AFR builds hype around its Power Issue with behind-the-scenes video series via Exit Films

The 17th Australian Financial Review Magazine Power issue goes on sale this Friday October 6, with a raft of fresh initiatives under the helm of new editor Matthew Drummond.

With three AFR Magazine editions under his belt, Drummond has stamped his mark with the much-anticipated Power issue, introducing video content from the issue’s photo-shoots for the first time via a special sponsored collaboration with Australian-New Zealand film production company Exit Films.

Drummond was lured back to The AFR from Sydney Opera House earlier in the year to take over editorship of the masthead’s prestigious monthly magazine. He previously edited GQ Australia and, before that, AFR Weekend.

The magazine’s creative and photographic team executed a stand-out portraiture series of Australia’s most powerful people, inspired by the renowned 1940s and 1950s ‘Corner’ series of images by US photographer Irving Penn.

Likewise, an event element has been introduced to the Power campaign rollout, with special guest speaker Peter Dutton headlining an invitation-only cocktail party at Neil Perry’s Rosetta Ristorante on October 11.

The event marks Fairfax Media’s return to holding events for the Power issue after a six year hiatus.

The Power issue will be further promoted through advertising at Sydney CBD train stations.

Drummond also revamped the panel structure for this year’s Power issue – for the first time introducing a panel of experts to assess cultural power, separate from the main panel which assessed overt and covert power.

From 2001-2016, one singular panel had decided the Overt, Covert and Cultural Power lists.

The inaugural cultural power panel comprised a cross-section of key decision-makers from Australia’s creative and media industries.

Panellists included Oscar-winning actress, Rachel Griffiths, CEO of Screen Australia, Graeme Mason, head of strategic events at University of NSW, Ann Mossop and chief creative officer of PwC, Russel Howcroft, among others.

The 2017 Cultural Power List will be published on Thursday October 5, a day ahead of the full release of AFR Magazine’s annual Power issue, which ranks the nation’s most overtly and covertly powerful figures.

The Power issue will also feature the first in-depth interview with former NSW premier Mike Baird about why he really left politics, a rare interview with Mark and Carl Fennessy, the CEOs of Endemol Shine which produced Australian Ninja Warrior, as well as power rankings across business, banking, property, sport, technology and education.

The 2017 AFR Magazine Power issue will feature an Audi gate fold cover and an eight-page insert from Porsche, along with an inaugural online teaser and behind-the-scenes video series – created in partnership with Exit Films and sponsored by Jaeger-LeCoultre for their new Master Control timepiece.

Bulgari also supplied gifts for the Power edition panellists, who generously shared their time and insight.

Says Drummond: “As much as this issue is the definitive analysis of power, it is also a study in brilliant portrait photography. Tim Beor’s and Sam Bennett’s creative concepts, together with James Brickwood’s and Louie Douvis’ photography, captured our power listers in a whole new light.

“One force of particular note making an impact on the power lists this year is social media. From allowing pockets of opposition to metastasise and stop governments in their tracks, through to fuelling the cult of personal celebrity that shapes much of what’s on TV – it pops up throughout our Power issue.”