In the hot seat:
Lucy Halfhead: Assistant Editor and Travel Director at Town & Country and Harper’s Bazaar
Lucy’s Focus:
- All travel related pitches go through Lucy – online and print
- Every single email in Lucy’s inbox is read and filed immediately
- She compiles the annual travel guide that comes out in February; 100 Greatest Hotels & 100 Greatest Travel Experiences
- Likes to build up relationships, meeting in the afternoon is the best time – near her office
- Also likes evening events on the way home from work
- Uses Instagram strictly for work – PRs could ask more to utilise this more
Town & Country and Harper’s Bazaar:
- 30 people across the editorial team. They don’t use many Freelancers, max 3 for web
- 3 months lead time
- All print stories are syndicated online. Harper’s Bazaar website is a separate entity
- Town and Country have four seasonal issues per year – large readership in the US as well as international readership
- Travel gets the most hits online and all spare magazine pages go to travel
- Digital stories often lead to print, but this can’t be committed to
- There is an annual villa special and ski special– ski special comes out in January. April issue is Best of British – trend for self-catering next year
Top Tips:
- Both parties need to be clear on what the coverage will be generated
- Does not have a phone and do not call on mobile. Hot on emails; so best way to contact
- Loves hearing intelligent pitches –
- Inspire her: world events, historic theme, anniversaries
- Think about clever layers and links eg celebrity shoot in Hotel setting
- Loves a strong headline title
- Images / Links are key – so she can visualise and refer back
- No image – will not pursue
- Likes a gentle reminder following up
- Read the magazines so you know what is in there and has already been covered
- When pitching to Harper’s Bazaar, think of things from a fashion and art perspective
- Exclusives are not important, happy to publish older news with a proper story
- Loyal to certain brand names
- Loves a sustainability slant, likes to flag initiatives that are helping the enviroment, conservation and community projects
- Press trips
- Honesty is key from the beginning from both parties
- Short and sweet press trips work best. Does go on group trips.
