TIMELINE
The ¡HOLA! brand is a meeting point for different generations. Anyone wanting to keep up to date can access the latest news and trends there, whether they prefer a print magazine, digital edition, website, mobile application or social media. In fact, ¡HOLA! is much more than a brand, it’s a multi-faceted communication network that has always found innovative ways to give its readers what they’re looking for
On 8 September 1944 the first issue of ¡HOLA! went on sale in Barcelona. With 8 pages, and a 2-peseta cover price, all 14,000 copies sold out straightaway. Its founders, newlywed couple Antonio Sánchez Gómez and Mercedes Junco Calderón, threw themselves into their project, becoming pioneers of Spanish photojournalism. Year after year, they kept their finger on the pulse of their readers’ changing tastes and interests, creating an emblematic brand with solid values
The first ¡HOLA! fashion special, sold separately from the weekly magazine, appears on 21 September 1968, with the latest trends for the coming Autumn/Winter season. Over the half century since then, it has become a renowned reference point within the fashion world both inside and outside Spain. Four editions each year, two in spring and two in autumn, focus on the latest trends in Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter, combining catwalk reports with exclusive photoshoots
HELLO! went on sale in Britain for the first time this summer, making a spectacular splash thanks to its exclusive interview with Princess Anne in Buckingham Palace. The weekly magazine quickly became famous for exclusive contents and quality coverage of celebrities and royals. Its success led to the expansion of the ¡HOLA! brand worldwide
¡HOLA!’s website was born in 2000, sharing the magazine’s editorial mission to inform, entertain and inspire, but with an identity of its own. It soon established itself as a leading platform in the women’s market and now, with close to 12 million unique users each month in Spain and more than 24 million worldwide, it is a major force in the digital lifestyle and entertainment sector. HOLA.com’s social media brings together more than 11 million loyal followers interested in enjoying and sharing its exclusive content across a full range of media and formats
Created in response to the demand for constantly updated celebrity and royal news content, HELLO!’s website shares the same brand values and quality standards as the print magazine. With its touch of luxury and sophistication, it has won itself a place as a leading platform and now has more than 7 million unique users in Britain. There are 14 million-plus worldwide, accounting for in excess of 94 million page views
The first franchise, HELLO! RUSSIA, appeared in 2004, followed by a rapid brand expansion into all five continents.Thanks to its great international exclusives and universal editorial formula ¡HOLA! proved adaptable to all markets. Morocco and Georgia are the latest to be welcomed into an international media network which includes 15-plus national editions, as well as those published by the ¡HOLA! group itself – ¡HOLA!, HELLO!, ¡HOLA! MEXICO and HOLA! USA
On 9 November 2006 our Mexican magazine made its entrance, within a short space of time becoming the country’s favourite celebrity and royal title. Week after week it brings readers the latest news, delivered with the accuracy, elegance, respect and sensitivity which make ¡HOLA! one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the world
The birth of the Mexican magazine’s website allowed the brand to expand into Latin America’s growing digital market. Now it leads the women’s sector, with more than 4 million unique users monthly, 23 million-plus page views and almost 3 million followers on social media
The editorial brand that encompasses everything in the fashion world. Every month in its 130-plus pages it decodes for its stylish audience the secrets of those at the forefront of trends, glamour and good taste
As ¡HOLA!’s chairman and editorial director Eduardo Sánchez, says: “¡HOLA! TV is a completely new way to live the ¡HOLA! experience. We offer the content our audience wants 24 hours a day, at the same time strengthening the position of our magazines throughout the region.” A cable channel, ¡HOLA! TV broadcasts in Spanish in the US and throughout South America, reaching more than 22.5 million homes
The audiovisual division of ¡HOLA! uses the newest technology to translate the high standards and unique editorial formula of the magazines into an audiovisual format. It produces content ranging from short news videos to fascinating documentaries on royals or iconic personalities, for the group’s websites, its YouTube channel HOLA!4U and ¡HOLA! TV, as well as for external clients
¡HOLA! PLAY is a new, à la carte TV channel offered within HOLA.com in Spain. Users can select what to watch and when, from a broad range of content, thanks to the Video On Demand format.The channel is aimed at those who enjoy the ¡HOLA! experience and are looking for more of the brand’s signature quality content across the areas of celebrity, royalty, fashion, beauty, food and interiors
16 August 2016 saw the simultaneous launch of ¡HOLA!’s US magazine and website out of New York, consolidating the brand’s presence in North America. Published in Spanish and English, these reflect the bilingual nature of the market. Aimed principally at Latin women, HOLA!USA’s sophisticated take on the news and unbeatable access to international celebrities makes it appealing to a much broader audience
TRIBUTETO A PIONEER
In December 2018, Doña Mercedes Junco Calderón (1920-2019), President of ¡HOLA!, receives from Queen Letizia the Media Prize at the National Fashion Industry Awards.Queen Letizia of Spain presents the honour to ¡HOLA!’s founder and the editor of ¡HOLA! ALTA COSTURA and ¡HOLA! PRÊT-À-PORTER, on the 50th anniversary of the launch of the magazine’s fashion specials
A COMMITMENT TOGOOD JOURNALISM ACROSSTHREE GENERATIONS
BY EDUARDO SÁNCHEZ PÉREZ
EDUARDO SÁNCHEZ PÉREZ
¡HOLA! is the fulfilment of a dream shared by two people in love. Antonio Sánchez Gómez and Mercedes Junco Calderón invented a new type of journalism; positive in spirit and very visual, where captivating images transport the reader to worlds they couldn’t otherwise know, and where love stories delight and entertain them. It’s what we at ¡HOLA! call “the froth of life”: our reports are buoyant and sparkling, full of glamour like the bubbles on champagne, which rise to the top of the glass at our celebrations, and when we raise a toast to a better world.But the story of ¡HOLA! wouldn’t have been the same without Eduardo Sánchez Junco, who turned it into one of the best known Spanish brands outside our country as well as within it.
From the 1980s on, he captained the ship, honouring his parents’ dream as he made ¡HOLA! into more than just a magazine. He developed a new way of presenting information, with amazing posed shoots and privileged access to the world’s most important personalities. Now the reader could enter, just like any other guest, into their homes, and wander from room to room, or join them for big occasions. Exclusives like these astonished the world. Eduardo left his mark on media history when he exported ¡HOLA!’s unique style to the UK as HELLO!, and afterwards to dozens of other countries around the world. It is a style now recognisable everywhere, a byword for credibility and good taste, for a type of journalism that is kind and respectful as well as interesting.Today ¡HOLA! is much more than a magazine. It is published in many countries and different languages, and we reach our largest-ever audience through our eight websites, through ¡HOLA! TV, which broadcasts in the US and Latin America, and digital TV channel ¡HOLA! Play.
EDUARDO SÁNCHEZ JUNCO
ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ GÓMEZ
For almost a decade now, those of us who make up the third generation of the ¡HOLA! family have been here at the helm, working with the same energy and enthusiasm seen on the magazine’s very first day, innovating, but always with the aim of conquering our readers’ hearts – whether weekly, daily, or minute-by-minute.We believe that, for as long as there are love stories, a desire to make the world a kinder place and to celebrate life’s wonderful moments, there will always be ¡HOLA!