At present, a brand new shiny journal referred to as 72 hits the information stands. On the quilt, you’ll discover Julia Roberts gazing intensely on the digicam, sporting a black button-down shirt and jacket designed by Phoebe Philo together with chunky diamond-encrusted jewellery. Inside, she’s interviewed by George Clooney, however you’ll additionally discover tales about luminaries throughout vogue and leisure, from Stella McCartney and Jonathan Anderson to Oprah Winfrey and Adwoa Aboah.
72, a quarterly vogue journal, is the flagship product of a brand new media and leisure firm referred to as EE72. It’s cofounded by Edward Enninful, the previous editor-in-chief of British Vogue, alongside along with his sister, Akua Enninful, a expertise agent. (The corporate’s identify combines Edward’s initials and the 12 months of his beginning.) After greater than twenty years working among the best-known vogue titles on this planet, Enninful is able to strike out on his personal.
“When you find yourself on another person’s masthead, you must please your bosses and advertisers,” he says. “I used to be prepared for complete artistic freedom.”
Launching a brand new journal on this second is a daring transfer. The media business has been on the decline for greater than a decade, as individuals shift their consideration towards streaming providers and TikTok, and advertisers lower their spending on magazines and newspapers. Final 12 months, 15,000 media jobs have been lower in america, as locations just like the Washington Publish and Vox Media had layoffs.
However Enninful is assured in his capability to create a worthwhile media enterprise, regardless of these headwinds. In spite of everything, he’s achieved so earlier than. In 2011, he took over W journal when the publication was struggling and elevated advert pages by 16%. Between 2017 and 2023, as editor-in-chief of British Vogue, he drove up each digital site visitors and print circulation. “From the time I used to be in my twenties, I used to be all the time supplied magazines that wanted to be rotated,” he recollects. “Then I noticed that turning issues round is my superpower.”
New Enterprise Fashions
Enninful began his profession at a time when magazines have been nonetheless thriving. He was scouted as a mannequin in London as a young person, happening to mannequin for Area and i-D, earlier than pivoting to styling vogue shoots. He was finally named vogue editor of i-D.
Till the web and social media took off 20 years in the past, magazines have been a profitable enterprise as a result of manufacturers would pay prime greenback to have their adverts seen by giant audiences. However 15 years in the past, Enninful started to see the uphill battles the media business was dealing with. In 2011, when he grew to become model director at W, after which in 2017, when he grew to become the editor in chief of British Vogue, promoting was starting to say no.
To make sure the success of his magazines, Enninful needed to suppose creatively about working with advertisers. Moderately than simply promoting them banner adverts or print pages, he’s been centered on discovering different methods to collaborate. “The promoting system wanted to be disrupted, and I’ve been doing this my complete profession,” he says.
He’s bringing this identical method to 72. For the primary difficulty, there isn’t a single web page of promoting. As an alternative, he creates bespoke partnerships with every model that entails issues like in-person occasions, podcasts, movies, and even merchandise. For example, for the journal’s launch occasion, 72 partnered with Moncler and Google Buying, enabling these manufacturers to get in entrance of among the most influential individuals in vogue. “We provide our purchasers holistic packages which can be tailor-made to their wants.” he says.
Whereas Enninful is the chief artistic officer of the corporate, he has employed a group of specialists to run numerous components of the enterprise. Simone Oliver (previously of BET and Refinery29) is the top of content material, Sarah Harris (previously of British Vogue) is the editorial director for each the journal and web site, and Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding (founders of the artistic company Suburbia) are co-creative administrators of the journal.
EE72 will even have one other income stream within the type of a consulting wing that works straight with manufacturers to advise them on learn how to be related on this cultural atmosphere. “This takes the strain off the journal,” he says. “For the journal, we are able to simply deal with creating actually glorious journalism and delightful artwork quite than the wants of the advertisers.”
Extra Range
However to succeed as {a magazine}, you want extra than simply sturdy promoting income. You additionally want a recent and related standpoint. Over the course of the final twenty years, Enninful—whose household moved from Ghana to London when he was a baby—has achieved this by bringing variety to the notoriously unique vogue business.
All through his profession, he’s centered on highlighting the significance of inclusivity. In 2017, after President Trump was elected the primary time, Enninful introduced collectively 80 distinguished members of the style business to create a video referred to as, “I Am An Immigrant.” In 2019, he used the September difficulty of British Vogue to highlight 15 feminine trailblazers together with Greta Thunberg. (The difficulty was guest-edited by Meghan Markle.)
Enninful says he’ll convey a lot of the identical method to 72. In some ways, the journal will likely be paying homage to different high-end vogue magazines available on the market, together with Vogue. We’ll see prime designers’ newest collections and skim interviews with cultural icons. There will likely be lavish photograph spreads by prime photographers. However Enninful will proceed to deal with bringing in underrepresented voices and views.
He believes it’s notably necessary to do that now as a result of “variety, fairness, and inclusion” are below assault not simply in america, however around the globe. Enninful believes that selling variety isn’t only a ethical difficulty: It’s good for enterprise. “While you function numerous individuals on the quilt of the journal, you appeal to extra individuals into the eco-system that had beforehand been ignored,” he says. “All through my profession, I’ve seen that that is nice for enterprise.”
However for all his expertise within the journal enterprise, Enninful believes there’s nonetheless rather a lot to be taught as a result of the business retains altering. He says one of the crucial thrilling issues about beginning a brand-new media firm is that he has the liberty to experiment. He plans to run the journal like a startup, as an alternative of being sure to the traditions and programs of legacy media corporations. “There’s a motive we didn’t purchase an current journal title,” he says. “We didn’t need to be caught with a legacy model. We wished one thing new, younger, and agile. We will be taught from errors, transfer rapidly, and adapt.”
And in the end, he believes that readers are additionally on the lookout for one thing new proper now. “Many individuals are exhausted by what they’re seeing within the media,” he says. “I feel it’s a good time to be beginning one thing new.”
