“After all the work I did on the Hot Young Hollywood party, I couldn’t believe Whitney and I lost our jobs at Teen Vogue,” or so we imagine the opening of the next season of The Hills to begin. But really, after all the cross-promotional work they did, why did they lose their jobs?
Insiders say they outgrew their demographic:
The average age of the magazine???s readership is 16 ??? do they really want to support the behavior depicted in The Hills? They also started to see that newsstand sales were flat??? there was no blip on the radar when Lauren and Whitney were involved.
So what’s next? MTV, err, Whitney and Lauren, are already sending out resumes for the next season. Does ELLEgirl have a west coast office for their website?
[Photo]
• First look at the new ELLEgirl.com, where “Boys” is the only tab worth clicking. Kudos to webmaster for removing any opportunity to subscribe to print version. [ELLEgirl.com]
• House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter wants CNN’s embedded reporters removed, following the network’s broadcast of “insurgent snipers targeting U.S. soldiers was tantamount to airing an enemy propaganda film.” “Propaganda,” shouts Hunter. “Ratings,” shouts Jon Klein. [AP]
• Morley Saffer backtracks on bashing painting; heads to Rome to confirm he’s no good. [Intelligencer]
• Rachel Ray is opening a string of burger joints. “EEVO” where you’d least expect it. [FBNY]
• Hershey insists the trick to getting fatties to eat more candy bars is by reaching them in the store. [AdAge]
• To promote his new book about his media famous mother, Slate’s John Dickerson sets up creepy web results search alerts. Be right back, Ophelia’s calling. [Slate]
• HP: Printers, scanners, laptops, and peeping toms. [WSJ]
• Like his administration, Mayor Bloomberg asserts his 72 percent stake in Bloomberg News is not for sale. [NYT]
• ElleGirl.com relaunches on Monday, with hot new features like photos, videos, text alerts, and favorites. You know, just like Bolt.com had in 2001. [WWD]
• Grey’s Anatomy “bitch” and “faggot” (Isaiah Washington’s words, not ours) T.R. Knight comes out, comes out wherever he is. [Queerty]
• Marriage is so last season. [Time]
• Hopes for Moynihan Station aren’t dead, they’re just sleeping .. after a late night out involving Grey Goose and Klonopin. [NYT]
At this point, we have a glass of gin (light on the tonic) in hand and are smoking in the apartment. Via the Fishbowler, the news that really is bringing a tear to our already salty ojos:
Elle Girl, headed by Christina Kelly since the departure of she’s so Jane Brandon Holley, will say goodbye with their June/July issue.
One source says staffers were alerted earlier today, and that the June/July issue will be its last.
Shocking, too, because, 2005 was a monster year for ElleGirl in terms ad pages and revenue ???????? taking in over $33 million in advertising revenue on 750 ad pages, increases of 77 percent and 46 percent, respectively. And in 2006, the magazine was outpacing 2005’s numbers through February.
UPDATE: Women’s Wear Daily allows us to remove the question mark.
What the fuck is going on? What are we supposed to read at the gym now? How are we supposed to know what our little sisters are listening to on their iPods or what’s cool in pre-teen feminism?
Inside Mischa Barton’s home we can live without — but inside her heart? We just don’t know if we can make it without that.
Ellegirl To Fold [WWD, Sara James]
Elle Girl to Fold [Fishbowl, NY]
Earlier: Christina Kelly loves your body
Google started small: A few inches of ads in the Chicago Tribune, some quarter-page units in Budget Living and PC Magazine. That was in August.
Fast forward to Q1 2006 and the Mountain View behemoth is crossing into media buyers’ turf, signing up a roster of 28 consumer magazines to expand its print ad placement services. Google buys chunks of ad pages in books like Martha Stewart Living and Women????????s Health, then auctions them off to the highest bidder. No longer relegated to the back alleys of the Internet, Google is going glossy like American OK! wishes it hadn’t.
The size of ads its now offering has expanded as well, moving from fractional classifieds to quarter, half and full-page placements.
Google????????s strategy is in no way tied to the interactive realm, said Tim Armstrong, VP-advertising. ???????We have a set of advertisers that could benefit from being in another medium,??????? he said at the Software & Information Industry Association conference in New York this month. ???????At a certain point, Google is agnostic to media.???????
