Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders
This is View from the Top, a new video series from Digiday where we sit down with leaders and pioneers at brands, agencies and publishers to find out how they’re adapting to the modernization of media and marketing.
When Philippe von Borries and his co-founder Justin Stefano started Refinery29 in 2005, they didn’t have Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to build an audience for their budding city guide to fashion and culture. Instead they went door-to-door and introduced themselves to retailers and anyone who’d sign up for their newsletter.
Von Borries said, “We stepped into a space that was digital media [and] actually the fruit wasn’t fully ripe yet.” Now nearly a decade later, Refinery29 is not only a leader in fashion content but also stepping into national news (they recently interviewed Hilary Clinton), creating videos on hot button issues (they just launched a video series with Planned Parenthood and musician Jack Antonoff), all while putting on live events that trend on social media.
Von Borries talked to Digiday about building Refinery29 from scratch. “I would by no stretch of the imagination have foreseen where we are today,” he said.
More in Media
USA Fencing relies on creators to attract new fans ahead of the 2028 Olympics
Creators can bring new fans to niche sports in droves, and USA Fencing wants to tap into their cultural power.
An anatomy of the creator brand trip’s midlife crisis
The brand trip as we know it may be dead, but a newer, more genuine and engaging format is rising from its ashes.
European publishers are getting hit harder by AI bot scraping, report finds
European publishers face more AI bot scraping, fewer referrals and more ignored robots.txt rules than North American sites, report finds.