His Esquire is bigger, bolder, more commercial, more competitive and more consumer-focussed than it has ever been before, say the publishers.
Published by the National Magazine Company, Hearst Corporation’s principal business in the UK, the re-launched Esquire features Kelly Brook on its eye-catching new cover and will be officially launched at a party in London on Thursday May 5, co-hosted by Bilmes and Lily Allen.
The issue goes on sale to the public that same day under the slogan “style and substance”.
“Style” because Bilmes has expanded the consumer content to include more fashion, more gadgets, more cars, more grooming, more food, more advice on what to wear and how to wear it.
“Substance” because the new Esquire includes longer, more intelligent and harder hitting stories about topics men care about - sports, style, culture, food, women – than any rival men’s magazine.
To write them, Bilmes, who joined Esquire from GQ in January, has hired some of Britain’s most high-profile journalists, names instantly recognisable from the newspapers and TV: AA Gill, Giles Coren, Will Self, Tom Parker Bowles and many more…
Gill, of the Sunday Times and Vanity Fair, joins Esquire from GQ as the magazine’s new Special Contributing Editor. His agony uncle column starts this month. Giles Coren, the Times columnist and television personality, becomes one of three Editors-at-Large (the other two are Andrew O’Hagan and Will Self). And Tom Parker Bowles, author, broadcaster and the Mail on Sunday’s cookery writer, is Esquire’s new food editor.
Bilmes has also appointed Johnny Davis as Esquire’s new Deputy Editor. Davis is one of the UK’s most respected writers on pop culture and lifestyle, having previously been Editor of The Face and freelanced for the Times, the Observer, the Guardian, Vogue, Wired and Wallpaper, as well as worked as a Contributing Editor to Q, GQ and Monocle.
Two former Esquire editors, Dan Davies and Jeremy Langmead, have new roles as Contributing Editors. Davies’s exclusive interview with footballer Joey Barton and Langmead’s first style column can both be found in the re-launch issue, alongside work by David Thomson, the acclaimed film writer, and many more. Other new contributing editors include novelist Geoff Dyer, chef Mark Hix, Mick Brown of the Telegraph and Tim Adams of the Observer.
As well as the invitation-only party on May 5, the launch will supported by an integrated online marketing campaign including an 18 page online sampler to be released via Facebook, as well as competitions and special subscription offers available on Twitter.
Group Publishing Director, Luxury Group, Tess Macleod-Smith says, “Esquire has always been a strong authority on men’s lifestyle and fashion, and the redesigned June issue is testament to Alex’s vision of what British men want from a magazine. We believe Esquire will continue to be a hugely successful multi-platform brand.”
Esquire Editor Alex Bilmes says, “We feel that the original mission of men’s magazines – to entertain and amaze with sharp writing, groundbreaking design and startling photography – had been unaccountably ignored of late, and that a combination of authoritative style advice and incisive journalism still has a place in the world. I am very proud of the new Esquire. It is stylish, intelligent, commercial and unapologetically red-blooded.”
The re-launched June issue of Esquire is on sale, Thursday May 5.
