What's Next - Issue 6 - TOUCH

issue six summer 2013 6/5
features on subjects ranging from wired magazine to AR APPs and catalogues
brand case studies: Boden moshi monsters red bull
pick me 3 19 up 68
pages to leaf through
touch
different papers to experience
publications discussed from numerous angles
whats next_the touch issue

It is perhaps the most taken-for-granted of the senses, but where would we be without touch? If its through reaching out and making contact that we really connect with the world, then the ability to touch and be touched is at the heart of how we make sense of who we are and what we want. And, as this issue explores, this is as true of brands through brand engagement (turn to the case studies on pages 14, 47 and 61) as it is of magazines (find out how the likes of Wired in the UK, p52, and GQ and Marie Claire in Russia, the US, China and France, p29, adapt to their readers demands) and those trying to make a whole new impression altogether (were talking AR apps, p20, and touchscreen texts, p38). Elsewhere, experts examine the role of research in staying close to the market (p6), and six individuals appear throughout the pages to tell us about the one printed publication they feel like picking up more than any other
www.whatsnextmagazine.net
Editor-in-chief David Roberts Creative director Chris Parker Editor Alex Elliott Sub editor Kerrie-Anne Love Picture editor Sally Ryall Group account director Jeffrey Bird Group production manager Carole Marz For Sappi Fine Paper Europe Henrik Damn Kirsty Hector Duncan Sari Mattila Marjolein Vil For details of your nearest Sappi sales office, please visit www.sappi.com
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contributors
6-13 David Hepworth Responsible for launching some of the UKs best-known magazines, writer and broadcaster Hepworth has won accolades including the prestigious Mark Boxer Award from the British Society of Magazine Editors. 20-27 Ciara Phelan Illustrator and paper-craft artist Phelan has built a reputation for her distinctive illustrative style on the back of an enjoyment of collecting vintage ephemera and cutting things out. 28 Paul Hansen A visceral image of a funeral procession for three members of the same family following an air strike in Gaza won the most recent World Press Photo of the Year award for this Swedish photojournalist. 29-37 Michael Idov Before taking on the role of editorin-chief at GQ Russia, Idov was a contributing editor at New York magazine and a regular contributor to the US edition of GQ. 29-37 Joyce Liu Having worked in media for more than 10 years, Liu is now general manager of publishing at Hearst China, with responsibility for Marie Claire, Marie Claire Beauty, Psychologies and Womens Day. 38-45 Adam Greenfield An author who describes himself as a passionate advocate for the humancentred design of technological systems, Greenfield is also founder of New York design practice Urbanscale.
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w h a t s n e x t _ t o u c h
in side
5-65 on paper Six people with their finger on the pulse of 2013 name the printed publication of the past year that has made a bigger impression than any other
Cover Sappi | GalerieArt silk 250g/m2 3/18 Sappi | Galerie fine gloss 90g/m2 19/34 Sappi | Galerie fine silk 80g/m2 35/50 Sappi | Royal roto silk 115g/m2 51/66 Sappi | Royal press 400 gloss 80g/m2
06 14
the next papers

(pp3-18]
Why research? Three experts investigate the implications of placing print under the microscope
Case study #1: Boden When winning brand engagement is delivered in the pages of a catalogue
20
Who is going to win the AR app war? Hovering above the page, theres a battle going on for the attention of readers
Sappi | Galerie fine 90g/m2
29
What is Chinese for glossy feel? First-hand accounts of how global magazine brands adapt to national markets
38 47
Feeling our way forward Why our sense of touch is becoming ever-more crucial to the way we read
Case study #2: Moshi Monsters How online success bred a print explosion for one leading childrens brand
Sappi | Galerie fine provides a perfectly smooth surface, allowing the content to take centre stage. Its high brightness levels and good opacity make it ideal for bringing out the vibrancy of the red cinema seats in the imagery, and they also show the brightness of the clothes in the following Boden case study to good effect. Sappi | Galerie fine also offers a highgloss finish, so bringing a nice touch of glamour to the case study, too.
the cover Sappi | GalerieArt silk 250g/m2
52
papers
Its thinking about your brand and how it can extend beyond the page How UK Wired is zealously reinventing what it means to be a magazine
61
Case study #3: Red Bull Why inventing a lifestyle to sell fizzy drinks has spawned a global magazine
Beloved by printers and creatives alike, our cover paper prints images and colours with the highest intensity. Here, weve maximised vibrant colours by enhancing the cover fingerprints with a high-build spot UV varnish, and boosted the covers tactile feel with a soft touch laminate.
Go to www. whatsnextmagazine.net to order samples of the papers used in this issue
_the issue in words
online developments offline
p51 ^
F e e l
p16 ^
p 11 ^ tracking peoples behaviour
investment
p62 ^
p55 ^ ^
return on
p24 ^
content marketing is about
t a c t i l e
pushing all kinds of
b o u n d a r i e s
engagement ^
p44
promotional collaboration
giving
p37 ^
on paper _ number one
Max von Abendroth
The content in German monthly business magazine Brand eins is always surprising, fresh and different from other business magazines. I learn a lot while I am being entertained, and the layout is great, too. The magazine has become my friend, whose arrival I await with impatience every month. Max von Abendroth is executive director of the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA)
06
business models are in transition
editors
resea
why
are more than ever good listeners
its become an advanced area
rch?
Three experts take a close look at what role research should play in todays fast-changing print environment
hats next What is the point
of research today, in the context of print?
Marius Ten years ago, we had healthy circulations and very little competition. Publishers limited their research to measuring their audience, with a view to using that as currency to sell against advertising. Once people had a lot of choice, with the advent of broadband internet, publishers needed to start understanding their audiences better. So, research has become quite an advanced area: people are doing a lot more brand work, segmentation studies, and studies of media understanding, using things such as econometrics to validate why publications exist for the consumer and advertiser as well. Debrah A lot of givens have changed. For
publishers, the whole business model is in transition, and its a bit like a seesaw if you go too far one way, and turn off your print and go to digital, you will alienate one part of the audience; and if you stay in print and dont go to digital, youre potentially not engaging with another. Research is essential because youve got all these different push and pull factors, and if you dont understand them you could make big decisions that are quite wrong for your publication.
down and tell you about a magazine is like getting people to tell you how sophisticated they are theyll all tell you how sophisticated they are.
Debrah There is a tendency for people to
think, Well, research is about asking questions. I can ask questions. And actually, its a real skill. To find out whats really going on you need somebody who is experienced in that field and knows, quite frankly, when somebodys lying; who knows, if someones starting to contradict themselves, how to unpick it. Its like all things if you want good research you have to pay for it. But it is worth it. Saying, I want some research thats going to tell me this, is the wrong way to go about it. You need to be putting forward hypotheses. For example, is there a need for a magazine? A good researcher might actually say, No, this is not going to work. As a business, you have to have the confidence to do that.
publication but also the ones who dont read it you are potentially assisting in the death of your publication. If you want to be able to plug into the new generation of readers, you need to be making sure that youre in their face that they know who you are. The seesaw between print and digital isnt really the discussion. Its about whats going on in between. Its about not being closed off, and instead investing in research in a proper way so that you have the insight all the time to help keep on top of what is going on.
if you want to plug into a new generation of readers, you need to be in their face
Marius I think theres always usefulness in research, but you dont see people wanting to refine their offering until theyre in trouble. One of the best projects Ive ever worked on was the Evening Standard in London. Twenty years ago, central London wasnt a very happy place to be. People were streaming out into the suburbs, and the Evening Standard constantly reaffirmed, with negative editorial, that they were making the right choice. Then the city started changing, regenerating, and the newspaper didnt keep up with it. That coincided with the introduction of mobile phones and the internet, and the newspaper went into steep circulation decline. Then the free newspapers moved in and showed that people wanted something positive and reaffirming about the capital. We did research identifying these problems, but the owners werent willing to budge. It was only when new owners came in that they took that strategy seriously. Geordie Greig, the
David Most of my involvement with
Marius One of my bosses used a clever quote about research: He uses research like a lamppost, for support rather than for illumination. Using research for support is always a bad, bad idea, because research will never give you the answers. It will quantify hypotheses, it will give you proper guidance, but it will never give you the complete and solid answer to anything or any situation. whats next In the past, research was customarily carried out pre-launch. When should you be finding out what your audience is thinking and what they like today? Debrah You should be researching your
market all the time. The speed of change is such that if you say, Well do it once a year, youre missing out on so much. If you are not finding out what is going on not only with the people who read your
research has been to do with launching new magazines trying to come up with some kind of basis for suggesting that an idea was something more than a hunch, and helping sharpen up somebodys editorial idea about what might make a magazine. Ive always found with that kind of research and I think it probably applies more with magazines than with any other product category that you cant go on what people say, because they are terrible liars. Getting somebody to sit
Marius Cloete
is head of research for the Professional Publishers Association (PPA). He previously worked for Associated Newspapers as insight manager for Londons Evening Standard newspaper
Debrah Harding
is chief operating officer of the UKs Market Research Society and vice-president of the European Federation of Market, Social and Opinion Research
Dav i d H e p wo rt h
is a veteran broadcaster, journalist and editor who has launched some of the UKs best-known magazines, from Just Seventeen and Mojo to Empire and Heat
you cant go on what people say they are terrible liars
a lot of givens have changed
it will never give you the complete answer
research today has more of a brave role
opportunities are there
solid numbers are essential
11
incoming editor, was the first newspaper editor Id worked with who took a keen interest in research. The newspaper went free, and three years on, its profitable for the first time in decades.
David We had some experience of that
with The Word. We were a small magazine that eventually had to close last year but not without putting a certain effort and agony into doing a tablet version. Everybody always tells you that they want those things, but not that many of them actually do. People have unlimited choice, and their major response is to just drop their habit totally. Ive never seen any research that reliably told me anything about how that shift from paper to other things works.
need to predict. When Ive been involved in magazines recently, Ive engaged with more readers than in all the other magazines Ive worked on put together just because the opportunities are there to do it, and people expect it. They are not necessarily going to provide a statistically reliable sampling, because most readers dont engage in that way, but theyre going to give you a lot of the stuff that you get from a focus group 20 times a day.
Its not what we say but what we do

