Everyone’s dabbling in media these days. Meanwhile, smart media companies are getting into retail. Wired Magazine, for instance, will sell merchandise like Jack Spade messenger bags, “The El” bike, headphones and iPad cases in a pop-up store that opens on Friday in the three-story Tower Records building in NoHo.
“The gloves are off here at Condé [Nast],” said Wired publisher Howard Mittman, whose magazine will end the year in the number-one spot for ad page growth at the company, up 24 percent. “We’re bigger than we’ve ever been, and we’ve put the brand in a place to focus on other things, like licensing deals.”
“There are now opportunities for publishers to expand the footprint of their brands,” Mittman added. “We have more white space to play in — we are seeing passionate interest now from fashion and lifestyle brands, for instance.” One example is Burberry, Wired’s first-ever fashion advertiser, which can be seen in the November iPad edition. “Last week I went to Paris, Geneva and Milan. Five years ago, this wasn’t the most obvious trip for a Wired publisher to make.”.
[via Women’s Wear Daily]