The National Magazine Company is restructuring its PR department
and is looking for a new head of PR to work under the director of
communications, Siobhan Kenny.
Kenny, who joined the organisation in July (PR Week 18 June), wants to
give the in-house operation an agency feel and improve targeting and
evaluation.
’We are going to define our targets more carefully and go ruthlessly for
the people we want to influence,’ she said.
Kenny has split the department in two so that two teams of four service
five and six magazine titles respectively. Titles include Esquire,
Cosmopolitan, Zest and Good Housekeeping. ’The idea is that if you work
in a team across a portfolio of titles you are more likely to come up
with good stuff because you can pool ideas,’ she said.
The deputy will also assist Kenny in devising a long term strategy for
the development of the magazine brands. For example, next year, men’s
magazine Esquire is moving away from its reliance on front covers
featuring women.
Kenny, who previously had a role advising the Government on how to work
more closely with women’s magazines, said that PR was being recognised
as more important in magazine publishing. ’Magazines are in a very
competitive market now. The communications strategy each adopts will be
critical in deciding which ones survive. We have to make sure we are
saying the right things to the right people,’ she said.
