Mr. Magazine

“The advantage that print has is really two-fold. One is that as digital media moves to the phone, it’s pretty easy to see what the difference is between digital media and print media. Print is just so much bigger and the display is huge, the colors are vibrant and you get to use design and it’s just a completely different experience. Fifteen years ago everybody was just trying to put what magazines did or what newspapers did onto a computer screen. And this is kind of the same thing. Now, what gets created for a phone is very different from what gets created for a magazine. In general, though there are some exceptions to this these days, what’s being created for a magazine is more ambitious and more sprawling and more built-to-last.” David Granger

“I’ve been discouraged and disappointed when people expressed this idea that inevitably print was going to go away. And it’s not just because I believe that it’s the greatest medium ever created. I think that there is some appeal to it that is being demonstrated all over again. You see sales in books, in paper, are climbing while the digital experience in books is beginning to decline.” David Granger

Esquire has been the original men’s magazine on style and fashion for the last 82 years. And with a legacy of quintessential content such as that, finding an innovative and creative way to present it to the masses and bring that premier information to life once again in new ways was the driving force behind Esquire Classic. Well, that and its prolific team led by their insightful Editor-In-Chief, David Granger.

David has been at the helm of Esquire for 18 years and knows a thing or two about what the magazine’s readers want when it comes to their essential dose of Esquire. He has immersed himself in the brand and believes the key to being a successful editor in 2015 is to be constantly open to new ideas and possibilities, whether his own or ones from his superb staff.

Recently the 1000th issue of Esquire was lovingly dressed (in Esquire-finest, of course) and sent on its way, with scores of references to people, events and articles of the last 82 years. And as an added feature to its readers, and through a partnership with Shazam’s new visual recognition technology, readers are able to use their mobile devices to connect directly from the print magazine to Esquire’s coverage of those moments within the new digital archive.

And also to celebrate the 1000th issue, Esquire joined forces with PRX, an award-winning public media company, to launch a podcast deconstructing classic non-fiction stories from the vault of the 82-year-old magazine that continues to push the envelope when it comes to narrative journalism. These podcasts will be published every two weeks. Talk about creative innovation.

I spoke with David recently about his time at Esquire and the many innovations and creative ways he and his team are constantly reinventing and reinvigorating the brand. It was a delightful conversation that took me back to the magazine’s past and invariably full-circle into its future. And truly it’s a given, no one knows Esquire like the man in charge.

So, I hope you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with the charismatic David Granger, editor-in-chief, Esquire, as you read how a legacy magazine can take a cue from its past and continue to flourish.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the last 18 years he’s spent at Esquire and what conclusions his own life has lead him to draw about the magazine: That’s such a good question. The only thing that seems to be consistent about Esquire is that for it to thrive we have to constantly think about how to reinvent and reinvigorate it and continue to enable it to address the desires and needs of our readers as the world changes. I can’t say that there’s something that we can do or have done consistently for 18 years, except to try and come up with new ways to use the magazine mediums. We try to find interesting new ways to use paper and ink and design and words.

On how busy he is as an editor in the 21st century and when he has time to sleep: I have really good people working with me and that enables me to entrust them with many responsibilities. I don‘t do this all by myself is what I’m saying. I think the key to being an editor now in 2015 is being constantly open to new things. I don’t have every idea but I have to be open to the possibilities when the people on my staff or people from outside my staff present me with new opportunities like the whole thing we’re doing now with the archive and with trying to make a business essentially out of our past. That wasn’t my idea, but I was open enough that I wanted to advocate for it with David Carey and the other people in the Hearst executive pool to make it happen.

On whether his editor’s role today makes him more of a curator than a creator, especially with the launch of Esquire Classic: It’s both. Yes, have the idea, but once Tyler had the revelation, I thought, wow, we have like hundreds and hundreds of audio interviews; what can we do with those? And then I think it might have been Cal (Fussman), who’s done the bulk of our “What I’ve Learned”s, who introduced us to an animator who’d actually animated an interview that Cal had done with Larry King just for his own purposes. And after that I knew that we could do this with a lot of people, so it’s not just being a curator, but it’s having the idea to do something different. Curating is very important, especially with the archive.

On whether he thinks there are more editors out there like him that believe in both print and other forms of expression: I think there are a lot of really excellent editors who believe in print, but also believe in expanding their creative impulses across other forms of expression too. I don’t think that I’m unique; I think there are more people who see the unique value of print, but also see the power of dissemination that’s offered by the web or other forms of digital media.

On whether there was ever a time in his career that he believes that print was a dying breed: No, I’ve never felt that. I’ve been discouraged and disappointed when people expressed this idea that inevitably print was going to go away. And it’s not just because I believe that it’s the greatest medium ever created. I think that there is some appeal to it that is being demonstrated all over again. You see sales in books, in paper, are climbing while the digital experience in books is beginning to decline.

On a major stumbling block he’s faced and how he overcame it: The biggest challenge for anybody is overcoming the conventional wisdom, because from 2008 and for at least five years after, the conventional wisdom was that print was a less exciting medium, which is kind of why I did all of those gimmicks because I wanted to prove that print was the most exciting medium ever. It makes your job even harder when you have to do your job, plus convince people as well as you can, that what your life’s work is will continue to be the most exciting medium that’s ever been invented.

On whether he thinks consumers today are gravitating more toward the tried and true brands that they’ve always known rather than the new ones that have come and gone: If that’s true I think it’s because in this generation that advertisers and marketers call millennials, there’s a hunger for the most overused term in marketing, which is authenticity. I believe a younger generation that’s looking for guidance looks to tried and true sources.

On what he might be doing in the evenings if someone came unannounced to his home: (Laughs) It depends on the season. When it’s warm, I’m usually sitting on my back deck with a glass of tequila and reading either a magazine or a book. But I could also be watching television, but yes, I think you would find me most likely having a drink and reading something, or enjoying dinner with my wife.

On anything else he’d like to add: I’m in the midst of a series of planning meetings for issues in 2016, so I’m intensely looking forward to what we’re doing and where we’re going. But I’m also finding that exploration of our past to be really fascinating. It’s just so cool that in addition to the archive, we’ve also launched this podcast series called Esquire Classic that dovetails with that. So, the archive is promoting the fact that we are using elements from our archive, whether it’s an F. Scott Fitzgerald story or a Nora Ephron story, to create new forms of entertainment in this podcast that we’re doing with PRX that we recently launched.

On what keeps him up at night: I’ve been sleeping pretty well lately. It’s been an extremely good year and I guess that’s my answer; I’ve been sleeping pretty well lately.

And now for the complete, lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ conversation with David Granger, editor-in-chief, Esquire magazine.

Samir Husni: David, you’ve published at least one-fifth of all the issues Esquire has done in its entire history, and if my math is correct, that would be about 200 issues under your belt.

David Granger: Yes, it’s more than 200, but I don’t know exactly how many.

Samir Husni: But it’s around one-fifth of the total number of issues.

David Granger: Right.

Samir Husni: You took the job in 1997 and Esquire was a completely different magazine then than it is today. Through those 18 years, what conclusions has your own life lead you to draw about the life of Esquire over the last 18 years?

David Granger: That’s such a good question. The only thing that seems to be consistent about Esquire is that for it to thrive we have to constantly think about how to reinvent and reinvigorate it and continue to enable it to address the desires and needs of our readers as the world changes.

I can’t say that there’s something that we can do or have done consistently for 18 years, except to try and come up with new ways to use the magazine mediums. We try to find interesting new ways to use paper and ink and design and words.

