Charles Swift ’88, vice president of strategy and marketing operations for Hearst Magazines, home to Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, sat down with The Daily Princetonian to talk about his career in the media industry and the evolution of media in the age of the Internet.
Daily Princetonian: How would you describe your time at Princeton?
Charles Swift: Spectacular. I loved it here.
DP: What was your toughest challenge as a student, and how did you overcome it?
CS: Good question … Nothing was really thought of as a challenge, it was always an evolution. I think Princeton is hard when you get here, and you learn to deal and you learn to cope. Part of the whole experience is teaching you how to solve problems, how do you get better and survive in this world. So I guess the biggest challenge is, I guess, the first day is figuring Princeton out and how do you make a success out of it. The overcoming was the living experience at Princeton.
DP: What inspired you to join the media industry?
CS: It was an accident. I really don’t think of myself as someone in the media industry. I’m a functional, sort of a marketer by function. I did marketing in the financial services area, I did marketing for folks like Columbia House. I did marketing on the legal side … Ultimately it was about going to Hearst. So what I loved about American Express was that it was a very large, huge company with great resources that allowed me the opportunity to explore and do great, amazing things as a businessperson. And what I loved about Columbia House was that it was a small, private company that afforded the opportunity of doing more, you could invest more in the long-term. Hearst is sort of that great blend. We’re this huge media company, but we’re a family business … We don’t have sort of the scrutiny of Wall Street and wondering what we’re doing every month. By the same token we’ve got this huge cash reserve that allows us to invest in the future unlike any other company in America, I think.
DP: Since you graduated from Princeton as an engineer, how do you integrate those skills in the communications industry?
CS: There’s sort of this concept of the explosion of big data that you keep hearing about every day. And so it’s like the data geek’s time has finally come. And engineering is about problem solving but understanding how information can be used to solve problems. How do I use information and data to help make decisions, ultimately? What we’re trying to do is use the same skills I used as an engineer to solve the same problems that drive all this new tangled communication that we have in the world available today. It’s about this one-to-one marketing. At its core it’s driven by information.
DP: What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your job?
CS: My favorite part is just coming to work every day. I mean, getting back to the previous answer, Hearst is a wonderful place to work. And the investment and innovation is really spectacular, and that’s the great part. I think the least favorite work is there’s so many things and the world is changing so fast that it’s hard to get on top of everything. So you gotta stay focused, and that’s one of the big challenges because you can’t go after everything … The favorite thing is coming to work every day.
DP: How did Hearst evolve as a company in the age of the Internet?
CS: Well, I like to think that we’re defining how the media world is evolving … Hearst in many ways .. has the opportunity to invest in a lot of startup companies. And we invest a significant amount in startup companies. The most famous of them is a small, little sports-cable company that we invested in called ESPN – so Disney doesn’t like us by the fact that we are the minority owner of ESPN. But all our investments actually afford us some insight into just how the world’s evolving while we protect the actual company; their rights are private, you can’t share them. It does allow us to continue to explore and make bets on where the world’s going, and so we get to try everything. So we actually were some of the original investors in E Ink — what became the Kindle. We invested in a company — I forget the name of it — that made a very early predecessor of the tablet. While that didn’t come to bear, what that did was teach us how to build and program our content in a tablet form, and so we were way ahead of the game in terms of when the iPad did finally come to bear … We’re always trying to invest in the “new,” and so much of our time and energy is looking to where the world’s going to be in five years, and what are we doing today to be a part of it. Most recently, for example, you think about what’s going on with Snapchat. So, Snapchat has decided to partner with a couple people — we’re one of the few media companies that they’re partnering with. So while your pictures may only last a few seconds, Cosmopolitan will live forever on Snapchat.
DP: How do marketing campaigns geared toward young people differ from those geared toward older generations?
CS: Really, it’s the medium on which you communicate to them, so I think marketing in its core is all about understanding what is the emotional hook that’s gonna convince you to take action — the action is typically to buy something. The emotional hook for an older audience is different from the emotional hook for a younger audience. And also the medium on which they’re able to listen to that emotional message is different. For an older audience direct mail lists are sort of the tried-and-true traditional way to get them. For someone in your generation, you probably don’t know what a piece of mail looks like. You all are having channels, so back to Snapchat. So for us, Cosmopolitan isn’t doing direct mail to talk to them, they’re using Snapchat to talk to the customers.
DP: What do you see yourself doing next?
CS: Next, to continue to explore whatever this world of media and information is going ... For me what’s next anyways is retiring soon … I think I just saw that 90 percent of Americans have three mobile devices they connect with on the internet … The challenge is, as a marketer, I wanna talk to a person. The problem is now these people are hiding behind all these devices. And so, the big puzzle right now is: How do I translate this representation of you on multiple devices? … I have to figure out how to stitch you all together so I can create a consistent message. Because, in order to be a successful marketer, I wanna make that message consistent to you and relevant to you.
DP: What kind of advice would you give to a student trying to enter the media business, or just business, today?
CS: You know, look, at its core creativity and content still is king. I mean there’s all this ad technology and all the world’s changing rapidly … Newspapers are challenged and magazines are challenged, and look at it now television is challenged. It’s going away. Web display advertising is equally challenged. You’re not using your laptop, you’re not using your desktop, you’re not browsing anymore. Fifty percent of all people coming to our websites now are coming through a smartphone or some sort of mobile device. All of these are different channels and so I think the advice is to recognize that – it’s actually the same advice I got from a professor in my freshman year of math here – which was, at the end of the day, learn to learn … Ninety-nine percent of what you learn today in Princeton will be irrelevant by the time you become my age. But what won’t be irrelevant is the idea of learning. And having this thirst and passion to learn, and that’s really immediate in many ways because content really is king. Just create the content. Hearst’s success is that … at its core, we create content. And that’s just about channels that we can bring to bear. So I would say to anybody entering: be open to trying everything and anything, and realize, don’t squelch the creativity. That’s going to ultimately pay off.
Read More
Leading with ‘humor, humility, and humanity’: Dolan reflects on nine years as Dean of the College
Sejal Goud, Thomas Catalano, and Julian Hartman-SigallThe Daily Princetonian sat down with Dean Dolan and several of her closest colleagues to discuss her trailblazing work as an academic, transformation into an administrator, and responses to the hot-button issues that have defined her tenure.
The Daily Princetonian sat down with Dean Dolan and several of her closest colleagues to discuss her trailblazing work as an academic, transformation into an administrator, and responses to the hot-button issues that have defined her tenure.
‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ quietly closes after three weeks
Miriam WaldvogelAfter nearly three weeks, the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” has ended, though organizers hinted that they will return.
After nearly three weeks, the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” has ended, though organizers hinted that they will return.
Graduate student union vote fails, 391–652
Meghana VeldhuisPrinceton graduate students voted against joining the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) in a vote on May 13 and 14.
Princeton graduate students voted against joining the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) in a vote on May 13 and 14.