If research often used to be about opinions and possibilities (qualitative), today it is much more to do with hard statistical facts [quantitative] which is where something called econometrics comes in. This type of research uses statistics and economic theory to examine the relationships consumers have with a given product. In an age of easy-tointerrogate digital media, robust research measuring the impact of print as a product can be invaluable as demonstrated by two studies carried out last year by global media network Mindshare. Magonomics, commissioned by the PPA in the UK, analysed econometric data from 77 advertising campaigns with spends of up to 6 million; while AdValue, launched by IPC Media, combined econometrics with a panel-based approach. Key findings included: Magazine advertising gives a higher return on investment (ROI) than any other media channel 11 per cent higher than television and 22 per cent above online (Magonomics) Magazine budgets had to be at least doubled before magazine ROI dropped to the same level as television (Magonomics) Every 1 invested in magazine advertising for six household brands generated an average ROI of 1.40 (AdValue) Advertising in magazines led to an average increase of 8 per cent in household spend (AdValue)
Debrah Quantitative metrics and
Whats Next So how do you make sure that research is reliable? How do you differentiate between what people say theyre going to do and what they actually do?
tracking peoples behaviour frees you from individual perception

Marius Its very difficult. As Debrah pointed out, you need a facilitator who can read people extremely well. You have to be quite skilled in navigating what people put forward as a logical reason, and try to establish what the actual reasons are for why they want X, Y and Z. David My natural assumption is that it
doesnt matter what people tell you they are going to do most of them wont do it, because inertia will win. And huge numbers of choices will win. But you could also say that nowadays, with digital relationships, its never been easier to see what readers are thinking you dont
benchmarking having some solid numbers about whats going on in certain areas is also essential, because that will start to give you ideas about where things seem to be moving. I dont think that to throw our arms up in the air and say, Everything is so unpredictable and research is not going to help us, is the right way. We have to accept, though, that this means we might be in a situation where research is saying: this business is not going to happen. Research today is having more of a brave role.
Marius You can get a certain amount of mileage out of proactively asking people, Does this appeal to you? But the more critical application of research is tracking peoples behaviour and interpreting the trends. That frees you from individual perceptions. And with people being more inclined to have smart phones or tablets with them, you have the facility to interact with them and track what theyre doing. Applying research skills to interpreting that data can be a very reliable predictor of what people will or will not consume. Whats Next Marius implied that editors have not traditionally engaged with research. Has the media landscape changed in that respect? David The publishing industry and
editors have come to realise their business is not just about what they say
words: alex elliott
12
to their readers. Those readers need to be part of a community, and social media has been driving that quite aggressively. Today, editors are keenly aware of what their readers want through Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages. Crowdsourcing is becoming important, too: obviously there are thousands of voices and you cant listen to them all, but you can pick out strands.
youre changing habits, and then lets run behind and find a way to facilitate that.
Whats Next Is there no longer any room for doing things on a hunch? David Im sure there is, but I think that
good editors are, more than ever, good listeners. Theyre watching what people are doing and theyre involved in their conversations. They still have to have good ideas and really good executions, but its no longer: Follow me to the promised land and I will tell you how things are going to be.
past 20 years has been wrong. But I accept that there are increasingly sophisticated ways of reading what people are actually doing but not what they say they are going to be doing in two years time, because nobody knows that.
Debrah The lack of ability to predict the

