this company has been in building teams of incredibly talented people and frankly, staying out of their way to the degree that I am letting them do their job that they’re imminently capable of doing.

On whether he feels overwhelmed by all of the brands he oversees and all of the different demographics that they represent: No, I think that’s what’s great about it. And what’s interesting is, and again, I think if we look at the company’s strategy behind this, and perhaps this collection more than the other; what S. I. Newhouse was so brilliant at in his long career at Condé Nast was really having his finger on the pulse of culture. He shaped it with all of the magazines at the time and the editors and the choices that he made, so to me culture is really the heart of what this company stands for. And this collection is notable for just what you’ve pointed out; as a collection it really spans the full breadth of our culture in so many ways demographically, not even just age.

On whether he thinks it will be smooth sailing ahead despite all of the changes, or that he has some rough seas to get through: This year has certainly been a challenging one for media companies. In our case, and in all of the media companies cases, I think we’ve all seen the print lines have been somewhat challenging this year as the shift continues to digital. We’ve all seen a decline in our print advertising, but a market growth in our digital advertising. I would like to believe that going into 2018, we’re going to see a stabilization of print. I think that we have reached a level where print has just found its natural level among the other platforms. And I expect that we will continue to see a real rise in digital display, but more even in video and in the growth of social.

On what message he gives his team when they leave their offices to sell the various brands in the collection: I like to use the old saw that I got from my mother, which is: if you want something done, give it to a busy person. And I think while we’re still integrating these various brands into one collection, to answer your question honestly, it’s going to be a work in progress to really figure out what is that collective message.

On anything else he’d like to add: It’s early days, but it’s exciting. For the last six months, we were a smaller collection, which was made up of just Vanity Fair and W, two brands that have a lot of similarities and fit well together, but it didn’t fully make a collection. And what pleases me about this is, as you noted, you get a real gestalt in putting these brands together, and in some cases, seemingly very different brands, with The New Yorker and Teen Vogue. But the whole is greater than some of its parts, in how they can all fit together in a collection. And that’s exceptionally exciting for me.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: If I’m lucky enough for this to be where I spend my whole career, and certainly I have more years behind me than ahead of me, I’d guess, I would want people to say he put his mark on the very important thing that Condé Nast stands for. And if I could be known as someone who worked very hard to make Condé Nast an even more successful place than I found it, and the brands that I’ve had the pleasure of working on, better when I left them than when I started, I’ll feel like it was a life’s work well done.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: My wife works at Condé Nast as well, you may recall that, Pilar Guzmán, she’s the editor of Condé Nast Traveler. We have two boys, one’s a teenager and one is almost, so like a lot of working families, it’s somewhat of a juggling act in our hectic schedules. The truth is I, as does Pilar, we go home every night that we possibly can and try to have as quiet and as normal a life with our two kids that we can.

On what keeps him up at night: I’d say that it’s seven different things: Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Teen Vogue, Them, W, our fashion and entertainment business as a whole. But all that said, I sleep pretty well. And I think if I can spend more of my time thinking about new ways that we’re going to market, that we are working with our partners, that we are thinking about everything from the pricing strategies, the value proposition, the ways that we can continue to innovate in our marketing, the ways that we can make this collection and each of its individual brands stronger; the more of my time that I can lie awake excitedly thinking about those things and trust in really strong people to continue to manage the advertising, revenue piece, I’m a happy man.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Chris Mitchell, chief business officer, The Condé Nast Culture Collection.

Samir Husni: Chris, you’re now the “Culture Tsar” of The Condé Nast Culture Collection. (Laughs)

Chris Mitchell: (Laughs too) I like Tsar along with culture, I hadn’t thought of that yet.

Samir Husni: Congratulations on being named chief business officer of The Condé Nast Culture Collection. I’m sure you’ve been extremely busy.

Chris Mitchell: Thank you. Obviously, it’s been a little bit hectic in this transition phase, but it’s also been really fun. It’s giving me new and different things to do, which I’m enjoying a lot. And that’s been rewarding.

Samir Husni: You’re overseeing this new Culture division at Condé Nast, which includes Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, W, Teen Vogue and Them. What’s the difference between the title of publisher and chief business officer? Is this just semantics or is there a difference?

Chris Mitchell: I’m sure some of it is semantics, because obviously much of the role that I did before as a publisher, I’m still doing as a chief business officer. I’d say the notable difference is as our business evolves, the company sort of charged all of the CBOs with thinking even more broadly than the advertising responsibilities that we previously thought of ourselves as really owning as a publisher.

