LUXURY PAPER: French financial daily Les Echos, which already has a glossy monthly magazine called Série Limitée, will also publish its first 12- to 16-page weekend supplement starting Nov. 16.
At a press conference in Paris on Monday, Groupe Les Echos SA, owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also unveiled a revamp of its Web site (with more content behind the paywall) and a new layout for the paper set to hit newsstand on Nov. 14.
The weekend supplement, dubbed W.E., will cover fashion, arts, travel and leisure. Les Echos managing editor Henri Gibier said it is hoped the new addition will boost circulation on Fridays by 30 to 50 percent and advertising revenues by 20 percent.
Bénédicte Epinay, editor in chief of Série Limitée, who will also oversee W.E., said there won’t be any cannibalization between the two outlets. “We looked at the Anglo-Saxon such as the Financial Times, which has both a magazine, How to Spend It, and weekend pages, or The Wall Street Journal with its WSJ. magazine and its weekend pages, as well as the New York Times with T and style coverage,” she explained, adding that the tone would be “mischievous, light and practical.”
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Sandrine Merle and Gilles Denis, who already contribute to Série Limitée, will continue to cover fashion. Gibier said they would take advantage of the group’s sister publication, the monthly Connaissance des Arts art magazine, for the art content, while the trendy organization Le Fooding would have a section dedicated to new restaurants.
Les Echos, whose circulation is around 120,000, according to France’s Circulation Audit Bureau, has an editorial staff of about 180 people.
The group said it is investing around 3 million euros, or $3.9 million at current exchange, in the new developments plus 4 million euros, or $5.2 million dollars, in a communication and advertising campaign to accompany the launch.