As one of the few beauty books in a struggling print market, Allure is looking at a “refresh” to keep it relevant for years to come.
Serena Williams was on the February cover of Allure, the last before an upcoming redesign.
Allure is gearing up to unveil a new look to its magazine and digital properties, but don’t call it a relaunch.
For Allure — recently the subject of plenty of industry chatter speculating its demise in print as its publisher Condé Nast has continued to shrink its operations, slate of print publications and budgets, overall — its “evolution” nevertheless means a number of changes are on the way.
Lee agreed beauty is an industry that’s taken to social media unlike any other, with brands and marketers seeing a lot of success launching product online and on social platforms without need of support by institutional brands like Allure. The coup of getting a product recommended in the pages of a magazine has been all but replaced by the measurable impact of an influencer posting about a cream or a lipstick on Instagram or YouTube.
So it’s not surprising that Lee is wanting to get ahead of the social game and have Allure do more of what influencer and social media stars do not, like invest in strong visuals and editorial content that’s researched, vetted and fact-checked.
Given the number of print titles that have closed, at Condé and elsewhere, it’s understandable that Lee would want to drive the point home.
Allure also has a something of a side hustle with its subscription Beauty Box business (also getting a “refresh,” including a new “mini-magazine” featuring Allure editors), where the Condé said subscribers grew by 80 percent last year, and a growing e-commerce business, which exceeded its revenue goal by nearly 200 percent.
Since Allure is the only beauty-centric property left in Condé’s print arsenal, it’s a good thing.