future goes beyond publishing, beyond research. But technology has enabled things such as online ethnography, where you are recording what youre doing as youre doing it youve got live data showing people engaging with products or magazines.
Debrah Research communities can
be created by a publisher in order to co-create things theyll say, Were thinking of doing this, what do you think? How would you do it? It is much more of a two-way communication. Its about ownership making people feel the closeness that they used to feel with their daily newspaper.
David The image I use is that the media

used to stand in front of a curtain, and behind it were all the secrets of the world. Then they reached behind the
every prediction by a major media company has been wrong

curtain and passed them out, one at a time, with a drum roll, saying, This is more important than that thing. All that has gone. The new image of the media is a party, and all youre doing is handing round the canaps. You have a licence to move among those people and they will engage with you according to whether they think youre an interesting person to talk to. Theyre not approaching your curtain any more. A lot of research used to be: Heres a big idea. I cant afford to do the big idea until you tell me youre all going to buy the big idea. Nowadays, its more: Lets listen to what youre telling us about what youre doing, and lets observe how
photographs: michael Clement
Marius Ive known some people who have persisted, whatever the research said. They had an idea and that idea was going to happen, even if I said the research said its screwed. And, by God, theyve made it happen. Persistence is a great thing. Steve Jobs was a prime example of somebody who didnt believe in research. He believed in his own vision. And if you look at Apple at the moment, that drive and vision is gone everything is being done by committee and theyre not innovating any more. So, research has a very important role to play, but having brave people with good ideas is still the most important thing in all of this. And if you find one of those people who can actually use and filter research effectively, I think thats where success will continue to come from. Whats Next What do you think is the future for research?
than people give it credit for, picking up technology very quickly and thinking about how to use it. We were having conversations about how to use mobile phones for research 10 years ago, and today theyre an absolutely critical tool.
Marius The next big challenge for publishers is that we are going to be drowning in data, because every single digital interaction that people make can now be tracked. We need to start understanding how we take this data that we have on peoples behaviour and marry it with the personalities we used to see in research. People with traditional research experience may lack the skills to incorporate these new streams of data into business, but today there are a huge number of people working in advertising agencies who have studied economics or statistics and who can evaluate the value and impact of campaigns. Its critical that publishers understand the process too, because theres a lot more research happening now than ever before and its not so much at the front end, in product development, as at the back end: understanding how we can serve consumers and advertisers better. David But youve got to continue to have
magazines that have charisma and that people are attracted to, while making as much as you possibly can with whatever readers youve got.
Marius Research evolves a lot faster
do that?
Whats Next And whats the best way to David Editors have got to reinvent what
makes a great magazine ^
David Every prediction by a major media

company or advertising agency in the
to www.whatsnextmagazine.net to d ownload the pod cast of this # go c onversation, and to receive c opies of the research discussed
it is much more of a twoway communication
youve got live data
editors have to reinvent the magazine
6
number of catalogues mailed to UK homes each year
20M
15
6
Case study#1
because click, click works better with flick, flick
The past 20 years have seen UK
words: alex elliott
clothing company Boden become a legend in its domestic market and, more recently, in Germany and the US, too. The brands bright, distinctive, casual clothing only available by mail order, online or telephone sales is worn by people of all ages, and by off-duty politicians, pop stars and actresses alike. Central to Bodens success is the quarterly catalogue a publication that has become an industry byword for effective direct mail and a respected example of aspirational lifestyle marketing and customer-brand bonding. Boden CRM manager Neil Warburton reveals the reasons for his brands calculated faith in people plus print and paper
Case study#1
6
number of items that boden launched with in 1991
6
8
The catalogue is our shopfront. We dont have shops and we dont do wholesale particularly either, so it is the prime method by which we can introduce our new range to existing customers. It is at the heart of all our communications. The entire organisation is based around the catalogue drop it is effectively a campaign in itself that lasts for three or four weeks. Each catalogue includes a set of stories, typically three. They are photo stories with a theme that makes everything hang together in a way that adds up to something more than just clothes on a page. Each story has a start, a middle and an end, and is distinctively different from other parts of the catalogue. Whatever the story happens to be, we shoot around that, and all our marketing campaigns our emails, iPad edition, website will reference it. For example, one of our stories might be modern elegance, an indoor shoot in a carefully selected location where the mood, lighting and outfits all fit with that photo story. So much of our brand is built around making our customers look and feel great, having wonderful fabrics and finishes and we want that to be embodied in the catalogue. When we have production meetings, its not about, How cheap can the paper be and how little can we get away with? Its the exact opposite: How can we make the most of our budget to give the greatest tactile feel to our customers, so that when the catalogue lands on the doormat it genuinely stands out as being different? We have production people on press when the catalogue is going through, which not a lot of other direct mailers do. And we have the expectation that it will be as close to perfect as it can be, so that when the customer picks it up, that feeling of quality is immediately conveyed. We want reading the catalogue to be an uplifting experience, and great photography is also central to that. It embodies the Boden values were showing colour photography in print that is classy and aspirational. If anything, the catalogue has become stronger over time as a selling tool. It allows you space to create a curated experience for the customer. The catalogue can stay on the kitchen table; it lasts much longer than an email. Even the iPad edition, which uses much of the catalogue photography and stories, is used in a different way. Our customers tell us that they look forward to the catalogue landing on the doormat they sit down, have a cup of tea and read it. They might spend on average eight seconds reading an email, and five minutes looking at our iPad app if were lucky. But they
can spend 15, 20 minutes however long it takes to drink a cup of tea reading the catalogue. Our very best customers will reach for it two or three times per month. Thats invaluable. The web is a selling tool, a place where customers transact. When our customers are shopping online, they are shopping with the catalogue alongside them. The pattern of behaviour online for somebody who is speculatively browsing, or has come through an email, is markedly different from somebody who is using the catalogue. Catalogue shoppers are using product codes more often and using our search bar to find products. We spend an awful lot of time and energy researching what customers think, and how they are using the catalogue they are involved in the selection of stories, cover images and messages. We send out surveys to ask for detailed feedback and, at the start of every season, we run focus groups for the catalogue with customers in the UK, US and Germany. The designers, art directors, marketing and research people will all be there to get early feedback about what customers like and dont like. Well talk to our best customers, ones that havent shopped for a while, and customers that are new to the brand. And well try to ensure that we listen, so that when it does come to making a decision, we have as much feedback as we can gather. The desire to reinvent, while retaining our uniqueness, ensures that we dont become complacent. We experiment with ways to add value to the catalogue, and make the inevitable journey to the recycling box slower, or prevent it altogether. Well include stickers and colouring-in, die-cut covers, gift tags at Christmas, personalised messaging on the cover and bingo cards. They are interruptive inserts designed to catch the customers interest, encourage them to sit down with the catalogue and at least decide not to recycle it just yet. Post-it notes that allow customers to mark up their catalogue have worked particularly well because they offer practical benefit. We asked people to bring their catalogues to focus groups and, when they did, the catalogues were full of Post-it notes. It didnt take a marketing genius to work out that if we put our own ones in there, it would help customers to shop. The whole point about putting in surprises or unexpected brand pieces is to bring a smile to the customers face so as to get them interested and engaged with the catalogue. As long as we manage to capture their attention, remain distinctively different and embody our values in the catalogue then, hopefully, customers will continue
6
245M/18M
Company turnover/profits
17
6
number of pages in Summer 2013 catalogue
326
6
average customer spend per order in the UK
100
6
Case study#1
6
proportion of Boden purchases now made in the US
30%
66
6
number of shots featuring models posing with quirky bicycles in current catalogue
to use it. We certainly dont see the average age of our direct mail customers increasing, so its not a bunch of old ladies who are reading it. Around the time of the catalogue drop, we send other printed material, depending on the profile of the customer and what behaviour were trying to encourage. For example, to lapsed customers who have not been to Boden for a season or more, well send postcards showcasing elements of the range and highlighting key aspects of stories. They might also get personalised letters, typically alongside promotions to encourage them to purchase from the range with a current offer. If a customer who hasnt purchased from us for a while goes on to our website and requests a catalogue, we want to make sure that the experience they have while reading that catalogue carries through online, and to any subsequent printed mailings included with a parcel, or other follow-up mailings that we might send them while that campaign is still live. It all has to be part of the same experience and reinforce the themes that are in the current catalogue. Were always looking for opportunities to work with partners that have a brand synergy with us. Anybody who uses [internet grocery retailer] Ocado will have seen a Boden catalogue they have a very similar demographic profile, and to be able to appear in a customers kitchen is very useful. If we find a company with that kind of a similar profile, but enough of a difference between us for a partnership to be of benefit to both parties, we will cooperate on marketing. Increasingly, customers will go online and consume Boden via other marketing communications. We have a mobile site, and more and more customers are opening our emails and visiting our website using non-desktop devices. Our iPad app, launched 18 months ago, is going from strength to strength though that is still a relatively linear experience, not unlike the catalogue but with some interactive elements. Ultimately, we have to ensure that however people choose to consume the brand, we are offering them an experience that remains carefully crafted, tailored and distinctively Boden. And the catalogue is part of that. It will remain at the heart of what we do. If we dont send them a catalogue, they dont shop as much. Its as simple as that ^
words: david roberts
the next papers

