Ebony has been around pretty much forever, but you wouldn't know it from looking at the magazine's brand new website. Launched today with a fresh look aimed at reversing years of ad declines and increasing the publication's resonance with African-American readers, it merges entertainment, lifestyle and wellness, and business stories with archived content (like a nostalgia-inducing "photo of the day"). Former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers is at the helm of the ongoing effort to bring the publication's entire image up-to-date.
From Adweek:
Shepherding the revamp is Ebony editor in chief Amy DuBois Barnett, who was hired away from Harper’s Bazaar last June. Before Bazaar, she served in editorial leadership roles at Teen People and Honey. She arrived shortly after Ebony got a major redesign, with a new logo and more articles about lifestyle, wellness and business success stories.
For Ebony.com, Johnson Publishing turned to Code and Theory, whose work on the relaunch of Vogue.com was followed by massive traffic gains for that site.
Barnett said her goal was to make the site more competitive as rival news and gossip sites have sprung up.
“The site has been very utilitarian,” she said. “The new site has a very different mission. We’re really aiming to be at the core of the African-American conversation online. African Americans over-index on everything digital, so I think the opportunity for us is tremendous.”
Read more at Adweek.
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