KATE MIDDLETON, COVER GIRL: Move over, teen moms from middle America, it looks like Kate Middleton will be the new queen of celebrity weeklies for a while. After an eight-year courtship, it was announced last week that Middleton will wed Prince William in a ceremony that will take place in London as soon as March or April, although most speculation centers on July. Magazine editors are practically salivating at the possibilities.
“This engagement was a long time coming,” said People managing editor Larry Hackett, who put the couple on his cover a few weeks ago, and, by outside accounts, the issue sold exceedingly well at the newsstand. “This story involves an incredibly attractive girl who is young and going to be a princess. I sure hope she does well. I mean, all this story is lacking is a dragon.”
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Expect to see Middleton on Hackett’s next cover, out today or Tuesday.
“If she does well on this cover — and she should — Kate will be the new Angelina Jolie for the weeklies,” predicted PopEater’s Rob Shuter. Jolie, for those not familiar, almost always results in a payday in single-copy sales (she was the biggest seller so far this year for Vanity Fair).
Months before they were engaged, Middleton and Prince William were featured on the July 5 cover of Life & Style, and the issue did “very well,” noted one source. Executive editor Jared Shapiro declined to discuss numbers, but he agreed the wedding will dominate the weeklies. “Americans remember Princess Diana as an international icon, and now her son, who we’ve watched grow up in front of our eyes, has met his princess and is getting married,” said Shapiro. “Readers love the glitz and glam of a wedding and will want to read about every little detail leading up to the big day.”
With every detail being published by the weeklies, will there be anything left for U.S. monthlies such as Vanity Fair or Vogue? “I’m sure [Harper’s Bazaar editor in chief] Glenda Bailey has already placed a call,” said one source. Shuter noted that for American editors, this wedding presents a bit of a role reversal. “Editors in America are used to sharing their photos of, say, Jennifer Aniston,” with their counterparts in other countries, but now they will need to play especially nice for access to Middleton, who will undoubtedly want to be in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire in the U.K.” — Amy Wicks
JONES EMPOWERMENT: Jones New York is building the second phase of its “Empowering Your Confidence” advertising campaign in the nation’s capital on Friday, staging a photo shoot of five influential women by Norman Jean Roy. The group includes Dee Dee Myers, Jones’ brand ambassador, who was the first female White House press secretary, serving during the Clinton administration; Nellie Robinson, executive vice president of Patient Care Services for the Children’s National Medical Center; Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne, co-founders of Georgetown Cupcakes, and Sheila Brooks, president and chief executive officer of SRB Communications.
The women were chosen because they exemplify empowerment through their accomplishments and philanthropic efforts, according to Stacy Lastrina, chief marketing officer, marketing and creative services, for The Jones Group. Jones developed the campaign with Raul Martinez, founder and chief creative officer of AR New York. The second campaign will break in March in Capitol File Magazine, DC Magazine, The Washington Post and Washingtonian Magazine, as well as on billboards, bus shelters and digital online, Lastrina said. — Kristi Ellis