Monocle is a magazine, a perfume, a bag, a notebook, a global following… but more than anything, a group of people passionate about global affairs, business, culture and design. www.monocle.com
Monocle Publisher Pamela Mullinger gave me a tour of their chic but comfy London headquarters where journalists sit next to designers and the walls are lined with custom publications for high end brands.
We talk a lot about the reader, who is hard to pin down.
“Sure they’re wealthy, but they work hard, they travel, they’re quite young, they’re not your typical ‘wealthy target market.'"
By ‘typical’ we mean older – the bulk of high net worth individuals are over 50. Yet while the Monocle reader has a high income, they’re younger and less conventional. And for this creative company, conventions are made to be challenged.
Just take a look at their latest issue, which includes the Monocle Singapore Survey. A magazine within a magazine, funded by Singapore Government but created and edited entirely by Monocle.
“Everything tells a story; whether it is an ad for a watch or an article about a city, these things have a past, they have a story to tell.”
Flicking through the magazine you really notice the difference. The first five pages are still dominated by ubiquitous luxury fashion brand ads, but the grainy paper gives them a more authentic feel and the lifeless mannequins seem to be less prolific. That’s the biggest problem with luxury brand advertising… “mannequin whitewash”… after a few pages it’s hard to determine one uber expensive brand from the next.
Yet with their unique story telling, Monocle helps luxury brands break free of the conventions, giving them a new opportunities to reveal their past, and shape their future.
Opportunity: Shake off the tired conventions of luxury marketing. Tell old stories in new ways.
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