Though we’re hoping the search giant remain’s true to its contextual advertising roots so, at long last, we might get some relevant ads in ELLEgirl.
No more L’oreal and Revlon ads for the fraction of pre-teen girls reading the mag. It’s time for some escort service and 900 numbers to find their way in — to reach the Hachette Filipacchi title’s true readers: 40-year-old married men unhappy with their marriages with a hankering for their daughter’s junior high friends.
No wonder Magazine Publishers of America is on board, though it doesn’t hurt that the org’s chairman, Jack Kliger, is also CEO of Hachette.
GOOGLE PRINT AD BROKER SYSTEM EXPANDS [Kris Oser, AdAge]
Remember when covers of Gwenyth Paltrow on Vogue gave you eating disorders? Well, Elle Girl’s new EIC Christina Kelly (as well as terrifying photos of post-break-up Lindsay Lohan ) give society a shot at keeping pre-teen middle fingers out of girls’ throats, and sticking them back in the air, where they belong.
While Elle Girl has a heavy fashion and beauty base, Kelly will also broach new topics. She will add regular service and advice columns on well-being and mental health. She????????ll also make Elle Girl more body conscious.
Kelly, who made headlines with YM in 2002, tossing out stories on weight loss and dieting, will incorporate models of all shapes in the Elle Girl????????s fashion spreads. Moreover, February will have an eight-page body image feature with commentary????????mostly positive????????from 10,000 girls polled worldwide. ???????I feel strongly about not having a 15-year-old girl saying, ???????I hate my body,??????????????? said Kelly.
We have admired Elle Girl as our fave teen read since its launch – but now that they are going to have a teen blog section, we are really super stoked. Oh, to be a teen blogger. We bet their boss even lets them eat lunch.
Teen Beat: Vet Editor Kelly Tweaks Elle Girl [Stephanie D. Smith, MEDIAWEEK]
• Michael Jackson has a creative way to fill in the missing A-listers from his charity single: record songs with people who have no choice, like kids Prince Michael, Paris, and “Blanket.” [NYP]
• Joan Rivers doesn’t read blogs — or wear clogs. [Queerty]
• At least one pink blogger is “making it,” proving Us Weekly isn’t the only one who can earn a buck showing stars are just like us. [NYT]
• Kate Hudson doesn’t like it when you call her too fat, or too skinny. She’d rather you not talk about her weight or eating habits at all, unless you get off on getting sued. [Reuters]
• She supposedly spent the weekend getting married to Arun Nayar, but Liz Hurley also watched Estee Lauder dump her 10-year fragrance face contract in favor of Gwyneth Paltrow. [Evening Standard]
• What’s better than ex-NYT exec editor Howell Raines‘ ex writing a tell all? Having her title it Touched By Ink-Stained Hands. [Page Six]
• The sample sale of all sample sales, 7th on Sale, is coming to the masses after nearly a decade hiatus. Even the common folk will be able to get their hands on cheap couture thanks to open auctions on eBay. [News & Observer]
• The only rag that didn’t credit ELLEgirl when they practically stole shots of Nicole Richie at the mag’s photo shoot? Star, natch. [WWD]
• Martha Stewart doesn’t want to fire you. Really, honest and serious. But she’ll sure as hell have someone else fire you. (If you can stand it, Gawker live-blogged it.)
• Wal-Mart is taking to the runway, pairing up with ELLEgirl magazine for a Times Square studio fashion show (simulcast on a Times Square billboard) tonight. Eat that, Target.
• Britney Spears fears Hurricane Katrina may have taken away her uncle Willie and aunt June, who haven’t been heard from since the storm hit the Gulf coast. Kevin Federline, meanwhile, has yet to disappear.
• Today’s the big day for Hong Kong Disneyland, with Mickey Mouse’s mini-sized Chinese opening. And tomorrow we’ll be making plenty of EuroDisney comparisons.
We promised you an update to ELLEgirl’s masthead jungle gym this morning based on what came out of this morning’s meeting.
We’re almost heartbroken to report: Spirits are high! ELLEgirl staffers (nearly all female) are friends and friendly! Zero bitchslaps were delivered! Laughter could be heard!