And so, that’s probably your big difference is that the chief business officer role encompasses our business development, broader partnerships, and M&A work that we think could be interesting for our collections, and particularly in that vein, as we grow these digital footprints, Bob Sauerberg (Chief Executive Officer & President – Condé Nast) has charged us with really bringing back to him this holistic view of what other things we should be building, buying, and partnering with in the digital space to really accelerate that growth.

So, the job does become broader, especially in my case, since this has become a fairly sizeable collection. And by the way, in addition to the collection, I also oversee our enterprise relationships for the fashion category for the company, as well as for the entertainment and media categories. I’ve got teams who really work on the enterprise products selling for the whole company around the fashion relationships and also around the entertainment relationships.

But in addition to those things; we’re constantly thinking about how can we really grow this business and I now have VPs underneath me who I’m asking to step up and take on more of what frankly used to be a publisher’s role, really, owning that advertising revenue piece of the business.

Samir Husni: You’ve been publisher of many magazines before, and now you’re also dealing with a pure digital entity with Them. Did that require a mind adjustment or did it just come natural?

Chris Mitchell: I’m sure the dynamic will be slightly different because it is digital-only. And The New Yorker, as you probably well know, has become a very sizeable digital business; something like The New Yorker is really evenly split between its print and digital revenues, which I think is another interesting dynamic. So, they are further along in this evolution of truly becoming a balanced business between print and digital.

But Vanity Fair is a sizeable, $20 million digital business in and of itself, so while there is even a certainly larger print business at Vanity Fair to run, we’ve had experience running a pretty big digital business already. And frankly speaking, the evolution that I’ve gone through as a publisher, a chief business officer over the last five years, has been that digital education. That self-education that we’ve all had to give ourselves as the world has moved to a more digital advertising model and as a lot of our clients have shifted more of their money from print to digital.

Samir Husni: Do you envision a day where everyone will be talking about just the “brand” advertising, rather than print versus digital or print plus digital?

Chris Mitchell: I can tell you that we’re experimenting with some things in some of the enterprise accounts and enterprise selling that we’re doing. What we want our advertising partners to really think of the relationship with Condé Nast as, is a marketing relationship. We want that investment to be a holistic investment as a marketing partner now.

And that’s more than just words or semantics. That’s a sizeable shift from what we’ve done before, where we were looking at these as individual platforms and frankly where we probably had some legacy behavior toward protecting one platform versus another. I think those days are gone. We’re not doing service to the brand and we’re not doing service to our marketing partners if we’re here trying to protect print. That isn’t our job. And I think there will be a natural evolution and that this will level itself.

What level of print advertising a brand is doing is going to depend entirely on the brand itself; what category of advertising that brand is in, and then a lot of other things that about the maturity or development of that brand. But if we let those brands decide, find a natural level of what is the role of print; what is the role of digital; and then importantly, what is the role of other marketing services that Condé Nast is invested in the last couple of years, things like Data Solutions, things like Branded Content and Experiential Events. Those are all huge areas of growth for this company. And we want our partners to invest in those areas, as much as they’re investing in our traditional media areas.

Samir Husni: If I understand you correctly, you’re moving in the direction of Condé Nast being the brand, rather than individual brands, such as the Vanity Fair brand and The New Yorker brand?

Chris Mitchell: It’s two things. I think this can happen on an enterprise level, on a Condé Nast level, where we’re going to marketing partners and saying Condé Nast, with its 100 million consumers and multi 100 million digital and social footprints is something that we can aggregate across all of our brands for these partners. But at the same time, individual brands, or individual brand collections, The Culture Collection being a great example, I can go to a marketing partner and give them some real scale across the various titles and various demographics within The Culture Collection.

I can also go to them on a brand-by-brand and say, let’s talk about how you can work with The New Yorker specifically or Vanity Fair specifically and still be able to touch a lot of different areas. They can do digital advertising, print advertising; we can monetize our social media with our partners. We can do native advertising across any of those platforms. They can also do events and sponsorships and things like that, things that are non-media expenditures that are obviously very important marketing expenditures. And as this company has evolved, even a single brand partner, a New Yorker specific advertiser, should be able to take advantage of an entire suite of marketing services that The New Yorker itself, or that Condé Nast can offer.