The only thing that I can think of that we’ve done the entire time is this column called “What I’ve Learned,” which seems to have some enduring appeal because we do exactly what you’re asking me to do right now; try and draw conclusions and wisdom from them. And that has proved to be sort of eternally entertaining or gratifying to our readers. But other than that I think we’ve changed just about everything.

Samir Husni: With the column “What I’ve Learned” and in just taking a look at the older issues of Esquire; you’ve left almost no one out when it comes to learning something from them, from God to just about every mortal. (Laughs)

David Granger: (Laughs too). Are you saying we should be running out of subjects?

Samir Husni: (Laughs again) You have all the angels left, you can expand on them.

David Granger: (Continues to laugh).

Samir Husni: When you started 18 years ago, you knew exactly what the job of editor entailed. Today, if I follow what you do in just one week, the question that comes to my mind is when does David have time to sleep?

David Granger: I have really good people working with me and that enables me to entrust them with many responsibilities. I don‘t do this all by myself is what I’m saying.

I think the key to being an editor now in 2015 is being constantly open to new things. I don’t have every idea but I have to be open to the possibilities when the people on my staff or people from outside my staff present me with new opportunities like the whole thing we’re doing now with the archive and with trying to make a business essentially out of our past. That wasn’t my idea, but I was open enough that I wanted to advocate for it with David Carey and the other people in the Hearst executive pool to make it happen. That started more than two years ago when I was able to convince Hearst to allow Tyler Cabot to accept a Nieman fellowship. And nobody in the Hearst magazine division had ever been offered or accepted a Nieman before, so they had to make an exception. Their policy is to allow that to happen and they did.

When he got back and he had a billion different ideas of new ways to both tell stories and sell stories, I had to advocate for his ideas with David and get him to approve a modest budget so that we could move forward.

It’s been amazing, but as the editor I don’t always have all the ideas, I just have to be open to the best ones or the ones that seem like they can lead us to someplace that enhances the potential of the magazine. And this idea of trying to use elements of the magazine’s past to create something that’s completely new is thrilling to me right now. We’ve been working on this for 2½ years, this notion and how to bring it to life. And I think it’s really something that’s pretty unique and it’s exciting. It’s going to do good things for us.

In my editor’s letter about this issue, I talk about this idea of “the eternal now,” how more than ever everything is present and my metaphor was when the iTunes store launched I would see my daughters browsing it and occasionally buying music from it, and they weren’t buying music because it was new, they didn’t know if they were listening to the Beatles and a song that came from 1967, they were just experiencing it as something new. And I think that’s what’s happening with the archive that we’ve created and launched. And with several other projects as well.

What we’re doing is we’re taking things that were created decades ago in many cases and we’re making them completely new to people who were never aware of their existence, which is just fascinating.

We did that with the “What I’ve Learned” mini-site that we created on the medium platform where we used the old interviews from “What I’ve Learned.” We actually had the audio and we turned them into animations. So, we had a three minute animation of George Clooney’s “What I’ve Learned” and a three minute animation of Tom Cruise’s “What I’ve Learned” and we did eight or ten others. And then we did a lot of original ones and some classic ones and created a whole new experience for people who were probably never aware that Esquire did this. And we got Microsoft to sponsor it and actually made some money.

It’s like this whole idea of taking things that we created a long time ago and giving them new life; I think it has a ton of potential and it’s really exciting right now.

Samir Husni: Does that put more responsibility on the editor to be more of a curator, rather than just a creator?

David Granger: It’s both. Yes, have the idea, but once Tyler had the revelation, I thought, wow, we have like hundreds and hundreds of audio interviews; what can we do with those? And then I think it might have been Cal (Fussman), who’s done the bulk of our “What I’ve Learned”s, who introduced us to an animator who’d actually animated an interview that Cal had done with Larry King just for his own purposes.

And after that I knew that we could do this with a lot of people, so it’s not just being a curator, but it’s having the idea to do something different. Curating is very important, especially with the archive.

And that’s what’s radically different about Esquire’s archive from any magazine archive that’s come before. Most magazine archives, or all of them that I know of, they’re just sort of presented for you. Here it is. It’s from The New Yorker and it’s organized by issue date and cover and there is a search function, but they don’t actively tell you what you might be interested in reading. So, we created a homepage that is distinct from the archive platform, but it dovetails with it, on which we take news events and say, OK, this happened today, people could be interested in reading this. Recently when the MacArthur grants were announced, we went back into the archive and found all the MacArthur geniuses who had written for Esquire in the past. And we surfaced their stories.

Or when Elon Musk recently launched a new model X, we resurfaced Tom Junod’s epic profile of Elon and promoted it on the homepage of the archive. So, we’re giving people the sense that the past is urgent. In order to understand the present, you can come to us and we can help you put things that are happening right now into context.

Samir Husni: You’ve always been a defender of print and talked about the necessity of print, but you’re always looking to all the other platforms or media and everything that’s out there. In fact, on the web you identify yourself as the editor of Esquire magazine, not just Esquire. Why do you think we don’t have more David Granger’s out there?

David Granger: I think there are a lot of really excellent editors who believe in print, but also believe in expanding their creative impulses across other forms of expression too. I don’t think that I’m unique; I think there are more people who see the unique value of print, but also see the power of dissemination that’s offered by the web or other forms of digital media.

It’s a cliché, but look at Adam Moss who creates a great magazine and whose web offshoots are as exciting as anything on the Internet. The guys at Fast Company in ink work really hard across all sorts of media without ever thinking that print is the ugly cousin. I think there are a number of people who are thinking in all of these different ways, while continuing to try and improve what they do in print. And they seem even more vital and special.

The advantage that print has is really two-fold. One is that as digital media moves to the phone, it’s pretty easy to see what the difference is between digital media and print media. Print is just so much bigger and the display is huge, the colors are vibrant and you get to use design and it’s just a completely different experience.

Fifteen years ago everybody was just trying to put what magazines did or what newspapers did onto a computer screen. And this is kind of the same thing. Now, what gets created for a phone is very different from what gets created for a magazine. In general, though there are some exceptions to this these days, what’s being created for a magazine is more ambitious and more sprawling and more built-to-last. I think more than ever, and I see this when I go out and talk to advertisers around the country, that they’re beginning to see that we’re not even in the same game. Digital media has created one thing and print is creating another and they’re probably appealing to different kinds of people in large part. So, you have to create advertising and marketing that’s unique to those forms. I think you kind of have to keep your feet in both camps while you’re trying to do amazing things in each.

Samir Husni: You’re one of the few editors that I’ve met who never lost faith in print. Am I dreaming that fact about you or did you believe at one stage in your career that print was dying?

David Granger: No, I’ve never felt that. I’ve been discouraged and disappointed when people expressed this idea that inevitably print was going to go away. And it’s not just because I believe that it’s the greatest medium ever created. I think that there is some appeal to it that is being demonstrated all over again. You see sales in books, in paper, are climbing while the digital experience in books is beginning to decline.

There’s just an inherent appeal to it that, even if you don’t do anything extraordinary, is going to survive. But then when you take the advantage of the print, the things that get me excited that we’ve done to try and expand what print can do then I think it will have a long and colorful and wonderful life. I’ve always believed that and I’ve been open to the possibility that I was completely wrong, but as it turns out my and my staff’s faith in our medium has been rewarded for quite some time.

