Over the last 10 years I have been involved in 16 major relaunches, ranging from revamps of small-circulation B2B titles to complete overhauls of market-leading consumer titles.
My belief is that all great relaunches or revamps come from a deep knowledge of readers and advertisers. My job is to tease out insights from the team’s knowledge and translate this into new and compelling editorial ideas for the magazine. The relatively easy part is then building the magazine around these ideas while keeping its brand values and regular readers.
My exact role will vary depending on the task and the skills of the incumbent team. In some cases I have led the entire relaunch while the editor continues to get the old-style magazine out, in others I have provided the structure for the relaunch and been available for support while the editorial team carry it out.
Either way, I believe the process can be fast, even on a big business-critical title. The days of spending two weeks deciding on the kerning are long gone.