So, these are brand conversations; these are collection conversations; and then these are also Condé Nast-wide conversations. And I think that’s the mix that allows us to be the most versatile partner and frankly the best in overall business.

Samir Husni: You’ve been less than two weeks on this job; what has been the biggest challenge that you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

Chris Mitchell: As you said, it’s early days, so I’m sure I’m yet to face my biggest challenge, but I think broadly speaking, this is an important time management exercise for me. So, I’d like to think that where I’ve found success at this company has been in building teams of incredibly talented people and frankly, staying out of their way to the degree that I am letting them do their job that they’re imminently capable of doing.

And as I explained to my bosses when we were doing this transition, I was very clear-eyed about the fact that there was going to be a lot on my plate and it will require me to empower and delegate to the really strong VPs and executive directors, and very senior sales and marketing talent that we already have at this company.

What we’re in the middle of right now is putting the finishing touches on what that organization looks like, but I know already that it’s going to depend very greatly on the very talented VPs of revenue and marketing who will be working on the various brands.

The other thing that’s interesting and what I love about this, and given how long that I’ve been at this company, I worked at The New Yorker for three years, from 2001 to 2004 as the associate publisher then with David Remnick, and I regard that as the three probably most enjoyable years I’ve spent at this company, so to be back working at The New Yorker is a privilege as much as it is a great challenge. I’m lucky in the sense that I get to now dip into a lot of different things. The New Yorker has a huge consumer business, which will be a great learning experience for the rest of the brands in this collection.

I think where we’re going to see real synergy is where we can apply the strength of one brand and have that work for the other brands. The advocacy and millennial audience and buzz of Teen Vogue; the exciting and experimental project that is Them; the consumer business of Vanity Fair; we’re doing some very interesting things with W to really lean into its oversized format for print; and then of course Vanity Fair, which has a host of things from the experiential conferences, to the web strategy we put into place a couple of years ago with these three different verticals. So, we’re going to have a lot of learning across all of these brands that I think will benefit the collection, and hopefully the company.

Samir Husni: Do you feel overwhelmed, like you’re almost reaching every age group, from the teens, all the way to the aging baby boomers?

Chris Mitchell: No, I think that’s what’s great about it. And what’s interesting is, and again, I think if we look at the company’s strategy behind this, and perhaps this collection more than the other; what S. I. Newhouse was so brilliant at in his long career at Condé Nast was really having his finger on the pulse of culture. He shaped it with all of the magazines at the time and the editors and the choices that he made, so to me culture is really the heart of what this company stands for. And this collection is notable for just what you’ve pointed out; as a collection it really spans the full breadth of our culture in so many ways demographically, not even just age.

I also think what’s interesting is most of the individual titles within The Culture Collection have that really broad range. The New Yorker is a prime example of being incredibly relevant to millennials, just take a subway anywhere in New York and look at the number of New Yorker tote bags that you see on 20-somethings, and as you noted, all the way up to aging baby boomers and beyond.

And we have great examples like that with all of the brands, where the breadth of the readership, age-wise and otherwise, is much broader that you might even expect. Something like a Teen Vogue that actually has a median age of 24, and quite a few readers, because of its female empowerment message, skew far older than what the title would suggest.

So, this is going to be an exercise in dispelling certain notions, even within the individual brands, as well as using the breadth of the collection to be that much more powerful as a marketing partner for our advertisers.

Samir Husni: As you plan for the changes, such as the editorship of Vanity Fair; how do you think that particular ship will continue to sail? Is it smooth sailing ahead or maybe some rough seas?

Chris Mitchell: This year has certainly been a challenging one for media companies. In our case, and in all of the media companies cases, I think we’ve all seen the print lines have been somewhat challenging this year as the shift continues to digital. We’ve all seen a decline in our print advertising, but a market growth in our digital advertising.

I would like to believe that going into 2018, we’re going to see a stabilization of print. I think that we have reached a level where print has just found its natural level among the other platforms. And I expect that we will continue to see a real rise in digital display, but more even in video and in the growth of social. Our company is betting big that video is going to continue to be a very strong growth area, and an area where we really can excel as a company, as we compete with things like linear TV. A great number of dollars go into video advertising in non-linear formats, and I think Condé Nast can and should be the major player within the upscale lifestyle space.

