Who’da thunk a free, unabashedly brash Montreal ’zine would grow to become an international empire with more divisions than you can shake a pair of purple skinny jeans at?
Here’s a look at a smattering of Vice’s ventures, and what a Canadian magazine is capable of. We understand if you’re simultaneously jealous and inspired.
1994
Shane Smith, Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes start Voice of Montreal, a newsprint ’zine chronicling the city’s underground culture.
1996
The name changes to Vice and the magazine builds steam when advertisers like clothing lines Geek Boutique and Snug sign on.
1999
Richard Szalwinski, Montreal software mogul and owner of Behaviour Publications—which owned Shift magazine at the time—invests in Vice, which then opens an office in New York.
1999
Viceland.com, the magazine’s online counterpart, launches. Today, it gets 250,000 uniques a month in Canada.
2003
The folks behind Vice have always had close ties with unsigned musicians, so why not start a record label? Artists on the Vice Music label include The Raveonettes and—showing some hometown love—Montreal’s Chromeo.
2004
Vice opens The Old Blue Last pub in Shoreditch in East London. Keeping with the music theme, this watering hole features live acts each night of the week.
2006
The Vice Guide to Travel DVD series is released on Vice DVD, a joint venture with MTV Networks. These long-form documentaries see Vice correspondents globetrot to weird and often sketchy locales.
2006
Vice Media Group jumps into the communications game by starting full-service agency Virtue Worldwide, which has headquarters in New York and London. The agency helps global brands connect to youth and handles creative development, production, distribution, research and brand strategy.
2007
Vice Films produces Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a feature-length documentary. It’s one of several films, both fiction and non-fiction, to come from the magazine’s film division.
2007
The official launch of VBS.TV, Vice’s online television network. It films stories covered in the magazine and has incorporated the idea of integrated advertising, such as sponsoring franchise shows, from the start.
March 2011
The launch of Noisey, a Vice-curated music website backed by Dell and Intel that features live recordings and profiles of new bands and scenes in more than 10 countires.
April 2011
Vice enters partnerships with WPP, Tom Freston, The Raine Group and the William Morris Endeavor agency.
From Punk to Profitable is part of Marketing’s Magazine Report 2011 and appears in the May 16 issue.
