We caught up with Hattie Brett, Editor-in-Chief of Grazia UK, to get the lowdown on how, 20 years since its launch, the brand remains relevant and has evolved its content for the digital age.

Staying relevant:

How does Grazia continue to stay front-of-mind with advertisers and media agencies today?

When Grazia launched 20 years ago, few predicted the news ‘n’ shoes format, that saw us talk about women’s rights in Afghanistan one minute and the cult gladiator sandals hitting Topshop the next, would be as successful as it was. Nor that it would set the tone for how we would end up consuming content on our social media feeds.

But we’ve continued to prove the doubters wrong. As we celebrate our 20^th anniversary in 2025, we’re still evolving to meet our readers’ appetite – focusing on the things they care about most. That’s meant the launch of our standalone print special Grazia Beauty, and the return of Grazia Casa, two strong passion points that keep us front-of-mind with audiences and advertisers alike.

Partnership highlights:

Can you share any standout examples of recent advertising or brand partnerships that really delivered?

We’ve just delivered one of our biggest commercial partnerships to date with eBay, focused on educating our readers on how to best shop pre-loved fashion. It tapped into something we’re seeing more and more of: an audience that’s thinking differently about consumption, drawn to sustainable brands and embracing fashion’s so-called circular economy. The result? A campaign that felt meaningful, useful, and perfectly aligned with where our readers are headed.

Client conversations:

What’s been the biggest surprise when speaking with clients lately?

One surprise? The power of deep-dive communities.

Clients are increasingly excited about the like-minded groups we’ve brought together. Back in 2020, we noticed huge spikes in traffic around our pandemic parenting content, so we decided to launch The Juggle – an Instagram account for Grazia women who happened to also be parents. Just because they had kids, their attitude and style hadn’t changed, we argued, but their interests had broadened. Today the community is thriving on social and we’ve just launched a Substack too – offering even more ways to connect with the Grazia multi-platform audience.

Loyalty & Membership

How have you approached membership in 2025, and what opportunities does that loyal following offer advertising partners?

As we’ve gone broad with our reach, we’ve also found ways to go deep with our audience too. In 2025, we’re really focusing on our VIP Beauty Club offering where members pay a premium to get access to additional beauty content, free samples, and access to events. It’s helped us build an even closer connection to our beauty advocates, who are both passionate and highly engaged with Grazia. What’s more, having such a loyal group means we can feed learnings from them straight back into our content creation. Over 10% of our subscriber base have upgraded to the Grazia beauty club.

Meeting your audience where they are:

How important is it to deliver trusted content across platforms that really work for your audience? How has Grazia done this well?

It’s one of the most important things we do, making sure we’re turning up where our audience is, with content they trust.  

Back in 2005, IT bags were everywhere and a quick trip to Zara on your lunch break was part of the routine. Today, our audience is just as likely to shop from TikTok as they are IRL. Which is why, for Grazia, now growing affiliate revenue is as much of a priority as newsstand sales.

Our readers have grown up following the lives of certain A-listers. So perhaps it’s not a surprise that we see our engagement on Apple News+ – a platform we’ve been particularly focused on in recent years – soar when we publish hot takes on the latest news from Jennifer Aniston, who was our very first print cover star back in 2005. Engaged minutes were up +107% year-on-year. The medium may have changed, but the interest hasn’t. 

And we’re always thinking platform-first, from launching Substack communities to optimising SEO, we’re meeting readers wherever their latest obsession takes them.

Live

What do events with your brand offer advertisers, and how do they enhance audience engagement?

There’s something special about seeing our audience come together in real life. And our beauty events have been a natural extension of how Grazia connects with readers. We’ve hosted pop-ups at Westfield London with everything from treatments and workshops to curated goodie bags (always a hit). We’ve also built in ways to give back, working with Beauty Banks to encourage attendees to donate products.

For the brands we partner with, it’s not about staging big flashy moments, it’s about being part of something our readers already care about.

Looking ahead:

What’s next for Grazia and its advertising partners? Any innovations, formats or commercial priorities to watch out for?

We know our audience still loves a cult beauty product, that hasn’t changed. In fact, 60% say they’ve bought a beauty product based on our recommendation, which is why we’re always looking for new ways to expand our beauty offerings in thoughtful and relevant ways. One of those has been our seasonal standalone beauty bookazines, which land on newsstands for two months and have quickly become a hit with readers.

But we’ve also recognised a shift. Beauty isn’t just about how something looks – it’s about how it makes you feel. So while we continue to explore new formats, the aim is always the same, to reflect where our readers are now, and where they’re headed. Our November issue summed it up perfectly; four diverse models, all wearing the same make-up, under the coverline ‘You Look Great.’ And they really did.