GWAS Media Musings

Hooking you up with what's happening on the glossy media beat...

- Perennial nice-girl Sarah Jessica Parker fronts the December issue of US ELLE magazine and takes the opportunity to kill the persistent rumour that she and Kim Cattrall don't get along: "I don’t think anybody wants to believe that I love Kim. I adore her. I wouldn’t have done the movie without her. Didn’t and wouldn’t."

- Vogue.TV has launched '60 Seconds to Chic' hosted by British expat Louise Roe.

- Anna Wintour has joined President Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities along with Sarah Jessica Parker. Meanwhile, US Vogue has a new publisher, starting January 4 – Susan Plagemann will join Conde Nast in the new year when her contract to Hearst (as VP/publisher for Marie Claire) is up. The Cut notes that Marie Claire's ad pages have fared reasonably well compared to Vogue's ("At Marie Claire, ad pages have only fallen 15 percent, while Vogue's have fallen 32 percent") and also muses that one of the McKinsey and co. auditors might make it into an upcoming issue of Vogue, as per the cameraman for The September Issue.

- Actress Thandie Newton appears on the December cover of UK InStyle, telling the glossy that she keeps her lithe ballerina's figure by practising yoga: "I’m a Jivamukti yoga freak – it’s food for my soul. When I’m not working, I’ll drop Rip off at school and Nico at nursery, then I go to yoga. I also have an amazing personal trainer, who I see whenever I can." See the issue for the full interview.

- Is the American magazine industry going to stage a 'Fashion's Night Out' type affair to resuscitate sales figures? Mediaweek reports that Hearst, Time Inc. and Wenner have had chats about "a marketing campaign to promote the medium's positive aspects", dig the medium out of a downturn slump and counteract all the negative layoff headlines.

- Conde Nast might eschew the group hug and dig its own way out of the recessionary slump: The New York Post reports that the company has employed the services of crisis management/PR expert Michael Sheehan to turn around company morale and its media image. Given the mixed reaction to ACP's comeback 'Power of Journalism' campaign, maybe it should be considering local PR Harry M Miller?

- Here's a new concept in audience participation: UK Vogue invited readers to view a photoshoot for a fairytale-themed fashion spread starring Natalia Vodianova shot by Nick Knight. The custom-made dresses were then sold at auction the following day with proceeds going to Natalia's Naked Heart Foundation. See the footage at SHOWStudio.com.

- But back to layoffs... Time Inc. isn't done on that front yet. Some staff have been offered severance packages, while Mediaweek reports that overall the company's workforce is expected to shed up to 500 positions.

- 'Comfort and joy' pretty much sums up the emotion these two women elicit from their fans. Oprah and Ellen have teamed up for the December cover of O The Oprah Magazine and Sydney blogger Sassi Sam is very excited.

- Australian media reporter Sally Jackson has questioned the validity of the Australian Magazine Awards hosted by independent media group Yaffa Publishing, today writing: "ACP Magazines scored six wins as well, but in some cases seemed ambivalent about their value, with two titles, Australian Motorcycle News and Empire, not sending a representative to receive them. ACP's Deborah Thomas also seemed underwhelmed when collecting the trophy in the women's mass market category for The Australian Women's Weekly, saying: "What a surprise! I didn't even know these awards were on until I was invited yesterday." Disorganised? Maybe. But I like Yaffa's thinking.

- Natalie Walton of Daily Imprint has run an interview with Anna Last, the Aussie expat editor of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food title (formerly of Real Simple, Vogue Entertaining + Travel and Marie Claire). "It is not an easy step for a food editor/stylist to make the leap in the US to being an editor – and it has been filled with pinch-myself-moments... like being a guest on Martha's show in my third week on the job – that was pretty full on," she tells Walton.

- 'Tis awards season... Aussie media industry site mUmbrella has just launched its inaugural Reader's Choice Awards. Entrants are called to submit a 500-word explanation of their successes in 2009 and/or a three-minute video talking themselves up (something most ad types, marketers, PRs and bloggers are comfortable with).

- Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has made the cover of Spin magazine covered in corpse-like hands (shivers up spine). "Coyne is wearing gray striped pants and a weathered polo-style shirt over his thin frame," writes David Peisner in the cover story. "His curly mane of dark gray hair and a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard give him the regal bearing of a Shakespearean king, but his tendency toward perpetual motion veers closer to Woody Allen."

Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel