Meredith’s Moves
Meredith Corp. announced a new sales and marketing structure for its National Media Group on Monday.
“Meredith offers our clients and partners an unparalleled combination of trusted brands, coveted audience reach, actionable insights and analytics, and innovative marketing solutions that drive best-in-class results,” said Meredith National Media Group president Jon Werther. “To fully capitalize upon our portfolio of brands and capabilities, we are aligning our sales and marketing activities within an account-driven and solution-oriented go-tomarket approach that continues to place our iconic and trusted brands front and center.”
News of the reorganization comes less than a week after the company, which acquired Time
Inc. earlier this year, announced its intention to sell off four tiles — Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated and Money — and lay off 1,200 employees over the next year.
Although there is no set time table on the sale, Meredith president and ceo Tom Harty is hoping to sell within the next 60 to 120 days. Last week, during an early spring snowstorm, Meredith laid off 200 employees, including high-ranking executives such as svp of human resources and talent acquisition Bucky Keady, who confirmed the news in an Instagram post. “Time Inc., you saucy vixen, you had me for 17 years and then you went and got yourself all sold. Thank you for allowing me to work with the best talent in the industry,” Heady wrote. Other high-level svps who were let go last week include Russ Charlton, Jaison Blair, Judith Hammerman and Kurt Rao.
Meredith said that the company plans to lay off an additional 1,000 employees over the next 10 months. Those 1,000 staffers were all notified last week that they will not be retained, and given an end date over the coming months.
As part of the new structure, Meredith moves its brands back to a publisher-led system that will further integrate Time Inc. and Meredith's lifestyle titles. Studio M, Meredith's former branded content creation arm, will be merged into The Foundry, which moved its operations from Brooklyn's Sunset Park to Meredith headquarters in lower Manhattan last week, and will become the central creative lab and branded/native content studio across the company, overseen by Chris Hercik, who will expand his existing role to serve as chief creative officer.
“Clients and agency partners told us that this approach best balances their needs for relevant brand, category, ad product and platform expertise — and their desire for actionable insights and analytics — within a simplified sales communication structure,” Werther said. “As clients and agency partners increasingly seek to work with fewer media companies more strategically, we believe that our portfolio of brands and capabilities — together with our go-to-market approach — positions Meredith with an unparalleled ability to drive their strategic advertising and marketing objectives.”
The company has named group publishers, many from Meredith's ranks, who will report to Meredith Magazines president Doug Olson. Stephen Bohlinger, Giulio Capua, Laura FrererSchmidt, Mark Josephson, Daren Mazzucca and Carey Witmer, who will oversee the following:
Bohlinger will continue as publisher of Better Homes & Gardens while also overseeing Family Circle, with Lee Slattery as publisher, and Southern Living and Coastal Living, with Deirdre Finnegan as publisher of both titles.
Capua, who was publisher of Condé Nast's Architectural Digest until October, will join Meredith in mid-April and will oversee Meredith's portfolio of luxury titles, including Food & Wine, with Tom Bair as publisher, and Travel + Leisure, with Jay Meyer as publisher.
Frerer-Schmidt, former publisher of Women's Health, will be the new publisher of InStyle, and will also oversee Shape, with Ann Gobel as publisher. Frerer-Schmidt replaces Kevin Martinez, who was let go as part of the wave of layoffs last week.
Josephson will continue as publisher of The Magnolia Journal while also overseeing Midwest Living, with Melissa Luebbe as publisher; Parents, Parents Latina, Ser Padres and Family Fun, with Steve Grune as group publisher, and Traditional Home, with Beth McDonough as publisher.
Mazzucca will serve as publisher of Real Simple and continue to oversee Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings, with Chris Guilfoyle as publisher of both titles.
Witmer will continue as publisher of Rachael Ray Every Day and oversee Meredith's portfolio of food and health titles, including Cooking Light, with Denis Gallagher as publisher; Eating Well, with Tiffany Ehasz as publisher; and Health, with Brendan Smyth as publisher. A publisher of Allrecipes is expected to be named in the near future.
This new sales strategy also will apply to titles for which Meredith has announced that it will be exploring a sale. Mike Schneider has been named group publisher of Fortune and Money, reporting to Olson. Danny Lee will be publisher of Sports Illustrated and Jorg Stratman will be publisher of Time.
Cece Ryan will be publisher of People, Ellie Duque of Entertainment Weekly, and Monique Manso of People en Español — all overseen by executive vice president of People and Entertainment Weekly Bruce Gersh.
— KARA BLOOMGARDEN-SMOKE reach and everything else that Bryan has proved ten times over that he does above anybody else in this business,” Zoe added.
Zoe will continue to own and operate her global lifestyle business, which includes the Rachel Zoe Collection, her namesake readyto-wear, footwear and accessories line and style subscription box service.
The price, which was not disclosed, was a combination of cash and stock and Zoe, who will become a major shareholder of Bustle Digital Group, will retain the title of editor at large at The Zoe Report and will stay involved with the property. When the deal closes on April 1, employees of The Zoe Report will become Bustle Digital Group employees. The advertising sales operation will report to Bustle Digital Group chief revenue officer, Jason Wagenheim and editorial will report to Bustle Digital Group editor in chief Kate Ward.
“It started about six months ago as an idea that turned into a conversation that turned into a serious conversation. And in a fairly short period of time, we got a deal done. This deal just makes so much sense for both parties. This was as quick, obvious and friendly of a deal as you are going to see in the media industry. It's just two parties who have known each other and really respected each other for a long time,” Goldberg said. — K.B.S. the most unprofessional way possible, and capture the insanity of professional cycling.”
Rapha Race Radio, which is free on the Rapha YouTube channel, will also involve local cycling fans. The brand said its correspondents plan to “drink with the Belgians at Flanders, take
a shower in Roubaix and paint the mountain roads. We'll show you the best and the worst of the sport, taking you beyond the existing coverage to celebrate moments of heroism and panache, criticize the ills and excess — and ignore everything in between.”
The company has drafted former professional racer and Eurosport commentator Juan Antonio Flecha to opine on the races.
“With Rapha Race Radio, we want to inject a little fun into the coverage of pro cycling,” said Harry Dowdney, producer and presenter of Rapha Race Radio. “It's incredible, and we want to show everyone why.”
Rapha said it will start its regular dispatches next week at the Tour of Flanders, known as the De Ronde, an annual cycling race held in Belgium. It plans to have made 20 episodes by the end of the season.
The radio project is part of the newly formed Rapha Media. The company said it is planning a mix of programming and writing that covers every aspect of life on the bike, from the culture and community “to the characters and moments that color professional racing.”
Earlier this month, Rapha Media said it was planning to release three documentary films this year as part of its Outskirts series, which aims to chronicle “epic journeys on iconic roads around the world.”
The series will be created by Thereabouts, and the first one follows Angus Morton, a professional racer, and three friends as they ride Route 66 in the United States, from end to end. — SAMANTHA CONTI