(pp19-34]
Sappi | Galerie fine silk 80g/m2
on paper _ number two

Ive always been a big fan of compact, book-like magazines, and when I came across Underscore in a book store in Australia, it just felt instantly right. The subtle colour palette printed on high-quality Munken Print Cream paper gives the stories an almost dreamy atmosphere that is solidified through the use of custom-made typography. I have to admit, the beauty of this publication often distracts me from properly engaging with its content. It might be my designer eye, but hey, there are no rules for how to enjoy a magazine. Call me superficial on this one Im in love nevertheless. Kai Brach is founder/editor/art director of Offscreen magazine a print magazine for digital creatives that explores the real-world inspirations of digital lives
Kai Brach
Sappi | Galerie fine silk is the gold standard when it comes to paper that brings vibrant graphics to life, and is the obvious choice for high-end publications and particularly popular with fashion, interiors and food titles. Silk papers sit somewhere between matt and gloss they dont have the same level of shine as a gloss finish, but they offer more texture than a matt. This gives them what is described as a highgloss contrast an almost 3-D effect. Youll see these qualities put through their elegant paces in the features that follow: Who is going to win the AR app war? and, rather aptly, the early pages of What is Chinese for glossy feel?.
20
who is going to win the AR
Suddenly, augmented reality (AR) content is everywhere in print, as magazines and newspapers explore new digital avenues to reach out to readers and monetise the results. But the question remains
app war ?
22
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To bring Layar to life, simply 1) Download the layar app for Android or iPhone 2) Hold your phone over this page 3) Watch the digital layer automatically appear
words: lucy handley
ugmented reality might sound like a kind of surgically-enhanced TV show, but it is, of course, a technology with the potential to get magazine readers more involved in and excited about the content they are looking at and provide more eyeballs to publishers. The technology of augmented reality (AR) is delivered by a smartphone app created by one of several competing companies including Blippar, Aurasma and Zappar (see p24). When a printed page is AR-enabled, readers can launch the app by holding their phone over the content, automatically triggering moving images or video to appear on the handset. One area where bridging the gap between print and digital in this way
could be especially useful is in childrens publishing. Copenhagen-based publisher Egmont launched its first interactive magazine for children this year. The February issue of UK boys title Toxic included 10 AR-enabled pages featuring brands including Lego, Monsters Inc and Guinness World Records, which linked to video content through Aurasma. Video consumption for five- to 12-year-olds has overtaken TV viewing and looks set to be an increasing trend, says publisher Siobhan Galvin. Allowing access to video clips through a magazine is what they want to be doing. Egmont is using AR in efforts to build a committed community, and hopes to bolster future magazine sales as a result of it.
using a less well-known technology can annoy consumers who resent downloading another app
<
A new generation of newspaper readers?
Proportion of readers who used the Tokyo Shimbun app to read with their children
Meanwhile, The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper in Japan is also using Aurasma to reach children although in this case as part of an effort to use print and digital in tandem to build a wider, shared readership among children and their parents together (see right). The choice of AR app will be particular to each publisher, and tends to be governed by what readers are familiar with or how using the technology will work commercially. In the race to find out which apps ultimately win over consumers and publishers alike, however, there is still all to play for. Aurasma is one of the main players, and has been used all over the world to help enhance magazine content. In the UK, however, Blippar is hot on its heels, having turned premium free title ShortList magazines cover into a game of Chuckie Egg, and having produced an interactive special with sister title Stylist during the 2012 Olympic Games. According to Alex Pell, a former technology editor at The Sunday Times, publishers have to be careful about who they partner with, as using a less well-known technology can annoy consumers, who may resent having to download another app. Re-skinning a white label application under a magazines brand name may also have the same effect. Pell, who now runs Dashboard Media, a company advising marketeers
37%
# go to ww w.whatsnextmagazine.net to find out more ab out the tokyo shimbun
Japanese paper The Toyko Shimbun wanted to create a future for newspapers, based on the idea that, if children could be encouraged to read them, it would increase communication in families and contribute to education. It used AR app Aurasma to change articles for adults into ones that children could understand, making difficult subjects such as finance, business or politics easily accessible. Kids can hold their favourite toy a smartphone over the printed paper to provoke the appearance of pop-up headlines, easy-to-read text and commentaries by animated characters. When dealing with the latest technology, the temptation is to do something glamorous, says Hirofumi Hayashi, creative director of Dentsu Toyko, which worked on the initiative. But for this campaign we decided to go back to basics to incorporate new technology to focus on trying to lessen the level of information disparity between adults and children. The newspaper claims that, of those who read it at home, 37 per cent used the app to read with their children. Significantly, brands including Kirin beer, Meiji yoghurt and bus company Hato also placed ads targeting both parent and child. Hirofumi says more ideas are now under consideration to further the newspapers reach, including producing versions of the paper in other languages such as English.
24
conversion and return on investment is proportionate to the investment. poor content converts poorly
and publishers on the use of AR, says the key is to test the user experience. Make sure whatever you create actually works, he says. It could also be a barrier if people have to register for content: No matter how good your content, if people cant access it easily, then you have wasted your time. UK-based AR company Zappar has worked with Cond Nast in the US and with luxury magazine title Rogue in the Philippines. Founder and managing director Caspar Thykier is upfront about the potential pitfalls for the technology. The big question is: what is the point of AR at a mass-market level? he says. Will it gain mass adoption as a useful tool in peoples everyday lives and not just be seen as a novelty? Meanwhile, the applications are so varied from gaming to marketing to military uses and aviation. We are asking: What is the revenue potential for the area in between the physical magazine and the handheld device? How do you get a return on your investment? One obvious way is to get a sponsor involved, as Rogue magazine did with a cover featuring model Solenn Heusaff. Using Zappar to augment the image, a film appeared of Heusaff slowly disrobing after taking a bite of the Magnum ice cream in her hand. Magnum owner Unilever RFM sponsored the content, in what Rogue editor-in-chief Paolo Reyes cheerfully called, A blind dive into the digital realm. Not that this was something that was done on a whim: the editorial team spent four months with production house Unitel and the Unilever team to find a cover concept that could seamlessly translate into a video.
