Just in time for New York Fashion Week, Condé Nast is using Vogue to try out Snapchat Discover for the first time.
The publisher launched a channel on Discover, which will be featured twice weekly on the platform, on Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s part of the magazine’s increased focus on digital following the launch of its mobile app in April. Run by Sally Singer, Vogue’s creative digital director, the magazine’s Discover team is focused on bringing hand-selected, real-time news to users on a diverse set of topics across the magazine’s verticals, including fashion, beauty, culture and living. There is no set deadline for how long the channel will run.
Though the rollout was launched to coincide with fashion week, Singer said not all the content would be about the event. In the inaugural edition earlier this week, Vogue featured a video of its editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at the U.S. Open, a behind-the-scenes look at fashion week model castings, and a Q&A with Kim Kardashian.
While the channel will feature pre-existing content from the website and app, Singer said upwards of 70 percent of the content will be original material developed for Snapchat. Aesthetically, the channel is similar to the mobile app, but differs in its ability to allow for a fixed selection of stories while the app features customized content that varies according to the user.
“Snapchat Discover is old-school in that you’re serving up the news and stories in the way that the editor feels is the right order for your readers and you want them to get through it from beginning to the end,” she said.
Vogue first began discussions around Discover about six months ago before moving forward with launching the channel. Snapchat and Condé Nast partnered on live coverage of fashion and lifestyle entertainment before, but this is the publisher’s first Discover channel. Snapchat also has a partnership with IMG, an official sponsor of New York Fashion Week, to create live stories during the event.
“We’ve partnered with Condé Nast to bring Snapchatters into some of the best events in fashion and entertainment via Live,” Nick Bell, Snapchat’s vp of content, said in a statement. “We’re excited to welcome more of the company’s best-in-class editorial with the addition of brands like Vogue to the Discover family.”
Fred Santarpia, chief digital officer at Condé Nast, wrote in a memo to staffers earlier this week that the company plans to expand Snapchat Discover offerings in the future, including one-day popup channels for Vanity Fair, W and Self that are slated for later in the year.
