In 2004, Andrea Ferrari packed up her life and children in the UK to launch Esprit magazine on to the Australian market. Ten years later, and the award-winning journalist is still going strong Down Under. bd sat down with the founder and managing director of Andrea Ferrari Publishing and Esprit Magazine Australia to chat about launching a magazine on her own, being in the industry for 10 years, first meeting the likes of Sigourney Cantelo and Zoe Foster, and the industry’s changing pace.
You first launched Esprit in the UK. How did the magazine come about and are you glad you brought it to Australia?
Absolutely. In the late nineties in London, I met with Natalie Bloom of Bloom Cosmetics and Shelley Barrett from ModelCo. They absolutely leapt on the magazine when I showed them the UK version saying that they wished they had something like it in Australia. It kind of sowed the seed, but I didn’t really think at the time that I would be moving. I then did the research and it happened.
How did you go about launching a magazine on to the Australian market?
The positive was that they were hungry for it, they had a real appetite for it. I knew some people from the UK who had key jobs here, for example Terry Little who was general manager of Clinique back then, Gavin Blackburn, Shelley Barrett, Natalie Bloom - they were all very encouraging and gave me advice. In the UK, Esprit is a monthly magazine, but it was thought better to be a quarterly magazine here. They didn’t think the market could sustain a monthly, and I think it’s great because it has really evolved as a magazine of reference that people can keep. We pack a lot into it each quarter.
I landed in Australia with my children on December 13, 2003. Because it was Christmas, everyone was socialising and it wasn’t too much pressure on me to do anything other than settle. I got myself a home, got the kids into school and then it was January 28th at 10am when I had my first meeting with Terry Little. I had spent a year on the phone and on email from the UK, and of course I had researched how I would do it - and we launched in July of 2004, which was so exciting.
How does the Australian media market differ from the UK?
Back then is different to now. I found everyone really bright and receptive, open to new ideas. I found the beauty editor girls so engaged and well presented. When I left the UK, beauty editors would come to events in jeans and grey cardigans and not look terribly engaged with what they were doing. The first Australian event I went to was at the Pavilion café in the Domain in February 2004, and I remember seeing all these pretty young things in high heels and dresses. The lovely Sigourney Cantelo and Zoe Foster were all so welcoming to me. I didn’t have a magazine at that stage, I was just planning it - I could have been anybody but they were very open and warm.
How does 10 years publishing the magazine in Australia feel for you?
I feel very proud. I feel blessed that I have been able to make the best of myself here, and my business. I have been given opportunities, seized them and worked hard to create successful outcomes. Any advice I could give to young or new people setting off with new projects would be to take every opportunity you can and network. I am always at everything, I love being there but you need to make sure you make the contacts. I always make sure I talk to the marketing or managing director at the launch. I socialise, but I am there to make the connection.
How has the magazine changed over the past 10 years?
We evolve with our readers and what is happening in the industry. We have built up the collaborations we have with associations, and we are focusing on the people in the industry.
Has the industry changed much in the last 10 years?
Essentially the whole industry is changing because of online. Everyone needs a point of difference to be successful, so I don’t think online is taking over from paper publications, they absolutely have a place in the market. Each publication, whether paper or online, needs a point of difference and relevance. You really have to be smart about your content, you can’t just put a magazine together that is similar to somebody elses. Our publication hasn’t had a competitor. We have a strong personality running through the magazine, and I have the best beauty business journalist writing for us, Elisabeth King, as well as great collaborations with industry bodies and associations.
What would you count as your career highlight?
Launching Esprit magazine in Australia by myself. I was absolutely driven and I absolutely believed in myself. I knew I must keep on picking up that telephone. I wasn’t getting a salary from anywhere else - it had to work. I had been doing research and making connections for a year. I knew I had to make the contacts before I got here and set myself up that first day.
Have there been any lowlights?
To be honest I don’t have lowlights. I don’t believe in mistakes. There are things that you wouldn’t do again, but you can learn from everything if you do it a certain way.
Where would you like to take Esprit magazine?
To build it into a business that I will eventually sell. I would like to build it into a multi-faceted brand and I would like to have multi platforms for the business.
With all the changes in the media landscape recently, has this impacted Esprit in anyway?
It has confirmed in my mind that you have to work smart. There is no platform that is better than another, but the publications have to have a strong voice and reason to be, they have to give their readership something in it. The reader says what’s in it for me?”, and you provide.
What advice would you offer young journalists in the media industry today?
Take every opportunity that is offered you, don’t look to be paid for some opportunities. I think good unpaid internships are invaluable. If you find out it’s unpaid labour then that’s not a good internship, but if it is a company with an internship program - take it, because you should take any experience or opportunity. Learn with passion, because it sticks better.
