David Granger was named
editor-in-chief of
Esquire Magazine in June 1997 and served in that capacity until March 31, 2016, when he was replaced by (now former Esquire editor-in-chief)
Jay Fielden. Granger got the job a year after writing to
Cathie Black, then president of
Hearst Magazines, with a plan to revive the flailing men's periodical. Under Granger, the magazine entered its most successful era. During his tenure, Esquire was a finalist for 72
National Magazine Awards, the industry's highest honors, and won 17. Many of the journalists Granger had established relationships with during his time at
GQ followed him to
Esquire and he was able to quickly build a troupe of award-winning, gritty staff writers that included
Tom Chiarella,
Scott Raab,
Mike Sager, Chris Jones,
Charlie Pierce, John H. Richardson,
Cal Fussman,
Lisa Taddeo, and
Tom Junod.
Expanding the Limits of the Print Medium Granger's
Esquire career was punctuated by heights of innovation atypical to the print media industry. In the fall of 2008, Esquire created the first “moving cover” of a print magazine by embedding an
electronic paper (E-Ink) display in the cover of its 75th anniversary issue. In December 2009,
Esquire created the first ever
Augmented Reality issue of a magazine.
Esquire’s applications for the iPad were deemed groundbreaking and the magazine won the first-ever National Magazine Award for mobile editions in 2011. In December of 2012,
Esquire partnered with Netpage to launch a proprietary phone application that allowed readers to share
print content via e-mail or text and across all social networks. In 2013
, Esquire and
NBCUniversal partnered to create the
Esquire Network, a cable channel that was at its height in 70 million homes. In 2015, in conjunction with the magazine’s 1000th issue, Esquire Classic (classic.esquire.com) was launched as a complete and living digital archive. To promote the archive a companion podcast series, “Esquire Classic", was created in partnership with PRX.
Other multi-disciplinary partnerships • In the December 2006 issue,
Esquire partnered with
Droga5, the advertising agency, to create The Tap Project, a charitable initiative designed to benefit
UNICEF’s clean-water charities. The initiative eventually became the umbrella for the bulk of UNICEF’s fundraising. • In 2014, the magazine partnered with three different advertising agencies (
72 and Sunny, Makeable and Barton F. Graf 9000), to create The
Esquire Mentoring Initiative (mentoring.esquire.com). • Also in 2014,
Esquire partnered with Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon to create The
Esquire Manhattan, a premade, barrel-aged cocktail available in better bars and liquor stores.
Awards Esquire was honored with numerous awards over Granger’s tenure. • The magazine was a finalist for 72
National Magazine Awards and won 17. • The Society of Publication Designers named
Esquire Magazine of the Year in 2001 and it was a finalist for the award again in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. • It was listed as one of America’s Most Important Magazines, by the
University of Missouri School of Journalism. Granger has also received personal recognition for his magazine career: • He was named the magazine industry’s Editor of the Year on three occasions: by
Advertising Age in 2004; by Adweek in 2010 and again by
AdAge in 2013. • In 2012 he was awarded the
Missouri Honor Medal by the University of Missouri School of Journalism for contributions to journalism. After news of his firing from
Esquire leaked, he received a standing ovation at the National Magazine Awards in 2016 as he walked up to the stage to receive the magazine's award. Granger was set to receive the Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame Award on March 12, 2020 at the
National Magazine Awards but the ceremony had to be postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. == Agenting career ==