It’s been interesting to watch former client Hearst Magazine Group find its feet with a full-borne web strategy; of course, for the former i-Village partner, that involves lots of catch-up and rebuilding, along with new ventures.
Recognizing that Hearst was buying itself a platform to finally move into contextual and reader-driven e-commerce with the WSJ reported imminent purchase of Kaboodle made me smile this morning; why wouldn’t a major publisher of womens‘ and shelter magazines,with an audience of millions, want to have a way that not only editors–but readers and peers–could recommend products to one another (think stylehive or thisnext)?
This is a smart purchase by Hearst, and evidence that they’ve learned alot from their recent acquisition of several teen–focused properties…it is going to be fun to see this brand integrate–and power–new aspects of their big brands–as well as get an infusion of marketing for Kaboodle itself.
Fun. And shrewd. And a way to hold off Glam.com and other like it from pulling an Engadget on their categories