Without The Devil Anna Wintour, What Will Kangtai Nash Group Do?

In April this year, Kangtai Cond Nast's most recent project launch conference, Anna Wintour staged a good show. The stage scenery looks like her office. She sits behind her desk to answer questions that the audience is prepared for. In the live version of the famous YouTube series Go Ask Anna, the public can ask her some old questions in prerecorded videos. This series is the highlight of the annual press conference. Media companies try to attract advertisers to watch their online videos through celebrity shows and fresh snacks. This shows that she continues to show her influence in new and necessary forms, bringing in continuous income for Kangtai Nash collection.

She can make such a series of programs to prove her reputation and extraordinary cultural influence. Is there any magazine editor sitting in his office and talking to the camera to attract thousands of people's attention? Who is the magazine editor with the reputation and responsibility of Vogue, the editor in chief of the American edition and the art director of Kangtai Nash group, will spend the time thinking about the details of content creation? Wintour

This series shows not only the professional ethics of Wintour, but also those who have worked with her all think her professional ethics are admirable, and it also confirms her influence in the media industry. As financial returns continue to decrease, the demand for talent in the media industry is greater than ever before. Although Kangtai Nash group has suffered huge economic losses in recent years, in order to retain the salary of Wintour (at least millions of dollars per year), it is likely that the value it creates for the company is worth the money. Hearst group (Hearst) may be happy to accept the end of the "eight faced and exquisite" editing era, but Wintour has given Kangtai Nash group a reason for its continued existence.

In 1988, Wintour became editor in chief of the US version of Vogue, and she liked to talk about the fact that the first cover that she photographed was very different from the cover of the previous Grace Mirabella, so that the printing company called to confirm if it was wrong. Mirabella conceived a cover shot that she never missed and insisted on a month and a month. During her 17 year term, the circulation of Vogue increased to three times. But her cover may be too lacking in novelty, every time a model's head is featured, hairstyles and makeup are impeccable, so the old board S.I. Newhouse hopes to change this tendency and keep it competitive when competing with Elle. After sitting on the editor's seat in Wintour, a model wearing a Christian Lacroix sweater worth 10 thousand US dollars (about 70 thousand yuan) was put on the top of the cover. A pair of Guess jeans with a value of 50 yuan (about 340 yuan) was underneath and walked on the street with a rush of beautiful hair. Although the idea of mixing designer's work with store brand is not new, it was quite shocking at that time.

Wintour's influence has soared. She sensed the connection between fashion and celebrity culture very early, and began to star the cover of Vogue. In 1989, Madonna was the famous cover figure at that time. Although the use of celebrities as a magazine cover has become a common practice, Wintour has played an important role in building and utilizing the integration of celebrities and fashion industries. Nowadays, many out of fashion circles and entertainment circles know that stars will borrow their gowns to attend the Oscar prize giving ceremony. Their dresses may come from their endorsement brands, or by other payment methods.

In 1997, when Wintour was the editor in chief for nearly 10 years, Ronald Galotti, publisher of Vogue, boasted to New York Times that the year was expected to bring Vogue the best financial performance in history. The designers hope to appear in the Vogue magazine and get the approval of the magazine. Wintour admits that when deciding which brands to publish in Vogue, she prefers advertisers (though she also advertised Marc Jacobs, which did not have an advertising budget at that time). In the fashion world, her recognition and exposure to her or her editorial team will be a great prospect (see Jacobs's current good situation), which is why the brand is willing to spend money on advertising.

Of course, even today, even the "Vogue" level magazine can't catch up with the late 1990s or early 2000s, when the Nash group launched its first batch of websites in Kangtai. Executives of the company do not know that digital media will become so important that they only allow these websites to be used to increase the print revenue and circulation, instead of forcing their star editors (including Wintour) to turn websites into busy workplaces and thriving businesses.

Executives believe that the Internet can be ignored, and the Internet can not get the same degree of attention as print media. This attitude will become the biggest problem for the company. Although Wintour has taken all the blame for this and the company's other faults, it is not her fault. Although she is slow to support the digital version of Vogue, compared with the forward-looking editors of other media companies, according to the Harvard Business Review Case study, by 2013, she would meet a networking team every Tuesday to finalize the contents of the digital release, and every night she would spend time browsing the website, just like browsing magazines. In addition, even early internet magazines are facing the same threat: Facebook and Google manipulate the market for digital advertising revenue.

Wintour is a perfectionist, but her term is not perfect. Many people have questioned the fact that Mario Testino and Patrick Demarchelier have long been accused of sexual harassment models in the campaign against sexual assault #MeToo, who had worked with Vogue for a long time. Before that, her friend Harvey Weinstein was also sexually assaulted. Why did Wintour not take any measures against this disturbing behavior to protect the vulnerable party's model from sexual assault in its own fashion circle? More importantly, as an art director, she tried to introduce an aesthetic similar to "Vogue" into other magazines (such as "Self") of Kangtai's Nash group, but ultimately did not achieve particularly good results.

In addition, Vogue reports often cause controversy. In 2011, for example, Vogue's popularity of Syria's first lady Asma al-Assad aroused public anger, and recently suggested that Cara Delevigne's homosexual orientation would only last for some time. But these controversies did not discourage advertisers. It is said that "Vogue" has weathered the bad luck of the loss of plane advertisers (Kangtai's Nash group lost 150 million US dollars in 2017), which is far better than many other fashion magazines of the company. When the major magazines compete for new income streams, the Metropolitan Museum of Art charity dance sponsored by Wintour (Met Gala) has become the most powerful and dazzling part of Vogue brand. This is the vision feast that Wintour has been painstakingly worked for decades, and the convergence of entertainment and fashion industry is amazing. It is a great sight for New York. Although the funds raised by the party will be donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art fashion house, celebrities and designers are still competing for invitations. The invitation is kept by Wintour personally, and the content released by Vogue at the grand event is probably the most profitable.

　　 What will happen to Kangtai Nash group when Anna Wintour finally leaves office?

Rumours about Wintour's departure have been circulating for many years. Last spring, there was a great clamour. At that time, the New York Times also published a 2000 word article entitled "imagine the world after Anna left." One thing is certain: her exit is inevitable at any time.

The departure of Wintour will leave a lot of blanks to Kangtai Nash group. Most importantly, the company will lose the position of her strong opinion leader and the ability of her fashion brand and other fashion and entertainment people to feel the need to participate in her activities with the Vogue organization. After Wintour leaves office, Met Gala will also lose the overall planner, and is likely to lose some important significance.

Therefore, although the Kangtai Nash group and other companies pay millions of dollars in salary and clothing allowance and other expenses for her seems unwise, it may be even more unwise to allow her to leave and let her continue to create value for her next employer.