Digital Magazine Appeals to Senses

Smart magazine publishers realize that they can no longer be solely focused on print issues, they must explore multiple media formats to reach their audience. Obviously People magazine understands this. They have put together a digital magazine filled with fantastic displays of technology (or for you non-technical folks… lots of fun stuff to see, hear, and click). See that dolphin in the background of the cover shot? Go to People Digital Magazine and that dolphin is actually jumping out of the water and diving back in.

In this issue, you can see video of the latest roller coaster to be built at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. You can watch the Harry Potter cast age through photos and test your knowledge of the stories: choose your answer and a clip from one of the movies will play to show you the right answer. A sizzling barbecue spread gives recipes and playlists for your summer feast. Concert previews, a live penguin camera, dunking American Idol contestants… what more can you ask for?

Movement, sound, and interactivity make this magazine exciting. While People magazine is not among my normal reads, I was hooked on playing with this digital issue. There are some great ideas to take from this.

Green Issue for Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and to show its eco-friendly side, The Week magazine launched its first ever green issue on Friday. Rather than distributing a printed version, this issue, sponsored by Lexus, will run for one week on The Week’s website. Along with the usual features, special focus has been placed on environmental concerns like global warming and what it means to “go green.”

Don’t be mistaken. The Week has not moved its publication to the web for good. They are still dedicated to their print magazine, but they understand that in this changing world, consumers get their information from a variety of sources. What better way to spotlight the environment, than to save a few trees?

Magazine's Special Issue to Hit Web, Not Newsstand

The Week, a weekly news magazine, is issuing a special edition about the environment. Rather than printing the special issue and distributing it via mail and newsstands, it will be posting the issue on its website for one week beginning April 20.

Because trees will not be as endangered by the online posting, this method fits nicely with their environmental theme. Furthermore, The Week hopes that this will help expand their online presence in a world that is shifting to mixed media.

The idea has also proven enticing to advertisers. Lexus will be the sole sponsor for the special issue, for which they will also receive a series of print ads after the special edition.

The Week says, “ we’re trying to be as agnostic as possible about serving our readers in all the different media.” Consumers are becoming more finicky about how they want content and magazines like The Week that want to accommodate are presenting in multiple formats.

Despite the plethora of media formats available today, I’m still skeptical that print will ever go away completely. There are still a number of places where it makes sense to leverage print, at least for now.

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