Lady Gaga Graces September Issue of Vogue
As was announced a couple of months ago, Lady Gaga is American Vogue’s September Girl, gracing one of the most anticipated covers of the year. This is an incredibly smart move from Anna Wintour, as the Queen Monster has proved to be one of the most profitable cover girls of the moment, always ranking on the top of the best selling issues every year.
Vogue’s choice of one of the most powerful people in the world is definitely not random... The controversial artist is not only a real fashion icon but the american publication could be in desperate need of the singer’s superstardom; as earlier this week, the Audit Bureau of Circulations released some not so encouraging digits for the first half of 2012, leaving those flat-is-the new-up-days behind: Vogue experienced double-digit declines for Condé Nast, posting a 16.5 percent decline to an average of 300,955 copies sold.
It was a tough first half at newsstands, and checkout counters across the country for every sinlge publication, not only Vogue. Monica Ray, executive vice president for consumer marketing at Condé Nast, said newsstand remains a small portion of the company’s readership mix — about 12 percent of the total makeup — but she repeatedly said she is encouraged by the increase in digital. “In the overall picture, total readership is going up. We’ve had nice gains in subscriptions. But newsstand is still really important to us,” she said. And some experts are questioning the importance of those numbers, as magazines continue to become brands, selling not just content but also housewares, fashion, beauty products and food. Some observers believe the newsstand has become an old school metric for the business. One way or another, Lady Gaga is synonymous with buzz, which is exactly what everybody needs.
Vogue knows that music superstars become instant hits... its March cover featuring Adele sold 410,000 copies, well above the average. Sports, however, hasn't had the same luck, In June, Vogue's Olympics-themed issue, featuring a patriotic “Team USA” headline and Ryan Lochte, Serena Williams and Hope Solo, was its weakest performer so far this year, moving about 202,000 copies at the newsstand, or 33 percent below its six-month average.
This is Gaga’s second cover for the prestigious magazine, and comes during one of the busiest points of her career, as she is not only touring the globe with a groundbreaking extravaganza world tour but launching the most innovative perfume in two decades while working hard on her “Born This Way” Foundation and supporting established and up-coming creative talents from all over the world... she does it entirely on her own terms. Inside the magazine Gaga explains that the Born This Way Ball, her massive spectacle, which has just made its way through Asia and Australia, is destined next for Europe and the States. She has banned video screens, instead dreaming up a “fortress” that lets her dance 50 feet above an audience of 30,000. "I really wanted to break the mold of what modern touring is now,” Gaga explains.
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