Dazed Media
Where pop culture meets the underground
All images and videos © Dazed Media
Dazed is the world’s most trusted voice in fashion and youth culture. Online, in print, on social channels and through campaigns and events, Dazed empowers global youth through creativity.
From its London HQ, Dazed operates Dazed Digital and Dazed magazine. Including its social channels, the brand’s monthly global reach is 60+ million.
Outside the UK, Dazed has offices in China and Korea, both with digital channels and print editions.
© Dazed Media
Editorial Director
2015-2016
A selection of the cover stars I commissioned © Dazed Media
As Editorial Director of Dazed, I set the content agenda for the publisher’s print and digital products, from securing exclusive cover stars to creating the editorial vision for both platforms.
I transformed the magazine's editorial strategy into a digital-first operation and grew the traffic to Dazed Digital from 200k to 3 million unique visitors during my tenure.
I increased the daily publishing quota from 5 to 25 new stories a day and implemented social media content strategies that took us to 1+ million followers on Twitter, 800k Likes on Facebook, and 600k followers on Instagram.
In 2016, Highsnobiety featured me as one of the “World’s Best Editors”.
Read this Flipboard interview or watch this Nicer Tuesdays presentation about my Editorial Direction at Dazed.
Case Study: Dazed 100
In 2014, I devised the Dazed 100, a unique new talent list that gave Dazed readers the power to "upvote" the future faces of pop culture.
I pitched the concept to Beats Electronics, who commissioned Dazed to create a viral video using talent from the list in their Christmas "SoloSelfie" 2014 campaign.
Crucially, we let the readers choose their favourites. Not only did this make it a more accurate cultural barometer, it also inspired the nominees to promote it for free to their global fanbases.
This lead to a huge increase in site traffic, newsletter sign-ups and social media followers. The platform is still evolving and has been sponsored by Apple, Converse and Calvin Klein.
dazeddigital.com/dazed100
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Digital
One of the campaign’s key KPIs was to raise brand recognition and increase the traffic to Dazed Digital. To do this we created a new responsive microsite – every time someone upvoted their favourite talent the grid shifted accordingly. This tripled our average page dwell time, ad impressions and encouraged multiple daily repeat visits from across the globe.
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Physical
To coincide with the digital launch, we ran the full list in the print issue too. We also created three covers of Kendall Jenner, who had been chosen for the D100. The middle cover in the series was remixed by artist Doug Abraham (who was also on the list) to look like a digital glitch and to encourage print readers to vote. This was the first time a digital project had led the print edition.
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Social
Everyone on the D100 asked their fans to upvote them which gave us free product promotion and sustained interest over a month. To launch the campaign, I asked our video commissioner Jennifer Byrne to go beyond our usual on-set cover videos. She hired Columbine Goldsmith to film a Mean Girls satire. It went viral with over 4 million views and created an upsurge in followers.
Editor-in-Chief
2012-2015
As EIC, my direction led to a global bi-monthly print readership of 80,000 a month.
As well as hiring an entirely new team on print and digital, I created a daily news vertical and a video department to support both editorial and branded work. We produced two landmark music TV series for Channel 4, and created viral cover videos with Kendall Jenner, FKA twigs, and Maisie Williams.
Raising awareness around female equality in the arts, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, and first-time voting were just some of the causes that I placed at the core of our editorial strategy.
I take great pride in discovering and mentoring new creative leaders. Many of my previous staff members and editorial interns have gone on to high profile careers at Vogue, Vice, the FADER, GQ, The New York Times, Google, Rolling Stone, Red Bull, and XL Recordings.
Read an It’s Nice That interview with me about my work at Dazed.
“Tim’s contribution to popular culture has been both significant and long-lasting. His vision and drive inspire everyone he works with.”
— Jefferson Hack, co-founder of Dazed Media
Case study:
Nike “Fever Pitch” project
Celebrating the frontline of underground football culture during the 2014 World Cup, I led the creation of a photojournalism online hub for Nike called Fever Pitch.
Working personally with senior Nike stakeholders in Milan and across Europe, it told the real story of global fandom through a reactive daily image feed and supporting editorial content.
Our photography department found image-makers in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Paris, Tokyo, Rome, and London to capture the agony and the ecstasy experienced by football's obsessed devotees.
A visual document of uninhibited self-expression over the course of one historic month, the project had stand-out levels of engagement, generating 476 original images, over 300k UVs, and deep brand awareness.
Fever Pitch was adapted into a four-week exhibition in Rio de Janeiro and published as a special edition book that Nike distributed in 2015.
"Tim successfully future-proofed Dazed by pivoting it away from its focus on print to create a digital-first publishing culture. He is a pleasure to work with and inspires others to strive for excellence."
— Will Hayward, former CFO of Dazed Media
Dazed Music Editor
Warner Music consultant
Global Radio correspondent
2005-2012
Before I was promoted to EIC, I led the music and cultural content of the print publication and site, commissioning, editing, and writing over 1,000 articles. These included the first profiles on FKA twigs, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Foals, The xx, and Florence + The Machine. You can read some of them here.
In 2008 I created and curated Dazed Digital’s new music monthly playlists, including the magazine’s influential annual 100 Tracks of the Year roundups. The playlists have since evolved into a Spotify playlist that has over 9000 followers.
As one of the UK’s leading music experts, I served as John Kennedy’s X-Posure show on Global Radio for six years, broadcasting nationwide every month.
During this time I was also a music consultant for NOWNESS and Warner Music. I worked on content campaigns for artists such as Plan B and Marina & the Diamonds.
In addition, I was a judge for the BBC’s annual Sound Of award. I have also had several appearances as a new music expert on BBC Radio 1 and 4.
All images and videos © Dazed Media
Find out more: dazedmedia.com