Dubai changing at rate that 'far surpasses' others, says Condé Nast CEO

Khaleej Times

15-02-2025

The man at the helm of Condé Nast is not afraid of change. From physics student to investment banker, from streaming service maven to media house CEO, Roger Lynch sees opportunity in Dubai for the 116-year-old company.
In town for the transition from license partnerships to owned operations of two of Condé Nast's titles (Vogue Arabia and GQ Middle East), Lynch sat for an interview on the With MJP podcast at the KT studio hours before co-hosting an event with fashion and publishing icon Anna Wintour as well as with the editors of Vogue Arabia, GQ Middle East, Architectural Digest Middle East, and Condé Nast Traveller Middle East.
On the podcast, we chatted for about 30 minutes on topics ranging from his love of Van Halen (his first concert in the late 1970s) to Condé Nast's deal last summer with Open AI ('we needed to protect our intellectual property rights', Lynch says).
I wanted to learn about the person who has been the Condé Nast boss since his appointment in April 2019, and what he thinks Dubai can offer a company that has been in business since 1909.
Dubai, he says, presents a huge opportunity to educate and inform readers around the world about the opportunities in the region.
'The region is changing and it changes at a rate that far surpasses anywhere else,' Lynch says. Yes, there are changes in Europe and in the United States, 'but not at the rate that happens here', says the 62-year-old father of three and grandfather of five.
The truth is that Lynch chooses to believe there is more opportunity in Dubai. In general, he likes solving problems, so he finds opportunities where others see obstacles.
When asked if Condé Nast editors in other markets might push back when encouraged to take stories generated by the Dubai team, Lynch says: 'that's part of the opportunity'.
'That's part of what makes this really interesting to me. And we're already seeing it because we launched AD and Condé Nast Traveller 18 months ago in the region when those licenses expired earlier than the Vogue and GQ licenses.'
Lynch says that part of the opportunity is to help educate Condé Nast readers around the world about the opportunities in the region, whether it's fashion, architecture, tourism.
Print vs digital-only
In the media world, if we use Lynch's philosophy about how an obstacle can be an opportunity, then one relevant question for all legacy media companies is this: when should a print title become digital-only?
Allure magazine was launched in the US in March 1991; and in December 2022, Condé Nast made the decision to make it a digital-only title.
'There have been a number of titles in our portfolio that have gone through that transition,' Lynch says, 'and in most cases they end up more successful as a digital title, but it's specific to the title.'
The iconic magazine title of the fashion world, however, is one that will never not be in print, he says.
'The print cover of Vogue is a cornerstone of what Vogue does. It's a cultural moment,' Lynch says. 'When we shoot a cover, we create all this other content, too, whether it's a podcast or a video. It becomes a part of an ecosystem and that's where we've seen … that our brand has grown, every year in the last four years.'
The editorial strategy at Condé Nast is to create something new with the brands at the centre. 'We create an ecosystem of opportunities to engage with audiences or advertisers around that brand. And Vogue, I think, has been the best example of that. So an event like Vogue World, which we created three years ago, has become a huge event for us. It is tied to the cover of Vogue and ties into what we do on e-commerce and video. It really feeds an ecosystem. I think for a brand like Vogue, print is going to remain a core element to it, not because it's the biggest or it gets the most engagement, but because it does still sit as the cornerstone of what we do.'
In addition to looking at the future of a title, another key part of Lynch's job is to generate revenue and find new revenue streams. His philosophy is one with which I am fully in agreement: start by giving the readers what they want.
'We start with a core belief, which is that our brands need to be where our audiences expect our brands to be.'
The launch of the Vogue TikTok account is the perfect example, he says. The title launched on TikTok before figuring out how to generate revenue from it.
'When TikTok launched in the US, Vogue was not yet producing content, but there was a ton of Vogue content on TikTok because audiences were creating it themselves and posting it. And so they were telling us: we want Vogue to be on TikTok. And we launched and it became very successful. We didn't really have an idea about how or whether we'd be able to make money off of that.
'But the history of the internet is you get engagement first and then monetisation follows. And we felt it was really important to be where our audiences expected us to be and to build that engagement and we'll worry about the business-side opportunities later.'
As a media company, you have a choice, Lynch says. 'Do you listen to your audiences or do you follow what you think is best for your business?'
Lynch believes that many companies make a mistake of saying: this is the activity that's best for our business. 'The problem with that is you're starting at the wrong starting point. You have to start with what does our audience want.'
You need to listen to the audience and then figure out how to build a business model around it.
The US in 2025
The United States is less than a month into a new White House administration, and Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are hot-button topics. In newsrooms around the world, where journalists from all walks of life flock, some companies are shying away from DEI. Lynch, however, says Condé Nast believes strongly in its workplace values.
'I tell our teams that if you're a company and you have values, the way you know that they are your values is by how you adhere to them when the winds are going against you. If you just throw them out the window and say: here are new values, then they were never values, they were conveniences. And so for us, they're core values.
'Lots of companies you see making changes. They're dumping their DEI programmes. They're erasing things on their website. We're doubling down. We just hired a brand new head of DEI this past month. And we report on those. We have goals. We do an annual report that's going to continue. It's a core value of who we are. Other companies will make their own decisions, but we know very firmly where we stand on these issues.'
As our conversation comes full-circle, the idea of change is at the centre of Condé Nast. Changing platforms, changing technology, changing audiences. It is change, Lynch says, that what will keep Condé Nast moving forward.
'The certain mistake you can make is to not change. If you don't change, you are definitely making a mistake. So you have to be willing to change. Now, when you make changes, some of them work, some of them don't.
'You make mistakes, but the good thing about it is you realise it. You get feedback quickly and you can adjust. If you make no changes, you get no feedback other than you see a slow decline of your business that ultimately leaves you irrelevant or out of business. That's a mistake we don't intend to make.'