Interview With Björn Jeffery Of Manolo.se

Q. Tell us about your business(es)?

Manolo.se is a co-operation between the communication agency Jeffery och Edling and the business developer Tomas de Souza. Together we started the first style blog for men in Sweden and was voted best Swedish blog in the culture category after three months, fifth place all in all (by Swedish magazine Internetworld – iw.idg.se). We write about male fashion and style from a layman’s point of view; simple and informative tips about what to buy and where to get it.

Q. How did you get here? What’s the history of Manolo.se?

We produce channels of communication for companies, mainly newspapers, that have difficulties in reaching a certain target group. In the case of Manolo.se we saw that the market of male fashion – without having to buy raunchy magazines – was literally exploding. And as no one seemed interested enough to use this opportunity we decided to do it ourselves in December of 2004. Since then several Swedish media companies have followed and launched magazines targeting the same group.

Q. Would you provide some insight into how you go about spotting the ‘fashion’ trends you advise your audience about?

We read a lot, a whole lot more than we write about. It puts the material in the right context, everything from fashion catwalks to small message boards about shopping. Finding good material isn’t very hard, the work lies in filtering and writing it i an interesting and relevant way. The tone that we use in writing is absolutely essential for our success.

Q. What tip(s) would you give a brand/marketing manager to help them become more aware of consumer/cultural trends in their day to day worklife?

Make use of your readers. Manolo.se is a meeting point for men interested in fashion and a lot of the material that we write about comes directly from questions that our readers have sent in. Allowing comments also ensures that facts are checked and that extra material is added.

Also, we don’t have the pressure of having to be first with the news – it’s enough to make a good selection and then summarise it in a relevant way. For example, we hardly ever write about online shops that only ship to the USA as our readers have no use or interest of those shops. And of course, we always write in Swedish which removes the first barrier for people looking for global fashion news.

Q. How does the pubilishing business support your other business ventures and vice-versa?

We have been approached be several larger companies within media that are interested in co-operating in different ways. We have already sold a few posts that have been printed in Swedish newspapers. Right now, we are negotiating with one of the larger media owners in Sweden that want to expand our ideas into other sectors. It will include syndicating material into different channels; other websites, printed magazines and maybe even books.

Our other services have definitely been helped by Manolo.se, it’s living proof of that we are good at what we do. We work with several of the largest newspapers in Sweden in helping them to find new groups of readers, and more advertising revenue at the same time.

Q. In your opinion, what brands are successfully leveraging the internet in Sweden?

The business newspaper Dagens Industri (Di.se) have been very successful with their website, mainly through allowing readers to comment on the articles. The law in Sweden makes that possibility quite risky, but daring to try it has proven to be very successful.

Also, Blocket.se, a very simple site for online trading has an amazing national coverage – way ahead of the larger sites that try to take a piece of the market.

I also want to mention the most famous blog in Sweden, mymarkup.net. A provider of interesting tidbits of information stretching from blog politics to R. Kelly. Fast, relevant and always a good read.

Q. What ways can a brand get involved with a site like yours?

Our readers are very knowledgeable and are actively interested in new products. That makes Manolo.se a very favourable site for niched and well targeted advertising. Cleverly produced ads gets a surprisingly high click-through-rate. Our readers want all the news about fashion and style that they can get, which obviously makes us a beneficial site for advertising.

We are also looking into the possibility of starting a online shop where we sell limited products from selected brands. Exclusivity is essential, we won’t be starting a shop in the conventional meaning of the word. The most common question we get is “where can I buy XYZ”, it would be good if we could answer “in our online shop”.

After approximately six months we have over 25 000 unique visitors every month (which is very good considering that Sweden only has 9 million inhabitants). In a market growing so rapidly these early adopters’ opinions are very valuable. Manolo.se would be the perfect testing ground for brands that want to test new ideas or concepts aimed for men in Scandinavia.