Optimedia to handle £5m launch of Condé Nast title

Condé Nast has appointed Optimedia to handle the £5m media account to launch a UK version of its upmarket celebrity lifestyle magazine, Glamour.

Condé Nast has appointed Optimedia to handle the £5m media account to launch a UK version of its upmarket celebrity lifestyle magazine, Glamour.

The agency pitched against two others – understood to be Carat and MindShare – for the media buying and planning business. The creative account has been handed to J Walter Thompson, after a pitch against M&C Saatchi.

Optimedia managing director Simon Mathews says: “Glamour is a defining magazine for Condé Nast. It is as much in touch with its consumers as we are through our extensive beauty and fashion client base.”

The media strategy is likely to promote the fact that Glamour’s A5-size format makes the title easy to carry. The magazine, will hit the shelves on March 8 2001.

The company aims to establish a monthly circulation of more than 200,000 by the end of the first year of publication.

Glamour, whose content will be heavily based on the US edition, will be edited by Jo Elvin, the former editor of EMAP’s New Woman. Simon Kippin, ex-publishing director of the National Magazine Company’s Good Housekeeping, is to be publishing director.

Condé Nast is also planning to launch a German version of the title at the beginning of next year (MW August 10).