How do you launch a product when it doesn’t it exist yet?

Guess who? Taking a trip down memory lane to the launch of ELLE Australia….. (featuring high picture quality!)

In 2012, I heard an inkling that ELLE magazine was launching in Australia. I was a fan of the overseas versions, especially ELLE UK, despite the fact that I was yet to fall into the 30-something target market ELLE was created for. I was a fan and I wanted IN.

Media sales jobs for that kind of brand (fashion/lifestyle/zeitgeist-y/new!) were reasonably sought after, but I had worked hard to prove I had the goods leading up to that point and despite my quietly competitive nature, I knew I can do it. After many drawn out months, I became the (very proud and excited) National Advertising Manager of ELLE Australia. (Side note: despite my skill and hardest of work ethics, I was told later there was a question if I was actually stylish enough for such a role, yes I’m serious, but that’s a story for another day…..) Ahem, where was I….

OK, so ELLE Australia was to be BIG deal. The (exceptional) Editorial team was announced and it was time to get cracking. But here’s the thing. In my shiny new role, I needed to sell ads. A LOT of ads. (Literally) MILLIONS of dollars worth of advertising revenue was to be locked and loaded before the first issue of the magazine even went to print. We had about 6 months to secure the biggest budget I had ever been tasked with and #getitdone.

So how the heck does one sell a product without a product to show? Well, there was a lot of market research done by an incredible team prior to me walking into the boardroom so we knew there was a gap in the market that was ours to fill. However, we had to, as a team, be able to answer with absolute clarity and confidence, the foundational brand questions to anyone who asked us what the heck ELLE Australia was all about. (And trust me, there were A LOT of people who wanted to know the who/what/why/when for this thing and the number one questions was always “so who’s going to be on the launch cover?”)

So we went through and nutted out the same 5 questions that are relevant to EVERY business (big or small) and that need to be answered in order to build a successful brand. The answers were communicated on EVERY touchpoint and were the basis of every conversation by all team members irrespective of their department. As a team, we were clear and confident on our brand voice and values. So….

Who is our audience? For ELLE, she was the 30-something modern woman who considered herself modern and independent, stylish and spirited with a curiosity for life. There were 4 x key brand personalities distinguished with her every attribute listed and accompanied imagery so people could literally visualise who the ELLE woman was. (“The Intelligent Fashion Fan” was my favourite to talk about.)

What is our brand voice? Whatever context this brand was consumed, the content was delivered with the same brand voice - It was authoritative but friendly, sexy and spirited, positive + optimistic and uniquely Australian.

What does the audience want? This was a biggie, because up until then, the women’s media landscape was VERRRRRY #samesame. This audience wanted a fashion magazine for ‘now.’ Style mixed with substance, a brand that represented the modern 30-something woman, her life and her interests – pop culture to politics, music and entertainment, zeitgeist and news, travel and lifestyle ASWELL as the fashion and beauty that was expected. She wanted an intelligently curated inspired edit of style across all aspects of her life.

How are we different? ELLE was a true audience immersive brand. It made the ‘low look high and the high look cool.’ No other women’s lifestyle brand was delivering those pillars of content in all formats that truly embodied that uniquely spirited and sexy tone like ELLE.

Where is the audience hanging out? She was starting to hang out more online, which is why the website, social channels and subscriber base was launched BEFORE the print edition.

Alongside all of this, we needed the excitement to start building outside of our Park St, Sydney HQ. The true brand voice of ELLE had to be articulated not just to so we could get potential ad clients on board for commercial success, but to start the buzz with trade media and consumers (because we also needed to pre sell subscriptions too.) Most importantly, we needed to engage the INDUSTRY so every fashion designer wanted to be involved as much as we wanted them to. We had to sell ELLE Australia on it’s brand voice and values first, not how great the editorial exposure and commercial opportunity was going to be (that came later.) We needed a way to be able to communicate this message to all of the fashion and media world ‘that mattered’ in an outlet that our kind of consumer gave a s**t about….

So, one Thursday night in April 2013, at a warehouse in Carriageworks Sydney, with all eyes on the biggest fashion event in the country, ELLE Australia kicked off the launch runway show to open Australian Fashion Week. An expertly curated visual masterpiece of exactly what the brand represented for everyone to experience with their own eyes. It was FINALLY time for everyone to say #helloelle and meet this shiny new brand we had been working so hard to bring to life. (It was glorious AND shiny, there was lots of gold, lots of glitter that fell from the roof, looooots of champagne delivered by runway waiters and MANY sore heads the next day.)

Images from the ELLE Australia launch runway. And yep, there was monogrammed champagne. Fancy.

That following Monday we started meetings with our advertising clients and by the following September the big day had arrived. We hit those mammoth budgets, exceeding all sales targets which earnt the title of the biggest launch issue in Australian media history which I don’t think was ever beaten. Competitive much? Me? Never.

It was an ELLE of a time and I’ll never forget it.

(Bonus FUN FACT: See how everywhere I’ve written ELLE and not Elle. That’s purposeful and forever grained into my memory because that’s how it was known in every piece of brand collateral. Just like anything to do with The Brand Dance will have a splash of pink, ELLE was and will always be in caps. It’s just how it is.)