FROM METROSEXUALS TO NERDS: The perennial game of musical chairs at Condé Nast Publications has shifted Details' vice president and publisher Chris Mitchell to Wired Media in the same capacity. Mitchell, who had led Detail's business side since April 2004, will oversee Wired's print and online businesses and fills a spot left vacant by former Wired publisher Jay Lauf, who jumped ship to join The Atlantic as publisher last week. Lauf, however, did not have responsibility for Wired.com. Drew Schutte, who was moved to vice president, publisher of The New Yorker in January, was the last top executive to oversee both print and online sales as vice president and publishing director. Lauf had been the magazine's publisher since 2006.
During Mitchell's tenure at Details, ad pages have grown to 1,369 through the end of 2007 from 1,160 in 2004 (so far through April, pages have increased 3 percent over the same four months last year, to 369). However, Mitchell only had oversight of the magazine while at Details, as Details.com is under the Men.style.com umbrella along with GQ.com. Wired's ad pages rose 4 percent last year to 1,334 and, through April, are up 5 percent to 348 pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
His move to Wired is a homecoming of sorts, since he worked at the title from 1996 to 2000, rising to the position of advertising director. Mitchell was also associate publisher at The New Yorker from 2001 to 2004. He reported to then-publisher David Carey, who is now group president, publishing director at Condé Nast, overseeing the Golf titles, Portfolio and Wired Media.
As for who could replace Mitchell at Details, speculation yielded few obvious choices, in part because Condé Nast's sweeping reorganization in January, which put Carey and Schutte in their new jobs, elevated many associate publishers or ad directors deserving of promotions to fill vacant slots at the top of mastheads. For example, Details' associate publisher, Jaime Engel, has only had the job for two months following predecessor Marc Berger's promotion to publisher of Men's Vogue, which follows his predecessor William Li's promotion to publisher of Portfolio following Carey's move. (Confused yet?) That means the company may reach further down into the pool of internal candidates, or look outside at associate publishers or ad directors at other men's titles. — Stephanie D. Smith
During Mitchell's tenure at Details, ad pages have grown to 1,369 through the end of 2007 from 1,160 in 2004 (so far through April, pages have increased 3 percent over the same four months last year, to 369). However, Mitchell only had oversight of the magazine while at Details, as Details.com is under the Men.style.com umbrella along with GQ.com. Wired's ad pages rose 4 percent last year to 1,334 and, through April, are up 5 percent to 348 pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
His move to Wired is a homecoming of sorts, since he worked at the title from 1996 to 2000, rising to the position of advertising director. Mitchell was also associate publisher at The New Yorker from 2001 to 2004. He reported to then-publisher David Carey, who is now group president, publishing director at Condé Nast, overseeing the Golf titles, Portfolio and Wired Media.
As for who could replace Mitchell at Details, speculation yielded few obvious choices, in part because Condé Nast's sweeping reorganization in January, which put Carey and Schutte in their new jobs, elevated many associate publishers or ad directors deserving of promotions to fill vacant slots at the top of mastheads. For example, Details' associate publisher, Jaime Engel, has only had the job for two months following predecessor Marc Berger's promotion to publisher of Men's Vogue, which follows his predecessor William Li's promotion to publisher of Portfolio following Carey's move. (Confused yet?) That means the company may reach further down into the pool of internal candidates, or look outside at associate publishers or ad directors at other men's titles. — Stephanie D. Smith
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