The most high-profile move in the magazine business this year was the appointment of Nicole Sheffield to the top job at NewsLifeMedia. In one of her first interviews since taking the post, she speaks to Damian Francis.
In Hollywood terms it must be hard to be the chief executive of a publishing company. Think of it like The Devil Wears Prada or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or frankly, any other terrible movie about the publishing industry. It’s the editor that takes the spoils of the success while everyone else, including the chief executive, works in the background. But when the editor gets shafted (à la Devil), it’s then that the chief executive steps in as the evil publishing master.
Whether you believe that’s how Nicole Sheffield was portrayed in the first few months of taking on the top job at NewsLifeMedia probably depends on who you’re friends with in the industry. But there is no denying the fact that she has stepped into the hot seat of a company that has a lot to prove at a time that is very uncertain – and not just for magazines.
Looking back at the first six months on the job, Sheffield admits it’s had ups and downs. “NewsLifeMedia had been without leadership for three or four months when I stepped in. Everyone is always a little tentative when there are new leadership changes I suppose, so it was an interesting time,” she says. “But I knew I had to make changes quickly and I had to accelerate the growth of the business. It had some stars but overall it had been pretty flat for a couple years.”
It was those changes that stirred up the most controversy. If there is anything the media is good at, it’s reporting on its own – and when it’s relating to editors in high-profile positions, even more so. Inside Out editor Richard Waller left, with Lifestyle Group publisher Mark Kelly as well. But the biggest name to depart NewsLifeMedia was Vogue editor-in-chief of 10 years, Kirstie Clements. The media attention came in thick and fast, mostly voicing shock at the announcement.
Sheffield is adamant that this was nothing to do with throwing weight around and everything to do with a grand plan for NewsLifeMedia to see it thrive. “I had a very clear vision of what this business could be and a very clear vision that within this business exist the most powerful lifestyle brands in the country,” she says. “We need to ensure that we are market leaders. We have leading positions but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are innovating and evolving. So I had to make the decisions on the people I thought had the right skill set and mindset.”
She explains that a large part of her job has been fusing what was previously a company split into two businesses – a digital one and a print one – and finding the best model to do it. “I needed to evolve the business quickly. Some people were willing and some people weren’t,” she says. “At the end of the day everybody understood what I was doing. Some people said they didn’t want to be part of that – they had been doing their roles for a while and were happy for a change. So I think often things get misrepresented. It doesn’t start with the people, it starts with what the vision is.”
Creating a vision for a company that works with a product many like to bash is a tricky situation for Sheffield. It’s made more difficult as NewsLifeMedia saw the biggest drop in circulation when compared to its two biggest rivals, ACP and Pacific, at 13% in the last audit. Readership in some key areas also dropped substantially – men’s title GQ fell 36.5% in the figures to March 2012, while Vogue Living dropped 21.8%.
But Sheffield is still excited and stresses that the wheels are already in motion to make NewsLifeMedia a success. “Yes, magazines have had a bad wrap but actually if you have a look at circulation there are a lot of magazines that are performing exceptionally well – Country Style rose 14.4%,” she says. “Every five seconds in Australia someone buys a magazine. With some of our food titles their performance is fantastic and we are reinvigorating Vogue and Inside Out. Only two issues in they are showing enormous growth – we are talking 50% growth at newsstand. In terms of circulation, there are plenty of upsides because we have great brands and as long as your products are fantastic consumers want to relate to them.”
Sheffield believes that finding the right mix between print and digital is key for the company now. “You had a business completely focused on print,” she says. “I looked at my workforce and how many people had skills in print or digital and we really needed to change the percentages on either side. I think we now have the right mix – people who really understand brands and platforms and they are kind of media agnostic. It’s about getting the brand and the relationship with the customer right.
“Take Vogue. We have gone from publishing once a month to publishing four times a day. Everyone is responsible for ensuring they are socially active and represent the Vogue brand. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that they have to produce an absolutely beautiful, top-class magazine every month. So they are moving between two mindsets.”
It’s not just editorial that’s changing. Sheffield says the changes spread far and wide within the company. While everyone may have heard of the editors that have come and gone, there is plenty more that has been going on in the background.
“There have been changes across retail, sales and circulation in terms of appointing Brett Willis as general manager of the department. He has had to undergo a restructure to ensure we have a more integrated retail, sales and subscriptions model. Across the business there have been a lot of changes. Sales has had a restructure and has gone to agency-based selling and a products team has been appointed to come up with the innovative new products and solutions that the agency-based team takes to market. There have been a lot of changes through the business, we needed to do them everywhere.”
This article first appeared in the 5 October 2012 edition of AdNews.
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