• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 21, 2013

Dennis Publishing, which owns The Week and Mental Floss in the U.S. and publishes U.K. titles including Men’s Fitness and Auto Express, has invested in Padify, an app software startup.

The minority stake in Padify, according to Journalism.co.uk, gives Dennis titles access to its design platform, which is currently being used to create an iPad edition for the U.K. version of Men’s Fitness. The platform allows designers to create magazine apps for a variety of devices, and also enables social sharing, bookmarking, and copying text, per the same report.

Dennis app development lead Alex Watson said Padify’s platform is especially useful because designers can build apps without having to use templates, which aren’t necessarily suitable for different magazines. Watson told the Digital Media Strategies conference in London that integrating Padify is part of Dennis Publishing’s “create one publish everywhere” strategy for simplifying digital publishing workflows.

Stack Media Partners With Sport Street

Stack Media, a sports media company which publishes Stack, targeting high school athletes, has partnered with a new sports-focused social network called Sport Street for content sharing. The deal will give Sport Street members access to Stack content, and allow them to share it with each other, according to Folio:. The deal includes access to Stack’s original videos via both desktop and mobile. The print edition of Stack has a rate base of about 800,000, and Stack.com has about 8 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore data.

Esquire Network Adds Stern, Nelson to Executive Team

The newly created Esquire Network, formed by a partnership between Hearst and the cable network previously known as G4, has added two industry veterans to its executive team. Deena Stern will serve as head of marketing, with responsibility for marketing and strategic planning for on-air, off-air, digital and ad sales solutions. She previously served as vice president of brand marketing at Comedy Central, a role she held since 2007. Katherine Nelson will serve as head of communications, with responsibility for corporate communications and program publicity. The Esquire Network will debut on April 22, 2013. 

Bonnier Promotes Murphy to CMO, Men’s Group

Bonnier Corp. has promoted Elizabeth Burnham Murphy to the role of chief marketing officer for its Men’s Group, which includes titles like Popular Science, Field & Stream,Outdoor Life and Cycle World. This is a new position for the company. Burnham Murphy previously served as associate publisher of marketing and online services for Bonnier’s Outdoor Group.

AARP Names DeBartolo SVP, Chief Revenue Officer

Michael DeBartolo has joined AARP as senior vice president and chief revenue officer, effective March 4. In his new role, he will oversee all advertising sales for AARP media properties, leading the media sales and marketing teams across print, digital, broadcast and mobile channels. DeBartolo previously held executive sales roles at titles including Parade, Glamour,Reader’s Digest, TV Guid, and Money.