Hachette Poaches More! Editor To Head-Up B Magazine
Hachette Filipacchi has poached Emap’s Frances Sheen to become editor of its glossy B magazine for women, replacing Gina Johnson who stepped down in October to work on special projects.
Sheen was previously deputy editor of More!, where she was brought on board to oversee the magazine’s recent relaunch to take on Condé Nast’s heavy weight Glamour in the increasingly competitive women’s monthly market (see Emap To Take On Glamour With Re-Positioned More).
The new role will see Sheen report directly to Rita Lewis, who was recently appointed publishing director of Red and B with responsibility for driving growth at the flagship women’s titles during the coming year (see Hachette Poaches IPC’s Lewis For Key Publishing Role).
One of her first priorities as editor of B will be to revive fortunes at the magazine, which was originally launched by Attic Futura in 1997 as Sugar‘s older sister. The latest ABC results for the six months to June 2003 show that the title saw its circulation decline by 14.6% year on year 165,431.
B is currently the lowest circulating of Hachette’s women’s monthly titles. Red is pushing 190,000 with its content tailored towards middle-youth women and Elle‘s strong fashion focus has taken it past the 200,000 mark.
Commenting on her appointment, Sheen added: “B is a title that has done very well over the years but is not talked about nearly enough. I plan to change that with a new, refreshed vision for the magazine, making it a major player and a major rival in the women’s magazine market.”
Julie Harris, women’s group general manager, added: “Fran’s considerable experience of working on magazine launches as well as re-launches makes her perfectly placed to take B into a new league. She comes bursting with ideas for the magazine and I’m thrilled to have her on board.”
Hachette Filipacchi, which launched in the UK in October 2002 following the acquisition of Attic Futura, has been expanding its operations with a number of key appointments. Earlier this week it announced the appointment of Reid Holland to the newly created position of head of trade marketing and circulation (see Hachette Boosts Team With New Head Of Trade Marketing).
Hachette Filipacchi: 0207 150 7171 www.hf-uk.co.uk
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