Samir Husni: For you personally, what has been the major stumbling block that you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

David Granger: I would say that each year every editor in the business is faced with trying to do the things that we value and the things that make a magazine successful with slightly fewer resources. So, you have to be endlessly creative on how you get the most out of the dollars you spend.

But that’s been true for every year of the 18 years that I’ve been at Esquire. We’ve produced cost for at least 17 of those 18 years. There might have been one year where we stayed about level with the previous year. And that’s always a little bit of a challenge, but we’ve sort of gotten used to that.

The biggest challenge for anybody is overcoming the conventional wisdom, because from 2008 and for at least five years after, the conventional wisdom was that print was a less exciting medium, which is kind of why I did all of those gimmicks because I wanted to prove that print was the most exciting medium ever. It makes your job even harder when you have to do your job, plus convince people as well as you can, that what your life’s work is will continue to be the most exciting medium that’s ever been invented.

Those are like little stumbling blocks, but mostly the hardest thing is having good ideas. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

David Granger: But that’s the joy of the job too.

Samir Husni: As we look ahead to the next five years; I feel, at least as an outsider looking in, there’s some sort of resurgence of men’s magazines, such as Esquire and GQ, they seem to be getting fatter and bigger. Do you think that our audience, our consumers, our customers out there are gravitating more toward the tried and true brands that they’ve always known, rather than the new brands that have come and gone, and if so, why?

David Granger: If that’s true I think it’s because in this generation that advertisers and marketers call millennials, there’s a hunger for the most overused term in marketing, which is authenticity. I believe a younger generation that’s looking for guidance looks to tried and true sources. I just think that we can be trusted in a way that some newer brands can’t. Newer brands have the advantage of being exciting and groundbreaking and all of those things, but I do think there is a valued heritage and that may be part of why some of these well-established brands are having a pretty good run right now.

Samir Husni: If I was ever to visit you unannounced at your home, what would I catch David doing in the evening? Are you reading a magazine or a book on your iPad or none of the above?

David Granger: (Laughs) It depends on the season. When it’s warm, I’m usually sitting on my back deck with a glass of tequila and reading either a magazine or a book. But I could also be watching television, but yes, I think you would find me most likely having a drink and reading something, or enjoying dinner with my wife. When I’m home, I’m pretty low-key. I dabble in watching sports and television series, but when I’m home it’s mostly time for some kind of relaxation or meeting with friends.

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

David Granger: I’m in the midst of a series of planning meetings for issues in 2016, so I’m intensely looking forward to what we’re doing and where we’re going. But I’m also finding that exploration of our past to be really fascinating. It’s just so cool that in addition to the archive, we’ve also launched this podcast series called Esquire Classic that dovetails with that. So, the archive is promoting the fact that we are using elements from our archive, whether it’s an F. Scott Fitzgerald story or a Nora Ephron story, to create new forms of entertainment in this podcast that we’re doing with PRX that we recently launched.

I love doing original journalism, but I’m also really getting excited about doing completely novel things with archival material. It’s like to make the past present and it’s really exciting. It’s like a new way forward and I think there are many entities that have done that, whether it’s movie studios using their catalogue of old film, but it’s very rare in the magazine business that people have found a way to make the old both new and profitable. And I think it’s really exciting.

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

David Granger: I’ve been sleeping pretty well lately. It’s been an extremely good year and I guess that’s my answer; I’ve been sleeping pretty well lately.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“I think forever and always there will be an audience for print. I don’t think the inevitable path for print is to go away, I don’t even think the inevitable path is for print to be some sort of retro-iconic version of what records are to music lovers. But what I do think is print will evolve and print will change and I believe the path that we’re on, expanding the size and the weight and increasing the experience for consumers as opposed to decreasing, which is what most of our competitors are doing, is the right path.” Howard Mittman

The pinnacle of men’s fashion and lifestyle, GQ Magazine is looking to the future with creative innovation and boldness, both with its print product and all of its digital facets. And the man leading and driving the brand into the future is celebrating his one year anniversary with the magazine this month.

Howard Mittman is gregariously passionate when he talks about the brand he now calls his own. Coming from Wired after serving as vice president and publisher; Howard took the technologically savvy magazine to new heights under his guidance and he’s doing the same with GQ.

I spoke with Howard recently and we talked about the changes that have already been implemented at GQ and a hint about a few that are in the works. It was a lively and enjoyable discussion that made me feel as if I was talking with Howard in the comfort of his living room at home. The man is personable, open and very knowledgeable when it comes to the role of publisher of a major magazine.

So, straighten your tie and polish your shoes (ladies too) and get ready to enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Howard Mittman, Publisher, GQ.

But first, the sound-bites:

On why if print is dead, the October issue of GQ is filled to capacity with advertising: Let me say first; print is not dead, a statement I’m fairly certain that you agree with. I truly think that print is evolving, and really all of media is evolving. So if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to work at a brand like GQ that is clearly number one in its category, whether you’re looking at fashion, style or just general interest for men, I have a really strong notion that we’ll be able to capture a significant part of the, not only advertising dollars, but the consumer mindset and attention that comes along with having a brand that’s more than a brand; it’s an adjective.

On how his approach has changed from being chief revenue officer at Wired to becoming chief revenue officer at GQ: One of the opportunities afforded to me at Wired was to be deeply immersed inside the digital culture. And the opportunity to take that kind of culture and bring it here is enormous. GQ, from a digital perspective, has a fair amount of really good things going on. Think about it this way for a second and this almost translates back to your first question about print being dead; every 60 seconds a consumer types in #GQ into Instagram. Every 30 seconds a consumer types in #GQ into Instagram and Facebook and every 20 seconds a consumer types in #GQ across all social media. That means consumers are associating their pictures, their friends and themselves with our brand. That’s a really powerful statement about what GQ is, what it means and the relationship it has with not only it’s current consumers, but with millennial and Gen Z consumers.

On whether he believes the tablet and the homepage are dead: So often in the industry things are cool, and shiny new objects get our attention, like dogs with firetrucks that go down the street, inevitably we realize that we can’t catch them. One thing I will say though, what happens is maybe tablets haven’t realized their full dream, in terms of transforming the entirety of our business, but they’re a really smart component to print. The whole direction of the future of Condé Nast and the industry of print has not been changed by tablets, but we still have 85 or 90,000 subscribers a month and it’s a really healthy component to print. And I think that’s the difference; we’re too quick to anoint new things as the next savior, or the next end-all-be-all versus the reality of them as just being a part of a larger story.

On whether GQ is doing anything different with its print product: We’re doing a few things that I think you might find really interesting. In September we pushed the cover price from $5.99 to $7.99. And we’ve seen no negative impact at all on sales; it’s been a really wonderful test that gives us a sense of the potential of elasticity on the consumer side. In December, we’ll be doing the same thing, but in addition to pushing the price, we’ll also be pushing the size of the folio. It’s going to be a larger folio and a heavier paper stock. Again, testing the consumer side’s demand for a product that we think can be more luxurious and look more like a coffee table book than a magazine. And I think the inevitable future of print is that it will become an enthusiast’s product; people who love it will love it.

On why it took so long for publishers, using Jim Nelson’s (editor, GQ) quote to “make print printier,” when it wasn’t too long ago everyone was decreasing their print product instead of increasing it: That’s a good question. I think ultimately like all businesses and all mediums everywhere, like television or radio, when you’re the only game in town; you tend to do things that work for that moment as opposed to building for the future. Who could have predicted that GQ’s Instagram feed would have 2 million followers or that Taylor Swift would have 50 million, right?

