Esquire’s website revealed its anticipated makeover on Wednesday, boasting several new features, along with sharper graphics and more prominent photos – but no video (it’s coming). For the past several months, its parent company Hearst has been planning a major digital overhaul of its key magazine titles, including Cosmopolitan and Seventeen (both of which will have site offerings like video and games), as well as Redbook and Popular Mechanics among others. As reported earlier this month, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Cosmo Girl launched ad-supported mobile sites in preparation for those sites’ refurbishing (Esquire’s mobile site will launch in April, AdAge reported).
As for Esquire.com’s content, the articles, which are framed by ads for Las Vegas tourism, Microsoft, AT&T and others, are well laid out and readable. Aside from the offerings derived from the magazine, such as the eminently ignorable cover story featuring a profile of Robert Downey, Jr., the main attraction is the new “web exclusive” department called The Side. From an editorial standpoint, there are two too many articles on Britney Spears. Still, it’s worth mentioning that Gawker reluctantly, even somewhat painfully, praised one of pieces by hipster journalist Chuck Klosterman – usually a reliable target for that site’s derision.
The renovation does give Esquire’s site a more nimble feel than before, but in order to meet advertisers’ needs, it is going to have to be more timely than Britney, or offering up other web exclusives like Dear Bible-Thumping, Fundamentalist Hypocrite, which just seems like preaching to the choir.
Whether these changes, which are largely cosmetic so far, will bring in readers is an open question. The pitch to potential Esquire.com visitors, as Eric Gillin, Esquire’s web editor, explained to AdAge, is: “If you’re bored at work you can just get lost.” While there are surely great number of potential readers bored at work, Esquire.com will have to provide much more than Britney or items on why its cool to wear pointy shoes to make sure that readers aren’t bored when they navigate around the site.
Esquire, and publishers in general, might want to consider what made the magazine so distinctive during its heyday in the sixties. At that time creative thinkers like George Lois not only drew in readers and advertisers, but pushed boundaries that redefined journalism, art direction and the central nature of what a magazine is. That may be too much to ask of any editorial property today. But at the very least, a magazine - print or web - should be fun to look at. Secondly, an editorial website should use its brand identity to go farther than its printed version. The verdict: Esquire.com is a step in the right direction. But it needs to take some bigger steps.
Related:
—Magazines Starting To Add Games To Sites
—Hearst Magazines Revamps Mobile Sites For Lifestyle Titles, Embraces Ad-Funded Approach