A new luxury fashion, art, photography and technology website has launched. Nowness.com is the brainchild of Global Digital Marketing Director for LVMH, KAMEL OUADI. Dia Magazine caught up with OUADI to find out what exactly sets Nowness apart from other fashion and lifestyle websites.

Can you talk about your background in fashion/luxury publishing and how you came to Nowness?

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and love the idea of creating new things and have been in the world of digital creation for more than 10 years. I worked for the L’Oreal Group for 7 years and am currently the Global Digital Marketing Director for LVMH and the EVP of nowness.com. Being in the digital space, I am surfing a very interesting wave as there are constantly opportunities for innovation and creativity.

Why launch an online site at a time when there are so many fashion and lifestyle related blogs and websites out there?

The online market for fashion and lifestyle blogs and websites is overcrowded. Nowness.com is completely different. Every day we publish exclusive, fresh new content. Nowness.com is about bringing the true essence of luxury to the digital world. Moreover, we offer a crafted personalized luxurious universe through the technology. For example, we have the “love/don’t love” rating which allows you to personalize your experience on nowness.com.

In the past big luxury brands courted editors and their magazines for advertising opportunities and exposure. But with Nowness we’re seeing the opposite occurring where a large luxury conglomerate is essentially generating editorial content. Do you see the power of the big fashion publications diminishing over the years as big brands start blurring the line between promotional and editorial content?

We have recently launched and our main target is to grow our traffic and our user base. As we grow, we are probably not looking at traditional advertising but looking at developing partnerships, particularly a custom publishing model. For us, content is key and we believe that our content is exclusive and timely. We will therefore explore venues of publishing.

When you decided to create the site, how did you come up with the format and shaping of the content? This is obviously not a magazine in the traditional sense, yet it is a lot more polished than many blogs out there, with far more resources at your disposal in terms of photographers, writers and film makers.

As we started to work on the concept of Nowness.com we realized that we needed to create a luxury digital brand that added value to the network and would always be interesting for the user. Everyday there is a new, completely different piece, completely different than what you would find on blogs and fashion websites.

We seem to live in an age of short attention spans, where a generation raised on ‘texting’ and social media expect their information in quick and short sound bites. Does this ultimately influence the way you convey information on your site? Or will the content expand over time into lengthier articles?

The media landscape is fragmented and everyone is fighting for space and time. Therefore, content is everything. We are not focused on “short” or “long”  - our main aim is to craft content into a unique experience for the user. Interesting content is what the savvy online user is after today – there is so much out there, that our goal is just  to excite readers with new exclusive content.

Today, our culture is so visually driven and Nowness plays on that by throwing a lot of imagery at people and having them react to it. Was that intentional?

Very true. Imagery is very important in order to relay messages and content. Therefore, we work with a highly visual site. Moreover the site has the ability to be explored and to be navigated. We are continually looking at innovation and technology to make Nowness.com appealing and interactive and to always maintain its luxurious environment. Every visual innovation we add to the site continues to create value for the user.

Are there any particular subjects or stories you wouldn’t feature on Nowness?

We feature everything that is luxury from fashion, to travel, to art, to auto, to technology. Basically, as long as the values of luxury are continually maintained throughout the content and the visuals. We are on the look out for content that mirrors the excellence and savoir-faire of luxury offline.

What do you see as the future of Nowness? Is there an ultimate goal you are trying to achieve or are you still trying to figure that out?

Our main objective is to open luxury to the digital age. We are looking to reach readers, create solid partnerships and create great content. That’s our goal: showcasing the values and emotions of luxury online.

Images courtesy of Nowness.com