Samir Husni: As the Culture Tsar now at Condé Nast, what’s the message that you give your teams before they go out from their offices? You have The Culture Collection; you have the two enterprises, the fashion and entertainment categories. I once read a quote from Bob Sauerberg saying that he doesn’t motivate people; he hires motivated people…

Chris Mitchell: I think that’s a great quote. And I certainly second that. I like to use the old saw that I got from my mother, which is: if you want something done, give it to a busy person. And I think while we’re still integrating these various brands into one collection, to answer your question honestly, it’s going to be a work in progress to really figure out what is that collective message.

But we’re going to have a matrixed organization here, within this collection, where we will have some people who are dedicated to advertising categories across the entire collection, and we’ll have other people dedicated to specific brands. And I think that’s going to be the right way. Some of the advertising categories certainly learned this on a company level within the last reorganization. These advertising categories behave differently and should be staffed and structured differently.

So, what we consider the inventive fashion accounts should probably be handled on a more specific brand-by-brand basis, those are very hand-sold, handheld relationships. And other categories, like perhaps automotive, can be done across the whole collection, where you’ll get more power from the breadth of brands.

And where we are going out to the market with a collection story; I would point back to what I said earlier, that’s the beating heart of this company, our ability to shape and reflect culture. So, we have this great mantle of responsibility within this collection, that we can go out and speak to so many advertisers and categories because we’re at the real center of relevance for that.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Chris Mitchell: No, it’s early days, but it’s exciting. For the last six months, we were a smaller collection, which was made up of just Vanity Fair and W, two brands that have a lot of similarities and fit well together, but it didn’t fully make a collection. And what pleases me about this is, as you noted, you get a real gestalt in putting these brands together, and in some cases, seemingly very different brands, with The New Yorker and Teen Vogue. But the whole is greater than some of its parts, in how they can all fit together in a collection. And that’s exceptionally exciting for me.

I’m one of those people who believe that despite all of the changes we’ve seen, magazines have a very important place, their print components as well, and I don’t think they’re going away anytime soon. I think they may shift and change in frequency and circulation size and advertising, but they are a very important part of this culture and I think people continue to recognize that.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Chris Mitchell: That’s a good question. I’ve essentially spent my entire career at Condé Nast. I’ve left just once to do a startup for about a year and then I came right back to Condé Nast. And given the tumult in our industry, and obviously the changes in our company, I haven’t for a day taken lightly the honor of working here.

If I’m lucky enough for this to be where I spend my whole career, and certainly I have more years behind me than ahead of me, I’d guess, I would want people to say he put his mark on the very important thing that Condé Nast stands for. And if I could be known as someone who worked very hard to make Condé Nast an even more successful place than I found it, and the brands that I’ve had the pleasure of working on, better when I left them than when I started, I’ll feel like it was a life’s work well done.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Chris Mitchell: My wife works at Condé Nast as well, you may recall that, Pilar Guzmán, she’s the editor of Condé Nast Traveler. We have two boys, one’s a teenager and one is almost, so like a lot of working families, it’s somewhat of a juggling act in our hectic schedules. The truth is I, as does Pilar, we go home every night that we possibly can and try to have as quiet and as normal a life with our two kids that we can.

Time management is time management. I think it doesn’t matter if you have the top job at this company or you’ve got a junior job here, two people working, whether you have kids or you have pets, whether you have responsibilities in your life otherwise, everyone has a juggling act. We don’t feel like ours is more difficult or complicated, and there’s certainly no sympathy that we’re looking for here. I think everybody in this economy is working harder than ever to make sure that they’re staying ahead and contributing, and all that stuff. So, I don’t think we have anymore pressures or time pressures than most people. We lead a very normal life. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Chris Mitchell: I’d say that it’s seven different things: Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Teen Vogue, Them, W, our fashion and entertainment business as a whole. But all that said, I sleep pretty well. And I think if I can spend more of my time thinking about new ways that we’re going to market, that we are working with our partners, that we are thinking about everything from the pricing strategies, the value proposition, the ways that we can continue to innovate in our marketing, the ways that we can make this collection and each of its individual brands stronger; the more of my time that I can lie awake excitedly thinking about those things and trust in really strong people to continue to manage the advertising, revenue piece, I’m a happy man.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term. So, inspiration versus utility, as I like to say.” Tom Harty…

