USA: TheKnot.com launches new bridal magazine 2.0 concept called “The Nest”

Longtime cross-platform bridal brand The Knot says it has applied its years of online experience to the execution of its print magazine The Nest, which had its newsstand launch on July 19. The company told MIN Online that the print title’s content mix and cross-platform integrations were employing Web 2.0 principles of user involvement, dialogue and real-time complements to the printed page. 

The Nest, its new $4.99 quarterly magazine, is aimed at married couples setting up home and family. Interactivity is key to the new project as is bringing readers into the editorial mix. Readers can submit their own advice, how-tos and tips across all of the content areas: travel, cooking, lifestyle. A special section of the magazine will be devoted to the UGC content. User-generated content is also available at TheNest.com where users can upload submissions.

The issue also is being mobilized via bar codes. Readers can snap a bar code in the issue and get back content, including what other readers are discussing in real time at TheNest.com. In an ad for Kitchenaid, for instance, the mobile code links your smartphone to a set of user testimonials for the sponsors’ product and then a link into other content channels on TheNest.com. On the “How-To” page of the magazine the mobile code links the user to online user-submitted how-to pieces as well as an entry form for the reader to submit their own content. The idea is for the mobile component to help drive user-generated content from the print experience to online. 

TheKnot says this web 2.0 model for magazines has attracted a number of inaugural issue sponsors to the affluent and young audience. Also, Bank of America, Couples Resorts, Mazda, KitchenAid, Starwood Hotels and Anheuser-Busch are reportedly among the advertisers.

UK: Virgin unveils “Maverick” magazine launch plans this Fall

Virgin is to extend its brand into consumer magazines with the launch of a title to be led by 28-year-old Holly Branson, daughter of the company’s founder.  The first issue of Maverick, to be published in October, will be overseen by ex-FHM editor Anthony Noguera. The monthly magazine, which will make its debut on Apple’s iPad, is targeting an international ABC1 audience (upper/middle class). 

The title will funded by subscriptions and paid-for ads, and has been positioned as “the magazine about creative people for creative people”. The editorial will focus on technology, film and design.  Insiders say Maverick is likely to spearhead a push into consumer magazines by the Virgin brand. Print titles and further digital offerings may follow. 

It is understood that the project has substantial backing and will be supported by a heavyweight marketing campaign. 

Insiders claim that Branson wants to compete with the major publishing houses, such as Bauer and IPC Media. 

Holly Branson: heads Maverick team

 

The launch marks a shift in strategy for Virgin, which has previously outsourced its customer magazines for its various business units such as the in-flight magazine Seatback, and Hotline, distributed on Virgin‘s trains. 

Its highest-profile title, Electric!, produced to promote Virgin Media, is handled by Redwood. However, Virgin is working with Seven Squared agency and Noguera’s publishing consultancy AI on Maverick. 

USA: “New York Magazine” partners with Foursquare

New York magazine is joining the check-in parade with this week’s announcement that it has joined forces with Foursquare, the popular location-based social-media site. The move will enable the magazine to create co-branded social-media loyalty programs for readers visiting participating businesses.

The new deal brings Foursquare to the NYMag.com website, allowing visitors to “check in” from various local businesses in its restaurant, bargains and nightlife listings, including the usual assortment of coffee shops, restaurants, and cultural venues. Users earn points for special discounts or deals provided by the proprietors.

The Foursquare check-ins let users know where their friends are, enabling “real-world” meet-ups, while giving businesses free social-media exposure.

The magazine’s roughly 7000 Foursquare followers can get tips and suggestions for approximately 5000 restaurants, 1600 bars and 5500 stores listed on the site.

USA: “Seventeen” relaunches site with social network focus

Hearst’s Seventeen magazine has relaunched its website with an increased focus on social-network functionality in a bid to attract traffic from teenage girls and young women, according to Mediaweek.

