It has taken Inside Out 17 years and two months to clock up 150 issues. The NewsLifeMedia title achieved this benchmark with its August 2017 edition. In this time, the homes and interiors title has had three editors, including its current editor-in-chief Claire Bradley.
Working on homes and renovation is not only a job for Bradley, but also a passion. Being previously married to a builder and also having done a few renovations herself, Bradley told Mediaweek, “Renovation and decorating are like a wedding. You decide on the things that matter to you and you spend money on that. Then trim on the things that you are not so passionate about.”
When it comes to decorating, Bradley is passionate about linen and cushions: “Funnily enough you can totally justify spending money on the thing if you really love it.”
Bradley’s renovations are one of her many personal highlights. When it comes to her day job as the editor-in-chief of Inside Out, Bradley said the brand’s biggest success has been that it’s stayed nimble.
“It has had its origins in print. But we know that the best and the strongest brands are those that extend outside the straightforward print space,” Bradley said. She acknowledged that the size of Inside Out’s digital audience is bigger than that in print. “It’s a brand that’s been really fluid. I love that in our business [NewsLifeMedia], it’s a brand that gets to test things out.”
Much of the magazine’s content is also put on insideout.com.au. Could this deter the audience from forking out $8.20 per month for the magazine? Bradley didn’t think so.
“You don’t digest the content the same way. What you are looking for in digital is completely different to the experience you have in print,” she said. “To be honest, if I have lots of people on the website at the same time, I am able to commercialise that too.”
Inside Out has stood up to the test of time, Bradley said. The launch editor of the brand was Karen McCartney. She wrote in the 150th edition of the magazine that launching it “was both exciting and terrifying but if you don’t feel those things when you are launching a magazine, you’re doing something wrong”.
Bradley gave a lot of credit to McCartney for the success the brand enjoys today.
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This is an excerpt of the full article, which appears in the latest issue of Mediaweek magazine.
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