How a simple takeover account changed the course of Vogue for young people
Plus key takeaways and a printable check-list for your first community storytelling project
Last time on Tell Their Stories, we looked at the importance of noticing.
This week, I’m here to tell you about a simple takeover project, launched when a legacy media brand was on its knees.
This is partly inspired by the news of Edward Enninful’s departure as Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue. I have some history with Vogue—the brand and the company that owns it. So here’s my little square-inch of story about how a non-fashion-forward tech-media-nerd came to work at Vogue, did my hella best to alter the course of a heritage media brand headed for the history books.
I recently described looking at what’s going on at Vogue as watching a beautiful building crumble to the ground when you were part of the team that built it. It’s a little how I feel these days when I open Instagram too, and hear its closing it’s London branch. We tried so hard. There were moments when it was truly great. We had some fantastic minds on the teams, giving it their all. Really warm-hearted, genuine people. I didn’t know Edward well personally, but I think he was one of them. When I see Anna Wintour at the helm, I just feel sad. Vogue as a non-US brand, and Instagram as a non-US offering, had something real to offer a global audience.
In fact, in 2018, I led a team in charge of new social channels for Vogue which directly engaged a newer, younger audience by putting them on the cover. In this post, we’re going to look at how a single Instagram account changed the course of Vogue by giving its platform over to community members—by telling their stories—and, of course, what happened as a result. Plus, some key takeaways for your first forays into community-first storytelling, and a printable check-list for a community-first storytelling project. Buckle in, let’s go!