On any major stumbling block he’s faced and how he overcame it: The challenge has been transitioning the mindset and the behaviors of the team. What I’ve been really excited to find is that there was and is this absolute thirst to learn the secret sauce of what it means to exist in a multi-platform business and a digital environment. And I’ve seen this team, on both ad and edit, and not all because of me, run toward this opportunity to transform themselves in so many different ways.

On how his role of publisher/chief revenue officer has changed over the years since the dawn of the digital age and is it easier or harder: We’re competing with startups that don’t care about profit, but care about evaluation. In video we’re competing against broadcast, networks and cable networks; in digital we’re competing against social networks; in events we’re competing against event spaces. So as we continue to grow this footprint, to grow this brand, we’re seemingly in competition with everyone. That’s the challenge. And there are only so many hours in a day and you have to figure out how and where to focus your attentions. So, it is harder; I think it’s significantly harder. The flip side is this kind of challenge or opportunity, or these kinds of distribution mechanisms, digital and otherwise, interest you; I don’t think there has ever been a more interesting or exciting time to be in this seat or have this role.

On whether he can ever envision the GQ brand without the print component: I can envision it, but I don’t actually think it will ever happen. I think forever and always there will be an audience for print. I don’t think the inevitable path for print is to go away, I don’t even think the inevitable path is for print to be some sort of retro-iconic version of what records are to music lovers. But what I do think is print will evolve and print will change and I believe the path that we’re on, expanding the size and the weight and increasing the experience for consumers as opposed to decreasing, which is what most of our competitors are doing, is the right path.

On what motivates him to get out of bed every morning: I set the alarm for 5:23 and I go to SoulCycle most days before work, so that truthfully is what gets me out of bed. What gets me showered and to work is there’s a genuine level of enthusiasm here for this brand at GQ and for the opportunities that lay ahead. And some days I’m just completely left in awe at the level of intelligence and passion and dedication of the team here at GQ. They are some of the smartest people that I’ve ever worked with. And I think that what you find throughout this floor is that the cheekiness and the irreverence and the humor, the intelligence and the style that exists in the magazine and in the content online permeates the offices and the cubicles here in a way that I’ve never seen before.

On anything else he’d like to add: I’d like to talk about young talent for a second because we hear a lot about millennials and the challenges of working with millennials, but I’ve found the complete opposite hear at GQ. We’re surrounded by so many 20-somethings who work incredibly long hours and are passionate and dedicated and are the complete opposite of what popular culture and mass media would have you believe about that generation.

On what keeps him up at night: Finding a private school for my son. (Laughs) To be honest, I’m sleeping soundly with GQ, but the private school admission process in New York City is a daunting one for sure.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Howard Mittman, Publisher, GQ.

Samir Husni: If print is dead; why do I have to wait until page 56 to find the Letter from the Editor in the October, 2015 issue of GQ? It’s filled to capacity with advertising, what’s going on?

Howard Mittman: Let me say first; print is not dead, a statement I’m fairly certain that you agree with. I truly think that print is evolving, and really all of media is evolving. Television is probably going through what print went through three or four years ago. There are a lot of seismic shifts happening.

But from a print perspective, gone are the days when men are going to subscribe to three, four or five magazines. There’s just an infinite amount of choice and there’s an ability to find likeminded content almost anywhere these days, from your laptop to your phone to the screen inside your elevator.

So, I think what’s happened is men specifically, and I’ll speak about men since I know that market better, are looking to maybe invest in one magazine brand. And they’re looking at it not as a magazine; they’re looking at it as a media property that they can go deeper and wider into.

So if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to work at a brand like GQ that is clearly number one in its category, whether you’re looking at fashion, style or just general interest for men, I have a really strong notion that we’ll be able to capture a significant part of the, not only advertising dollars, but the consumer mindset and attention that comes along with having a brand that’s more than a brand; it’s an adjective. GQ is a heck of a lot larger than just two letters, it’s an actual representation of what it means to be an American gentleman; it’s a compliment.

From my perspective, magazines are evolving but strong brands and brands that even outpunch their weight, such as GQ, have a real opportunity in a variety of different ways and places.

Samir Husni: Coming from being publisher of Wired, you were used to working with people and technology. When you were offered the job of publisher at GQ, where you would be dealing more with humans-only and men specifically; can you take me back to that particular moment when you took the job and what you were feeling?

Howard Mittman: Probably wow; I’ve got to buy some new suits. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Howard Mittman: (Laughs again).

Samir Husni: Can you tell me the difference in your approach from being the chief revenue officer at Wired to now the chief revenue officer at GQ? How has your modus operandi changed when it comes to selling, marketing and just taking care of your new brand?

Howard Mittman: One of the opportunities afforded to me at Wired was to be deeply immersed inside the digital culture. And the opportunity to take that kind of culture and bring it here is enormous.

GQ, from a digital perspective, has a fair amount of really good things going on. Think about it this way for a second and this almost translates back to your first question about print being dead; every 60 seconds a consumer types in #GQ into Instagram. Every 30 seconds a consumer types in #GQ into Instagram and Facebook and every 20 seconds a consumer types in #GQ across all social media. That means consumers are associating their pictures, their friends and themselves with our brand. That’s a really powerful statement about what GQ is, what it means and the relationship it has with not only it’s current consumers, but with millennial and Gen Z consumers.

It also speaks to the opportunities inherent from a social and digital perspective to us should we put ourselves in a position to capitalize on it. And I’ve spent the better part of the last year, along with Jim Nelson and Mike Hofman and a lot of really talented people here, doing just that.

We revamped the entirety of our web program from the CMS (Content Management System) the site runs on, to the homepage, to the article pages, to the mobile platform, the recirculation modules and the slideshows, to say nothing of the massive amount of content we’re now producing. We’re doing maybe 35 to 36 unique stories per day on GQ.com. We’re publishing across multiple platforms and doing it seamlessly and we’ve seen our track click increase from 6 million uniques to 11 million uniques. These are some miraculous jumps inside of a year and I think they hint at just the very beginning of what opportunities that we have digitally.

Wired helped me because I knew how to do this; GQ helps me because the enormity of the brand is unlike anything else, I think, in this entire industry. There are very few brands, maybe a Vogue that has that kind of presence, and so capitalizing on that and being able to stand on the shoulders of it is fun.

Samir Husni: The first time you and I met you were at Wired and you were showing me the Wired app.

Howard Mittman: I remember that, yes.

Samir Husni: Now I hear people in New York telling me that the tablet is dead, the homepage is dead; why do you think we’re so quick to welcome all of these new digital devices and platforms, yet so quick to bury them as well? Do you really believe the tablet and the homepage are dead?

Howard Mittman: So often in the industry things are cool, and shiny new objects get our attention, like dogs with firetrucks that go down the street, inevitably we realize that we can’t catch them.

One thing I will say though, what happens is maybe tablets haven’t realized their full dream, in terms of transforming the entirety of our business, but they’re a really smart component to print. And I think that what we’ve found is ultimately the tablet is in between a desktop and a laptop, but moreover it’s really much more of a consumption device than a production device. And in that, it’s more akin to a digital magazine than it is a mobile phone or a desktop, so sure, the whole direction of the future of Condé Nast and the industry of print has not been changed by tablets, but we still have 85 or 90,000 subscribers a month and it’s a really healthy component to print.

And I think that’s the difference; we’re too quick to anoint new things as the next savior, or the next end-all-be-all versus the reality of them as just being a part of a larger story.

Samir Husni: Why do you think now, more than ever before, that we’re seeing this resurgence of life to the print product, specifically GQ, it’s becoming bigger and fatter. Is it the whole combination of your process or are you doing something specific with print that you haven’t done before?

