Bashful Group has announced the launch of a new magazine division, True North, with a focus on consumer and business publishing.
Attached to the project is former Elle Australia editor-in-chief Justine Cullen. She will be working with True North as chief content officer.
Cullen worked with Are Media (then Bauer) for a decade, including five years as editor-in-chief of Elle before it was closed in July 2020. She was succeeded by Genevra Leek.
Cullen has also worked as the editor-in-chief of David Jones’ magazine Jones, and edited Shop Til You Drop.
Whilst it hasn’t been confirmed, The Australian Financial Review has reported on speculation that True North has obtained the licence to revive InStyle magazine.
Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Bashful Group chief executive Simon Bookallil said that “We believe that independent publishing can be more nimble, and we really want to contribute to culture and live and breathe it.” Bookallil said.
“We want to have the best possible people with the best possible brands in our portfolio. We want to create fresh and new and distinctive brands where we’re looking to apply our skills to our direct-to-consumer model – whether that’s podcasts, luxury content, activations, magazines, physical magazines or digital.”
The news comes as InStyle magazine’s American counterpart has announced that it will no longer print the physical magazine, and instead turn the US version into a digital-only title.
Six magazine titles that are operated by the media mogul Barry Diller through his Dotdash Meredith group will be affected. Immediately stopping their physical publishing will be Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español. The move will lead to 200 job cuts, according to a memo sent to employees.
“We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites,” Neil Vogel, the chief executive of Dotdash Meredith, wrote in the memo, reported by The New York Times. “It is not news to anyone that there has been a pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for a few important brands, print is no longer serving the brand’s core purpose.”