Inside W Magazine’s glossy digital strategy

For W Magazine’s September cover story featuring Rihanna, the text is not a story or an interview, but a screenplay written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Inside the magazine’s pages, full page photographs feature Rihanna imagined as a queen in a post apocalyptic world created by photographer Steven Klein and creative and fashion director, Edward Enninful.

On its website, there’s a slide show of the cover shoot’s images, videos which offer a behind the scenes glimpse of the shoot and guest art director Terry Jones discussing his method, as well as designer sketches of the clothing made for the shoot, among other digital-only content. On Instagram, two separate GIFs were created for the two different magazine covers, exclusively for the platform.

The central idea of the September issue is transformation, a metaphor for what the publication is also experiencing in its big shift to digital. To read the rest of the story, visit Digiday sister site Glossy.

More in Media

Why retailers like Target and Aerie are moving beyond straight affiliate deals with creators

Creator programs are changing as retailers like Target and Aerie realize they require a multifaceted approach that doesn’t just rely on affiliate links.

Rising gas prices may push more household spending toward Amazon

The spike has squeezed household budgets and changed how people shop. Consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending and foot traffic is in decline.

How publishers are modeling – and mitigating – a future with significantly less Google search traffic

Publishers are modeling the business impact of a zero-click future and developing growth strategies for the Google AI search era.