Why Paper magazine’s owner required employees to come back into the office

By Sara Guaglione

If Paper had not had employees begin to return to the office in July, the fashion, entertainment and culture publication may not have been able to move as quickly to meet partner deadlines.

At least that’s the view of Tom Florio, founder & CEO of ENTtech Media Group LLC, which owns Paper. He pointed to a project Paper had with Google to produce a “shoppable magazine,” which dropped on Oct. 27. Florio said Paper and Google had “50-50 ownership” of the project, but declined to give any specifics as to what the financial terms of the deal were, or the revenue share. The products featured in images in the digital “magazine” contain tags that once clicked on, link out to a Google Shopping page with similar items available for purchase.

About seven Paper employees, 10 freelancers and three leads (as well as web builders and the social media team) at Google worked on the project, which was called “21of21: A Shoppable Magazine of the Trends That Defined the Year” and was based on the shopping trends of 2021. The 21 trends — including “cottagecore,” the rise of TikTok beauty and 1990s nostalgia — were curated from Google search data, and the digital magazine featured interviews with celebrities and influencers like Jennifer Coolidge, Bella Poarch, Bretman Rock, Bia and Law Roach.

Paper is best known for its splashy celebrity photoshoots — and ability to catch attention on social media. Its “Break the Internet: Kim Kardashian” cover and feature story, where Kardashian posed nude and with a champagne bottle, went viral for the pose’s brazenness (and controversial history) back in 2014.

Florio spoke to Digiday about why he believed it was necessary to have Paper’s staff working from the New York-based office together to get out this latest project. Employees have to be vaccinated before returning to the office at least three days per week, he said, via a spokesperson. To date, all of its 18 employees are vaccinated and masks aren’t required in the office.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

When did staff return to the office?

We came back in July for a test run. It was insane how much we got done together in July. This project with Google, I don’t know if it would have happened if we hadn’t come back to the office. I have a young, creative team. This place really thrives on creative energy. It was getting really hard to do that over Zoom meetings. In September after Labor Day, I made it mandatory for people to be in the office three times a week: on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. People can work remotely on Mondays and Fridays. I asked people who were living outside of New York to do the best they could to move back by October. One or two people were having a hard time with housing.

How did this project with Google come together?

This was something that came from real interpersonal communication and engagement. It started with me and …read more

Source:: Digiday