For years, a significant part of the entrepreneurial pursuit has been largely focused on joining the elusive one percent. Studies show that Americans have a 1 in 9 chance of attaining status as the 1% and while this statistic The Rapid Evolution of Jason Binn and DuJour Mediamight not sound steep per se, it’s maintaining one’s status as part of the 1% that has proven to be the more difficult feat. But for New York media mogul Jason Binn, much of his success is attributed to the carefully crafted business model that has lasted since the start of his publishing career almost 30 years ago and well beyond the launch of DuJour Media back in 2012. In a time where the integration of digital content caused print to struggle, Binn found the sweet spot for DuJour, with the right combination of print and digital content.
Having graduated early cum laude from the Boston University’s prestigious College of Communication, he now remains an active alumnus, serving on the university’s advisory board and even received an award for Alumni of the Year selected from a pool of 25,000 candidates. Upon graduating, Binn set out to revolutionize the media industry as we once knew it. With only $5000 to his name and a dream to build iconic brands of media across the country, the young media entrepreneur created Nice Media—home of iconic brands Ocean Drive, The Hamptons, that later led to Aspen Peak, Gotham Los Angeles and more. After selling the company in 2007, Binn set his sights on even greater goals with plans to completely transform the consumption of media amid one of the darkest periods for the industry in 2012.
With his years of experience from his first business, Niche Media, a publisher of regional luxury lifestyle magazines in select upscale markets in the U.S. including The Hamptons of Long Island, New York, Aspen, Colorado, Boston, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles, Texas, Miami and Southern California among others, Binn managed to captivate a carefully curated DuJour Media audience of influence. On the heels of the success of Twitter, the integration of QR codes and Google Plus, he was able to introduce a new and innovative type of media platform. With less circulation and a higher impact audience, instead of focusing on quantity, he focused the efforts of the company on targeting a specific audience and printing a high-quality quarterly magazine. The measuring stick for DuJour was not CPM, but cost per mind. Binn has been known to preach that it wasn’t so much about how many people they reached, but more about who they reached. The Forbes 400 edition opened with an excerpt characterizing Binn’s business model saying, “If you’re rich and powerful, Jason Binn will track you down and send you his magazine.”
With his finger on the pulse of the top 10 U.S. markets that are responsible for over 80% of luxury sales, Binn managed to create a business model in 2012 made for 2021. Partnering with other relevant brands like Art Basel Miami, Gilt Groupe as he was once Chief Advisor and JetSmarter, Inc. where he acted as Executive Director, Binn was able to leverage all of these culturally affluent brands and markets to produce the pertinent and relatable content of DuJour Media. From building out custom publishing media extensions to being a founding member of Art Basel, to defining the now distinguished Bal Harbor of Florida to positioning the Wynn Hotel as the premier destination for Las Vegas accommodations, Binn helped DuJour Media become a permanent fixture among these luxurious communities. The brands and publications of DuJour Media have since been recognized among prominent and prestigious media companies and their respective publications like Town and Country, Vanity Fair and Robb Report. But it isn’t just the audience that DuJour resonates with. In fact, Binn was able to reach both an audience as well as the advertisers that target this niche audience.
With the inception of DuJour Media, Binn as Founder and CEO knew early on that his target audience for the brand would not be the 1%, but instead a third of the 1%. In challenging times like these, advertisers and luxury products and services have found it more difficult to reach their target audience with such upscale products. But Binn has curated a client list that speaks volumes to the very essence of his targeted audience with brands with an advertising roster that could rival some of the most prestigious and glamorous magazines in the world. These clients include Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Brunello Cucinelli, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, Max Mara, Richard Mille, Whispering Angel, Restoration Hardware, and more.
With an audience that is reported to spend more than $15 billion annually on their devoted passions and interested across the sectors of health and beauty, fashion and accessories, home and design, entertainment, philanthropy, and travel, Binn’s advertisers are able to tap into the primary markets and audience, captivating the interest of the highest wealth qualifiers in the country that make up more than 50% of the nation’s wealth and affluence. As a true 360-degree platform, a one-stop-shop for advertisers, DuJour gives them access to advertising to 100,000 on and offline subscribers in quarterly print magazine, monthly digital editions which is now where the market is headed, dedicated email subscriptions, sponsored newsletters, social media, event coverage and more.
But what has made Binn’s success so remarkable through the years is, in the eight years of his journey with DuJour, his business mission, message and model has never once been compromised. If anything, Binn’s held true to this model all along with his original message and mission with its integrity and quality in-tact. Through economic downturns and upticks, his audience is essentially immovable and the content DuJour continues to resonate with this exclusive audience. Using his experience, knowledge and network and access to tap into the markets where the communities of where DuJour lives, works and plays, DuJour continues to prevail as a nationally known, or a Binn commonly calls a “glocal” luxury media brand. Going into the top 10 markets as well as the markets Binn personally worked in and/or was very familiar with, he was able to target the appropriate audiences in numerous markets in the U.S. while understanding the value and importance these markets brought to readers. Binn’s unique ability to understand the value of print and his business model was additionally profiled in “Forbes 400” of Forbes Magazine for “its ability to access and connect with the most affluent and powerful people.”
“Jason has defined a place the publishing giants aren’t interested in, and he works it brilliantly,” said former president at Condé Nast and Hearst and the publishing director of Portfolio magazine David Carey. “There is something very endearing about him — the chutzpah and lack of pretense.”
Binn’s instinct to curate content based on an influential audience has transcended with the brand of DuJour, evolving from print issues to digital editions, presence at nameworthy events, social media, and digital newsletters. DuJour manages to detail the coveted exclusivity of an elite world and lifestyle that remains foreign to much of the general public. And with definitive covers graced by the likes of Daniel Craig, Julianne Moore, Robert DeNiro, Chrissy Teigen & John Legend, Kim Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Angelina Jolie and more, DuJour captures the true essence of its tagline, “where luxury lives.” And in a time where advertising was challenged to connect with consumers, Binn has carved out his own niche audience and evolved in times of confusion and disarray by connecting with the 1% and refining his target audience by specifically targeting a third of the 1%.
He has since been awarded Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, highlighted in Crain’s “40 Under 40” on a list of thriving entrepreneurs, and was additionally inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s “Advertising Hall of Achievement.” And with the rise of digital content, Binn received a Webby among 60 countries and 14,000 applicants and the award for Best Digital Magazine the same year as DuJour Media’s launch.
Though the evolution of DuJour Media’s meteoric success is rare, Jason Binn’s business model has indeed proven through the years that where luxury lives, success is nearby. Given DuJour’s ability to work with data mining companies, in a time when data was quickly becoming more transparent, Binn has managed to have the ability and power to break down the data of his audience, directly connecting with this demographic. From there, the opportunities for sourcing people’s spending habits, hobbies and interests were endless as these interests are clearly highlighted in the DuJour Media brand. Like its name, the business model has served to weather the course of time. As the brand’s content fully encompasses what Binn commonly calls “the world of DuJour,” he has effectively managed to creatively own the word “dujour” on and offline. Indicative of things, trends and editorial that is “in the moment,” DuJour captures the essence of what the brand communicates as Binn commonly refers to it being of the day, in the know, in fashion, etc.
