Nylon Comeback
After the coronavirus pandemic got in the way, Nylon is finally ready to make its print comeback at Coachella.
A 28-page glossy featuring cover face, Brazilian singer
Anitta, will be handed out at the Nylon House pop-up at the music festival later this month, and will also be distributed at boutique hotels in Palm Springs, Calif. It will be Nylon's first print issue since its previous owner, investor and real estate magnate Marc Luzzatto, ceased print in 2017.
"Our goal was to create this special-edition print issues for major cultural events," said Emma Rosenblum, chief content officer of owner Bustle Digital Group's lifestyle arm, encompassing Bustle, Romper, Elite Daily, The Zoe Report and
Nylon. "Coachella was this natural fit for Nylon and the audience there and so we conceived this music print issue completely around the Coachella lineup.
"The thing about Nylon is you get people right on the verge of mass stardom and we think with this print issue we have identified all these people that are next year going to be the big pop stars," she added. "Anitta is already a huge pop star, but she's not quite as well known in the U.S. as she is in Brazil. But she's right on the verge of breaking out here so we think to have her on the Coachella cover for Nylon is the perfect fit."
After acquiring the fashion, music and cultural site in 2019, BDG executives planned for print around special events to launch the following year, but kept pushing back the date due to the pandemic and the lack of live events.
Now that it's back, Rosenblum wanted a purposefully smallish distribution run so it feels very exclusive to the festivalgoers, although afterward all the content will go online.
And there may be more to come as Rosenblum is mulling special print issues for other brands such as Bustle, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.
This is in line with how a growing number of brands are viewing print — as special editions that compliment their digital offerings as opposed to a product they have to produce on a monthly basis. Even major fashion magazines are making changes, with all of them decreasing in frequency over the past few years.
As for Nylon House itself, the franchise that was established at Art Basel, there will be about 1,000 festivalgoers in attendance, including Anitta and other artists who are performing at Coachella, while DJ and artist Peggy Gu will be performing.
Then overnight, the property will be flipped from a party to Zoeasis, The Zoe Report's Coachella influencer-heavy popup hosted by founder Rachel Zoe.
"Events are definitely back. There's a lot of pent-up demand for IRL experiences. We demonstrated that at Art Basel, which was when the waves started to come back in our direction," said Jason Wagenheim, chief revenue officer and president of BDG, adding the events have about eight sponsors overall. "We'll do half a dozen events like this over the course of the year, but next year, I expect us to do more than a dozen."— KATHRYN HOPKINS