“When you type into a Google box or a Google search, and you’re specifically looking for chicken dinners or chicken tacos, or swordfish, you know what you’re looking for, at least to start. You’re looking for a recipe around something, but there’s still an inspirational part of curation that our editors can form. So, we started Allrecipes Magazine, where we could curate all of that great content that we have in the back of the database online and bring it forward to inspire. Now, you have an extremely successful magazine built out from a digital-only brand.” Tom Harty…

“You’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.” Tom Harty

From Eating Well to Allrecipes, Martha Stewart Living to Better Homes and Gardens; and more recently, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ The Magnolia Journal, Meredith has been serving their readers with great content for 115 years. And of course, with many, many titles in between. Tom Harty is president and chief operating officer of the company, and under his leadership has played a key role in the development and execution of Meredith’s strategic initiatives, helping Meredith increase its connection to the American consumer through growth in magazine audience, online traffic, brand licensing and marketing services.

Tom’s career in magazines and magazine media is rich with experience, having been senior vice president, general manager for The Golf Digest Companies, a division of Advance Magazines. His broad media company experience includes key leadership positions with TV Guide, where he served as vice president and publisher; and Reader’s Digest, where he was advertising director. So, Tom knows a thing or two about magazines.

I spoke with Tom recently and we talked about his strategic vision for the company. Tom’s plans include continuing to gear great content toward women and to give them that content in whatever way they want to consume it, from the legacy print format to all of their new digital products. He said the demand for print from the consumer was still very strong; and of course, one shining example of that is Better Homes and Gardens, which is still living up to its 7.6 million copy circulation that it had 20 years ago. And from organic growth to acquisitions, Tom is committed to continuing the robust present and very bright future that Meredith works very hard to maintain.

So, I hope that you enjoy this interesting and informative conversation with a man who uses his vast experience to propel Meredith forward in both print and digital, and strives to expand the company’s vision even more, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Tom Harty, president and chief operating officer, Meredith.

But first the sound-bites:

On his strategic vision for Meredith in today’s 21st century: It really hasn’t changed from what we’ve done in the past. We create great content that’s geared toward American women, and we’ve been doing that for 115 years. And that’s our strategic vision. I think that what we want to do as we change is create that content however she wants to consume it, so obviously that is both in a legacy print format and in all of our new digital formats.

On how he strikes a balance between Meredith’s digital approach and the reality of print today: What we’re seeing is the demand for print products from consumers is still very strong. We like to say that 20 years ago we printed 7.6 million copies of Better Homes and Gardens each month, and today we print 7.6 million copies per month too. And not a lot has changed from that perspective. About 90 percent of our circulation is subscription versus newsstand, so as the newsstand troubles have been going on out there, we’ve been less affected by that. Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term.

On whether they’re looking for a new strategic model when it comes to digital advertising that isn’t similar to the print model: From an advertising perspective, where we’ve been having success digitally is that we have some proprietary products digitally that are digital-ad products. A company called Selectable Media a few years ago, that enables us to gate content, where you might have to watch a video to completion to get our content. So, we’re asking the consumer to do something.

On how he shows his love, or tough love, to both his legacy magazine brands and those products that were already brands before they joined the Meredith team: That’s a good question, and I think it’s a good point. We’re always evaluating where we’re putting our resources for growth. That’s the struggle that people at the top of the house of media companies have to make, and have been making for long periods of time. You can’t treat every single brand, or child, as you put it, always equally. That’s not to say that this doesn’t change all of the time.

On what he hopes to accomplish one year from now: I think you’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.

On a Rolling Stone acquisition: I wouldn’t say that Rolling Stone would fit our current strategy, that’s what I would comment. It’s a great brand, it’s been around for a long period of time, but it probably would not fit our strategy to look at that brand.

On whether he thinks the recent partnerships many publishers have made with celebrity brands is a new business model or one that began in the ‘80s with Martha Stewart and Time Inc.: I wouldn’t say that it’s a new business model. When Martha, or whoever, starts things from scratch, they’re looking to find the experts that are out there to help them. So, I think there’s an opportunity maybe to do some more of these types of things.

On whether he thinks the future for magazines is a more targeted approach, or there is still a desire from consumers for large, mass magazines like Better Homes and Gardens: I think that there’s a place for some of these large-scale magazines to still exist. I see the demand for Better Homes and Gardens and it’s astonishing. But it really strikes at a strong brand; it strikes at consumers who are looking for that type of content on a broad scale. So, it exists. I don’t know if we’ll ever see a magazine from scratch reach that kind of scale again, I just don’t know. That’s a good question, if there will ever be new brands that will come out and do that.

