Goop and Condé Nast Team Up on a Magazine

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/fashion/goop-conde-nast-magazine.html

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Jade eggs, sound baths, IV drips, bone broth — in other words, all Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness secrets — are coming soon to a newsstand near you.

Starting in September, Goop, Ms. Paltrow’s digital lifestyle brand, and Condé Nast, which recently closed the print version of Self, its health and fitness publication, are teaming up to create a quarterly print magazine entitled — you guessed it — Goop.

By extending its digital operation into the physical realm, Goop, which calls itself a “contextual commerce platform” that “allows readers to shop with meaning,” is taking a page from the book of e-tailers, seemingly acknowledging the power of touch. Examples include Amazon, which has pop-up shops in malls across the country; Moda Operandi, which opened a by-appointment showroom last year; and Glossier, which now has a permanent space in Manhattan where customers can test and purchase anything that’s online. The move also attempts to position Ms. Paltrow as the Oprah Winfrey of wellness.

“I’ve long known Gwyneth to have wonderful taste and vision — but with Goop she has built something remarkable, a thoroughly modern take on how we live today,” Anna Wintour, Condé Nast artistic director and editor in chief of Vogue, said in a statement. “Goop and Condé Nast are natural partners and I’m excited she’s bringing her point of view to the company.”

Ms. Paltrow is no stranger to glossy magazines. She has been on the cover of Vogue at least half a dozen times, and has appeared on the covers of Glamour, InStyle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar.

The magazine will be supported by online content created in tandem by Condé Nast and Goop. The two brands will distribute across their social channels and platforms, and employees from both companies will make up the staff.

Goop, which Ms. Paltrow founded in 2008, has gradually been expanding its operation since raising $15 million in funding last August. In the past several months, the company has introduced clothing and beauty product lines, both of which are sold on Net-a-Porter and goop.com. The company, which now has 80 employees, hired an editorial director from J. Crew who had previously worked at Condé Nast.

Goop also recently announced that it will be holding a daylong “In Goop Health” conference in June. Attendees will be able to test out crystals and floral salves, have their auras photographed and take sound baths. Tickets prices are $500 to $1,500, and the highest price tier is sold out.

The brand extension reflects the rise in demand for content and products in the health and wellness sphere. Companies like Juicero, which sells a widely mocked juice maker; Headspace, a meditation app; and Moon Juice, which sells herbal blends and drinkable beauty products, have all sought to fill that demand with various levels of success.

The market’s revenue potential is hard to ignore: Last year, a study from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans spend $30.2 billion on “complementary health approaches,” which include natural supplements, energy healing therapy and acupuncture.

Compare this with the film industry, where studio profits are falling, home video revenue has plummeted and ticket sales remain flat. Is it any wonder Ms. Paltrow has decided to focus on creams instead of screens?