Popular Mechanics Highlights "Responsible Innovation" In Issue Guest Edited by Apple CEO Tim Cook

Two years later, editors at Hearst, which owns Popular Mechanicsand many other magazine brands, had another opportunity to meet with Cook. He remembered his offer of doing something together, and everyone agreed that it was time to make it happen. However, it still took two more years for the project to really get going, due to the pandemic.

"What made this work for us is that Tim's a part of the Popular Mechanics community," said Bill Strickland, Editorial Director, Hearst Enthusiast Group. "It's very authentic. We're not really a brand focused on celebrity. Our community is not dazzled by celebrity. They would rather get some information that helps them do everything better -- from using technology to patching the drywall in their house to buying the best hammer."

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But Cook provided both celebrity pizzazz and technical know-how. Those involved settled on the theme of "Responsible Innovation," which the editors of Popular Mechanics consider to be one of the magazine's core values.

"Responsible innovation really fits what Tim himself believes," Strickland explained. "He wants to leave the world a better place than it was when he got here. That's what Popular Mechanics is all about, too."

Just prior to the pandemic, Strickland, D'Agostino and a core group from Popular Mechanics met with Cook and his team at Apple headquarters to brainstorm the editorial content, and they came away with some 30 story ideas. From there, they whittled it down to the batch that made it into the September/October issue.

"The way we handled it editorially was no different than the way we do anything," Strickland said. "Our features director, Matt Allyn, works with an incredible stable of writers. We're extremely vertical, but we're as good as it gets when it comes to editorial quality."

The stories include D'Agostino's interview with Cook, who offers his take on users' privacy rights and what he perceives to be Apple's legacy.

"We are never really satisfied," Cook told D'Agostino. "We're always working on tomorrow." He also discussed the evolution of the Apple Watch from initially being mostly a step tracker to offering such complex technology as on-the-spot EKGs.

Complementing that story, D'Agostino penned a heartfelt piece about how he's integrated an Apple Watch into his life to improve his fitness and possibly his longevity after grieving the early death of his brother at 46.

"I think that when we look back one day and ask, 'What's been Apple's greatest contribution?' it will be in health," Cook said.

The Cook-curated stories also include a piece by A.C. Shilton about a solar-powered sailboat that tracks the damage climate change is wreaking on the oceans. In another article, John Brant reports on robots that are scouring old iPhones to extract and reclaim rare-earth metals.

They relate to Cook's own vision at Apple. "Our long-run goal is to not have to take anything from the earth to make a product," Cook told D'Agostino.

The stories range further than that. For example, Luke Ottenhof met with blind jazz prodigy Matthew Whitaker, who started playing piano at three and was performing in concert halls around the world by age 11. Ottenhof took a tour of Whitaker's studio and became acquainted with the custom software that allows Whitaker to produce his jazz compositions.

While the issue's featured stories were created with Tim Cook and Apple, and Apple products make appearances as examples of tools that help fuel innovation, this was purely an editorial collaboration.

"We look at this issue not as a way to sell adjacencies, because we're a digital-first business by and large," said Paul Collins, Vice President and Publisher, Hearst Enthusiast Group. "When we have Tim Cook as our Guest Editor, it opens up the dialog for Popular Mechanics to have these types of conversations with lots of other brands."

Hearst's ad sales team went out to its regular stable of advertisers to populate the issue and received a healthy response.

"Advertisers certainly wanted to participate," Collins said. "We always look to drive excitement for any print issue that we publish. This drove advertising and allowed us to maintain a high threshold of print advertising for the issue."

The guest-edited issue is much more about continuing the legacy of Popular Mechanics, which has a total reach of 15 million users per month and a robust social-media presence on platforms including TikTok,as a thought leader in its core subject areas, Collins noted.

"I think for any brand, editorial mission is what drives the business," he said. "Our clients want to draft off the trust and credibility of our editorial. Brand values, like our commitment to responsible innovation, drive purchase consideration. The more you can connect that value to brands through advertising, the better it is for our business."

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