Ask IPC Media's editorial development director what his dream job in publishing would be and, without hesitation, you will get the answer: the one he has. After an award-winning career as an art director, which included stints in the role on Q and Empire as well as in New York on Mademoiselle and Rolling Stone, running his own consultancy then serving as IPC's creative director, Andy Cowles' experience has spanned more publishing challenges and opportunities than many could dream of. But it is in his current role, overseeing development of new magazine titles, redevelopment of existing ones and - as important - developing the editorial and design talents of IPC's staff that, even after four years in the job, still keeps him excited and fulfilled.
"A few years ago, I was in New York working on Rolling Stone," he observes. "Then I was back in the UK working on the launch of Pick Me Up. They may sound poles apart, but both are about delivering content to readers in ways they love. Looking back, nothing was - and still is - more enjoyable than being close to the reader. I'll never tire of going to research groups and listening to what readers really think, want and like. And the challenges now involved in how best to play out content across all devices make this even more exciting, not less."
Cowles joined IPC back in 2004 as creative director working closely with the company's former editorial development director, Mike Soutar. He was appointed to his current role following Soutar's departure to start up his own magazine consultancy in early 2007.
"The new role was an extension of what I did before, though with more contact with the board," Cowles says. "When Mike was here, he needed me as creative director. Since his departure, I've overseen editorial and creative development. It was a progressive move on IPC's part to appoint a magazine designer to this role, but as publishing evolves and as magazines are visual properties it also made total sense. Great editors are great art directors. The best magazine designers, meanwhile, are fluid with content."
Mike Soutar’s legacy
A commitment to integrating skills and expertise also lies at the heart of IPC's development process which Soutar shaped and Cowles inherited. "The development culture pioneered by Mike is strong, flexible, iterative and inclusive," he explains.
"It's all about creating a safe place for people to innovate - taking people from different brands to work together in cross-brand teams - often against other teams - for short periods of time. It works in a non-hierarchical way with editors and designers on an equal footing, brainstorming ideas. Developed primarily for launch work, increasingly we are using it for brand redevelopment. What has changed in the past couple of years is that because of financial constraints, we've had to do more with fewer resources. What hasn't changed, however, is the care taken to ensure the process supports rather than undermines our editors. The fundamental belief here is that the editor is the boss."
Under Cowles' leadership, this 'process' continues to pay off. Despite the dire economic situation, IPC has stabilised and strengthened many of its biggest, most profitable brands, he points out.
Throughout publishing, of course, resources are tight. All have suffered during the recession, and shortly before our meeting, IPC confirmed it had found buyers for twenty of its titles - including Wedding and Wedding Flowers, Hi-Fi News and Caravan - following a strategic review of the business that recommended the disposal of a number of smaller, less profitable titles. All of which now makes redevelopment of those titles worth keeping an even greater priority.
"What's really exciting to me is finding ways to encourage the people working on these titles to find it, exploit it and move that brand forward," Cowles agrees. And it's all about building brand awareness within editorial teams.
Brand awareness
"A magazine is like a cult run according to a central vision and philosophy that persuades its readers to follow. The editor oversees this - in effect, as brand director even if they don't actively regard themselves as that. The process is all about working with editorial teams to help them release their brand's potential - to support them in developing their own frameworks and tools based around a deeper understanding of the reader. Editorial research is key and we are lucky here to have a very strong editorial insight resource to draw on."
A case in point is women's real life weekly Pick Me Up, he says, reaching for the latest copy - the first to showcase the results of a redevelopment project begun a few months’ earlier. "It was a successful launch title for IPC and its celebrity-influenced visual style was groundbreaking in the real life market which is very much a commodity play," Cowles says. A real life magazine is all about giving the reader a lift - something neatly summarised by the title's name which is a very positive brand statement. Brand development work, led by publishing director Niall Clarkson, was focused around creating new 'editorial franchises' - a favourite Cowles phrase. "While it has a fine tone and attitude, however, the focus of recent work has been on understanding how to raise it from number four in the marketplace by making it more distinct."
Editorial franchises
At first glance, the new-look Pick Me Up appears little different from its predecessor. However it now boasts an array of newly-branded regular features: Little Pick Me Ups; Mum's Dilemmas; Readers Confessions; Heartfelt Mum Moment; Instant Appointment - the re-branded medical advice column; and numerous Money Saving Tips. "This is commodity content more clearly contextualised to establish a deeper emotional relationship with readers," Cowles explains. Puzzling for fun with Pick Me Up has also been turned from commodity into opportunity with a redesigned section that's more lively to look at and “so engaging, fun and totally on brand”.
Innovation in print is alive and kicking, he insists: "Print remains the ultimate fashion accessory. It makes the clearest statement about who you are and the image you want to project. How I am perceived carrying the Sun will be quite different from how I am perceived if I carry the Guardian. It is an important expression of who we are and that won't change. You can always do something new in print to make it better and add more to the reader experience. The challenge for people now coming into the publishing industry is as much about remembering that as it is understanding the digital world and how content behaves on different platforms."
The digital development challenge
An obvious benefit of Cowles' editorial franchise approach is the cross-platform potential it offers. "A good content franchise that can travel across lots of different platforms is a fantastic opportunity," he readily admits. And digital development, too, is part of Cowles' remit, though the development process is - by necessity - different to the process that works for print.
"Our print development techniques are agile by nature, but that's different because there is no technology involved. With digital, however, the technical dimensions are enormous. We use where we can the cross-discipline, team-based development process but inevitably there are limitations: the technological threshold is higher, and managing all the different stakeholders and the decision-making process in the light of this can be challenging," he says, quickly highlighting two further challenges the company continues to battle with.
"While all our journalists now contribute to digital platforms in one way or another, we still find it hard to engage our design community in the digital side of the business - for the obvious reason that few write code. Some of our designers do have powerful digital skill sets but they are the minority. How best to bridge this skill gap is a question we will have to answer moving forward."
Also a challenge is the lack of a single, seamless content management system for managing all content - for print and digital. Cowles smiles. "Having that would be an extremely powerful tool," he says. "It will certainly be interesting to see how that one evolves." Until then, Cowles' primary interest lies in IPC's brands and how best to support the company's editors to develop those brands' potential. "If there is a digital opportunity we will grab it," he declares, though quickly concedes many questions remain unanswered.
Such as? Well, how traditional publishing roles - sub editor, for example - will evolve moving forward, for one. "The sub editor gives a brand personality, ensures accuracy and keeps an editor out of court. Yet when content goes online, it tends to be inputted direct. A journalist can fulfil some of the traditional roles of the sub editor, but there is an argument that if you want a job done well, you get a specialist. The craft of sub editing will remain a central skill, though who has that skill and what title they end up with will undoubtedly change." And then, of course, there's the question of how best to make money out of apps and sell subscriptions. Apps are fun and - when they take full advantage of the platform - they can be magical, he believes. But the question that remains is how best to build in value capable of driving forward digital sales.
"Spin (a music magazine in the US) has just launched a great iPad app. It's a digital version of the current issue with news streaming and behind the scenes videos from photo shoots, but it's also a music app through which you can play a selection of the tracks the editors are writing about," Cowles notes. In short: value lies in the selection and recommendations, not just writing. "I'm intrigued by the Daily - which I got until the free subscription ran out. And I enjoyed the first edition of Project which looked tremendous - though I don't feel any need to buy another," he adds.
"And that's the big challenge for all of us every day, whatever the platform: creating a powerful enough argument to ensure the reader wants to buy again."
