What do you do when you are actively creating a lifestyle magazine, then a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders wipe all your plans off the blackboard? You pivot. You reinvent your brand and you find ways to engage your audience, despite how daunting the challenge may seem. Will Walters, founder of Monarch magazine did exactly that and, along with his partner, Sylvia Crawley, they are quickly finding their niche as an affluent luxury resource.
Walters sat down with rolling out to discuss the challenges Monarch has overcome as the world attempts to return to normal.
Munson Steed: You’ve got something really special happening with Monarch. Why don’t you share with us just what we should know when we see your brand out there.
Will Walters: Our culture tends to be shown in a lens that we don’t own a large enough share of. And because of that, we do not get the opportunity to see the diversity that lies within ourselves.
When I was blessed to have the opportunity to create something I spoke with my best friend Sylvia Crawley, the co-founder and we turned the ball and came up with Monarch. The name and the meaning and everything is all significant to evolving back to royalty — one vision, one voice, one people — so we wanted to create a product that could act like an addition, not something that was in competition or criticizing… so the rest of the world on a … global scale could be able to see us in the multi-faceted way that we are.
How would you describe it as its brand archetype?
A normal Lux is [how] I tend to refer to it. It’s inspirational. It’s aspirational, but it’s also obtainable for those who are not alone limited by their mindset … like an everyday luxury, lifestyle publication.
When you think about fatherhood, and you think about Monarch, what should people know that they’ll gain from tuning into each of these conversations? And how have you been intentional about even programming?
The takeaway is … that if they do want to pursue something, and they look at their children as a hindrance, look at your child as the motivation of why you should try because you are doing more than pushing the narrative of success in your individual home. You are actually planting a seed that the child will see and Lord willing, go on and triple what you’ve done.
