Chart your career from the start to now.

I began my career as a music journalist, working as Digital Editor of DJ Magazine for five years, where I also edited the North American print publication for almost a year. I then moved to a newly-created role as Head of Digital and Audience at Dazed Media, driving audience growth for titles including Dazed, Dazed Beauty, Another Magazine and Nowness, plus working on creative agency projects as part of Dazed Studio.

At the end of 2021, I left Dazed Media to launch Rolling Stone UK — the new British-based outlet for the iconic American music magazine — working with Stream Publishing and PMC on establishing the title in the UK market. I’m also currently working on the ongoing digital transformation of Stream Publishing’s LGBTQ title, Attitude Magazine, with the brand set to re-launch digitally in Q2 2022.

What kind of expertise do you think your background as a journalist has brought to your new role?

It made me a content evangelist and a quality custodian! It’s also helped me have an in-depth understanding of the day-to-day workflow of journalists, editors and producers — and also be able to step in and get my hands dirty when things are really down to the wire! I think it’s important not to lose touch with what your content team’s daily tasks entail and strive to keep learning new skills and tools in tandem with your team.

You said in the PPA Decodes ‘Paid or Organic’ session that ‘content is the engine that drives the business,’ could you expand on this?

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the tech, data and monetization challenges around content — there’s a lot of buzzwords and shop talk that go on. Any kind of content amplification, whether organic or paid, is contingent on innovative formats, original leads and great journalism. That’s the engine! The aim for any publisher should be for users to be able to cover up the URL and still know immediately what site they’re on — from UX and digital design, to editorial formats, to tone of voice — everyone should be aiming to reject content homogeneity.

How as a publisher do you overcome the challenges of translating an engaged social media following into readers on site, and indeed buyers of print magazines?

It’s natural that some of your users will be more casual/drive-by consumers of your content while others will be hyper-loyal, ultra-engaged readers with a high propensity to convert to an end goal (sessions on site, newsletters, tickets, subscriptions, etc). Understanding what audiences live where within your digital ecosystem enables you to speak directly to your demographic segments and present them with the opportunities that feel mostly natural to them. Do I expect everyone who follows us on Instagram to subscribe to the print mag? Of course not, but it’s about seeking out what segment of our audience is likely to convert and then making them a targeted offer they simply can’t refuse!

The metric of success for a publisher shouldn’t just be scale or sales, although this is important financially, but also what kind of brand fame you’re building beyond your own channels and media. Brand marketing is just as important as clicks and publishers who understand this are able to transform from “magazines” into “brands” and open up advanced revenue opportunities that feel legitimate to their audience and the wider world. Rolling Stone is a perfect example of this, the resonance of RS as a brand reaches far beyond our editorial operations, into everything from festivals and award shows, to merchandise, to documentaries and TV, and so much more.

You are now Digital Director at Rolling Stone UK. Can you tell us a bit about the process of bringing an iconic American title, and its engagement, across the pond?

The important thing for us is that we continue to uphold the tenets of the brand that have enabled it to remain an authority in all things music, film, politics and culture. That said, we also want the UK offering to feel different to our US counterparts — we’re focusing on stories and artists that are iconically British and reflect the UK’s diverse soundscape and wider culture. We’re just as interested in what’s new and next as we are in legacy acts and we’re aiming to champion a mix of commercial and underground talent, plus not shying away from the political and social issues that matter to our readers. There’s not many magazines in the UK market right now where you can read an opinion piece on the future of privatisation in the UK, a retrospective on the golden age of British Youtubers, an explosive cover feature with Sheffield rockers Bring Me The Horizon, a long-read on the history of the South Asian club scene and exclusive interviews with everyone from the likes of Korn to Katy Perry. It’s our content mix that differentiates our offering and that’s what users are really responding to.

Rolling Stone UK’s most recent issue features cover star Charli XCX, can you tell us about the strategy behind doing a print and a digital cover?

The idea of a digital cover has been done to death by publishers so it’s been important for Rolling Stone UK to really nail our strategy on this. For our digital covers, users can expect the same level of unparalleled access and enthralling storytelling as any iconic Rolling Stone print cover. We’re also looking to handover the metaphorical keys to the Rolling Stone UK universe to artists that don our digital covers. We want our digital cover stars to be able to inject their own creativity into RS UK’s channels, whether that’s through commissioning a series of collaborator interviews, an exclusive AMA on our official Reddit account, a self-shot BTS tour diary delivered directly to readers’ inboxes, a listening party of their next release via Twitter Spaces — we want each digital cover to feel unguarded and ultra personal… and the possibilities are endless!

What’s on your radar?

Tiktok is on my radar, as it should be for every publisher, particularly now they’re expanding to 10 minute videos (Youtube is quaking!). I’m also thinking about how we can break new ground organically and commercially with other social networks outside the big four (Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Youtube). I think there’s a huge opportunity for publishers with platforms like Discord, Twitch, Pinterest and Reddit, plus whatever new opportunities might present themselves in the metaverse. Obviously changes to data privacy regulations and third party cookies are a consideration for every publisher right now, so that’s something that’s also occupying my mind.

What magazine do you stockpile?

So many, I absolutely love magazines and I can’t stop buying them. At the moment I have subscriptions to Vogue, Wired, New Scientist, Monocle, Dazed, Wonderland, Beauty Papers, New York Magazine, Crack, Attitude …and Rolling Stone UK, of course!