Memo Pad: Puma’s New Stars, Hearst Magazines’ Carol Smith to Exit Amid Reorganization
ALWAYS IN STYLE: Puma has tapped a roster of young stars for its latest campaign.
The sports giant revealed on Monday its Forever.Classic campaign, which stars “Euphoria” actor Angus Cloud, “Stranger Things” actor Caleb McLaughlin, “The Bubble” actress Iris Apatow and Dwyane Wade’s daughter, Zaya Wade. The campaign celebrates some of Puma’s most popular styles, such as its Puma Suede, Clyde, Cali and Mayze sneakers.
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“To be part of the Forever.Classic campaign highlighting Puma’s most iconic and legendary products is surreal, you feel me?” Cloud said. “It’s so dope to be a part of this next generation honoring the classics I remember from when I was growing up in Oakland.”
The campaign stars appear together in the images modeling the popular Puma sneaker styles. Puma describes the campaign as “bringing together those who are pushing culture forward by engaging creatives from different walks of life — from actors to content creators to athletes and musicians — to tell their stories of how they found ‘their way.’”
“Puma is an iconic brand with 75 years of impactful moments and relationships in fashion, sports and music history,” Apatow said. “To be a part of a campaign highlighting the next generation of history-makers is inspiring and so special to me.”
Puma’s campaign was photographed by Kendall Bessent, who was on the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List for art and style.
“I love Puma’s celebration of brave, confident and determined individuals,” Wade said. “Together, we all strive to be better versions of ourselves and this is the perfect meeting of classic and individual style.” — LAYLA ILCHI
HEARST SHAKEUP: Carol Smith, longtime publisher at Hearst magazines including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire, is leaving the company amid a reorganization of Hearst’s advertising business, WWD has learned.
A Hearst spokesperson confirmed that Smith will continue through a transition period and leave at the end of March.
Hearst is shifting its advertising division to an industry-focused model, organizing sales around sectors including beauty and wellness, fashion and luxury, finance and tech and home and design. It is a move that many other media organizations have employed amid ongoing economic headwinds exacerbated by declining advertising revenue.
“As the media business continues to evolve, we will double down on our investment in future strategic areas to evolve how we operate,” said Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella in an internal memo to employees. “For our advertisers and partners, we will lean into innovative solutions and create compelling avenues for audience engagement. We will be an even better and more agile partner to our clients, offering holistic solutions for a data-driven world.”
Sources say the realignment will result in layoffs. A Hearst spokesperson declined to offer specifics about job losses at the company.
Smith was elevated in 2019 to publishing director of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Marie Claire when veteran executive Kevin O’Malley retired. At the time, she had been publisher at Harper’s Bazaar since 2011. Smith also ran Elle and Elle Décor for several years prior.
She was the founding publisher of Parenting magazine, which was later acquired by Time Inc. She was also the founding publisher of Vibe, which is now owned by Penske Media Corp., parent company of WWD.
Smith’s exit is one of the highest-profile departures at Hearst since Chirichella took over as president of the magazines division in November 2020, after joining the company in 2011 as CEO. Chirichella was briefly at Prometheus Global Media Group and spent seven years at Condé Nast, where she was COO of then Condé-owned Fairchild Fashion Group.
In a statement to WWD, a Hearst magazine spokesperson said of Smith: “Carol has made tremendous contributions to the Magazines division over the years and we thank her for her strong leadership, passion and drive.” — MARISA GUTHRIE
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