The latest issue of Monocle is shown next to other publications by the magazine. The country’s No. 2 card company Hyundai Card hired the magazine’s sister agency Winkreative to re-design its monthly newsletter for its most exclusive cardholders last year. / Korea Times |
Monocle editor peddles ‘unoriginal’ ideas to Korean firms
By Kwaak Je-yup
Tyler Brule is a Canadian-born award-winning magazine editor and savvy businessman, best known as an influential globetrotting tastemaker. And that masterfully self-created transnational stature has enabled him to sell what some consider unoriginal works to clients around the world.
The Korean firms that have hired him say they are looking beyond creativity; instead, they are paying for the international pull at a bargain price, happy to inflate the hype even further to their own advantage.
It is easy to be hypnotized by the dizzying mix of jetsetter jargon that he feeds through his weekly Fast Lane column in the Financial Times (FT) and his own monthly magazine Monocle. He peddles anecdotes from cocktail parties in Rio, apres-ski sessions in the Alps or rides on the Japanese bullet-train Shinkansen. The incessant namedropping of foreign-sounding people, places and things is enough to induce the awestruck feeling readers could misinterpret as cosmopolitan cool.
While Brule continues to gain influence and reverence ― The New York Times dubbed him “Mr. Zeitgeist” earlier this month ― he is not getting more work for being a creative wizard bringing forth novel ideas: he is a cost-effective bandwagon for businesses to jump on when they want to adopt international appeal on the fly. His writing, including contributions to the FT, are included in the value package, too, making him the perfect guy to buy.
Korean companies that have hired Brule’s agency Winkreative are stalwarts in their respective industries: superstar card services firm Hyundai Card, domestic cosmetics leader Amore Pacific and distributor giant Shinsegae. The reasons for their choice vary, but creativity takes a backseat, from looking at their portfolio.
“We saw the link between the magazine and the agency as a key advantage when we were looking around for global partners,” said a spokeswoman for Hyundai Card. “It was not a bidding-style selection process.”
Brule was given his mainstream Korean debut and media exposure at the company’s Super Talk lecture series last April. Since then, he has raved about the client’s ultramodern lounge at Incheon International Airport in his writings.
The paid-for work by Winkreative for the No. 2 card company in Korea is its monthly newsletter for VVIPs, but it looks suspiciously similar to the magazine’s layout. But no one seems to notice or care.
The cozy relationship continues as Hyundai Card distributes Monocle in Korea. It declined to reveal circulation numbers, but industry sources say it is smallish if not cultish.
“Monocle approached us first to look for distribution in Korea,” said a spokeswoman for Shinsegae, without specifying the exact date of this event. “There were no follow-up discussions.”
In this case, Brule had praised the department store in his column, probably with the intent to approach the distribution giant with the deal. He was rebuffed, then.
After the increased exposure through Hyundai Card, however, Shinsegae hired Brule to become a high-profile creative director for their new luxury men’s clothing boutique, “Man on the Boon,” that opened in October last year.
But his participation was minimal at best. Initial plans of integrating the Monocle Shop, the magazine’s hole-in-the-wall retail outlet model, into the department store’s Gangnam branch in southern Seoul fell apart; Brule was sidelined as a merchandiser, leaving the striking interior work all to Japanese designer Masamichi Katayama. Their names are given equal weight in presentation, however, due to Brule’s status. The spokeswoman declined to discuss sales figures.
Amore Pacific, who has hired Brule’s team several times for brand imaging work, cites its economical price tag as a key asset.
“It charges about 30-40 percent less than the usual global design company,” said the spokeswoman.
Though people who worked directly with Winkreative readily credit the works’ quality, looking at its skincare brand Laneige, it sounds like a polite compliment. Laneige, which had a barely visible makeover last year, had its slanted dot on top of the “i” taken out by the creative agency, the font also fine-tuned. But somehow, the difference is so minimal the website still has the old logo in place without anyone noticing.
Anyone flipping through Winkreative’s brochure should be able to spot the similarities to between the agency’s portfolio and the Monocle magazine, using the same designers and illustrators.
But perhaps no one cares, blinded by this invincible aura of international style demi-god.
In the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong last Saturday, a Korean couple walked into the Monocle Shop’s branch in an unassuming corner. They took numerous pictures of the tiny, barely 40-square-meter retail space and asked for past editions of the magazine and posters designed by the team based in London.
But tellingly, they did not buy anything else.
Brule’s publicist declined to comment.
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