The new push includes incorporating Facebook’s “Open Graph” platform, as well as Twitter and Meebo, allowing visitors to share content and communicate with friends via the site. The relaunched site also features a celebrity news channel drawing content from Hearst’s aggregator site Let Me Know (LMK.com). Ann Shoket, the mag’s editor in chief, remarked: “It’s absolutely about having girls spend more time on Seventeen.”

Wallpaper*, the international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine, is publishing its first handmade issue

Wallpaper*, the international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine, is publishing what it claims to be its most ambitious issue to date with “Handmade“, which is printed on seven different paper stocks, has 21000 unique covers and every object it features was reportedly commissioned by the magazine.

For the August issue, Wallpaper* magazine brought together and briefed some of the world’s leading designers, craftsmen and manufacturers to produce unique furniture, fittings, foodstuffs, fashion and more. The special issue chronicles the production and presentation of this astonishing collection of one-off designs and delicacies.

From cover to cover, Wallpaper* Handmade is a complete celebration of craftsmanship. Through working closely with paper supplier UPM, the issue is printed on no less than seven different paper stocks and includes an A5 sketchbook documenting how several of the designs evolved. There is even a paper house to cut out and assemble, courtesy of architect Ryuji Nakamura.

In another first, the magazine invited readers to

Reader’s Digest UK is launching state-of-the-art iPad App

Readers Digest UK is launching a state-of-the-art iPad App in conjunction with YUDU following its acquisition in April by the Better Capital Fund, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Vivat Direct Ltd. The first ever digital version of the world’s most popular paid circulation magazine, the Reader’s Digest iPad edition, produced by YUDU Media will fully replicate the printed newsstand version in full digital format but with enhanced content and features such as video. Check out the demo below.

The iPad App has been developed specifically to harness the iPad’s full potential, according to its creator YUDU. Searchable on Apple Store, the App offers stunning graphics, rapid page turning, zoom, video, rich media and a text-only version for users.  In a bid to propel the iconic magazine into one of the UK’s leading digital publications, Reader’s Digest UK will be making the latest edition free to all on the iPad on July 5.  Featuring David Beckham on the front cover the title focuses on how football is saving the world to tie in with the FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa this month.

USA: Gourmet magazine comes aLive again!

More than eight months after Condé Nast shuttered Gourmet, the company revealed plans Tuesday to revive the revered food magazine. Sort of. “It’s not a magazine and it’s not a digital version of a magazine,” said president and chief executive officer Chuck Townsend before unveiling Gourmet Live, an app that will bring the title’s 70 years worth of archives to the iPad and other digital platforms.

As WWD further commented “users who download the program when it launches in the fourth quarter will have access to a preselected slice of stories, recipes and videos that will grow as they explore and share items with their social network”. Townsend reportedly also added that the publisher would assemble a team of eight to 10 “producers” (so long, writers and editors; it’s a producer’s world) to aggregate content for the app and that its operations would fall under Carol Smith, vice president and publisher for the company’s food brands. There were more than 60 editorial staffers on the Gourmet masthead when it shuttered in October. Eventually, the company said, the portal could contain user-generated content such as restaurant recommendations.

Townsend said Condé Nast’s optimized projections call for the app to contribute $20 million in annual revenues within three or four years. Though the initial download will be free, Townsend presented Gourmet Live as a sort of sandbox that

USA: Think:act goes iPad

The international award-winning executive magazine, which will be published once a year during the prestigious New York Forum in June, has released its first tablet edition.

In the next few days the current issue of the economics and current affairs magazine think: act published by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.  At the same time the consultancy will launch its own digital version with content partners BurdaYukom of Germany, which helped publish the first iPad edition of think:act.  With the inception of this app for tablet computers, think: act will become the first custom publication to launch a dedicated version specially optimized for viewing on tablets.

