This year marks two years since the return of Nicky Briger as the editor of premium fashion title marie claire.
“The role has completely evolved,” Briger told Mediaweek as she prepared to fly to Melbourne from Sydney. “There is a lot more to juggle. We have a very set cross-platform strategy now, which is fantastic. We need to reach the marie claire woman anywhere and at any time. We also need to engage her differently depending on the medium she is using – whether that be print or online.”
When marie claire launched in the mid-90s, Briger worked on it as a sub-editor under editor Jackie Frank, who is now the general manager for fashion, beauty and health at Pacific Magazines. “I was on the launch issue of marie claire,” Briger said. “Can you believe that?” [Laughs]
Prior to rejoining marie claire, Briger was editor of the celebrity weekly title Who for about eight years. Asked if she misses the weekly deadlines, Briger laughed and said that with the many touchpoints of the marie claire brand, she doesn’t really get the chance to.
While marie claire’s digital touchpoints are getting increasing importance at the title’s office, the monthly print product is still the mothership. However, the focus for Briger at the moment is identifying new revenue streams to complement marie claire’s print offering: Briger said. “There is a huge opportunity there for us in digital. It’s grown extraordinarily over the last year.”
In 2016, Pacific Magazines took back the digital rights for its titles in-house from Yahoo7. Following this, the publisher went on a relaunch rampage, where it unveiled more than 12 new websites. And one of them was marie claire.
In the last 12 months, the unique browsers on the marie claire website have increased by about 250%, Briger revealed to Mediaweek. The overall following on social has increased by about 60%.
“There is an increased opportunity for our client to tap into more audience there,” Briger said.
There is a very small crossover between the marie claire reader online and in print. For Briger, this is excellent news. The small crossover means there is a wide audience that marie claire can offer to advertisers.
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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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