• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 17, 2013

Hearst Hosts Fashion Hack

Hearst Magazines is jumping on the “hack” train with its planned “Hearst Fashion Hack,” a 24-hour “hackathon” where programmers are invited to create fashion-focused apps and programs drawing on Hearst content in competition for a $10,000 grand prize.
 
The Hearst Fashion Hack will take place during February 9-10 at Hearst Tower in New York City. According to Hearst, over 150 expert programmers will attend the hackathon, which is being organized by AngelHack and sponsored by Hearst fashion titles Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, as well as corporate sponsors like Amazon, Facebook, Fashion's Collective, Google and Spotify, among others.
 
The finished apps will be judged by Hearst executives including President David Carey, Chief Technology Officer Phil Wiser, and Melanie Schnuriger, general manager of fashion and beauty for Hearst Digital Media, as well as tech industry gurus and venture capitalists. In addition to the $10,000 grand prize, the winner will get the opportunity to work more closely with Hearst Digital Media in a mentorship.
 
WSJ Plans New Personal Finance Mag
 
The Wall Street Journal is launching a new personal finance magazine, WSJ. Money, which will be distributed with the newspaper’s weekend edition. The new glossy is a spinoff of WSJ., the newspaper’s luxury lifestyle magazine, and will similarly target luxury advertisers as well as courting advertising from financial advisers, wealth managers, and other services catering to the wealthy. The first of four editions planned for 2013 will appear on March 9.
 
Scientology Ad Spurs Backlash For The Atlantic
 
Readers might be forgiven for thinking the staff at The Atlantic had undergone a sudden mass conversion to Scientology earlier this week, following the Web site’s publication of a “native” ad consisting of Scientology boosterism, in a format that looked quite a lot like the rest of The Atlantic site. The ad consisted of a package of content led by an article describing how the Church of Scientology has grown, thanks to the vision of its “ecclesiastical leader,” David Miscavige.

Links to other articles appearing next to the main article lauded other aspects of Scientology. In addition to allowing the ad to run in a format that was a little too “native,” The Atlantic was criticized by readers for censoring unfavorable comments from readers responding to the ad. A statement from The Atlantic apologizing for the incident read, in part: “We now realize that as we explored new forms of digital advertising, we failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions we make along the way.”
 
Rolling Stone Bows iPad App
 
Rolling Stone unveiled its first iPad edition on Apple’s Newsstand this week, including a number of features not found in other digital replica editions of the magazine. A single issue of the iPad edition costs $4.99, while a subscription costs $1.99 per month and $19.99 per year. Among other interactive capabilities, Rolling Stone says “all of the album and song reviews and music-related articles will include a link to listen to music samples and purchase tracks from iTunes,” making it easy for readers to move directly from text to audio.
 
Levinsohn To CEO, Guggenheim Digital Media
 
Ross Levinsohn has been appointed CEO of Prometheus Global Media, owner of Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. The company is also renaming itself as Guggenheim Digital Media, reflecting Guggenheim Partners’ ownership of the company, following its move to buyout Pluribus Capital. Levinsohn was previously interim CEO of Yahoo.
 
Snow Steps Down at Bonnier Corp.
 
Terry Snow is stepping down as the CEO of Bonnier Corp. He will be replaced by David Freygang, who previously served as executive vice-president of Bonnier’s Active Interest division. Freygang immediately announced that he is promoting David Ritchie, formerly editorial director at the Active Interest division, to the new post of chief content officer.
 
Monroe To Exec Director, Integrated Marketing, Forbes
 
Forbes Media has appointed Michael Monroe to the position of executive director of integrated marketing. He returns to Forbes after an earlier stint as marketing associate at Forbes.com and then senior manager of integrated marketing. From 2010 to the present he worked at Condé Nast.
 
Clune Named SVP, General Manager MXM’s BIG Communications
 
Lisa Clune has been named senior vice president and general manager of Meredith Xcelerated Marketing’s Health Practice, BIG Communications. Prior to joining MXM, Clune served as the president of UL EduNeering, which provides online training solutions to the Health Sciences industry including pharmaceutical, medical devices, and biotechnology companies, since 2009.
 
Alvarez to Ad Director, Teen Vogue
 
Ezra Alvarez has been named advertising director at Teen Vogue effective January 22, the Condé Nast publication announced this week. Previous Alvarez served as fashion advertising director at Allure. Before that he was Condé’s corporate sales director based in Milan.
 
Round to General Manager, Lucky
 
Gillian Gorman Round has been named general manager of Lucky, Condé Nast announced this week. In her new post, Round will be responsible for managing both editorial and business operations at the shopping magazine; her responsibilities will include leading a new e-commerce initiative. Lucky Publisher Marcy Bloom is leaving the company. Round previously served as senior vice president for brand development at Condé.
 
Bayard to Digital Sales Director, Food & Wine
 
Jennifer Bayard has been named digital sales director at American Express Publishing’s Food & Wine magazine, it was announced this week. She will be responsible for sales with a focus on key areas including automotive, travel, spirits, and fashion. Bayard previously served as digital account director at Glamour.com, where she led the site through a relaunch.