Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
Picture it: An acne-clad, pasty middle schooler with frizzy curls and full set of fangs (two of those are still true; I’ll let you guess which ones). Her middle-class parents take her and her older sister to Borders. If you were born in 2000 or later – how is that legal? – it was a chain of bookstores until it, well, wasn’t. There are people everywhere, rummaging through the remains of a dying culture of reading on physical paper, or so we thought at the time (eat your heart out, Kindles of the world), trying to grasp onto any remains of the capitalistic culture they helped build as blue-collar workers in America’s Rust Belt until the Great Recession left them laid off with foreclosed homes.
So off my parents went, scouring for future gifts at low-cost prices, leaving me in the aisle of my secret desire: magazines. Turns out no one much bothers with magazines full of outdated trends and news. But that’s all I could think about (I think. Listen, it was a while ago. I’m old and tired now.) I loved magazines, but they were an indulgence. And this was the Great Recession in Metro Detroit. Books were fine since we needed them for school, but magazines? Expensive and unnecessary, especially since you could get so much of that stuff on the internet for free. Now, though, Border’s loss was my gain. I’d had the occasional Teen Vogue, what (mumble indistinguishable age) hadn’t? But this was my chance to broaden my horizons finally.
Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
Isn’t She Lovely?
That’s when I saw her: That iconic thick, black cover with yellow accents. A cover that promised me a look into worlds like the Baltics, the Nordics, places I’d never even heard of before. Cool fashion that was sophisticated but laid back without trying too hard. Global views, artisanal recipes (what was artisanal?), the best cities for quality of life. It was so fancy that the price was in “European” and it spelled “colour” with a “u.” I always believed that magazines were little pop culture textbooks, showing us the world so even if you live in Metro Detroit, you know what some kid in Oslo think is cool.
And at over 200 pages with the most beautiful print value I’d ever seen in a magazine, my God was she cool.
Her name? Monocle. Flipping through the August (mumble indistinguishable year) issue, it made me realize I’d been living my tiny little life eyes wide shut. No one in my family had a passport. Our idea of a “vacation” was driving an hour and a half to Frankenmuth and gorging on oversized nachos and buying stuff we didn’t need. Hell, my parents threatened to disown me when I told them I wanted to go to college to be a high school teacher (imagine the dismay when I moved to Chicago for a master’s in editorial journalism). But that Monocle showed me something far different than the conservative, “traditional” lifestyle I was growing up in was something I could grow out of.
While I was growing out of something, Monocle was growing into something – well, many somethings.
Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
A 360-Brand Publishing Experience
Canadian entrepreneur Tyler Brûlé got the first issue of Monocle into the world in 2007. He intended it to brief its readers on business, global affairs, design, culture, and “experiences beyond their national borders,” as the Monocle website puts it. The team publishes 10 physical issues a year, four issues of Konfekt magazine, newspapers for various European cities, and several other special publications, including The Forecast and The Entrepreneurs.
And that’s just their physical publications. A quick look around their website and you’ll see loads of other content: Monocle Radio, weekly podcasts, several film series, travel guides, and slideshows. Beyond that, you can sign up for their newsletters, check out their minute & weekend editions, sign up for Monocle-hosted events and, oh yeah, shop. The little she who awed at the Monocle in Borders (RIP, homie) may have been on to something: Monocle may be a publication, but it’s more than that. Just one look at their website and you can see Monocle is more than just a publisher; it’s a full lifestyle experience.
This is the type of 360-brand publishing experience that other brands only dream of having. It’s especially critical for publishers. Teen Vogue, Slate, Entertainment Weekly, Allure, and so many other famous magazines are now online only, and a slate of others have gone out of business altogether. So how do you stay relevant? How do you broaden your portfolio? For Monocle, the answer was diversifying their publications so they could reach different audiences in different cities and countries, as well as expanding into other mediums.
Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
Lifestyles of the Rich & European
An even larger part of boosting that revenue base has been expanding beyond print in general. On the Monocle site, you can buy clothes, hats, purses, luggage, blankets, posters, home goods, stationery, candles, room scents, hand creams, and even perfume collaborations. Truly, Monocle has become a one-stop-shop for those seeking the type of lifestyle little me was dreaming of after reading my first Monocle magazine: traveling around Europe for business and pleasure, then coming home to aesthetic stationery sets and candles that smell like the top of the Himalayas.
Monocle has always been a forward-thinking publication, understanding its audience and what they want. Not only does the team serve readers what’s trending around the world in terms of products and style, but they go the extra step of making those products – or similar styles, at least – available for purchase on their site. This keeps users on their site and, more important, their wallets, too. It’s the type of content that keeps a publisher both relevant and financially stable, all the while pushing into the realm of a fully fledged brand instead of a singular product – that is, a singular publication.
Monocle’s publications almost serve as lifestyle guides, and its products the tools to achieve the sort of life its readers seek. Readers pick up their publications and read about life and politics in Europe, taking in the latest news and marveling at Monocle’s phenomenal reporting. They then flip through interviews of locals, describing their styles, cuisine, businesses, travel, and serious FOMO sets in. They want what the people in those pages have. And luckily, they can go straight to the Monocle website and buy a taste of that lifestyle for themselves. A brilliant branding move – well played, Monocle, well played.
Now, who else could benefit from this publisher-to-brand pipeline? Glad you asked!
Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
Taking a Page Out of The Monocle Playbook
1. National Geographic
National Geographic may have newsletters and a Disney+ partnership, but no place for readers to procure merch or goods. And I mean, picture this: A collab with Yankee Candle with scents based on plants and scents from all over the world. Hey, I’d buy them.
2. Teen Vogue
This magazine is more than just fashion and celebs. No, Teen Vogue also covers everything from politics to sex and health. Not having a shopping tab on the site with products featured in the magazine, especially since teens are used to social media sites with built-in shopping features.
3. Reader’s Digest
Imagine being able to buy puzzle books, cozy RD blankets and mugs, and totes right from the Reader’s Digest website. It could be a one-stop-shop for birthday, holiday or even “just because” gifts.
4. The Economist
Like Monocle, The Economist could reach another level of revenue by selling high-quality, high-end products to fit the lifestyle and needs of their readers, such as leather journals, fountain pens, portfolios, and iPad cases.
5. Allrecipes
Imagine it: You’re on Allrecipes and find the perfect dessert for that family reunion you forgot about. Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could just click a button and buy the supplies you need for that recipe right on the site? Plus, Allrecipes could even put their branding on the kitchen products they sell on the site.
Media Credit: Monocle Films / YouTube
The Case for Publishers Becoming Brands
Monocle beat the "magazine bubble" by being a publication and a full-scale brand. They have newspapers in several European cities and magazines on specialty topics like entrepreneurship. Not only that, but the company sells products readers are interested in and that they feature in its publications right on its own website. In some instances, they even partner with companies to create Monocle-branded products. This forward-thinking revenue model helps Monocle stay relevant and financially stable, both of which are increasingly difficult things for print publications to do. Perhaps if more physical publications were open to this model, they could avoid going the way of too many magazines that have left us far too soon.
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