A less time-consuming way to generate revenue might be simply to link printed content through AR to e-commerce sites. Asos magazine used Blippar to let people blipp to buy when using the app and browsing the printed title. Stylist did the same with a feature about trainers, and was able to release figures showing that six per cent of the total Blipps in the issue were on the trainers feature (although sales figures have not been released). Data collection is another attraction for publishers, says Jess Butcher, founder and chief marketing officer of Blippar. But for the whole package to succeed, investment must be made in the content. Conversion and return on investment is proportionate to the investment in a blipp, she says. Poor content, for example just having a TV ad playing on a press ad, converts poorly. Great games, offers, competitions or exclusive content convert much better. Dave Castell, director of digital at content agency and publisher Seven, believes that AR becomes ineffective when the content created comes across as a gimmick. He is unsure about Stylists Olympics special, for example, where readers could use Blippar to turn the
# go to www.whatsnextmagazine.net to tell us what you think of ar apps
first in line
<
Blippar Works with publishers on content that consumers blipp to reach. It does not give access to its software, but works with businesses to create the AR experience, for example it collaborated with LOral to enable consumers to virtually try on nail varnish via a print advertisement. Aurasma Owned by technology giant HP, Aurasma is one of the biggest players, with more than 16,000 partners in 100 countries. Scale is an advantage, as consumers are likely to start recognising its purple A logo and associate it with extra content.
16,000 in100
number of Aurasma global partners
countries
ZAPPAR London-based Zappar has worked on products as well as publishing, including something called a Zaphat that, when used with the app, turns a Zaphat hat-wearer into a virtual animated character be it US political figure, medieval knight, monster or zombie. TOUCHCODE German business Touchcode prints invisible ink onto printed products to make them interactive. It works with publishers, consumer goods manufacturers and toy manufacturers, and won Wall Street Journals technology innovation gold award last year. Layar As well as a long-running collaboration with Dutch womens magazine Linda, has worked with magalogue Vtwonen to facilitate click-to-buy. Publishers can enhance content for free if they host Layars advertising, or for a price-per-page fee without ads. Crossfy Focuses mainly on the publishing industry, but rather than using codes to make print interactive, it works directly through a smartphones camera seeing an ordinary printed image to launch video or other content.
26
illustrations: Ciara Phelan
<
havent we been down this path before?

The year was 1989. UK computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee was working on his information management system and, by years end, had got a hypertext transfer protocol client (HTTP) to communicate with a server. A year later, he christened the first web browser the WorldWideWeb, which then became known as Nexus (available on one of Apples first computers, the NeXT). Then, in 1993, the launch of Mosaic, by American software engineer Marc Andreesen, made web pages easier
Level of market domination enjoyed by Netscape Navigator in 1996
86%
to navigate. That was also the year that a landmark one per cent of all information flowing through telecommunications networks went through the internet by the year 2000 it would account for more than half. Andreesens browser became known as Netscape Navigator in 1994, and Netscape had 86 per cent penetration of the market by 1996. But Microsoft toppled it by doing deals with computer manufacturers to install its own Internet Explorer on their machines. Eventually, Netscape decided to open source its product, first creating Mozilla and then, in 2002, launching Firefox.
Since then, the use of Internet Explorer itself has been in decline, dropping to 63 per cent in 2009 from more than 90 per cent five years previously. Browsers such as Camino, Google Chrome and Safari are becoming more common, with Opera now particularly popular for smartphones and tablets. Alex Pell, the founder of Dashboard Media, sees lessons here for developers of AR apps: They all harbour ambitions to be the one but there will be consolidation, as there was in the early days of web browsers. Well also see AR being embedded into internet browsers themselves.
cover image of synchronised swimmers into a video of them performing. It was quite a moment because the page was coming alive. It wasnt a bad execution but the feeling was, Whats the point? The content has to have integrity. Indeed, not all publishers are convinced about the value of AR. Hearsts Michael Rowley, group publishing director of UK magazines including Reveal and Best, is keener to concentrate on tablet and smartphone versions of his titles for now, rather than create AR experiences for them. So instead of using AR to link to an e-commerce site, Reveal has its own See it buy it app, from which it takes commission. The early AR experiences werent
brilliant but they will become more fun, he says. Using AR means being very targeted to the consumer and offering something genuinely different. Castell can see the evolution of AR apps having an effect on how magazine content is put together. When editorial is being planned, we are thinking about whether something is going to be shot as a photo or a video, and how that will appear in the magazine. That influences the choice of features in the first place. So who will win the AR app wars? For Pell, the future will be about niches developing, and consolidation of the big players. He sees humble packaging as something with promise for the future with a breakfast cereal, for example,
you potentially have a properly captive audience reading the back of the packet. Castell, though, thinks QR or quick response codes may be more appropriate for groceries: QR is almost its own worst enemy by virtue of being quite ugly, he says. With AR, you can remove the ugliness and youre quickly into the creative and enjoying things in a much purer way rather than reminding yourself about the technology. QR is still the more common of the two approaches, however, and is easier for consumers to use because they dont need to download a specific reader. But with AR offering ever-more immersive experiences, 2013 may yet be the year that it starts to win out.
it was quite a moment, because the page was coming alive. but the feeling was, whats the point?
One thing is currently certain: market conditions remain fluid and unpredictable. Last autumn, the battle between Aurasma and Blippar in the UK fell squarely in Aurasmas favour because of its user base being bigger globally, points out Castell. Now he sees the possibility of other players emerging. Both Aurasma and Blippar are now charging, and once someone charges, they are suddenly in competition with anyone who is free and that provider will have a slight edge. He cites German app Junaio as a name that might come to the forefront, given recent success with an awardwinning Ikea catalogue. You have to consider: is there still the consumer awareness of a particular app that can influence a publisher to stick with whichever app it has used before? Or can it afford to experiment again?
Ultimately, its consumers who decide for themselves which app they want to use, not publishers or brands and people are unlikely to want to download too many. Pell sees parallels with the early years of the internet, when there was a proliferation of browser providers that subsequently all-but disappeared with consolidation of the market. The momentum behind what people wanted to do overpowered the desires of the pioneers in the field, he says. Aurasma, with its global reach, might be the app that wins the battle this year. But with so many competitive apps still emerging, its far too early to say who will win the war. Only one thing is certain: its the consumer who will remain king 6
on paper _ number three

