The importance of paper.
Display was a glossy magazine we created and published at Metropolis: 250,000 free copies distributed across 15 countries, found only in exclusive stores, luxury hotels and venues that matched the pages. It was a magazine, and it was also a strategy: the most effective new business engine Metropolis ever ran.
We did not advertise the studio. We printed what the studio believed in.
The challenge
An independent Barcelona design company needed a way to sit at the same table as the world's luxury houses. Cold calls do not open those doors. The answer was to build a media brand those houses wanted to be inside: prove the taste on paper, at scale, in the exact venues where the audience already was.
What I did
Created the brand and product: concept, editorial direction, design and the distribution model that placed it only where its readers lived.
Led it as Editor in Chief, working with Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, David LaChapelle and Donatella Versace, and running campaigns for the brands inside it.
Built the partnerships that filled the pages: LVMH houses including Belvedere, Moët & Chandon and Kenzo, and automotive names including Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini.
The result
Display became an icon of its niche and a door opener for the studio: a steady stream of new Metropolis clients arrived through the magazine. When Metropolis's growth demanded full focus, we retired the title deliberately, at its peak.
- 250,000
- 15
- Free
Copies per issue
Countries
Distributed only in luxury venues
Display taught me that thought leadership is not something you write about your work. It is work you publish that proves the thinking. Twenty years later, everyone calls this content strategy. We called it a magazine.
About the company
Display
Display was created, owned and published by Metropolis: a luxury lifestyle title covering fashion, products and the culture that shaped our own standards.
- Media and luxury
- Brand creation, editorial leadership, design, partnerships
- 2005 to 2008