In an effort to save its seemingly sinking brand, PlanetOut appointed Out EIC Aaron Hicklin as the company's Editorial Director. In addition to working with other editors under the media umbrella, Hicklin will "play an integral role in the development of the digital media aspects of Gay.com 2.0 and will serve as the creative visionary behind the re-launch of PlanetOut.com," says an internal email.

Hicklin couldn't be more excited, squealing via email:

I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to work with the editorial teams in the Planetout family in pursuit of a more integrated and comprehensive editorial strategy. It’s a big task, but we have some tremendously talented and resourceful people working for our print and online properties, and I’m looking forward to meeting with them all in the next month and listening to their suggestions and ideas as we continue to build on our already considerable achievements.

In "the next month"?! Oh, right – it's a planet. Hope Hicklin packs a lunch!

Here's the entire aforementioned email from CEO Karen Magee. It's a truly remarkable read.

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Aaron Hicklin
as Editorial Director for PlanetOut Inc. At the same time that Aaron
assumes responsibility for all of the online and magazine content
created across our company, he plans to continue in his role as the
Editor in Chief of Out.

In this newly created position, Aaron will work closely with the
Editors in Chief of each of our magazines, and our digital editorial
team, to ensure that we are maximizing our editorial resources and
talent across all of our properties. He will play an integral role in
the development of the digital media aspects of GAY.COM 2.0 and will
serve as the creative visionary behind the re-launch of PlanetOut.com.

All of you know Aaron as the immensely talented editor who, along with
his terrific team at Out, has completely redesigned and re-launched
that magazine over the course of the last 18 months. What you may not
know is that Aaron previously served as the Editor in Chief of
BlackBook magazine and as the Executive Editor of Gear magazine. Aaron
transitioned into the US magazine market from his position as the
Features Editor for Scotland on Sunday, prior to which he began his
career as a contributing writer for The List (Edinburgh) and The
Independent (London).

Please join me in congratulating Aaron on his new role.

Karen