In this exclusive Q&A, Lara Akkari, Strategy and Communications Director at Hia Magazine, shares insights on the evolving digital landscape, the impact of data-driven content strategies, and the growing influence of social media. She also reflects on how the collaboration with Ostmodern helped shape Hia’s digital relaunch, ensuring the brand remains relevant in an increasingly competitive space. 

Her perspective offers a valuable look into the future of publishing and the power of strategic innovation.

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‍Interview date:
26th June 2024

Participants:
Lara Akkari - Strategy & Communications Director, Hia Magzine
Tim Bleasdale - Executive Creative Director, Ostmodern

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Ostmodern: I’m here with Lara Akkari of SRMG. We worked together about a year or so ago on the fashion magazine, Hia. It’s great to see you again - could you tell us a little bit about Hia magazine and your role?

Lara: Yes, so for most of the audience, I’m assuming they’re not going to be familiar with Hia magazine. Hia Magazine is Arabic, and it means ‘Her’.

It’s a magazine with a lot of history, a lot of heritage and a lot of cultural resonance. It’s always been about highlighting the Arab woman in the Middle East, specifically the Saudi woman but also the Pan-Arab woman. 

Ostmodern: Obviously, we worked with you on the more digital side of things but we also did a lot of talking about content creation processes. What would you say have been the big changes or challenges there that you’ve seen? 

Lara: A change in design also instigates a change in corporate thinking, I think. If you’re just going to make something look different and not back it up with a different perspective or change in content strategy or how you apply the two, it's going to be very thin and very transparent.

When digital becomes the foreground, the most important thing that we’re focusing on, it’s much more measurable. You understand your customer a lot more, what’s working, what’s not working, which articles are driving reach, which ones aren’t, and what the engagement is. It can be daunting and at the same time, it’s so empowering if you are able to use the data in a manner that will accentuate and improve the product. 

Ostmodern: That’s really interesting, so you’ve been able to monitor content more, what people are reading and use that tracking as part of your process. Have you seen a change in the content that you’ve been producing because of that? 

Lara: It’s an interesting eye-opener of really understanding who your perceived audience is and who your actual audience is. There are discrepancies between who we think we want to talk to and who we are actually talking to. You can’t hide behind anything anymore, the data speaks for itself and it’s a tool that is an enabler rather than a hindrance.  

It’s a mindset shift that just opens it up to so many unexpected surprises and learnings. And [furthermore] how do you optimise that?

Ostmodern: What changes and challenges have you experienced, in moving the magazine into digital?

Lara: The competition today is not so much other publications or websites - our competition is social. It’s a TikTok generation, I wouldn’t even say Instagram any more, it’s a TikTok generation where a lot of the fashion content is being consumed, created and churned over in extremely fast cycles on social media. 

The competitive landscape is much more fragmented, it’s much bigger. So as a publication, not only do you have to be voraciously active on your website, but you also need to be active across all these other digital platforms and make sure that the ecosystem works in a synergistic way. It’s definitely much more challenging, much more exciting and a much more cluttered environment to participate in. 

‍Ostmodern: How would you say Ostmodern helped Hia Magazine?

Lara: I came on board at a very interesting part of the project which was the workshops that Ostmodern ran. Speaking for myself from a strategy point of view, I think it led to a lot of involvement, empowerment, and eye-opening opportunities that I think were instrumental for any revamp. Bringing that energy, that conversion of ideas and enabling everyone to put their thoughts together to create a comprehensive plan I think is fundamental in making any sort of pivot. It was the starting point, a lens to think strategically about Hia’s rollout.

Ostmodern: From all of the stuff that came out of those workshops and that thinking; have you seen things operationally changing at Hia and things moving forward? 

Lara: When teams work together and are aligned on all aspects the outcome is threefold as strong. It’s efficient, it’s more fun, it's more productive, it’s richer, it’s more varied - it just takes a lot of rigour. 

Ostmodern: I guess the thing that we haven't covered yet is the website and its role as a marketing channel, could you talk a little bit about that?  

Lara: I think from a publisher's point of view -  in the past, it’s always been that the website is a portal, this is what we publish on and just put content out on. 

How else can this website be utilized to go beyond that? Rather just a purveyor of the content carrier it's something that we should be able to monetise accordingly through a subscription model where we can give exclusive content to our subscribers that is of value to them and to us. 

Affiliates are also a very important component and would also benefit, you know, brand advertisers get reach, we get the revenue - those are things that are important. And I think the product aspect and the product discussion that we had with Ostmodern opened up the team to those propositions and alternatives which in the past was more focused on publication and content. Now how can you monetize that to make it even more valuable for both parties?

I think the product aspect and the product discussion that we had with Ostmodern opened up the team to those propositions and alternatives which in the past was more focused on publication and content.

As a consumer, you’re bombarded with so much content and so many options. What makes a person more loyal to a certain magazine is definitely the content. But then, if you’re following a certain author or writer that you really love and you know a little bit about them, these things create much more of an affinity with the publication and the digital site is a way of humanizing that. 

I think those discussions and propositions that were presented by Ostmodern, were really interesting eye-openers on how to further view the products.  

Consumers gravitate towards, at least the ones who do will become more entrenched with Hia, which is already so big. I call it ‘mastige’, where you have a prestige image but we appeal to a mass audience. It’s more difficult to navigate but if you get that right, that could become the sweet spot. 

I think those discussions and propositions that were presented by Ostmodern, were really interesting eye-openers on how to further view the products.  

Ostmodern: So, Lara, it’s been really great to see you again and really interesting to talk to you.

Lara: Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be a part of it. I thank you for considering me, always lovely to chat. 

‍Ostmodern: Excellent, thank you very much.