Grazia magazine opens to the public

Posted by Judy Darley

November 28, 2008

In an unprecedented move to give the public a sneak peek into the world of publishing, and earn some column inches, Grazia has relocated temporarily to a make-shift office within the new Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush, London.

As magculture.com reports: “the whole production team, 46 people, have moved from Shaftsbury Avenue to a specially built open office, somewhat misleading called The Pod. From the first floor of the centre’s atrium you can look down into the various rooms and it seems the magazine team really are making the magazine from this temporary space.”

Producing a magazine involves generally sitting at desks, typing and chatting – much like any other office really. However, to liven things up, the Grazia team are hosting events to encourage shoppers to interact with them, including allowing the public to have their photo taken for a mocked-up front cover.

The magazine wins points for ingenuous marketing strategy, with sales likely to rise simply due to people buying the mag to see if they’re gracing its pages after visiting the shopping centre. However, once the novelty factor wears off, Grazia is going to be left with a ‘pod’ of disgruntled writers wishing the public weren’t constantly watching their every move, or, worse , why no one is paying any attention at all.

For more, see www.magculture.com