“The iPad combines the advantages of print and Internet, offers high value while keeping it fun to flip through a publication’s pages” says Torsten Oltmanns, Global Marketing Director and Partner at Roland Berger.  He added: “This new form of hybrid communication has a high acceptance among key decision-makers”.  Act:now is the official publication of the New York Forum, attended each year by 400 of the world’s top decision-makers and intellectuals including the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg and Elie Wiesel. During the forum, participants will receive current information on the iPad including the new issue of think: act.

UK: The Economist introduces “By Invitation”, a news series of web features

The Economist announced Thursday the launch of “By Invitation”, a new series of features on the newsweekly’s website. The first is “Economics by Invitation,” in which 55 economists will share commentary and analysis, answering questions set by editors at The Economist.

Website visitors will be able to comment on and discuss the economists’ answers. “The success of other features such as our award-winning online debates, the Democracy in America blog and the conversation cloud tool all demonstrate the desire of our readers to engage in intelligent debate and discussion online,” Ron Diorio, VP-product and community development at The Economist, said in a statement. “The ‘By Invitation’ series is a natural extension of this strategy.”

Also, The Economist has produced a sampler edition to tempt new subscribers to the weekly magazine in the UK.  Handed out on the London Underground, the special edition reportedly contains a selection of previously published articles as well as a promotion for a free copy of this week’s full edition.

Germany: 10 arguments pro Print in 100 seconds for advertisers

Here is the latest iteration of German publishers’ trade campaign “Print wirkt” with a list of pro-print arguments for advertisers to choose print titles for their advertising campaigns.

The selling points are easy, clear, and convincing!

Hola! launches new international edition in Brazil

Celebrity weekly Hola! has just launched its title in Brazil with local publishing partner Siquini Editorial e Eventos, which specializes in enthusiast publications such as Polo Life, Golf Life, Gourmet Life, Spa Life, etc.

 The print run is 70000 and cover price is 8,90 reales (or about €4). Brazilian model and Victoria’s Secret spokesperson Adriana Lima appears on the cover of the debut issue next to her husband to introduce her baby daughter.

And Hola! Brasil already has its own companion website running at br.hola.com.

USA: Parade Publications to launch new food magazine supplement this fall

According to last week’s article in The New York Times, Condé Nast is teaming up with parent company Advance Publication’s Parade magazine on a new magazine product to be launched.

“Simple. Fast. Delicious.” That’s the motto of the new food title, which Parade Publications plans to introduce as a newspaper magazine supplement and a website under the Dash brand this November.  There is no relation to the Mrs. Dash brand of seasonings from Alberto-Culver or the Dash brand of detergent once sold by Procter & Gamble.  The new title will run as an insert in 100 newspapers around the US (of the 540 that carry Parade)  to reach an estimated circulation of 8 million. Dash will also provide editorial content about food that the participating newspapers can publish in their print or online edition.  However, Dash will be inserted to complement food articles (and advertising!) in

France: “Le Monde diplomatique” has published iPad apps in both French and English

As reported on InPublishing‘s website, the apps were developed by Exact Editions, the London-based digital publishing company, which works with magazine, newspaper and book publishers to market and sell online and app versions of their titles.

Alain Gresh, director at Le Monde diplomatique (LMD) says “This is a historic step for Le Monde diplomatique. LMD has enjoyed a huge success as a digital edition through Exact Editions. The iPad/iPhone edition will bring pages from the latest issue as soon as it is published to 100 million or so iTunes account holders.”

The apps can be downloaded for free with

USA: Newsweek.com reports on Zombies Attack!

As the NYT’s MediaDecoder blog recently reported, the cheeky programmers for Newsweek.com have apparently placed a hidden joke on the magazine’s home page for readers who enter a special keyboard combination, triggering a page of headlines purporting to provide coverage of an uprising by the undead.

The lead headline, “Zombies Attack!” was followed by a summary informing readers that large portions of the East Coast had been invaded by the undead rising from their graves. Residents were advised to barricade themselves and await further instructions. Other headlines suggested that someone named “Patient Zero” was to blame for the invasion and that people battling zombies should aim for the head.

