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Somewhere in the winding streets and clumped residences of Chino Roces Avenue in Makati sits a big blue building, a strange sight in the midst of so much asphalt and concrete. It houses Inquirer.net and another subsidiary that has been attracting attention in the past year: Hinge Inquirer Publications.
The company is responsible for producing free magazines with editorial content that could give newsstand-based glossies a run for their money — and grabbing its share of what is already a shrinking advertising pie.
“It’s been a big year for us,” says group publisher Bea Ledesma, a former lifestyle editor at The Philippine Star. “We rebranded all of our titles, from Northern Living and Southern Living to Soul BGC. That rebranding allowed us to focus on development, on growth, on future-thinking. It’s made us rethink our editorial approach, our internal system, and even the way we analyze peer entities.”
What that means in simple terms is that Hinge has positioned itself as the anti-glossy.
Whereas magazines from Summit, ABS-CBN Publishing and One Mega Group are fixated with putting faces of celebrities and socialites on their covers and fashion editorials, Hinge goes for offbeat and non-mainstream features. “When it comes to stories, you’d think of this particular angle but then question yourself if it’s really pushing the envelope,” says Eric Nicole Salta, managing editor for three Hinge titles.
The “make-under” of Hinge’s publications included resizing magazines, improving quality of printed paper and opting for a cleaner design more appealing to the millenial generation. From an editorial standpoint, story titles got snappier, decks more exciting, and a little effort has been given to sidebars.
“We took into account the title’s old identity and market,” explains creative director Nimu Muallam. “We recognized the strengths and weaknesses of each brand. From there, we decided what new identity it will take. Only then did we start recreating the overall look and feel. We also took into consideration which materials could be sustainable and what particular look our readers could best identify with, while still making sure that the company’s values and ideals are expressed.”
“Hinge is not only about content,” says Ledesma. “It’s about community. We’re interested in stories of the city, in bringing to light issues that might otherwise not find themselves in the lineup of a mainstream magazine. We don’t want to tell the same stories that we’ve all seen before. The covers of Northern Living or Southern Living, for example, are often populated by people that you’d never see on the cover of a major magazine. These are our neighbors or leaders of the community who have equally interesting stories to tell.”
In recent issues of Northern Living, for example, we found recipes, DIY projects, reviews of the newest restaurants and an interview with Cecille Baun, a woman who has made a career out of crafting prosthetics and puppets for Philippine horror movies. There was also a photo spread of artistic interpretations of the last meals of long-dead celebrities, and a series of illustrations on how icons of Philippine literature might look in contemporary fashion.
This affection for the quirky and unusual is carried over into Hinge’s war room, where the average age is 27 years old. “It has a more casual and playful vibe to it. We’re young but we’re very determined. Unlike other companies where rigidity is at their core, Hinge’s work environment and culture is a snug fit for creative minds,” says Muallam.
While it isn’t strictly encouraged, noise is rarely kept to a minimum and it isn’t uncommon to hear laughter pealing across the editorial floor. A printout outside Muallma’s cubicle reads “Headdress means do not disturb,” and several members of the editorial staff do keep masks and feathered headdresses in their work areas, putting them on to indicate that they are, in fact, get-out-of-my-face levels of busy.
Salta believes that the casual environment does have an effect on Hinge’s results. “As silly as it may sound, I think that Hinge cultivates a very ‘hip’ and dynamic working environment…It has a thriving subculture in itself and I find that it contributes to how people work and find inspiration for their respective titles…Since Hinge is coming from a point of view outside commercial magazines, it forces us to constantly think about the communities we’re serving.”
But is it a good business model?
The company declined to disclose circulation numbers but shares that, at least for the Living titles, number of pages have increased from an average of 16 to 80, paving the way for an increase in advertising pages.
And it looks like things are still getting better. Says Ledesma: “Hinge is a small creative company, led by bright young talents who don’t believe in linear thinking. It’s doing some pretty compelling things, cool things, even smart things. It’s made me excited again to be in the business of content creation.”
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