Opinion
Media on Trial: Marie Claire
24.10.2006Jane Wolfson, Head of Press I was very pleased to hear that Marie Claire was going to be revamped from their November issue, although it didn’t seem that they would have much choice based on the dismal ABC performance for Jan-Jun. Historically, being an avid Marie Claire reader I was looking forward to it going back to its roots, whilst bringing it firmly into the Noughties.
The great thing about monthly magazines is that they have the time to really get under the skin of celebrities during interviews rather then just seeing paparazzi shots of fat/not fat, good dress/bad dress. Marie Claire has pulled off some amazing celebrity cover stars/interviews in the past and I had assumed that they would be doing something ‘special’ on the cover for this issue. I was a little disappointed therefore with Anne Hathaway, to me although very ‘of the moment’ due to The Devil Wears Prada, she has a younger appeal which goes against the plans to bring in older readers.
The Shops section is a great new addition to the magazine but it would be nice to see some spreads rather then single pages as the section just seemed too busy. The frenetic pace of The Shops is in complete contrast to the Beauty and Fashion sections at the back of the book, where the photography and style is fantastic and thank goodness they are keeping in old favourites like a 101 Ideas. It is this sort of style that should attract a greater number of high end fashion and prestige advertisers.
The celebrity interview with Janet Street Porter interviewing Graham Norton and the Fashion & Beauty sections I think are the highlights of this issue of the magazine. The features were a bit hit and miss for me in terms of my interest, and I believe when you purchase a monthly magazine you want to enjoy and indulge in pretty much all of it.
The aim of the new launch was to target a slightly older audience, more 30ish than the 20ish it was becoming, and also to move away from diluting the magazine content. It has done this to some degree but as with all magazine relaunches, it takes time to pull all the elements together and it may be a little longer before IPC get the product that they and their readers are 100% satisfied with.
Marie Claire is a key part of the IPC stable and with the licence potentially up for review in the future I really hope that they make a success of it.
