Condé Nast is combining its creative, copy and research teams across titles, according to an internal memo sent by president and chief executive officer Bob Sauerberg.
The restructuring allows the New York-based publisher to cut costs and streamline its business as it looks to evolve its digital business. Now workers from photo, art copy and research departments will all sit on the same floor and work on multiple titles. The news was confirmed by Condé Nast, but the company would not indicate how many job cuts the reorganization would entail.
In the memo, Sauerberg told staff: “In January, I spoke to you about the importance of acting as ONE company and breaking down the silos that prevent collaboration across our brands. In employee roundtables, group meetings and most recently, our employee survey, there is one constant theme. You want us to remove the barriers so you can work with and learn from your peers across the company. To that end, last week we took the first step in modernizing our revenue operations by organizing our multiple sales teams, brand development and consumer marketing divisions under one leader, Jim Norton.”
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The next leg of that “modernization” entails “restructuring” creative and editorial copy/ research teams in one location, a task Sauerberg and artistic director Anna Wintour are overseeing.
Raul Martinez has been named head of the creative group for Condé Nast and will oversee the creative unit and all of the creative directors and teams from each brand. The new team will include “all editorial brand creative, art, design and photo, in addition to the creative teams from the businesses and 23 Stories,” Condé Nast said.
The new division will work across the entire portfolio, meaning that creatives – of which there will inevitably be fewer – will have the chance to work on varied projects.
Copy and research functions for all the company’s titles will come together under Vogue executive director of editorial and special projects Christiane Mack, who has been named head of content, strategy & operations for Condé Nast.
Sauerberg offered: “Anna and team will be working through the specifics with each brand over the next several weeks and expect to have the groups relocated before the holidays.”
The ceo also told staff that he now has a new executive committee, which includes Anna Wintour, artistic director for Condé Nast; David Geithner, chief financial officer; Jim Norton, chief business officer and president of revenue; Dawn Ostroff, president of Condé Nast Entertainment; Fred Santarpia, chief digital officer; JoAnn Murray, chief human resources officer, and Cameron Blanchard, chief communications officer. This group reports directly to Sauerberg.
“These new, contemporary structures will make it easier to collaborate across edit, business and brand-to-brand and truly unleash the collective power of our incredible company,” the ceo said.
Such a reorganization is somewhat commonplace. Time Inc. went through a massive reorganization across the company this summer. Hearst has been quietly sharing resources across titles for some time. Rumor has it that there will be more consolidation coming at Hearst, which will be similar to that at Condé Nast.