Howard Mittman: We’re doing a few things that I think you might find really interesting. In September we pushed the cover price from $5.99 to $7.99. And we’ve seen no negative impact at all on sales; it’s been a really wonderful test that gives us a sense of the potential of elasticity on the consumer side.

In December, we’ll be doing the same thing, but in addition to pushing the price, we’ll also be pushing the size of the folio. It’s going to be a larger folio and a heavier paper stock. Again, testing the consumer side’s demand for a product that we think can be more luxurious and look more like a coffee table book than a magazine. And I think the inevitable future of print is that it will become an enthusiast’s product; people who love it will love it. And what we’ll find inside that reaction of enthusiasts is that they’ll be willing to pay more for a product that has a greater level of luxury that gives them more of what they love about the medium and as Jim Nelson is fond of saying. “Makes print printier.”

We’re testing this now actively on the newsstand; we’re testing the size and the weight of the issue in December and I believe that will help us transition the kind of experience we deliver in print at the same time that we increase our digital offerings and make sure that we push content out across a variety of distribution mechanisms, because ultimately it’s the consumer who decides if they want to interact with GQ. We just happen to be fortunate enough to be in a brand they want to interact with in all these different places. Print will still be a big part of that.

Samir Husni: I’m delighted to hear that because I’ve always wondered why magazine publishers as a whole went through a period where they were decreasing the quality of paper and almost giving the magazine away. Why did it take us so long to quote Jim, “Make print printier?”

Howard Mittman: That’s a good question. I think ultimately like all businesses and all mediums everywhere, like television or radio, when you’re the only game in town; you tend to do things that work for that moment as opposed to building for the future. Who could have predicted that GQ’s Instagram feed would have 2 million followers or that Taylor Swift would have 50 million, right?

We used to own the printing press, literally and figuratively. Now, there’s a printing press in Taylor’s pocket; there’s a printing press in my pocket. As the world evolves, I think some of those decisions to decrease the point of entry for the price of the magazine to increase the scale of the audience and have that subsidized by advertisers, well, that model doesn’t work in the same way that it used to.

And so what we’re doing, in terms of pushing price and trying to move the brand out, is get it into a space where we can probably transition subscription through membership. That’s our goal. A subscription is $20 per year and someone sends a check. A membership is $60 or $100 or $200 or even $500 and it involves product boxes, samples or access to events and concierge services, and just a whole host of other things. All of those opportunities are being explored around this moment of disruption. And in spite of the disruption, it brings a ton of opportunities if you have a strong brand and strong connections with your community and GQ has both.

Samir Husni: Just from hearing you, it would seem that it’s been smooth sailing and full steam ahead during your first year as publisher of GQ. Have you had any moment that you would call a major stumbling block during this past year, and if so, how did you overcome it?

Howard Mittman: The challenge has been transitioning the mindset and the behaviors of the team. What I’ve been really excited to find is that there was and is this absolute thirst to learn the secret sauce of what it means to exist in a multi-platform business and a digital environment. And I’ve seen this team, on both ad and edit, and not all because of me, run toward this opportunity to transform themselves in so many different ways.

So, making sure you have the right people in place; making sure that you have the right mindset in place; these things are never easy and they take time. But from a digital perspective, whether it’s traffic or the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) we’re delivering for advertisers or the revenue that we’re bringing in, we’re so far ahead of where I thought we’d be at this time. But like always, there’s still work to do.

Samir Husni: Speaking of more work to do; comparing your job of publisher/chief revenue officer prior to 2007, prior to the dawn of the digital age, to today’s role; do you think the job has become easier or harder? How has it changed?

Howard Mittman: I was promoted to publisher in February 2009 at Wired, so I wouldn’t know what it was like before that. And that was the worst time to be promoted as far as the economy goes, by the way. (Laughs) But the job is significantly different. It’s significantly harder.

We’re competing with startups that don’t care about profit, but care about evaluation. In video we’re competing against broadcast, networks and cable networks; in digital we’re competing against social networks; in events we’re competing against event spaces. So as we continue to grow this footprint, to grow this brand, we’re seemingly in competition with everyone. That’s the challenge. And there are only so many hours in a day and you have to figure out how and where to focus your attentions. So, it is harder; I think it’s significantly harder.

The flip side is this kind of challenge or opportunity, or these kinds of distribution mechanisms, digital and otherwise, interest you; I don’t think there has ever been a more interesting or exciting time to be in this seat or have this role. We are in this wonderful position where we get to look out onto the horizon and chart the course for what this business will look like in the next five,10 or 20 years. And that’s a really enviable position. And it’s probably the most fun thing we do. The decisions that we’re making now are building the foundation for what GQ will look like in the next 50 years and what the magazine will be. That definitely means longer days and a little less sleep and it means the era of the three-martini lunch is long gone and won’t be coming back. But I love my job and I think it’s so much fun to have this opportunity to do more than just sell a page for a color bleed.

Samir Husni: Can you ever envision the GQ brand without the printed magazine?

Howard Mittman: I can envision it, but I don’t actually think it will ever happen. I think forever and always there will be an audience for print. I don’t think the inevitable path for print is to go away, I don’t even think the inevitable path is for print to be some sort of retro-iconic version of what records are to music lovers

But what I do think is print will evolve and print will change and I believe the path that we’re on, expanding the size and the weight and increasing the experience for consumers as opposed to decreasing, which is what most of our competitors are doing, is the right path.

And when you look at things like GQ Style, which is our biannual magazine that we produce; we’ve seen enormous consumer success with that, and it sells for $13.99 on the newsstand and it’s up 30% every year. So, again there are opportunities for expansion in print if you can find the right opportunity to hit the cross-section between advertiser and consumer interest. And I think some of those specialty properties like GQ Style are doing a really nice job of that.

Samir Husni: Can you expand a little bit on the whole idea of the GQ membership; are you going full-force with that and testing it now as we speak?

Howard Mittman: We are testing it now, but I probably don’t want to get too far down the path with that, but we are in the middle of doing a handful of tests that are producing great excitement about the possibilities of what this could do to transform the subscription model here.

Samir Husni: As you celebrate your first anniversary as publisher of GQ; what motivates you each morning to get out of bed and say it’s going to be a great day?

Howard Mittman: I set the alarm for 5:23 and I go to SoulCycle most days before work, so that truthfully is what gets me out of bed. What gets me showered and to work is there’s a genuine level of enthusiasm here for this brand at GQ and for the opportunities that lay ahead.

And some days I’m just completely left in awe at the level of intelligence and passion and dedication of the team here at GQ. They are some of the smartest people that I’ve ever worked with. And I think that what you find throughout this floor is that the cheekiness and the irreverence and the humor, the intelligence and the style that exists in the magazine and in the content online permeates the offices and the cubicles here in a way that I’ve never seen before. And so there’s a collegiality and a level of dedication and pride for what we do that I’ve never had the opportunity to work with in that level of intensity before. Coming here to work every day is a treat and I’ll do it as long as Bob and Chuck let me.

Samir Husni: If I met you on the streets of New York today, would I say that you’re definitely a GQ man?

Howard Mittman: (Laughs) It’s funny; I laugh because I think the power of the GQ brand when it comes to fashion and style is such that the things I wore at Wired that no one noticed, I think they’d notice now. I have a feeling that I could come in wearing tuxedo pants and a Knicks jersey and people would think that’s in style just because I work at GQ. (Laughs) It’s hard for me to say.

