Redefining local: Daniel Borrás on creativity, community, and the GQ effect
At the FIPP World Congress in Madrid, Editor-in-Chief of GQ Spain Daniel Borrás will share how the brand is placing inclusivity, bold experimentation, and community at the heart of men’s media
Daniel Borrás knows what it means to navigate global and local simultaneously. “We’ll share how Condé Nast Spain has navigated the company’s transformation by connecting global expertise with local relevance,” he says of his upcoming FIPP World Congress session.
As part of an international talent network, the GQ Spain team has been able to adopt best practices and continuous learning from across markets. “This approach helps us stay deeply connected to Spain’s creative community, supporting and amplifying local talent while raising the standard of our work,” he says.
The balance between scale and individuality has, he says, redefined what it means to be a ‘local’ edition.
“GQ has built a global working system that is both complex and ambitious, led by Will Welch, our Global Director, and his international team,” Daniel explains. “We are 11 editions that meet weekly to align on themes, approaches, and strategies, while sharing content daily on our websites in real time. Within this framework, the contribution of each edition is key.”
The results are striking. “We can produce content that once felt hyper-local but now transcends borders in the streaming era of Spotify or Netflix,” he says. “Spain offers clear examples like Rosalía or Money Heist.”
Creativity as a driving principle
For Daniel, creativity is at the heart of the brand. “At GQ, our motto is: Change is Good. Change means being willing to take risks, embrace mistakes, and create something new. This mindset matches current consumption habits, which are increasingly fast and fluid.”
That appetite for change, he says, fuels experimentation across formats. “The GQ team constantly rethinks the system to adapt to what audiences are engaging with. That includes exploring new creative approaches and editorial formats, especially in video, with concepts like 24 hours, Backstage Pass, Re-dinner, 9 Barres, and many others.”
It’s a philosophy that aligns with and recognises the realities of attention spans today. “In an environment of rapid consumption and information overload, voice and vision are critical,” he says. “Readers need to trust what they’re reading. That’s why our team must be rigorous, well-prepared, and proactive, always bringing new ideas to the table.”
Spain’s creative advantage
Spain’s editions of Condé Nast titles have earned a reputation inside the network for spotting trends early. “Spain has always been defined by its ability to innovate and adapt quickly to new formats and behaviours,” Daniel says. “Condé Nast Spain grew its websites hugely when digital content began to rise, and now we’re doing the same with social media.”
The results speak for themselves. “Condé Nast Spanish editions – including GQ – have the strongest TikTok accounts in the entire global network, which shows our ability to adapt and spot trends,” says Daniel. “GQ Spain’s TikTok numbers are the highest worldwide, achieved entirely with original content, as we don’t publish external material or memes.”
Commercially, too, GQ Spain has pushed boundaries. “We also innovate commercially, offering brands fresh proposals that often inspire other editions. Last year, for example, we designed a car with BMW and a personalised jacket with Levi’s – two unprecedented projects that reflect exactly what brands are looking for now.”
An inclusive evolution
GQ Spain’s editorial voice has evolved alongside social change. “GQ no longer dictates, it advises; it no longer excludes, it includes. Fashion and culture are not presented as elitist, but as spaces of community,” he says. “The new luxury is understanding that there are no fixed rules. GQ is here to accompany you on the journey, not to prescribe it.”
Globally, GQ is defined by values of diversity, equality, sustainability, and mental health, and Spain has been at the forefront of translating those principles into content.
“Our broadest audience is still masculine, and GQ remains a brand that accompanies and supports men. But men themselves have undergone a profound and necessary social transformation in recent years – and GQ has evolved alongside them.”
Daniel highlights the importance of avoiding tokenism. “Our goal is not integration but normalisation. To achieve that, we’ve often needed explicit statements to mark the path toward equality,” he says. GQ Spain, for example, was the first edition worldwide to feature a trans man on its print cover in July 2019, and “we did so without labeling it as a statement. And until 2020, no Spanish woman had ever shot a GQ cover. These are milestones we’ve gradually achieved to reflect our current identity and values.”
Content that defines an era
Daniel cites recent editorial landmarks as proof of the brand’s influence. “In 2023, we published the world-exclusive first interview with Jenni Hermoso, the World Cup champion who had faced harassment during the tournament’s final. GQ Spain had long approached sports, including women’s football, in a different and inclusive way, which earned us her trust as the right platform for her first words.”
That same year, the magazine broke ground with a new generation of voices. “This September, we were also the only outlet to publish an interview and shoot with Ibai Llanos, the most influential Spanish-language streamer. He represents a reality that speaks to a new generation and different cultural codes, an essential conversation we could not ignore.”
He says that even back in 2019, GQ Spain was reframing masculinity. “We featured [influencer and fashion designer] Justin O’Shea on our cover with his newborn child, because fatherhood is a central part of modern life and deserved to be included in our editorial universe.”
Uniting communities in a cultural space
At the heart of GQ Spain’s success, Daniel believes, is an ability to connect with audiences as communities rather than demographics. “Today’s media consumption reality creates an atomised audience, broken into increasingly specific niche communities,” he says. “That’s why community matters more than ever. It’s about building an ecosystem of creators, brands, readers, and talent who engage at the same pace as we do.”
That sense of belonging is central to their aims. “The goal is to make ‘being in GQ’ not only cool and relevant, but also a marker of belonging to the right cultural space.”
