The New Yorker

In 1924, Harold Ross launched The New Yorker. Rea Irvin drew the first cover—a mythical, monocled Regency dandy, later dubbed Eustace Tilley, who becomes the face of the magazine. Since then, the publication has become the bastion of intelligence, creativity and inquisitive minds. Total Brand Licensing sat down with The New Yorker’s Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn, deputy editor, Nicholas Blechman, creative director, and Katherine Stirling, director of the New Yorker Festival to find out how this rich history translates into a brand that reaches millions.

Given the nearly 100-year history of The New Yorker, how do you find fresh, creative ways to keep the brand relevant in today’s market? Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn:

The New Yorker is made up of inquisitive, creative people whose mission is to identify the next big story, the next big artist, the next big idea. You see this reflected in the pages of the magazine, on our Web site, and in all of the work that we do. When we think about the “brand”—a word we don’t actually use much internally but that certainly represents what The New Yorker has become—we draw inspiration directly from our journalistic roots. What kinds of things will people crave in the future? What could be done in a different way? In a more elegant way? One of our biggest—and most important—extensions is the New Yorker Festival. What started in 2000 as a way to celebrate The New Yorker’s seventy-fifth anniversary has become a landmark cultural event. Every October, the Festival draws the biggest names in politics, books, film, music, art, food, and popular culture for intimate discussions, live performances, exclusive screenings, and more. We’ve described it as bringing The New Yorker from the page to the stage, and that’s exactly it—and why it remains the premier celebration of arts and ideas. The New Yorker as a brand has long been present in products developed through licensing agreements—you can buy cartoon prints, greeting cards, puzzles, and more, in stores all around the world. The tote bag that comes with subscriptions has become an icon of the city. In the last year, though, we’ve really sought to put our own stamp on consumer products and have created a central place, the New Yorker Store, where people can find those goods (except for the tote, which is only available to subscribers). Our licensing team works closely with members of our creative and editorial teams to insure that all items bearing The New Yorker name and imagery reflect the standards and taste that our audience has come to expect from us.

And what about some recent brand extensions, such as Sleepy Jones - do you have a lot more of these in the pipeline? Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn:

In addition to the Sleepy Jones collaboration, we did a limited-edition collection of apparel with the lifestyle brand Kith to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. The capsule collection included t-shirts and sweatshirts with archival New Yorker covers depicting Dr. King by the artists Edward Sorel, from 1999, and Diana Ejaita, from 2020. The collection was available in all Kith stores and on Kith.com. As part of the collection, Kith partnered with the Martin Luther King, Jr., estate on apparel

inspired by the 1963 March on Washington and his continued legacy. All proceeds from the collection were donated to the Drum Major Institute, the Youth Direct Action Fund, March for Our Lives, DoSomething, and the Alliance for Youth Action. We also have a collaboration in the works with La Colombe, which will launch in late August. La Colombe and The New Yorker will celebrate the resilience of New York City and its

residents with a special coffee blend. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to help feed New Yorkers in need. We’re in the early phases of other potential partnerships as well.

Tell us more about the launch of the New Yorker store in 2020? Nicholas Blechman

The success of the iconic New Yorker tote bags shows a hunger for New Yorker-related merchandise. The idea behind the store is to expand on the tote by offering other products, such as socks, mugs, and pencils, to our readers. We have our staple products, such as a baseball cap or a T-shirt, but we are also experimenting with more surprising items like a jigsaw puzzle of our crossword puzzle, or limited edition playing cards designed by the cartoonist Ed Steed. The New Yorker has a rich culture to tap into, and I am excited for our upcoming Holiday release, including items like a collection of patches featuring our mascot Eustace Tilley, and a series of Ex Libris bookplates designed by Roz Chast and other cartoonists. “We had a record number of new subscribers in 2020, up 24% compared to 2019...”

And how about the festival – obviously this is a huge event in the calendar, so do you hope to be able to get back to normal order of events post-pandemic? Katherine Stirling:

Building on the great success of our first virtual festival, in 2020, we are thrilled to be presenting a festival this year that we believe combines the best of in-person and remote possibilities. In order to reach our audience across the country and around the world, we will be offering all sessions via live-stream once again. In addition, New Yorkers will be invited back to attend certain events in person in accordance with public-health guidance. One of the great lessons of the pandemic for us was that our audience’s appetite for events did not wane one bit, even as circumstances shifted dramatically—if anything, it increased—and we intend to meet that desire for thought-provoking content this year with care and creativity, as we always do.

How, overall, did the New Yorker fare during the pandemic – did you find subscriptions increased? Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn:

As difficult as the pandemic has been—and continues to be—for so many, one bright spot has been our journalism, and our readers’ response to it. We had a record number of new subscribers in 2020, up 24% compared to 2019. In 2020, traffic to newyorker.com grew by 20% year-over-year, to 20 million average monthly unique visitors. Audience growth was greatest among first-time visitors, with that portion of our audience increasing by 27% year-over-year. In terms of subscription numbers, I’ll point you to the Alliance for Audited Media’s 2H20 report: Total circulation was up over the prior year, 2.2% (1,259,074 vs. 1,231,715 or 27,359 copies). Total paid subscriptions increased 3.7% (1,253,181 vs. 1,208,154 or 45,027 copies). Total digital paid subscriptions increased 40% (279,033 vs. 199,331 or 79,702 copies).