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ASME Members' Lunch with David Granger,Editor-in-Chief of Esquire
Obamination? The February issue in question.Esquire's February cover—publishing innovation or editorial sacrilege? Editor-in-Chief, David Granger explained his cover window choice to a room full of editors at the ASME Members' Lunch on February 24th at the New York Yacht Club. The cover window (aka a "trap door") had editorial content on the right and a Discover ad on the left. Granger started his talk with what is known to Hearst insiders as The Ketchup Speech. He held up two bottles of ketchup, one in a traditional glass bottle and the other in a modern plastic container that sits on its lid and asked the audience the difference between the two. "It's the same frigging thing!" he exclaimed. The difference is packaging. Tired of the bad press print is getting these days, Granger worked with his colleagues to come up with some new ways to engage the reader.
Where were the copy editors? The genius of a run-on sentence as coverline.(December 2006)
Long known as an editor who pushes boundaries and experiments with content (assigning fiction stories to writers, displaying coverlines in a wall of type), Granger said that when looking at a newsstand full of magazines, he didn't want his publication to just blend—"you must break the formula," he said. That meant thinking about his product beyond print. "I would look at my magazine every month and think, is that it?"
Before using a new approach, Granger asked his staff (and himself) two things: One: Does it enhance the reader's experience? and two: Does it cross the lines of editorial and advertising boundaries. "It has to have a clear reader benefit," he said.
So what did the readers think of the trap door? The few who did complain were upset that it sat on President Obama's face and others didn't understand how the content explained the cover. But it did, explained Granger. The theme of the issue was "What Now?" and the content inside the flap was a summary of answers to that question. "I want to give people more reasons to pick up my magazine," he said, "show them how to experience the magazine."
Other editors in the room wondered whether Esquire's experiment opened the doors for advertisers to bully editors into bending the rules. But Granger made it clear that Discovery had no knowledge of the editorial content and was simply told to fill a 5 inch by 5 inch space for a cover flap. So what is next, Mr. Granger? The May issue of Esquire will have a perforated cover divided into three horizontal strips that when flipped over create new pictures. "We can control the process," he said. "It's easier to control change when we, as editors, drive it."
-Dara Pettinelli
Click here to read 'Frequently Asked Questions About the February Cover of 'Esquire',' Compiled by David Granger