But if you’re lucky enough to see folks like Jim Moore, Mark Anthony Green, Will Welch and Jim Nelson come in everyday, you can figure out ways to copy a little ebit of what they do so you look better than most, but never as good as them.

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

Howard Mittman: I’d like to talk about young talent for a second because we hear a lot about millennials and the challenges of working with millennials, but I’ve found the complete opposite hear at GQ. We’re surrounded by so many 20-somethings who work incredibly long hours and are passionate and dedicated and are the complete opposite of what popular culture and mass media would have you believe about that generation.

And I think part of the reason that we’re able to have that is because while startup brands and places like Google and Twitter seem like wonderful opportunities for young talent, the truth is that in the same way that it was true in the 70s, 80s and 90s coming with us is an incredible experience and incubated unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.

And the way that this company, and not just GQ, but this entire company is pushing out into digital and social, events and licensing and a whole host of other places, the access and the opportunity you get on these brands is unmatched, I think. We don’t produce people or brands that stay in one specific vertical. We don’t produce linear opportunities for knowledge and I think I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by so many smart, talented young people who see that. And I wish that was spoken about a little more frequently inside of magazines and with the popular press because these jobs are a treat, a pleasure and a privilege and we’re always looking for smart people.

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

Howard Mittman: Finding a private school for my son. (Laughs) To be honest, I’m sleeping soundly with GQ, but the private school admission process in New York City is a daunting one for sure.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“I don’t believe in the death of either of those (the homepage and the tablet) because, you know yourself, the “death of print” has been covered extensively over the last few years; we’ve read hundreds of articles about the death of print and we know that prediction was BS. It’s not about the death of the tablet or the death of the homepage; it’s about where the audience is and how they’re getting their information.” Hunter Lewis

The day magazines and magazine media can conduct business and engage readers on all the various platforms without singling out which is which and who’s in charge of print or digital or mobile or whatever the next phase of our fast spinning world is, will be the day the industry knows true success. Working as one wheel with many spokes is the only way to succeed for the majority of the folks in today’s publishing world.

Cooking Light magazine has achieved that non-biased, non-prejudiced viewpoint and is kicking it in the healthy food space. From its 28-years-old print product to its many arms in the digital realms, the magazine goes beyond recognizing that it’s not an either/or stratosphere, nor is it a simply an integrated one anymore; it’s a normal workday around the magazine offices. It’s innovation that’s become second nature and habitual. And without habitual innovation in today’s magazine media world, the industry as a whole is lost.

Hunter Lewis has been at the helm of Cooking Light for one year now and this matter-of-fact way of looking at the many platforms that magazines must be on today in order to stand out in the very busy marketplace of food magazines, is the main reason for the title’s ability to shine on each and every one: their captain-at-the-wheel sees very few choppy waters when it comes to platform distinctions. To Hunter, each and every one is vital, necessary and all a part of a day-in-his-life.

I spoke with Hunter recently and we talked about how each platform Cooking Light maintains for its content is important to the magazine’s success, and yet, works as one entity instead of many to achieve it. A man as passionate about his brand as he is his cooking, Hunter believes that food brings joy to the people and healthy food brings a happier, healthier life too. His spot-on insights when it comes to print and digital working as one is refreshing and oh-so true in the 21st century. Visual, interactive and written are the elements needed in magazine media today and Cooking Light is serving them up, right along with some of the most delicious recipes around.

I hope you enjoy this cooking lesson that’s on the light and bright side as you read the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Hunter Lewis, Editor, Cooking Light.

But first, the sound-bites:

On whether he’s still as excited about Cooking Light as he was a year ago when he took the editor’s position or whether he’s had any second thoughts: (Laughs) No second thoughts; I’m more fired up now than I was even then because I feel like I understand the brand much better, it’s become part of my DNA and I understand who the reader is.

On the many responsibilities of today’s editor and how he balances his day-to-day duties and whether he feels he has too many pots on the stove: It’s funny, I keep my daily to-do list in a notebook and I use to divvy up the to-do list for all the jobs, from print to digital to my staff, social and video, and about six months ago I just stopped doing that because now everything is so intertwined. And now it’s about the stories and the content and the recipes and where they go first. And how you deliver them and tell the story on any particular medium.

On whether or not he believes in the latest phrases, death of the homepage and death of the tablet: I don’t believe in the death of either of those because, you know yourself, the “death of print” has been covered extensively over the last few years; we’ve read hundreds of articles about the death of print and we know that prediction was BS. It’s not about the death of the tablet or the death of the homepage; it’s about where the audience is and how they’re getting their information.

On what he’s doing to ensure the future of the printed edition of Cooking Light with its mass audience: It’s interesting, from on the outside, before I came to Cooking Light, I thought of Cooking Light as a service book. We’re serving up 75+ recipes and 25+ tips a month for readers to go out and use. But it’s not only a service book; it’s an enthusiast’s magazine as well. All of our staff; we’re all passionate about home cooking and we’re bringing that joy to the page. So, when people buy the magazine and they open it up, we want it to be a joyful experience. And we want our readers to go out and act upon the tips and to use the recipes.

On why he believes there has been such an explosion in food magazines in the last few years: I think it’s a reflection of our culture and it speaks to the explosion of interest and passion for food. If you think about the way that we ate in this country fifty years ago, we don’t eat that way anymore. And if you think about the level of overall food knowledge of the average American, it’s much greater now than it used to be. Our access to good ingredients, at least for the folks that can afford them, has gotten much better. If you look at what’s on the supermarket shelves now versus 10 years ago, supermarkets are following the trends of what’s happening in restaurants, the chefs are the point of the spear for new American cuisine. And you’re seeing those flavors and tastes evolve and then trickle down to consumers in a mass way in supermarkets.

On one moment that happened throughout his first year at the helm of Cooking Light that made him know he had made the right decision and that he was where he belonged: I think that there are a few touchstones; certainly interviewing Michelle Obama and talking to the First Lady about her goal to get more people in this country back in the kitchen to cook for good health; that was one moment where it really began to crystallize for us to think more about what we were doing here in Birmingham.

On the major stumbling block he’s had to face and how he overcame it: I think our biggest stumbling block is just what we’re fighting every day in the sense that, back in the day print was everything. It was the product that we were working on every waking moment. And so the big challenge has been to take a team that’s used to working on that one product and to marshal them together to work on all the different platforms. And that’s not something that happens overnight, because part of the game right now is that the digital platforms are changing so quickly that you have to stay up-to-date and you have to try new things and move into new spaces, while you’re also maintaining the core part of your brand which is print.

On whether he thinks his staff feels more gratified seeing their work appearing in print or digital or it doesn’t make a difference: With print you work on something for many months and you put it out and you might not hear anything. With digital what’s fascinating is that you know immediately whether or not you’ve pleased people and you know immediately, or pretty soon after, if that content has gone viral. So, you can measure that. And I think that’s important. To think about what you can measure and how you can analyze that.

On whether he’s trying to come up with ideas to bring the print audience to the editorial table and make them a part of the creation process: Absolutely. I think a lot about Cooking Light Diet, which is a new product for us, it’s a completely different digital entity than cookinglight.com; it’s a completely different revenue stream than the magazine and to date we have thousands of subscribers for this new digital product. It’s this amazing, healthy meal planner. And what we’ve seen from these folks that are using the diet is that we’re getting these testimonials on a daily basis and it’s changing their lives. People are losing dozens of pounds on this and their cholesterol is dropping and they’ve convinced their families to eat healthier. So, what we’re doing is taking these testimonials and bringing some of those rock star subscribers to the Cooking Light Diet, some of our most engaged subscribers, and we’re starting a Facebook community with them and we’re featuring them in the magazine.

On what he’d like to accomplish and talk about one year from now when it comes to the magazine: I hope that we’re talking about video and social video and just increasing the levels of engagement with video. I guarantee that we’ll be talking about the Time Inc. Food Studios and this massive new sweets test kitchens and photo and video studios that we’re opening here in Birmingham. And how Cooking Light and these studios will play together to create best-in-class video and recipes and stories. It’s a big, big deal for Time Inc.

On anything else he’s like to add: A couple of things are the huge November double issue which comes to mind because we’re shipping the last pages today. That’ll be coming out soon and I’m really excited about it. It has twice as many recipes and twice as many pages as we typically publish. Cooking Light Diet is top of mind and then also January is a big, big time for us. That’s when people are making their New Year’s resolutions and they’re thinking more practically about how they’re going to live a healthier life in the New Year. And so right now we’re working on the January issue and making it the absolute best that we can.

On what keeps him up at night: The exact same thing that I said one year ago and I have it on a sticky note here on my wall. It’s the quote from the guy over at Microsoft, what drives me every morning and what keeps me up every night is one thing, “this business is not about longevity; it’s about relevance.” Every day what we’re doing is prioritizing and reprioritizing, based on how the game is changing.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Hunter Lewis, Editor, Cooking Light.

Samir Husni: It’s been a year now since you became editor of Cooking Light; are you still as happy and excited as when you first took the job? Or maybe you’re having second thoughts in hindsight?

Hunter Lewis: (Laughs) No second thoughts; I’m more fired up now than I was even then because I feel like I understand the brand much better, it’s become part of my DNA and I understand who the reader is. I also understand my team and what makes them tick more than I did a year ago when I was just starting out.

So, I’m really fired up about the next year and our next two to three years and the changes that we’re going to continue to make and what we’re going to be doing in the digital space.

Samir Husni: This is something that I hear form almost every editor, that no one is talking about either/or, nobody is talking print or digital; it’s all about the experience and print + digital, plus whatever else is going to be invented. How are you balancing your day-to-day as compared to when you were just working at a magazine? Do you feel that you have too many pots on the stove, so to speak?

Hunter Lewis: It’s funny, I keep my daily to-do list in a notebook and I use to divvy up the to-do list for all the jobs, from print to digital to my staff, social and video, and about six months ago I just stopped doing that because now everything is so intertwined. And now it’s about the stories and the content and the recipes and where they go first. And how you deliver them and tell the story on any particular medium.

So, who we were a year ago as a brand and how we approached digital has changed immensely. And a lot of it is just the mentality of the staff and getting them to think about digital in a different way than they previously had. I think the old way of doing it doesn’t work where you’ve got print editors and digital editors, and where several years ago what we put on dotcom or what we put on Facebook was sort of what was left on the cutting room floor from a print story. And you can’t do that anymore. Everything has to be compelling on every medium.

And every time we are coming up with an edit calendar, we think about what we’re planning and photographing, and how we’re going to make the story compelling on Facebook and the Cooking Light blog, and compelling through a series of 140-character Tweets? How are we going to take that story about chili and make it resonate on Instagram?

So, it’s always a part of who we are everyday to think about how we’re going to surprise and delight people in the digital space.

Samir Husni: I was in New York few months ago with a group of my students and we heard two things that were really stunning to me, one was the death of the homepage and the other was the death of the tablet. That today it’s all mobile and it’s all video; everything is on your Smartphone. Do you agree that after a very few years people are already talking about the death of the homepage and the tablet?

Hunter Lewis: I don’t believe in the death of either of those because, you know yourself, the “death of print” has been covered extensively over the last few years; we’ve read hundreds of articles about the death of print and we know that prediction was BS. It’s not about the death of the tablet or the death of the homepage; it’s about where the audience is and how they’re getting their information.

So, when we think about the rise of mobile and how important it is, in particular for food content, if you’re a consumer and you’re looking for that chili recipe, whether you’re at your desk or you’re at the supermarket and you’re looking at ingredients, you have to think smartly about where the consumer is; what they’re doing at that hour, and what device they’re using, and not only what device; what platform.

For us, we’ve grown Facebook exponentially over the last couple of years and we’ll probably hit five million Facebook followers in a few months. So for us it’s just as important to think about how we’re reaching those people and entertaining them and surprising and delighting them, getting them to come back to the site.

We talk a lot about social referrals and that’s a big, big deal. We talk about more about social referrals now than we do the homepage because if you think about general search and SEO (search engine optimization), those are hugely important, but you have to divvy up the pie with the audience and you have to figure out ways to get people to come back to the site through a compelling video on Facebook, let’s say, or through a compelling Tweet or Instagram. However, not Instagram as much per se; linking back is getting better on Instagram, but it’s really about Facebook at this point and how you use Facebook as its own platform to attract people, but also how you use it to compel people to come back to your site.

Samir Husni: What are you doing at the same time to ensure the future of the printed edition of Cooking Light with its mass audience?

Hunter Lewis: It’s interesting, from on the outside, before I came to Cooking Light, I thought of Cooking Light as a service book. We’re serving up 75+ recipes and 25+ tips a month for readers to go out and use. But it’s not only a service book; it’s an enthusiast’s magazine as well. All of our staff; we’re all passionate about home cooking and we’re bringing that joy to the page. So, when people buy the magazine and they open it up, we want it to be a joyful experience. And we want our readers to go out and act upon the tips and to use the recipes.

So, it’s about making delicious recipes and it’s about creating beautiful photography; as I said last year, the recipes have to be delicious and the photography has to be beautiful. And those two things have to be working hand-in-hand. It’s about writing sharp copy and it’s about writing sharp display; it’s about all the fundamentals that have always been important. Always bringing passion to the page and making people happy.

One thing that we’ve really worked on this year is thinking about our print and about how we can use it to empower people to get into the kitchen, because part of our mission moving forward is teaching people how to cook and getting them excited about being in the kitchen. Healthy is the new mainstream. And we know that when people cook for their families, those families are healthier. And Cooking Light is a real empowerment tool for good health.

Over the past year has really been about dialing in that message and I think it started with the March issue, which was our family dinner issue, and putting Michelle Obama on the cover and really making a splash with that. But it was great to see the staff come together and really think about our weeknight recipes in a different way. We’ve always been known for our healthy weeknight recipes, but we had to dial in the messaging and talk more about how Cooking Light is an empowerment tool for people to manage and take control of their own health, because how you eat can dictate your health.

Samir Husni: Somebody said that food magazines today are what celebrity magazines were in the early part of the 21st century. Why do you think there has been this explosion in food magazines? The specialization is tremendous, from crockpot cooking to how to bake the perfect chicken breast; the titles are plentiful. Why do you think there’s such a demand for food magazines today?

Hunter Lewis: I think it’s a reflection of our culture and it speaks to the explosion of interest and passion for food. If you think about the way that we ate in this country fifty years ago, we don’t eat that way anymore. And if you think about the level of overall food knowledge of the average American, it’s much greater now than it used to be. Our access to good ingredients, at least for the folks that can afford them, has gotten much better. If you look at what’s on the supermarket shelves now versus 10 years ago, supermarkets are following the trends of what’s happening in restaurants, the chefs are the point of the spear for new American cuisine. And you’re seeing those flavors and tastes evolve and then trickle down to consumers in a mass way in supermarkets.

