The idea of Marc Jacobs new “MarcMail” is a shot across the bow of news publishers. By establishing himself over time as a curator of taste to his loyal customers (database), Jacobs has an opportunity to monetize that database – with everything from subscription fees to previews and advance access to new product, to co-marketing with brands with the same customer target. For example, Marc Jacobs could create a series of amenities at a Westin then co-market those amenities (and rooms) via his newsletter. And he could offer lifestyle/video “news”.

“MarcMail” does some things very well, and others very poorly. We discovered “MarcMail” in a summary emailed from Twitter. The next step after clicking through to Subscribe is a registration page on MarcJacobs.com, with nary a mention of “MarcMail”. And once registered, the newly “subscribed” are dumped onto the selling pages of Marc Jacobs ecommerce site – Wait, where’s my MarcMail? Hmmm. Even searching for “MarcMail” on MarcJacobs.com returns zero. Ah well, feeling suckered into giving my info to Marc Jacobs and now looking forward to spam for the latest handbag. So A+ for revenue innovation and launching fast, F for User Experience (so far).

The take-away for legacy publishers: there is revenue in your database. If you are building your brand to be a respected curator of information, revenue opportunities await. The SF Chronicle did this well with its new Membership program last year. And there is a cautionary tale too. Your brands-as-advertisers are beginning to realize they can go directly to your shared audience, and build enduring (lifetime) value without relying on an intermediary. This evolution is nascent but building (native is just the start).