About the only thing staffers did whine about? New EIC Christina Kelly moved editorial meetings from Tuesdays to Mondays, which means weekend hangovers will have to be tamed. And what’s Sophie Schulte-Hillen doing at the head of the table? Expect some intra-office IMing about that one.
Now that former ELLEgirl editor Brandon Holley helped shove Jane Pratt out of her throne at Jane (leaving Pratt all sorts of upset) and executive editor Christina Kelly has been promoted to editor-in-chief, there are the less headline-worthy transitions at ELLEgirl to note.
But as you readers of Jossip surely know, no masthead hopscotch is too mundane for us to care and their sheer mass of title housekeeping is worthy of your – and the New York Observer’s – attention.
You’re already aware Vitals‘ Nancy Gillen is taking over as managing editor and Sophie Schulte-Hillen was promoted from beauty director to deputy editor/beauty director.
Now, from right next to the oversized blowups of Hilary Duff at 1633 Broadway, we’re tipped off that:
• Former beauty market editor Anais Lombard was promoted to beauty editor, working under Schulte-Hillen.
• Former editorial assistant Joanna Douglas was promoted to staff writer.
• Melissa Walker, currently a senior editor, will also receive a title change, but we’re waiting to hear from today’s edit meeting to figure out what it is.
And, warranting the most fanfare is Erin Meanley, who now dons the title of assistant editor after slaving away as the assistant to EIC Brandon Holley.
We’re sure there’s more to come, but if we revealed all our ELLEgirl secrets our friends at CosmoGIRL! might start struggling to show their frown lines.
Even though Jane Pratt voluntarily agreed to step down from her namesake magazine, she’s quietly seething over ELLEgirl’s Brandon Holley ascending the Jane masthead.
Pratt doesn’t plan to be in the office when Holley takes control next week, though Fairchild would like you to believe the transition is running smoother than production on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They’re throwing a party for staffers and to welcome their new boss, and, after checking with a source, we hear attendance is mandatory.
Meanwhile, incoming ELLEgirl editor Christina Kelly (formerly the magazine’s exec editor) remains a member of Pratt’s inner circle stemming from their days together at Sassy.
Which reminds us, we have a media incest survivors group meeting to attend.
• ELLEgirl’s executive editor Christina Kelly is taking over the masthead, now that editor Brandon Holley is slamming the door on her way to head up Jane.
• The New York Times is prepping for its own sports magazine (it will not, however, go by T: Sports) while Sports Illustrated is planning a brand-extending lifestyle pub.
• Snoop Dogg is off the hook from allegations he drugged and raped a makeup artist backstage at the Jimmy Kimmel Show. She dropped her charges and he dropped his counter suit.
• Knopf is more than just a little upset with Marie Claire’s three-part diet series that sounds a little too similar to its own French Woman Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano.
• 50 Cent’s G-Unit cohorts Lloyd Banks and Young Buck are facing felony gun possession charges after cops found loaded weapons during a traffic stop after their Anger Management concert at Madison Square Garden.
• Fresh from serving a year in prison, rapper Beanie Sigel is already on the road to promote his autobiographical DVD.
• Montell Williams is reportedly being courted to join the morning show Good Day New York. His guest spots on the show have gone over well with viewers and now producers want to offer him a regular paycheck.
• CNN is greenlighting a commercial from pro-abortion group NARAL that attacks Supreme Court nominee John Roberts with bloody images of an abortion clinic bombing.
• Former New York Post publisher Abe Hirschfeld is dead at age 85. You might also know him for building parking garages and serving nearly two years in prison for conspiring to kill a business partner.
Maybe if we hadn’t taken last week off, we would’ve dug a little deeper into the depths of Jane magazine. We had almost convinced a full two staffers to tip us off before the official press release on who would be taking over for editor Jane Pratt, but that place has tighter lips than the Church of Scientology.
In the end, it’s ELLEgirl founding editor Brandon Holley, who Fashion Week Daily originally waxed rumors about, and not Seventeen’s Atoosa Rubenstein (a rumor squashed so long ago, we’re calling the era B.H., or Before Holiday).
Our gal pals at Gawker have the full release, so we suggest you put down that 640 calorie catered muffin and take a gander, if only to learn Holley is “so Jane.”
And Brandon has a moniker just gender-ambiguous enough to distract readers from the fact that her name is not, actually, Jane.