At the time of going to press, organisers of the upcoming Mobo awards had yet to confirm whether megastar diva, Beyoncé Knowles - and her flotilla of flunkies, dancers, stylists and minders - would be making an appearance, despite nominations in four categories including best song and best international female. But whether (arguably) the biggest black artist in the world shows up or not, the Mobos 2006 will be notable for two things. For the first time the awards, now in their 11th year, will be broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall on BBC3, before being repeated two days later on BBC1, signifying the event's ever-increasing profile. But away from the jostling paps and stretch limos, it will also mark the debut of a new Mobo chairman, dapper former National Magazine Company boss, Terry Mansfield.
More blazer-and-cufflinks than bling, Mansfield, who is now a Sloane Street-based consultant to the Hearst Corporation - NatMags' giant US holding company - is at first glance an unlikely new signing for Mobo. After all, he concedes he had not even watched the awards on TV before being approached by founder and chief executive Kanya King this summer. Nor does he, thankfully, attempt to get down with the kids by claiming to have a favourite R&B or hip-hop artist.
"This time is going to be my first evening and I'm really looking forward to working the room," he says. "I'm at the stage of my career when I'm looking for exciting new experiences. I've now met a number of artists and music industry people and, interestingly enough, very few of the executives are black, even if the performers are. I would like to see more black people participating in senior positions in the music industry, just as I would in media."
Mansfield says his interest in diversity dates back to when he spent more than 15 months on Christmas Island in the Pacific during his national service in the 1950s, as well as subsequent assignments as a journalist that took him to Africa and the Caribbean. "I was one of the very first media sponsors when the Commission for Racial Equality started their media awards, because boys and girls who were not white were finding it very difficult to get going in the industry and I would like to feel that my company, NatMags, played a major part in encouraging the black talent of tomorrow."
But it is not so much Mansfield's passion for diversity, however heartfelt, which makes his appointment such a canny one for Mobo, as his unrivalled skill at developing media brands. Does he think that the organisation's brand is currently under-exploited? Naturally, he treads warily. "Kanya is a very brave, interesting woman. She didn't have any money and she's built the Mobos from scratch to a point where if you mention them to any young person they know exactly what you're talking about. The brand values of the Mobos are extraordinary bearing in mind that it is only a one event-a-year business. But I also believe that it can go well beyond that. I see it as a cultural organisation as well. It can celebrate black talent in the widest possible sense."
During his years at NatMags, Mansfield oversaw the development of the Cosmopolitan magazine brand into a variety of sectors including merchandising. He envisages a similar strategy for Mobo. "In the past, we have tended to think of ourselves in silos. We would be 'in books', or 'in newspapers', or 'in radio', and so on. But technology has moved so fast that today you can no longer see the joins between them anymore. It does seem to me logical that this is a brand which can be extended into fashion and conferences, and I'm very enthusiastic about doing a magazine. Fashion is a natural extension from music. If you listen to the music on any catwalk in the world right now, a very large proportion of it is urban music. With Cosmopolitan, I did the Cosmo show both in this country and in Russia. We are currently talking to major fashion companies about a marriage of convenience to develop [Mobo-branded] merchandise."
However, he explains, the products have to be selected carefully, both for business reasons and the integrity of the brand. "With my magazines, I never did anything to compete against my advertisers. So, for example, I never did make-up, I never did black knickers, which we were offered many times for Cosmo, because there's no point battling with companies which are part of your mix. But I did do bed linen. And that was a great success. At one stage we were the third largest brand of bed linen in this country." Recalling the advertising patter, he adds: "because when you're between Cosmo sheets, it's not bed linen but an emotional experience!"
Born in Walthamstow, London, in 1938, Mansfield, who is married with two grown-up daughters, began his career in advertising. After national service, he joined NatMags in 1969, eventually becoming chief executive as well as the first non-American in the history of the Hearst Corporation to be appointed to the US company's board.
When it comes to Mobo-branded TV and radio programming Mansfield is rather more cautious, despite his success in transforming the NatMags magazine Country Living into an ITV show spin-off called The Farmer Wants a Wife, which was sold as a format in 27 countries, including the US.
"I think our relationships [in TV and radio] would be joint ventures and that would be the best way of developing the brand in those directions. I see no reason why we couldn't do a joint venture with Sky, or any other broadcaster, taking certain hours of an existing channel. I'm less enthusiastic about doing a separate channel as there are too many of them attracting too few viewers as it is."
While zealot-like about brand-extension, in principle, Mansfield also explains it has to be done on a project-by-project basis. "Extending a brand is a bit like a restaurant menu. The more dishes, the more confusing it is when it comes to deciding what you are going to eat. We really have to look at it like dishes of the day. We start with the development of one or two things, you get those right first, before you move on to the next. Then you keep on going. Until, in the end, the only limitations of what you can do lie in your head."
