Cosmopolitan Appoints Former Company Girl As New Editor

The National Magazine Company has appointed Sam Baker as editor of its flagship women’s glossy Cosmopolitan, replacing Lorraine Candy who left to join Hachette Filipacchi’s Elle earlier this year.

The appointment marks a return to magazine editing for Baker, who stepped down after five years as editor of Company magazine to write her first novel Fashion Victim, which is now complete.

Baker joins Cosmopolitan as it plans to launch a major advertising push to boost circulation. The magazine has also joined forces with high street fashion brand Dorothy Perkins for a summer promotional campaign.

Commenting on the appointment, Duncan Edwards, managing director of the National Magazine Company said: “We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Sam back to NatMags. Sam is one of the most gifted editors of her generation and her appointment to this coveted position heralds a new era for Cosmopolitan.”

Baker, who takes up her position on 5 July, added: “This is quite simply a dream come true, Cosmopolitan is the biggest and most important magazine brand in the world and I can’t wait to get started.”

Cosmopolitan has been hard hit by the launch of Condé Nast’s rival Glamour magazine, which increased its grip on the women’s monthly magazine market with a solid 8.4% year on year increase in circulation, in the latest ABC results for the six months to December 2003.

This increase helped the fledgling fashion and beauty title further extended its lead over Cosmopolitan, which suffered a slight 0.5% dip during the same period to 460,655. However, Cosmo is still flying high in the sector, well ahead of IPC’s Marie Claire and Hachette’s Elle.

Last week Natmags announced plans to launch a new celebrity-focused weekly to go head-to-head with Emap’s highly successful Closer in the rapidly expanding sector. The company confirmed that it is currently developing a new weekly under the working title Reveal (see Natmags To Take On Closer With New Celebrity Weekly).

National Magazine Company: 0207 439 5000 www.natmags.co.uk

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