On the question someone asked him once when he was publisher of TV Guide on why he provided the TV listings free online: When I was the publisher at TV Guide and I was getting the furnace replaced in my old house that I’d bought, and the oil sales guy asked me if I was the publisher of TV Guide, why was I giving the TV listings online for free. That was a moment in time. I’ll never forget that; it was a very strategic question. And at the time, I don’t think we had the answer.

On whether he believes they have the answer now: The utility has changed for a magazine. I think that was more of a technology change. I think the utility of finding what’s on television has changed, and I believe that was something that TV Guide saw coming, but yes, I think we have the answer now.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: When I think about people that I’ve worked with and what they will think about Tom Harty, I believe that it would be that he was a decisive, fair leader during a time in the media business of great disruption. That’s what I think about myself. That I make decisive decisions and I’m very fair about it in my leadership style. And I think that’s what people would say about Tom Harty.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: You’d probably find me winding down with my wife and I in the kitchen preparing dinner, and doing it together. And me doing all of the cleanup, just helping her out and enjoying a nice evening together.

On what keeps him up at night: What keeps me up at night is what’s kept a lot of people up at night and that is, as this business goes through tremendous transformation and change, what are the new things technology-wise or competition-wise that I’m not thinking about? That’s what keeps me up at night. You can address the things that you know about, but it’s harder to address the unknown.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Tom Harty, president and chief operating officer, Meredith.

Samir Husni: Congratulations on the many successes that Meredith has been having with its magazines this year. I see from your bio that Meredith gives you much credit for your leadership when it comes to those successes and your strategic vision for the company. Can you tell me about that strategic vision you have for Meredith today, in the 21st century?

Tom Harty: It really hasn’t changed from what we’ve done in the past. We create great content that’s geared toward American women, and we’ve been doing that for 115 years. And that’s our strategic vision. I think that what we want to do as we change is create that content however she wants to consume it, so obviously that is both in a legacy print format and in all of our new digital formats. I always like to tell people, it’s not one or the other, it’s combined for us, so we continue to focus on our great heritage of print products, which women still enjoy thoroughly. And we’re also focused on the new, emerging digital properties and digital utilities that we can format for her going into the future.

Samir Husni: You’re still investing a lot in print. This year alone we’ve seen the reengineering or refreshing of Parents, Martha Stewart Living, Family Circle, and Better Homes and Gardens. And you’re moving forward with digital as well. How do you strike that balance between the digital approach you’re taking and the reality of print today in this digital age?

Tom Harty: What we’re seeing is the demand for print products from consumers is still very strong. We like to say that 20 years ago we printed 7.6 million copies of Better Homes and Gardens each month, and today we print 7.6 million copies per month too. And not a lot has changed from that perspective. About 90 percent of our circulation is subscription versus newsstand, so as the newsstand troubles have been going on out there, we’ve been less affected by that.

Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term. So, inspiration versus utility, as I like to say.

But to your point, the headwinds that we’ve been facing are that advertisers have a lot more places to spend their money and there are a lot more impressions being created out there in digital and mobile. That’s the issue that we’re facing. At Meredith, we don’t see a tremendous consumer issue, when it comes to demand for our magazines. We have an advertiser issue that we’ve been facing, and we’ve been planning for that and figuring out ways to grow around that.

And we’ve talked about this years ago; when we launched Allrecipes Magazine, I don’t think there were too many people out there who thought it would be successful, taking a digital-only brand that was started online as allrecipes.com, where it’s user-generated content that we obviously give back to consumers online, and give them that utility of finding a recipe that they’re looking for.

But we also felt like when you type into a Google box or a Google search, and you’re specifically looking for chicken dinners or chicken tacos, or swordfish, you know what you’re looking for, at least to start. You’re looking for a recipe around something, but there’s still an inspirational part of curation that our editors can form. So, we started Allrecipes Magazine, where we could curate all of that great content that we have in the back of the database online and bring it forward to inspire. Now, you have an extremely successful magazine built out from a digital-only brand.

A year ago, one of the most exciting things that I’ve seen in my 30+ years in the business is the Magnolia Journal. We had the opportunity to have a discussion with Chip and Joanna Gaines, of the “Fixer Upper” and the Magnolia brand, and in 60 days we put out a newsstand-only test and when it came back, we had to go back to press in the first week and double the print run. We sold over 75 percent of the copies in a short period of time at $10 a pop.

