Zombie Mags: Gourmet Lives On

Condé Nast is looking to breath new life into the Gourmet brand months after the much beloved (and, evidently, much missed by its loyal fan base) food and cooking title was shuttered.

The company was set to make an announcement today regarding Gourmet‘s future and, according to a Tweet from Women’s Wear Daily, it seems that Condé Nast is “reimagining” the brand online and in digital form:

We’ll have more news for you regarding the “new and improved” Gourmet as it rolls out.

Update: More info! Per Condé Nast, Gourmet Live is set to be an “immersive and interactive content experience built on an ever-expanding collection of articles, menus, photos, videos and more, encouraging social connectivity and sharing, and game play.” The site will implement social and location-based technology, as well as “virtual currency.” Condé Nast has developed Gourmet Live through a collaboration with strategy and tech consulting company Activate.

Said Condé Nast president and CEO Charles Townsend:

By focusing on a new way to meet consumer needs, tap into our deep branding, and approach our content differently, we came up with a product that reimagines Gourmet and revalues engagement. We are extremely pleased with the magazine apps we have developed as part of our R&D efforts, however Gourmet Live is profoundly different. We approached this like a tech company, utilizing the rich assets of a media company, keeping Condé Nast at the forefront of content innovation.

Update Deux: It would appear that, while Gourmet will live on in this new and interactive manifestation of the brand, the former magazine’s staff will not be called back. The reason Condé Nast’s announcement didn’t really touch upon who will be manning Gourmet Live is because much of the content is already written and, for the most part, curated. As All Thing Digital reports:

Condé will be relying primarily on the magazine’s 70 years of archives for that — the demo makes frequent reference to David Foster Wallace’s great “Consider the Lobster” essay — plus whatever a small staff of “producers” round up from outside.

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