February 13, 2012 – Today, Condé Nast took the wraps off a new website that offers the company's clients and consumers a much deeper and richer portrait of the company. The website also provides an overview of the vast array of content the company's magazine brands create from articles to video to photo essays. MPA wanted to learn more about the creation of the new site and why it sought to attract a much wider audience, so we conducted the following email interview with Lou Cona, Condé Nast CMO.
MPA: What drove this decision to build a new website? The old one looked very slick, was very user-friendly and communicated the elegance of the Condé Nast brands.
Cona: Condé Nast has gone through an evolution over the past couple of years that's transformed the way in which we operate and how we communicate with our readers and clients. This new site is a better reflection of today's Condé Nast.
MPA: We're intrigued that the new website is geared toward clients and consumers. What made you decide to target consumers with a corporate website? Ultimately, what percent of traffic do you want to be consumer?
Cona: We felt we had an opportunity to engage and inform a broader audience with this redesign. Condé Nast is a vibrant culture that is rooted in the creation of our indispensable editorial as well as the people and initiatives that make it all possible. We have a rich history and a bright future, and it made sense to tell a bigger story, while giving everyone who visits the site a memorable experience.
MPA: What type of editorial content are you making available on the new website? Full-length articles or short abstracts? Photo essays? Original video? Content that's only parked outside the wall?
Cona: This is one of my favorite aspects of the site. We have a visually dynamic RSS grid of editorial feeds from all of the company's brands on the homepage that provides a wonderful overview of what our titles are talking about. The grid can be customized on multiple fronts to change the number of columns, or filtered to view only the user's favorites. Guests can click on each post to view the story, video or slideshow in its entirety as well as share it. The grid can also display the most recent tweets from each brand.
MPA: Tell us about the Heritage section saluting milestones in the company's history. We think more media companies should salute their past as they build toward the future. Who decides what goes in this section, and just how much content will it contain?
Cona: Approaching the Heritage section was quite an undertaking. The Condé Nast Archive is so rich and vast that it was a bit overwhelming. In the end, we decided to feature launches, acquisitions and closures, major literary and creative contributors, the editorial leadership for every brand and culture-shaping moments that have been driven by Condé Nast.
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