And that’s when we knew we had a runaway success, and now we’re selling subscriptions and now we’re going to have a one million circulation magazine in less than 12 months. It’s the most profitable magazine launch in the history of the company in 115 years. So, there’s a great print product, great brand, great editors working with that celebrity to put together a product that consumers would react to and you can’t argue with the success and demand for that print product.

You asked about the balance; we’re not giving up on the print products because the utility of print is still in demand from consumers. But at the same time we’re building out a digital business that creates a great utility in finding tools to help consumers do that also.

Samir Husni: Recently, I heard that the chief brand officer at P&G said that the average digital ad viewing is 1.7 seconds, and he’s challenging the industry to find another way for digital advertising. As you develop your digital footprint, are you also trying to find a new, strategic model that isn’t similar to the print model?

Tom Harty: From an advertising perspective, where we’ve been having success digitally is that we have some proprietary products digitally that are digital-ad products. A company called Selectable Media a few years ago, that enables us to gate content, where you might have to watch a video to completion to get our content. So, we’re asking the consumer to do something.

And we’re able to take our proprietary data and overlay that with other things. We bought a company called Couponix that enables us to target at retail prices, because half of our traffic for allrecipes happens in retail stores, as people are searching for recipes. So, we’re building out proprietary ad products that give advertisers more value. I think some advertisers are questioning some of the traditional banner advertising; were they getting the best bang for their buck.

So, as we aggregate these great audiences and give them this utility to get at our content, how can we really engage these advertisers in that conversation, where they can get a return for the dollars they’re investing in that. The digital industry is still always evolving and looking for the right mix of , where it’s not interfering with the user experience, but getting those advertisers’ messages across.

I’ve been in this business for a long time, whenever we did unaided research with editors and our subscribers over the years, we’d do focus groups, and this goes back 25 years ago. I used to sit through these and the editors would be behind the glass and the readers would be on the other side, and the facilitator would pass out the magazines and they’d tell the readers to point out the editorial that they really loved, and it used to drive the editors crazy, because they used to point at advertising. The advertising was part of the experience. That is a great part of the form factor of print for advertising. And I think digital is still making strides to get that same connection with consumers, where it’s not interfering with their experience.

Samir Husni: I feel like you may be the father of too many children, and some of them are very well known children, such as Martha Stewart Living, Rachael Ray, and the Gaines couple. How do you show your love, or your tough love, to legacy brands, like Better Homes and Gardens, Parents; and then all of these brands that stand on their own?

Tom Harty: That’s a good question, and I think it’s a good point. We’re always evaluating where we’re putting our resources for growth. That’s the struggle that people at the top of the house of media companies have to make, and have been making for long periods of time. You can’t treat every single brand, or child, as you put it, always equally. That’s not to say that this doesn’t change all of the time.

We’ve been able to build out a great brand portfolio in recent years, and made some great additions like, as you mentioned, Martha Stewart, Shape, Racheal Ray, and Eating Well. We’ve been able to take advantage of the efficiencies of Meredith, from being what we think is one of the best, if not the best, operators in the business, and take advantage of the efficiencies of a bigger media company with our back office based in Des Moines, Iowa.

But we can also allocate some of those savings, as you would call it, being part of a bigger company, where they’re independent on their own, and reinvest in the brand. So, it’s always a battle, but we always have to keep an eye on where we think we can get the best return for our investment and for our shareholders in the future. We’re constantly waging that kind of allocation battle.

You’ve known in the past where we’ve made tougher decisions on brands like Ladies’ Home Journal or More, or we combined Fitness with Shape, where we make a bigger bet on what we think is a different way to allocate it, and stop allocating to certain brands. It’s not an easy decision to make, but we’ve made that in the past.

Samir Husni: When we look at the Meredith portfolio today, under your leadership, if you and I are speaking one year from now, what would you hope to tell me that you had accomplished in 2017?

Tom Harty: I think you’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.

There are a number of things that we’re constantly looking at, so we’re not shying away from any area, but I always say that it has to, number one, fit our strategy for an acquisition, and then it has to be for sale; you have to have a seller that actually wants to sell something, and it has to be the right price. There’s a sifter that we put things through.

I think that throughout the industry, from print to digital to broadcast, all are ripe for consolidation, and as Meredith has stated, we’re going to be a consolidator, and you’ve seen us look at that and do that over the last few years. And we’re going to continue to do that, while at the same time, making investments in our core organic business.

