Media Lifeline: Glamour

April 2001: Conde Nast launches its new glossy, Glamour. Edited by Jo Elvin, the magazine pioneers a handbag-friendly A5 format - and it's an instant success. Its first ABC figure, 451,486, puts it on a par with the long-term market leader, Cosmopolitan.

February 2005: And it soon surges right past Cosmo, hitting the 500,00 mark in its second ABC and, in its July-December 2004 figure, achieving a high of 620,391. Cosmo, relegated to number two for the first time in three decades, says it's all down to coverprice (Glamour is £1 cheaper) and attempts to hit back with a "travel-sized" version of the magazine - but this barely dents Glamour's new ascendancy.

April 2006: However, as it celebrates its fifth birthday, the outlook for Glamour is slightly less sunny. 2005 had been about the arrival of a new wave of weekly titles - and their popular mix of fashion and celebrity had an immediate impact on glossy women's monthlies. In the January-June ABCs, Glamour is down 3.9 per cent to 586,056, but it's still more than 140,000 ahead of Cosmo.

November 2008: The growing importance of the internet also poses challenges - and Glamour.com is relaunched in November 2008. There's widespread acclaim for its determination to steer away from routine celebrity gossip and maintain a focus on fashion. Meanwhile, the print circulation continues to decline, albeit slowly: the July-December 2008 figure is 547,607.

March 2011: Simon Kippin, the publishing director of Glamour, points out its latest ABC (500,591 - a lead of 109,000 over Cosmo) is a "clean" figure - because it has refrained from the multi-pack promotions favoured by some rival publishers.

Fast forward ...

August 2014: Despite a ferocious marketing blitz by Cosmo - including some attractive covermounts and multi-pack promotions - Glamour maintains its lead over its rival in a declining market, though the gap is down to 108,000. Glamour now hits back by unveiling its most innovative covermount initiative ever - it announces that it will give away remaindered copies of the collected works of the celebrated popular novelist Nicholas Coleridge.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk