The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Vogue is the logo. Whoever the Vogue brand manager is would probably be ecstatic hear that. The big black letters with the white background is one of the most recognizable logos in the world.
(Iconic Vogue logo)
Vogue is indestructible because it happens to be the millennial representation of the new founded “American Dream”. Not the Of Mice and Men version, but the version where anyone can be famous and celebrity which is only bestowed upon 1% (give or take) of the human race, is attainable by anybody.
The multimedia empire that is “Vogue” has created a brand entirely centered around aspiration. This could be perceived as not very inclusive, because that concept of aspiration creates an audience of only upwardly mobile individuals. People who “can” aspire because they have the means, or the potential means, to do so. What is interesting about this audience is that it ranges. Anybody from a high school student to Kim Kardashian can be considered an aspirer. However, not everybody is. So why is Vogue.com still here? Obviously its iconic, right? But iconic doesn’t buy magazines or click on the links. Vogue.com is still here because Vogue is considered (by all the aspirers) to be a cultural taste maker. When you are considered to be the creator, your reliability is indisputable. Because Vogue itself has such a strong brand of not just being culturally relevant, but culture (period), the news that Vogue.com publishes is thought of on the same level. Unfortunately, there are few other news outlets that have that level of reputation.
It would be hard to “cancel” Vogue. So, I guess their business strategy is almost impossible to re-create. On top of that, I think Vogue knows this. So they make almost certain that the majority of the pieces they put out are “opinion” pieces and interviews. They have journalists who are columnist style writers, interviewers, writers with interesting and distinct voices, and use that to keep things interesting. But they also outsource to celebrities and famous people, because even though the internet is the most popular source of information, the information people want to know about is more often than not about celebrities, the rich and famous. So why not get Florence Pugh or Zendaya to write an article, and be interviewed for one, and be on the cover, because that is what readers want. It all ties back to the idea of aspiration. According to Forbes, the second most thing that people desire and cannot attain is money. Tapping into the unattainable, and showing it off to those who can’t attain it, and even suggesting that maybe one day they can, is one of Vogues most profitable business plans.
SOURCES:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21670811.2012.740273
https://www.newsweek.com/fake-news-poll-americans-fact-opinion-reading-news-stories-984095
https://today.duke.edu/2020/08/navigating-fake-news-how-americans-should-deal-misinformation-online
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=oa_textbooks
Intro to Digital Media Literacy 
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