Samir Husni: Without going into what’s up for sale now, can you rule out a Rolling Stone purchase?

Tom Harty: I wouldn’t say that Rolling Stone would fit our current strategy, that’s what I would comment. It’s a great brand, it’s been around for a long period of time, but it probably would not fit our strategy to look at that brand.

That’s not to say that we wouldn’t look at making investments in men’s brands. If you look at our portfolio, we’re more dominant on the women’s side of the business. I think the current number is we reach 112 million women in the United States on a monthly basis. I believe there’s somewhere around 1,920 million adult women in the U.S., so we’re fast approaching a saturation of how we reach women. So, we might look at more men-focused titles in the future.

Samir Husni: When you look at that portfolio and everything you’ve done so far, do you think that with Meredith, Hearst, and recently, Condé Nast, starting partnerships, such as Meredith and the Gaines couple, Hearst and The Pioneer Woman and Dr. Oz; do you think that’s a reinvention of a business model, or is it something that Martha Stewart actually introduced in the 1980s with Time Inc.?

Tom Harty: I wouldn’t say that it’s a new business model. When Martha, or whoever, starts things from scratch, they’re looking to find the experts that are out there to help them. So, I think there’s an opportunity maybe to do some more of these types of things. It’s us and Hearst that’s kind of really active in that.

We did something with Condé Nast with House & Garden. We’re able to produce content very efficiently and House & Garden is a brand that we think is fantastic, and so does Condé Nast. They decided to stop the print brand, and we’ve come back with it and have our second issue on the newsstand, and it’s been successful. So, there are always models that we’re looking at, even helping each other. Here we are working with Condé Nast on a licensing and profitability share for House & Garden.

So, it’s not a new concept, but I think in this day and age launching a magazine for an independent celebrity or independent company, is more difficult. It makes it much more efficient for a bigger media company to help them do that.

Samir Husni: In your career, you’ve worked at three of the largest magazines in this country: TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens. So, you’ve seen the huge magazines and their huge circulations. And you just shared that Better Homes and Gardens is still the largest, non-membership magazine in this country. But do you think the future for magazines is a more targeted approach, or is there still a desire from consumers for these large, mass magazines?

Tom Harty: I think that there’s a place for some of these large-scale magazines to still exist. I see the demand for Better Homes and Gardens and it’s astonishing. But it really strikes at a strong brand; it strikes at consumers who are looking for that type of content on a broad scale. So, it exists.

I don’t know if we’ll ever see a magazine from scratch reach that kind of scale again, I just don’t know. That’s a good question, if there will ever be new brands that will come out and do that. I don’t know if the Magnolia brand will ever reach that kind of scale; I’m just not sure.

Samir Husni: I remember meeting you once and you told me a story about your furnace in the basement of your home and the guy who came to fix it. I think at the time the story took place you were at TV Guide. Do you remember that?

Tom Harty: You’re exactly right. I used that example of when I was the publisher at TV Guide and I was getting the furnace replaced in my old house that I’d bought, and the oil sales guy asked me if I was the publisher of TV Guide, why was I giving the TV listings online for free. That was a moment in time. I’ll never forget that; it was a very strategic question. And at the time, I don’t think we had the answer.

Samir Husni: Do you have the answer now?

Tom Harty: The utility has changed for a magazine. I think that was more of a technology change. I think the utility of finding what’s on television has changed, and I believe that was something that TV Guide saw coming, but yes, I think we have the answer now.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Tom Harty: That’s a good question. When I think about people that I’ve worked with and what they will think about Tom Harty, I believe that it would be that he was a decisive, fair leader during a time in the media business of great disruption. That’s what I think about myself. That I make decisive decisions and I’m very fair about it in my leadership style. And I think that’s what people would say about Tom Harty.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Tom Harty: You’d probably find me winding down with my wife and I in the kitchen preparing dinner, and doing it together. And me doing all of the cleanup, just helping her out and enjoying a nice evening together.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Tom Harty: What keeps me up at night is what’s kept a lot of people up at night and that is, as this business goes through tremendous transformation and change, what are the new things technology-wise or competition-wise that I’m not thinking about? That’s what keeps me up at night. You can address the things that you know about, but it’s harder to address the unknown. And that’s what keeps me staring at the ceiling at night, the things that I’m missing.

Samir Husni: Thank you.