I like the consistency of The New York Times, both when I read it in the US and when I read the European version (International Herald Tribune) the high quality in every aspect, the credibility, the thoroughness and the sense of honest, hard-hitting fairness. The visual journalism is also extremely good the paper still has the ambition to have a staff with dedicated photojournalists such as Todd Heisler and Damon Winter. Winner of the 2012 World Press Photo award, Paul Hansen is a Stockholm-based photojournalist who works for Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter
Paul Hansen
w h a t s n e x t _ t o u c h 29
w h a i c h i n e s f o g l o s s f e e l
Two household magazine names + four major territories = the opportunity to find out something of what it means to adapt a global print brand to distinctly individual national conditions
t s e r y ?
30 w h a t s n e x t _ t o u c h
Joyce Liu
is publisher of Marie Claire in China
Marie Claire China Thats something thats changed massively since we launched in 2002. Back then, our readers bought fashion titles mainly to get a glimpse of what was going on outside China a window on to the huge luxury brands that came from Europe and the US. But, over the years, their tastes have matured and now they demand far more practical and relevant content, and a lot more about Chinese celebrities, Chinese designers and life for women in China. When we launched, we picked up 30-40 per cent of the content from other Marie Claire editions. Now, we only take about five per cent from other editions and create 95 per cent here in China. Marie Claire France Marie Claire Internationals slogan is: Think smart, look amazing. And it summarises well what Marie Claire readers expect to find in the magazine something different from the other womens titles. Marie Claire provides excellence in its fashion and beauty pages every woman is interested in that but the Marie Claire reader is expecting more. She is openminded and naturally interested in womens issues in her own country. But she also wants to know what women are
hat do the readers of Marie Claire China look for in a magazine?
doing in the rest of the world, and expects in-depth journalistic information that will inform, surprise and seduce her.
Whats particularly Chinese/French about what your readership wants from Marie Claire?
succeed in pursuing a career and also having a family with two, sometimes three children. Our readers are interested in discovering how they do it.
Marie Claire China They want
personality from the magazine. They want originality and creativity, and in-depth coverage of topics that are relevant to their lives beauty tips and fashion but also social issues concerning professional women succeeding in the workplace and the evolving role of women in China. Theres a lot of pressure on young people in China, and part of Marie Claires presence is to offer them a strong, positive, confident female role model. We dont just talk about beauty that exists on the surface, were interested in the inner strengths of independent, intelligent women. We did a lot of hard work on that.
How has the physical feel of the magazine adapted to the changing demands of the Chinese/ French consumer?
Marie Claire China When we launched,
Marie Claire France Marie Claire now publishes 34 international editions and 40 sister editions, and reaches 15 million women each month. What attracts them to a French magazine like Marie Claire? The French touch when it comes to fashion and beauty certainly plays a part. But also, women all over the world envy the lifestyle of French women who
the magazine was really thin less than 200 pages. Now, like all the major fashion magazines in China, were more than 400 pages a month, sometimes up to 500. In 2009, we were one of the first fashion magazines in China to launch a smallformat edition, which we now run in parallel with our regular format. Again, this is a reflection of how the reader has changed they want something useful and practical, something they can buy at the airport and carry in their handbag. A key area for circulation growth is Chinas second- and third-tier cities, the rapidly developing centres away from the coast, in the middle or the west of the country. These are huge markets because of their population size, but traditionally the consumer here has been more price-conscious and less in-the-know about international fashion. Our largeformat edition is RMB20 [2/2.50] thats quite a lot of money for many consumers outside of Shanghai, Beijing,
readers want coverage of the evolving role 0f women in cHina

