If you’re a fashion enthuasiast who loves to take a voyeuristic peak into the homes and closets of industry favorites, then you’re undoubtedly familiar with Coveteur. The image heavy website has delved into the estates of everyone from June Ambrose and Melina Matsoukas to Oprah and Christian Louboutin. Because they are able to create such scintillating imagery, they have recently inaugurated their in-house content studio called Coveteur Creative, which specializes in creating photography, advertising and social media campaigns along with videos and events. To commemorate this shift, I chatted with Coveteur co-founder Stephanie Mark about her latest venture, and also about what gives Coveteur its competitive edge.
She said, “The site started 6 years ago as a passion project. It really started on the premise of going in the homes and closets of all of these different and really influential people… tastemakers, and people who were inspiring. It was about giving people something they had never seen before.”
Coveteur currently enjoys 1.1 million followers on Instagram and a total of 3 million followers across platforms. How did they do it? Mark says, “For us, it was a combination of an idea that hadn’t been done before, the rise of behind-the-scenes people becoming the celebrities themselves, and social media. They all sort of converged at the same time for us. The first day the site launch, it actually crashed, which we were not expecting. Aside from that, all of our growth has been organic. I just think that in digital media, in this space, having a point of view that is different and creating high quality content has been two things that have really helped us grow organically and start this really amazing follower base.”
Coveteur has been in the homes of all of fashion’s insiders–but which one was their most memorable? Mark says, “Christian Louboutin was really special. He has allowed very few publications into his home and we shot him for our book. Just being in there was really special. His home in Paris was really lovely. He was really kind, and gracious, and knowledgable. And that really felt like a once in a lifetime experience.”
So this is something I need to know! How does one land on the Coveteur? Mark offers, “Our subjects come to us a ton of different ways. Sometimes we’re referred to them by other people we’ve worked with. Other times, our editorial team always has its ear to the ground [finding out who is hot in different cities]. We also get pitched a lot for a lot of different people. There’s no real formula [to who we choose]. [We just want people] who have a defined sense of style and a story or career that would be inspiring to our readers.”
How did Coveteur Creative come about? “Right from the beginning we were creating custom content for clients. When we launched the site, we didn’t launch it as a business, so we didn’t have the opportunity to have banner ads. So when people came and said they wanted to advertise, the only way we could is if we created custom content for them. We started creating white label content. We’ve been doing this for people for the past 6 years, so decided to really brand it and offer it publicly.”
Her advice for future content creators, “This space is so crowded. Being authentic is really important. It has to have a point of view or offer something that people don’t get anywhere else. What is the specific reason or the specific value proposition that someone is coming to your site for? It could be because they like your personal style and it’s true to you. You could be documenting things in a super unique and cool way. It could be the types of question you are always asking. It should have a clear focus and differentiating factor.”
In closing she described Coveteur with the following five words, “Insider. Behind the Scenes. Approachable. Luxury. Digital.”
Bomb!
Be sure to check out the site at Coveteur.com and find out more about Coveteur Creative here.
What do you think?
