Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Are Corporate Magazines the New Black?

Hey, what's up with corporate magazines? They are attracting some top drawer talent these days. First, the Elder Brother of the New York media elite Kurt Andersen went to Colors, which, admittedly, is not your typical corporate magazine; and, for that matter, neither is Bergdorf Goodman, which is where, among other places, the very cool Michael Gross is nesting.

Magazines sponsored by a corporation allow their editors more freedom, The Corsair imagines. Then, of course, there is that persnikety question of moolah, cheddar, cash. In this media environment magazines are losing dollars by the fistful and advertisers aren't what they used to be in those glossy, glossy cyber 90s, or even the razzle dazzle Reagan years.

One doesn't have to worry about that when you've got a single cash infused entity writing the checks and asking only for the prestige, the face of a top notch editor. It's a good move on all sides, The Corsair thinks: iconic brands with great editors. It is a sort of Medici-like interlocking structure of artist and patron where everyone involved gets a piece of the action.

So, who is next? Michael Kinsley at Apple Magazine? Tina Brown at The Manolo Blahnik Quarterly? Richard Johnson at Jaguar?

The possibilities are endless.

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