Raising a New Flag At Fairchild - Interview - Statistical Data Included

Berner focuses on marketing and recruiting in her efforts to make Fairchild the fashion authority.

It would be easy to say that Mary Berner has taken the bull by the horns as new president and CEO of Fairchild Publications. But considering Fairchild's previous owner, Walt Disney, taking the mouse by its ears may be more appropriate.

Berner got the nod from Advance chairman S.I. Newhouse to lead Fairchild after Advance purchased it from Disney last August for $650 million. In doing so, Berner became the highest-ranking woman in Advance's history. The marching orders: Pump up the marketing volume for Fairchild's magazines. They include trade titles Women's Wear Daily, Daily News Record and Footwear News, as well as consumer books W, Jane and Details, which is being relaunched in October as a men's fashion title after Cond[acute{e}] Nast decided to kill it rather than watch it struggle to compete with other men's titles targeting the "beer-and-babes" set.

Berner has shaken things up before--with dramatic results. During her tenure as Glamour publisher/vice president at Advance-owned Cond[acute{e}] Nast, prior to taking over Fairchild, Berner developed marketing partnerships with retailers that helped to bring in more than 1,000 ad pages of new business. As publisher of TV Guide, Berner completely overhauled the sales and marketing efforts to land 700 new advertisers.

Berner is now focusing on raising the value of Fairchild's titles, which tended to get short shrift under the Disney umbrella. FOLIO: recently sat down with her to talk about her game plan.

Q: One of the first moves you made after taking over the helm was to reorganize Fairchild into four separate divisions: Women's Wear Daily Media Worldwide; b-to-b; consumer and Internet. What are your current plans to drive growth in each division?

A: The strategy for Women's Wear Daily Media Worldwide is, primarily, to expand globally. We're looking at Italy and France right now. Secondly, it's to leverage the brand in the states to market it beyond just a newspaper. For example, we've created a California edition of WWD that is the paper, but it also has extra editorial and extra staffing to focus on specifics in that region. And that will be our strategy as other markets emerge.

The strategy for consumer is to stay in the world where we have core competencies, which is why we took on Details so quickly. We're putting a much bigger emphasis on marketing. There was an absolute lack of that under Disney. Jane and Ware pacing very nicely, but we want to accelerate the growth for both books.

For b-to-b, again, it's looking at our core areas. Every one of the titles on the b-to-b side is either retail or style related. Here, we also want to build beyond the core brand so we can be Footwear News, Inc. What that means is that we may have a publication, a trade show, a conference and guides. So we're encouraging b-to-b publishers to bring buyers and sellers together in whatever form it takes. We want to become even more integral to the marketplace's way of doing business. We're systematically looking at every market where we can compete.

The Internet strategy will be anchored in a b-to-b site for WWD online. It'll be a way to further serve our readers. We want to make it the premier Web site for fashion information.

Q: What plans do you have to raise the visibility of Fairchild--which had a fairly sleepy reputation when it was still owned by Walt Disney?

A: I'm not sure it's important to raise the image of Fairchild to the public, because we have so many distinct brands. But it's absolutely necessary to raise the visibility of Wand Jane and Details and Supermarket News and whatever else is in the stable.

The most important thing in raising the visibility of the company gets down to an issue of recruiting, frankly. I want this to be the company where the best talent wants to join and build their careers. Every time we hire a "superstar" internally it has a ripple effect. Conversely, we're taking the talent we have and making sure they're front and center in the press. And to do that, for the first time we'll have a PR effort. On the trades, we're the authorities in most of our areas. We break news that's interesting to people and we're going to start promoting those stories.

Q: Details is now part of Fairchild's consumer division after Cond[acute{e}] Nast pulled the plug on it as a men's title. Why do you think it failed in its previous incarnation? And what specific changes will be made so it can compete as a fashion title in a very crowded market? Will the new version be a men's/fashion magazine that will usher in a post-Maxim era?

A: I can't comment on what happened before we got it. But I can tell you that nothing will stay the same except the title. There is absolutely a marketplace for it. There are very few players in the men's field that have an intelligent, broad-based sensibility with an upscale fashion slant. We're looking for a man who's about 28. New Details editor Dan Peres is a walking, talking demographic of the reader. We want to deliver what the reader wants and forge straight ahead without looking at what the competition is doing. That's what InStyle did. If they had looked at the marketplace they would have said, "My goodness, there's absolutely no room for a magazine like this." Instead, they had a good idea and they delivered what the reader wanted-and that's exactly what we're doing here.

Q: Is your strategy right now to build more titles, acquire them, or both? Will you be selling any titles? And are there any sights on acquiring titles targeting e-commerce?

A: Besides selling Fairchild's Urban Exhibitions (a gift show business), we won't be selling anything. And we'll do both in terms of building existing titles and acquiring new ones. Right now the focus is on the b-to-b area in terms of acquisitions.

Q: In light of the hypercompetition in the publishing industry, what's the likelihood that, down the road, Fairchild will be absorbed altogether into Cond[acute{e}] Nast?

A: No possibility. We are two really distinct companies with two distinct cultures. That's the way the Newhouses want it. And I know it wouldn't work.

Q: At the time you were appointed to lead Fairchild, some reports suggested you might be in line for the president's job at Cond[acute{e}] Nast. Is this something you envision in the future?

A: All Mr. Newhouse and I have talked about is getting the job done here.

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