And I think all of these food brands, whether they’re digital magazines or traditional print magazines have a place; the brand extensions of Cooking Light, with our special editions and books have a place. There’s a reason why we’re producing more of these, because the marketplace for all of these magazines has grown.

If we’re talking about Cooking Light in particular and about how we stand out in that very busy marketplace, I think for us in the past we were considered a mass brand and a healthy recipe book. And I’ve said this before, but I really believe it; part of our mantra everyday here with the team is to think about delivering content at that intersection where food and wellness meet. As I said, healthy is the new mainstream and our culture is coming to Cooking Light looking for healthy recipes, but also looking for accessible advice for living a better and healthier life with food at the core of it. But that’s really part of our mission moving forward is for press stories and our blog content, for our Facebook and newsletters to be more and more about how we can share that mission of health and wellness through food.

Samir Husni: Through this last year that you’ve been at the helm of Cooking Light, can you pinpoint one moment where you just knew that you’d made the right decision and you were where you belonged?

Hunter Lewis: I think that there are a few touchstones; certainly interviewing Michelle Obama and talking to the First Lady about her goal to get more people in this country back in the kitchen to cook for good health; that was one moment where it really began to crystallize for us to think more about what we were doing here in Birmingham.

We’ve got this program that’s a couple of years old called The Family Kitchen and we’ve partnered with Jones Valley Teaching Farm, which is a great, very progressive urban farm downtown. It’s also in Birmingham City Schools. And we’ve been preparing Cooking Light recipes and Southern Living recipes with these elementary school students and their families and it’s really broken down a lot of barriers and brought our weeknight recipes to life. It’s taught us more about healthy home cooking and how to reduce and lower as many barriers as possible so that the recipes will really stick and the cooking lessons will resonate. And by that I mean, recipes that are 30 minutes or less and $12 or less for a family of four, and you can buy every ingredient at Wal-Mart; you’re not using very many tools or pots and pans, but the recipes are delicious. And you see the responses and you see the way that these families come together at the table after they’ve made a meal with us; that’s a very empowering thing.

We took that experience with The Family Kitchen and the local elementary school students and we took Mrs. Obama’s message to heart with her “Let’s Cook” movement and her “Let’s Move” movement and we created a curriculum called “Let’s Cook.” It’s a curriculum that’s on our website and it’s in Spanish and English. It’s a series of recipes that fulfill those ideals that I was talking about; the 30 minutes or less and the $12 or less for a family of four. And that’s just a part of what I think really helped to bring our recipes to life and it helped our staff to think about our recipes beyond the page and how they can resonate with people. So, that was important. In terms of big, digital stories, that was a big one for us because we released the story online first.

We had a great summer cookbook this year in June and I think that was the first example for us where we’re going to deliver the story one way in print, but we’re also going to cover the 50 best farmer’s markets in the country and the way that resonated online and the way it resonated on Facebook and the traffic that drew was powerful. And it was a different way of telling a story than we would have done it in print. That was big.

And then we had a really big clean-eating package this spring that we released and that was important for us because clean-eating is in the news, it’s what a lot of companies are pointing to in terms of their value system and we saw a lot of traffic around that. All of this is a part of telling stories in different ways on different platforms.

Samir Husni: What has been the major stumbling block that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

Hunter Lewis: I think our biggest stumbling block is just what we’re fighting every day in the sense that, back in the day print was everything. It was the product that we were working on every waking moment. And so the big challenge has been to take a team that’s used to working on that one product and to marshal them together to work on all the different platforms. And that’s not something that happens overnight, because part of the game right now is that the digital platforms are changing so quickly that you have to stay up-to-date and you have to try new things and move into new spaces, while you’re also maintaining the core part of your brand which is print. So, that’s the real challenge and it’s a challenge every day for every editor.

Samir Husni: Do you think your staff feels more gratified if they see their work appearing in the print edition or in digital or it makes no difference?

Hunter Lewis: I think about it like a series of deadlines and I think about as a cook; when you cook for somebody, whether it’s at home or in a restaurant, you know immediately if that person is happy and you’ve pleased them. You know if they like that dish.

With print you work on something for many months and you put it out and you might not hear anything. With digital what’s fascinating is that you know immediately whether or not you’ve pleased people and you know immediately, or pretty soon after, if that content has gone viral. So, you can measure that. And I think that’s important. To think about what you can measure and how you can analyze that.

Samir Husni: Are you trying to come up with some ideas where you’re actually bringing the audience to the editorial print table, not to comment, but rather to be a part of the creation of the print magazine?

Hunter Lewis: Absolutely. I think a lot about Cooking Light Diet, which is a new product for us, it’s a completely different digital entity than cookinglight.com; it’s a completely different revenue stream than the magazine and to date we have thousands of subscribers for this new digital product. It’s this amazing, healthy meal planner.

And what we’ve seen from these folks that are using the diet is that we’re getting these testimonials on a daily basis and it’s changing their lives. People are losing dozens of pounds on this and their cholesterol is dropping and they’ve convinced their families to eat healthier.

So, what we’re doing is taking these testimonials and bringing some of those rock star subscribers to the Cooking Light Diet, some of our most engaged subscribers, and we’re starting a Facebook community with them and we’re featuring them in the magazine. We just went and shot video with a woman in Georgia who’s one of our star dieters and we’re creating a healthy meal plan for her that we’re putting into the January issue. So, yes, we want that kind of participation; we want that feedback. And just like with the elementary school students here in Birmingham and what they’re telling us about our healthy recipes and how they taste and work, we’re listening to the folks that are using the Cooking Light Diet and figuring out new ways to share their experiences in the magazine.

Samir Husni: Next year, if you and I are sitting down and having a second anniversary interview; what do you hope to tell me? What’s in store for Cooking Light and what’s in store for Hunter as we move toward the second year?

Hunter Lewis: I hope that we’re talking about video and social video and just increasing the levels of engagement with video. I guarantee that we’ll be talking about the Time Inc. Food Studios and this massive new sweets test kitchens and photo and video studios that we’re opening here in Birmingham. And how Cooking Light and these studios will play together to create best-in-class video and recipes and stories. It’s a big, big deal for Time Inc.

And I think we’ll be talking about the continued comeback of Time Inc. and where the company is going and how Cooking Light is innovating and helping to drive that comeback.

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

Hunter Lewis: A couple of things are the huge November double issue which comes to mind because we’re shipping the last pages today. That’ll be coming out soon and I’m really excited about it. It has twice as many recipes and twice as many pages as we typically publish. And that’s exciting because it allows us to publish some long reads that we don’t typically have room to stretch and publish.

Cooking Light Diet is top of mind and then also January is a big, big time for us. That’s when people are making their New Year’s resolutions and they’re thinking more practically about how they’re going to live a healthier life in the New Year. And so right now we’re working on the January issue and making it the absolute best that we can. But we’re also working on a compelling digital package so that every day in January our audience is getting, not just one tip for one recipe, but scores of them that will help them to live a healthier 2016.

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

Hunter Lewis: The exact same thing that I said one year ago and I have it on a sticky note here on my wall. It’s the quote from the guy over at Microsoft, what drives me every morning and what keeps me up every night is one thing, “this business is not about longevity; it’s about relevance.” Every day what we’re doing is prioritizing and reprioritizing, based on how the game is changing. And thinking about the stories that we’re telling and the content that we’re delivering and making sure that it’s going to resonate the most on whichever platform we put it on.

Samir Husni: Thank you.