France: Independent news monthly “Rue89 Le Mensuel” to debut on June 16

As previously reported on this blog, the independent French news site Rue89 has finalized its monthly print edition that will debut tomorrow June 16.  It won’t be called Revue89 after all but Rue89 Le Mensuel (“Rue89 The Monthly”).  The 100-page monthly will be available in newsstands from June 16 on in a small format for 3,90 euros an issue.  The debut issue boasts a colorful cover displaying a dead bird covered in oil to emphasize the issue’s main topic: BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Luxury lifestyle-technology magazine “Switch” just launched in Singapore

Magazines Integrated Pte has launched Switch, a luxury lifestyle-technology magazine, in Singapore.  The bi-monthly magazine has a print-run of 8000 copies (6000 distributed for free through a selective distribution network e.g. and 2000 copies in newsstands).  The cover price is 5 SGD (about €2,95). 

SWITCH magazine is

“Financial Times” wins first Apple Award for best iPad design

The Financial Times won an Apple Design Award for its iPad app a few days ago.  One of only five winners, the FT app was the only news app to be included at the ceremony held at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 10) in San Francisco. The Apple Design Awards recognise iPhone and iPad OS applications that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation, technology adoption, and quality.

As already reported on this blog in May, the FT iPad app

Grazia UK and L’Oréal Paris teamed up for an exclusive AR campaign

The Grazia campaign stars Glam Shine Reflexion spokesperson Cheryl Cole, who will come to life off the page in an exclusive three and a half minute, behind-the-scenes film of the making of the TV commercial.

As reported on InPublishing’s website, a DPS in Grazia will point readers to www.lorealparis.co.uk/cheryl, where an embedded AR symbol will activate when held up to a webcam, unlocking the backstage film with Cheryl Cole promoting the new Reflexion range.  The activity broke in last week’s Grazia with two further issues carrying the creative in June and July, with support from www.graziadaily.co.uk.  And the L’Oréal Paris Glam Shine Reflexion TV commercial airs from June 9th on in the UK.  The TV commercial was directed by the widely acclaimed Jake Nava, the man behind Beyoncé’s most memorable Rn’B music videos, such as

USA: Paper or Plastic? asks Condé Nast in its new ad campaign

Check out Condé Nast’s latest corporate campaign showcasing the publisher’s print and digital components of its media brands (below).

The official website reads: “Everyday, Condé Nast connects with new consumers in new ways, whether they are subscribing to our print publications, visiting our websites, or experiencing our brands on the latest electronic devices. Scroll the titles shown here and discover how you can now enjoy Condé Nast’s high-quality content anywhere, any way, anytime.”

Digital publisher Zinio extends its UNITY platform to 9 international markets

Zinio, a global leader in digital publishing technology and services, further enhanced its UNITY platform by creating localized versions of its iPad and iPhone apps in nine countries. Designed to create a high-definition experience for readers to explore, enjoy and buy content once and read anywhere, the localized Zinio App will serve as the gateway to more than 2500 full-color magazines, worldwide. Last week, the iPad was delivered to consumers who pre-ordered devices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The free Zinio App, which ranked #1 within its first week of launch in the United States, offers the most popular international publishers and magazines including Condé Nast (France, Vogue); ¡HOLA! (Spain, ¡Hola!); IPC Media (United Kingdom, Wallpaper*); Mondadori (Italy, Focus); and Televisa (Mexico, Caras). These titles are just several of more than 2500 magazine titles to which reading fans now have access, without boundaries. Over 829 new consumer titles have joined Zinio’s newsstand in the first quarter alone, representing the continued movement to a global digital-distribution strategy.

“A true pioneer, Zinio is the only company in the world to bring the largest newsstand to the digital desktop in a localized shopping environment,” said Joan Solá, President, International at Zinio. “As devices like the iPad continue to revolutionize the way we experience high-definition content, Zinio represents the convergence between consumer convenience and technological innovation.”

The Zinio App for iPad is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at itunes.com/appstore