Glenda's Way - Glenda Bailey of Marie Claire

Brandweek, March 5, 2001 by David Handelman

Glenda Bailey has made 'Marie Claire' a hit with the gentle--and not so gentle--art of persuasion

In the midst of last year's teeter-tottering presidential race, Marie Claire editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey was determined to have her magazine weigh in--but not with the usual profile or thumb-sucking think piece.

Instead, Bailey persuaded Al Gore and George W. Bush to submit dueling articles titled "Why You Should Vote for Me" and reserved a spread in the August issue. But while Gore's effort was handed in on time, Bush missed his first deadline, then another.

So Bailey gave him an ultimatum. "I made sure that his people understood that if he didn't get his copy in, I would print a blank page," she says. "And I would have."

At the last minute, Bush finally delivered. But as soon as the issue hit newsstands, readers flooded the magazine with rancorous letters and e-mails: While Gore's piece mentioned women nearly two dozen times, Bush's didn't mention women even once.

"I thought, 'How proactive they are,'" marvels Bailey.

The episode provides a snapshot of why Bailey has been so successful, first with the launch of Marie Claire in the U.K. in 1988 and, later, when she took over the U.S. edition in January 1996: her inventiveness, her doggedness and her ability to connect with and galvanize smart, devoted readers.

"Glenda never takes no for an answer," says Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black. "She's an incredibly original, provocative and determined editor who loves to push the envelope. She always wants to give her reader a surprise."

"With Glenda," adds deputy editor-in-chief Michele Lavery, "there's no room for complacency."

Bailey--a spirited 41-year-old with a mass of curly hair and a self-proclaimed passion for shopping--grew up in a working-class area of central England. Perhaps because of her humble background, she studiously avoids the elitism and authoritarianism of many of her competitors. "What differentiates Marie Claire is that we aspire to our readership, not the other way around," she says.

During her stewardship of Marie Claire, it has largely been her innovative, expansive and democratic approach that has exploded the narrow definition of a fashion and beauty magazine. In the five years since she took over from founding editor Bonnie Fuller (whom Hearst moved to Cosmopolitan after only a handful of issues), Bailey has raised circulation a whopping 80 percent. Instead of leveling off at around 700,000, as had been expected by Hearst (and French co-owner Comary Inc.), circ rose to just shy of 950,000 by the end of 2000. Of that, 70 percent comes from newsstand, where Marie Claire is the No. 1 fashion title. In 2000, ad revenue soared nearly 39 percent, to $88.8 million, on 1,662 pages, a 19 percent jump.

"Marie Claire doesn't limit itself to a category, which is wonderful and fresh for the American market," says Valerie Muller, director of print services at Mediacom. "It's straightforward, no-nonsense and really accessible."

In the final analysis, it is Bailey's persuasiveness that keeps readers--and advertisers-- flocking to the magazine. There is an adage that a particularly convincing person can talk a dog out of a meat wagon. In Bailey's case, she would also get the dog to write a somehow revealing 2,500-word piece about the experience.

It was Bailey who talked Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein into writing a "wacky opinion piece" about the state of the union, got Oprah Winfrey to give the keynote address at a Marie Claire--sponsored conference on "What Women Want," and prevailed upon Monica Lewinsky to do an internship at the magazine and pose for the cover.

"It's about having fun, being entertained, being surprised--and not taking ourselves too seriously," says Bailey, who's sitting in her spartan corner office overlooking midtown Manhattan. She's wearing a long black Calvin Klein jacket over a black Donna Karan dress and fishnet stockings.

The fun continues with the magazine's fashion coverage, which aims to be refreshingly realistic and user-friendly, emphasizing thrift and creative accessorizing. Fashion director Mary Alice Stephenson says that before any article of clothing gets into the magazine, it must pass the staff barometer of "Would we, as women, wear it?" In one of last year's most memorable features, "Is It Time to Change Your Underwear?" women were photographed in their skivvies ... while their partners displayed undergarments they'd prefer to see on their mates.

Some, however, sense a certain schizophrenia in the magazine's fashion pages. "I like their realistic viewpoint on fashion," says a media planner at a design firm who asked not to be identified. "But it's hard to remain upmarket and reach a broad audience, because it ends up being more aspirational. In middle America, they have no interest in the latest Badgley Mischka dress."

But the magazine's content extends well beyond the closet. Included in Bailey's frothy mix are investigative journalism (on subjects such as domestic violence and rape); international activism (child prostitution, girls over-coming barriers to education); voyeurism ("What's it really like to be a princess?"); everyday heroism (teen mothers coping with child rearing, female entrepreneurs); health and sexual behaviorism ("Men who love curvy women") and a dash of TV talk-show sensationalism ("I was raised by my mother's murderer" and "I lost my daughter to liposuction"--both in the same issue!).