L a u r e n c e H e m b e r t- W e r m u s
is executive director of international editions for Groupe Marie Claire in France
proportion of magazine content created locally by marie claire china
95%
Guangdong and the major cosmopolitan cities. So our pocket-sized edition, which is RMB15, is more popular in the second- and third-tier cities.
Marie Claire France The younger generation is used to having quick access to information, and the layout has evolved to reflect that. Today, we publish shorter articles and more striking pictures and we offer permanent interactivity through our website. In terms of format, in France and in most countries where Marie Claire is published, we give our readers the option of buying either the large, classic format or the travel size, which attracts younger readers in particular.
How else does your magazine physically compare to other Marie Claire editions?
Chinese market than abroad, and beauty advertisers have very strict demands on the type of paper we use. One of the most popular product sectors in China is skin-whitening products. Advertisers demand extremely high-quality paper and very advanced photo reproduction techniques to show off the whiteness of the Chinese models in their advertisements. We often insert fouror eight-page sections of very thick, high-quality gloss paper into the beauty sections just for the cosmetics adverts. If the paper is slightly yellow, the ads wont work.
Marie Claire China For RMB20, the Chinese readership expects a product that feels very luxurious, so we concentrate on using high-end paper and as much gloss and weight as we can. Readers want a product that feels sophisticated and well-made, but there are exceptions to this. For the back of the book, which has our lifestyle coverage, we use lighter paper stock to keep the weight of the magazine down, as our pagination is climbing so high. The same is true for the smaller-format edition we want that to be portable and practical, so we use a lighter stock throughout. But we also have to tailor our paper to the demands of the advertisers. Beauty advertising is even more important to the
Marie Claire France All over the world, Marie Claire offers its readers the same concept: an identical magazine structure with the same format and glossy paper. We do not use matt paper, except occasionally for specific inside sections. The paper weight varies according to the different countries because there can be a big difference in the pagination some editions (in Asia or Italy, for example) can run to more than 500 pages. Last month, the 20th anniversary issue for our Korean edition was more than 700 pages long.
How does your choice of content reflect national consumer tastes?
that weve created in China, but content about Chinese brands and the major players in the homegrown Chinese fashion and beauty industry. We have played a role in shaping this change by highlighting and celebrating Chinese designers and models. Take Liu Wen: shes now one of the top models in the world. Back in 2007, when she was 18, no one knew her and we put her on the cover. At that time, a lot of people couldnt understand that decision because they were used to seeing only top actresses or supermodels on our cover. People said, Why have you put this unknown child on the cover? But we chose her because we knew part of our role was to cultivate Chinese talent. We saw her potential, and we helped her rise to international fame. The reader wants us to do that, to promote Chinese talent and Chinese designers. All this makes Chinese readers feel proud, and thats one of the other things theyre looking for when they read our magazines. Its another form of the aspirational satisfaction they look for in a fashion title.
Marie Claire China Chinese readers increasingly want to see Chinese designers and models alongside Western brands. In the past, Chinese designers werent at the same level as those in the West, but this has changed and now its crucial that we include not just content
Marie Claire France We strongly believe that to be successful each Marie Claire edition must have at least 60 per cent locally produced content: local reports on womens issues, portraits of successful local women and work by local fashion designers. Each editor has access to an international digital editorial database of all the other Marie Claire editions. They can use a feature as it is, adapt it and add local interviews, or take
we do not use matt paper, except specific inside

illustration: Mio Matsumoto
inspiration from it to produce their own report. We are very demanding regarding the quality of the locally produced content we expect it to meet the international quality standards. We give permanent training, both locally and in Paris, to local editorial teams whether it be for features, fashion or beauty. We help local fashion editors to detect young talent: new models or photographers, for example. Last year, our international fashion director spent more than two months in China training the local Marie Claire fashion team. Among French womens titles, Marie Claire is unique. It is the only monthly upmarket womens magazine whose monthly circulation is almost 500,000. It has become famous for its role in defending the rights of women and children, but we always try to do this in an original and positive way. For example, Marie Claire generated a big buzz some time ago when it invited famous French female politicians from different political parties to be photographed dressed and made up to look like men. The purpose was to help smash the glass ceiling that often prevents women from reaching top positions. It is still generally the case that a story that has been a hit in France will also be a hit in other Marie Claire editions, unless it relates to rising television stars who are totally unknown abroad.
Marie Claire China If anything, the papers weight and quality may become less and less important, because readers are increasingly realising that they are not just buying glossy paper, they are buying the magazines content. So that might mean the magazine slowly becomes less heavyweight and glossy. Also, readers are putting more importance on environmental protection, which means we might look at using more recycled stock, though thats still expensive in China. I personally believe the reader will increasingly want something lighter and more portable and, if so, we will have to adapt to those demands. Giving the reader the experience they want is always paramount.
Where do you see the Marie Claire brand going in the future?
In the future, do you see your magazine changing its physical feel in order to augment its identity in the marketplace?
Marie Claire France We believe that print and digital are complementary: we are developing e-reading apps enriched versions or PDF versions, depending on the country and native apps, and have begun to use a paid model for these apps in some countries. After heavy investment in digital, we have now started to break even in several countries. Since its launch in 1937, Marie Claire has always been a trendsetter, anticipating the expectations of its readers. It is now a 360-degree global brand with print magazines, books, branded products, TV programmes, websites and digital apps. But whatever the medium, editorial quality and creative content will remain key.
occasionally for sections
number of years, until 2012, that GQ russia only used foreign cover stars
total readership of us GQ
6m+
Michael Idov
is editor-in-chief of GQ Russia
the next papers

(pp35-50]
hat do the readers of GQ in your country look for in a magazine?
GQ Russia They look for the same thing
that any reader does some true reflection of ones interests and personality, some aspirational fantasy of the same, and some respectful tips on reconciling the former with the latter.
What is particularly Russian/ American about what your readers look for in a magazine?
is vice president and publisher of GQ in the US
do, and in many cases we are formulated slightly different to the rest of the world. We are the style leader within American mens magazines, but were also a serious journalistic product all due credit to the editor and the heritage we have of serious journalism and long-form pieces. Last year, GQ was nominated for more editorial awards than any other monthly magazine published in the US I dont think everybody would necessarily assume that we have that kind of journalistic and literary heritage. Without denigrating the quality of any of the international editions, I think that this focus on writers and the long-form features is a real hallmark of our edition. If you look at the diversity and the sheer size of our readership we have a circulation of just under one million and a readership of more than six million, a little more than a quarter of which is female clearly theyre coming for things other than mens fashion.
GQ US There are so many things that we
that, in the absence of Vanity Fair in this market, it falls to GQ to assume some of its themes and tone. As a result, GQ Russias thematic scope and cast of recurring characters are far more tied in
GQ US What Jim Nelson, the editor-inchief of GQ, does so well is humour.
Chris Mitchell
GQ Russia I noticed shortly after joining
with the life of countrys elites than is the case with the American GQ, for example. A ballsy political interview is always a reliable hit, too. But the undisputed blockbuster of recent issues was a first-person, anonymous, very smartly written tell-all by an Oxford drug dealer. It even attracted a movie-rights offer. Any story that looks at subject matter that is near and dear to the pro-Western Russian elites, but that looks at it from a slightly skewed, unexpected or humorous perspective is a good bet. The Russian reader also expects GQ to cover the top end of the luxury market unabashedly and at length. In fact, the notion of GQ Russia being the elite, highbrow, elegant magazine sometimes even supersedes its identity as a mens magazine. The argument over whether its appropriate for GQ to have women on the cover, long solved in the US, is very much alive here, judging from some reader feedback. Both the US and the Russian editions feature as many women as they do men, but only in Russia, I am willing to bet, does this cause some readers to write in protesting that having a woman on the cover brings us down to the level of a lads mag. Being perceived as an elegant mens magazine is a peculiar tightrope to walk. I have had to adjust to local consumer tastes myself. For instance, a month or so into my job, an editor submitted a round-up of new scents and I rewrote it to address what I had assumed was the usual male apprehension about this stuff. It was quickly explained to me that Russian men are more than fine with cologne and perfume, and that GQs mission is to get them to upgrade not to convince them that its OK to wear it in the first place.
Sappi | Royal roto silk 115g/m2
Sappi | Royal roto packs quite a punch it not only provides precise image reproduction and outstanding gloss, but combines this with a very even print surface. This makes it a great match for our Feeling our way forward feature, where Noma Bars bold, bright illustrations contrast sharply with the expansive white space on the pages they sit alongside. Sappi | Royal roto is also well-known and popular for its reliability on high-run print jobs so if you want to run a large number of copies in a short space of time, but are not willing to compromise on quality of image reproduction, this could be your paper. Sappi | Royal roto comes in a wide range of weights and in matt, silk and gloss finishes.
I wont claim that we are funnier than the international editions or that Americans have a keener sense of humour, but I think theres a distinctly American sense of humour in the magazine. And humour in a mens magazine in America is really important. Jim says that, Humour is intimacy for men. The two things that men tend to bond over in this country, and perhaps universally, are sport and humour. So everything we do from the editors letter to the culture coverage to the fashion itself brings in that humour and wit. The other thing I would point to is the style coverage. Were very sensitive to how American men view style, and I do think this is a real distinction from the rest of the world. American men tend to be afraid of fashion and, because of that, were very careful how we serve fashion and style advice to them. There are no
pattern or colour. We sprinkle these trends in but we make sure we do it in a way that feels very American.
How far are the physical attributes of the magazine tailored to your national market?
GQ Russia GQ Russia is larger than
most editions (230 x 298mm). Im not sure whether this is directly attributable to national tastes, but it certainly helps the magazine to stand out. Design-wise we are, I dare say it, near the head of the global pack, but there is very little in our overall look that couldnt be applied to any other GQ. We will use matt stock occasionally sparingly to separate a special section. And we also experiment with metallic finishes and foil more than the US edition does.
GQ is so well recognised that product or promotional

