Glamour magazine is poised to benefit from a double branding opportunity with the September release of Glamour's Big Book of Dos and Don'ts. The magazine is one of the biggest brands in women's fashion; published by Condé Nast, it boasts 12.5 million readers. On top of that, the magazine's Do's and Don'ts column—candid photos of everyday women looking fashionable and not so fashionable—has been running since the first issue in 1939 and remains its most popular feature.
Gotham Books and Melcher Media are behind the splashy, $25 softcover book—a connection that evokes another Gotham-Melcher collaboration born out of a Condé Nast magazine: 2003's Lucky Shopping Manual, which has sold 165,000 copies and is in its fifth printing. However, said Cindi Leive, Glamour's editor-in-chief, her book and the Lucky book are "very different."
Indeed, while both offer a combination of current and timeless fashion advice, the Glamourbook provides readers something else: a good laugh over less-than-stylish pictures. Said Leive, "It ain't rocket science, but it's totally fun. I want to make it clear that we're not telling readers it's shameful to have a 'don't' moment."
Bill Shinker, publisher of Gotham Books, is more willing to draw comparisons between the books. "We learned some successful techniques from the Lucky Shopping Manual that we're going to apply to the Glamour book," he said. Among those promo activities: ads in each book's corresponding print magazine; marketing targeted at the magazine's online readers; and a fall release—the time of year when the media turns its attention to women's fashion.
A four-part series will run on Today September 5—8, and a segment on TheEarly Show will air September 12. Leive and her colleagues are also launching www.glamourdosanddonts.com, where readers will be able to post images of fashion don'ts they see in public, and vote on the "worst don'ts of the day." The first 100 posters will get a free copy of the book.
Shinker expects the Glamour book, which has a 100,000-copy first printing, to have a long life in the market, since the Lucky Shopping Manual hasn't dated. And with Glamour boasting a circulation three times the size of Lucky's, Dos and Don'ts certainly looks promising.
