• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 23, 2007

After 20 years in print publishing, Jane Grenier has been appointed publisher of Flip, CondeNet's forthcoming MySpace alternative for teen girls. Grenier--who most recently served as associate publisher of marketing for Conde's Teen Vogue--will run Flip's business operations, overseeing its sales and marketing relationships.

In her new role, Grenier will face the challenge of balancing the interests of advertisers with those of young users who are being given an exceptional degree of control over the Flip environment.

The main advertising opportunity will stem from the site's "Flip books," or online scrapbooks that members will create. CondeNet will sell marketers the ability to offer images or videos that members can use in their Flip books; the images won't necessarily carry the sponsor's brand name, but will be associated with the marketer. For instance, one debut sponsor, surf and skateboard clothing retailer PacSun, is providing brand-evoking images like sunsets and palm trees for users to plaster on their pages.

Other debut sponsors include Nordstrom's BP clothing line, Johnson & Johnson's Clean & Clear skincare brand, and Vera Wang's Princess fragrance; the site is scheduled to launch Feb. 6. Traditional banner space is available, but users will be given the power to ban particular brands from their personal pages. What's more, Flip members will get scribbling tools, which could--in theory--be used to deface a brand's image.

But Grenier said she doesn't anticipate that users will react negatively to the site's marketers. "Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I think with this particular market of teen girls, and the way the site is set up--I don't think this is going to be that big of a challenge," she said.

In addition, she said, the site is marketer-friendly because it has safety features designed to deter predators.

"This site was developed with eyes wide open to the challenges of social networks," she said. "This is not a hookup site. You can't search by age or location. And predators are going to find much less challenging ways than Flip to seek out their targets."

Prior to joining the launch team of Teen Vogue in 2002, Grenier was associate publisher of creative services at Gourmet, where she worked on integrated programs with Epicurious.com. Her career also includes roles at Esquire, Vogue, and Details.

"Her experience in the market will be a tremendous asset to us as we engage marketers with the opportunities Flip can provide in connecting brands with teen girls online," said Dee Salomon, senior vice president of sales and marketing for CondeNet. Flip can expect some serious competition, however, as Conde Nast rival Hearst Magazines is planning its own teen-targeted Web expansion. In February, Hearst is slated to unveil new Web sites for its three teen magazines--CosmoGIRL.com, Seventeen.com, and Teenmag.com--featuring interactive content, photos, video, podcasts, and social networking capabilities. Also, earlier this month, Hearst's digital media unit acquired teen social network eCRUSH.com for an undisclosed sum.