NANCY CRUICKSHANK - MANAGING DIRECTOR, HEARST DIGITAL NETWORK
- How difficult is it to build a standalone brand online in the fashion market?
In developing any new title, be it online or in print, delivering the most compelling consumer and advertiser proposition is the key to success. With more than 1.1 million unique users per month and an audience that is passionate about fashion, Handbag.com can claim to have got the balance right - but we do have seven years experience and more than one million expert readers to help us refine our standalone product day in, day out.
- How do standalone sites, such as Stylefinder.com and Handbag.com, compare with brand extensions such as Elle.com?
Handbag.com's fashion and beauty editorial teams are focused wholly on the creation of engaging content for an online audience. They understand what online users love and they are expert in interacting with users through blogging, forums and other user-generated content. The ability to focus all their attention on their online audience without any other constraints allows us to ensure that all of our best ideas and best editorial are presented online. The success of a site such as Elle.com will be about how they commission editorial in a platform-neutral way from the outset.
- Are there opportunities for advertisers to work with offline brands across other channels?
Handbag is now part of the Hearst Digital Network, meaning there are plenty of opportunities within The National Magazine Company print titles to create really exciting cross-media campaigns.
- What sort of innovative cross-channel opportunities are available for advertisers?
We have recently established a whole new department called NatMag eNgage to really leverage cross-channel opportunities across off- and online against the full magazine and website portfolio. We also work informally across other media where it is appropriate to our advertisers and audience. We currently have a proposal to work with Heart Fm on the Heart/Handbag High Street Fashion Awards.
- Who are the big advertisers on your site?
The biggest advertisers come from the fashion, beauty, retail, automotive and fmcg sectors. Companies such as L'Oreal, Estee Lauder Group, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Nike advertise regularly with us.
- What sorts of new and exciting opportunities are available to advertisers on your site?
We have recently developed what we call Broadcast Advertorials. These are advertiser-funded video content produced, designed and filmed by us. Herbal Essences, River Island and Nike have all advertised using this format with us. Handbag is always keen to enable the community of readers to interact with advertisers and their brands - good examples of this are our live webchats and Skypecasts.
- What websites do you visit?
Right now, I love Popsugar, Net-a-Porter, Ocado, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Jaffejuice, Boden and YouTube.
- What is your favourite fashion product that you have bought online?
Pink Jimmy Choo Rock Stars from Net-a-Porter and Matthew Williamson Designers at Debenhams dresses for my daughters.
ABIGAIL CHISMAN - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CONDE NAST INTERACTIVE
- How difficult is it to build a standalone brand online in the fashion market?
As the sister site of Vogue.com and Glamour.com, Stylefinder.com had a natural advantage. The team has already won its credentials in the fashion market and it has been easy to bring advertisers on board by leveraging the reputation we had gained through our brand extensions: the first month was sold out, based on our traffic forecast. By the time we launched on 8 March and in the following four days, we had seen 50,000 unique users come into the site, even before the campaign broke.
- How do standalone sites, such as Stylefinder.com and Handbag.com, compare with brand extensions such as Elle.com?
The benefit of established brands is that they need little explaining - our first poster campaign for Vogue.com in 2000 simply said "Vogue.com", it was named Poster of the Year and it worked because people knew what they were going to get. With Stylefinder.com, we were very careful to choose a url that communicated the site's purpose as clearly as possible and have kept the content absolutely focused on that: helping readers find the season's hottest styles, both online and on the high street.
- Are there opportunities for advertisers to work with offline brands across other channels?
Yes, all our branded sites were created specifically as offshoots of our magazines - and as such they are designed to complement the offline brands, both editorially and commercially. We often run cross-media advertising campaigns, including print, web, video and mobile (the Interactive division handles all new media).
- What sort of innovative cross-channel opportunities are available for advertisers?
The Interactive sales team works closely with our magazines to offer clients integrated cross-media deals. Because our readers don't distinguish between the two, this works particularly well with advertorials; for example, Estee Lauder ran an interactive promotion online to find out whether our readers were using the right foundation - the results were used very successfully as an advertorial in Easy Living and Glamour magazines as well as online.
- Who are the big advertisers on your site?
For launch, Stylefinder.com's biggest advertisers were Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lulu Guinness, L'Oreal, Peugeot, Jaeger, Nokia, Warehouse, Net-a-Porter.com, John Frieda and Shoe Studio. Our top client groups, across all our sites, are cars, technology and fashion.
- What sorts of new and exciting opportunities are available to advertisers on your site?
Our solutions tend to be simple but highly effective: the new homepage double skyscrapers we are rolling out across our sites are already proving incredibly powerful, showing clickthroughs of up to 11 per cent. We were also one of the first publishers to monetise video - and our content continues to be groundbreaking: watch out for a world exclusive on Kate Moss' new range for Topshop on Vogue TV. Please form an orderly queue!
- What websites do you visit?
Since having my daughter, Emerald, last August, I have become addicted to babycentre.co.uk - plus all the sites that delivered during my maternity leave: Net-a-Porter, Ocado, Amazon (for DVD rentals). I have also bagged her a gmail address and made her a flipbook at Flip.com.
- What is your favourite fashion product that you have bought online?
Christian Louboutin tan canvas peep-toe slingbacks with a six-inch heel and the signature red sole from Net-a-Porter.com.