points for being first in delivering a trend if youre too early for what the market really wants. The timing of rolling out a trend is something creative director Jim Moore has almost turned into a science its why the magazine continues to have such credibility with the readers. We arent going to put you in a yellow jumpsuit because we saw one on the catwalk if we know thats unlikely to be the thing that youll want to show up to work in. If an American man takes a fashion risk and doesnt get positive feedback, youve lost him he takes 10 steps back in his fashion evolution. So, for that reason, its fashion service, its fit, tailoring, co-ordination of
GQ US There are practical reasons when

you get to being as big as we are that you want a format that fits into the newsstands newsstands being an important part of our business. It doesnt behove us to be a wider magazine, for instance, and then end up not fitting into some of the key newsstands or airport pockets. As for paper stock, thats really a costbenefit analysis on quality and efficiency. Our goal is to have the heaviest quality paper stock that we can, for our readers and advertisers sake, but not such that it boosts our postal costs or ends up making our production costs inefficient.
What is particularly important to readers of GQ in Russia/the US as opposed to readers elsewhere or of other publications?
GQ Russia Editing a magazine for the
several big clients that own local department stores, so the advertising for many brands can come from them or directly from the brand. Thus, often, we deal with two sets of marketing reps.
Russian reader is a constant, curious tug-of-war between domestic and foreign content. A little too much or too little of either, and the reader will feel shortchanged. Before I became editor, GQ Russia had not had a Russian cover star in six years. I found that fact jaw-dropping. But, print too many domestic covers, and GQ would lose its reputation as the readers lifeline to the global A-list, and might create the perception of competing with more downmarket domestic titles. Thus, the bar for the domestic cover subjects has to be rather high, and fame is only a part of the issue it cant be a face that regularly shows up in
GQ US Were the biggest magazine here
both in terms of circulation and advertising (on the advertising side by about 40 per cent) that mantle weighs on us and we have the responsibility to be the style bible for American men as well as delivering the full lifestyle content. If you look at the past five years, youll find a real increase in food and entertaining editorial, in travel editorial, in the sort of quality journalism and long-form stories that weve done traditionally. The reader whos coming to GQ is getting a lot of these things in one place. The overlap between our readership and, say, a culinary magazine is incredibly small, and yet we know that
interpretation of these basic GQ values is a dynamic, humorous front of the book; uncondescending style advice; sharp opinions that dont cross over into advocacy; bright and striking photography; unmatched celebrity and political access; and, finally but crucially, a great feature well. In my first year here, our original stories have been published in the American, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish editions of GQ, and syndicated to magazines such as The New Republic and Foreign Policy. I take this as an indication that were making a magazine that can be Russian and world-class at the same time.
Where do you see the GQ brand going in the future?
GQ US One of the most interesting parts
of our business is brand collaboration. GQ is so well recognised that we can add
we can add those two letters in collaboration with so many brands

mass-market weeklies. In my first year, I ran three Russian covers to nine Western ones. That, I think, is a palatable ratio. Owing to the Russians residual mistrust of the mail, the Russian market is almost all newsstand sales. Editorially speaking, that places more pressure on covers and cover lines, though the growing popularity of the iPad edition is balancing things out somewhat. From the publishing standpoint, many Western brands use Russian intermediaries when they reach the market, which makes these intermediaries more powerful than any individual advertiser. There are the modern man wants more than ever to know about food and drink and travel. These things may not have traditionally been the scope of a mens magazine, but today they are part of that lifestyle. those two letters in product collaboration or across promotional collaboration with so many brands. So, we may licence an edition of a car or launch a collaborative collection of a product in a big retailer. Were more sensitive than ever to how important the GQ brand is and we want to work with all kinds of partners to bring that to consumers in many ways beyond the digital or print versions of our content. I think that will be a real legacy of the 18 international editions as well youre going to see that roll out on a global basis. That is the future of a great media brand it can offer this halo to any number of other product categories ^
Where do you see GQ in Russia fitting with the overall GQ brand?
GQ Russia There is a tremendous amount

of leeway given to individual GQs: the French GQ couldnt be more different from the Spanish one, for instance, and GQ Russia has very little in common with the Chinese edition. That said, we all share the basic, time-tested DNA, and it would be silly to ignore it. My
forwar d
Adam Greenfield
feeling our way
is an influential writer on design, and founder of New York design practice Urbanscale. He was previously Nokias head of design for user interface and services
Gte Nyman
is a professor at the University of Helsinki, and founder of the research group Psychology of Evolving Media and Technology (POEM)
We live in a world that is both increasingly virtual and increasingly navigated by the sense of touch. Two experts explore what this means for something as simple as the way we read words on screen and on page
what does it mean for a text to be digital?
what does it mean for a text to be physical?
digital text can, in principle, be replicated in perfect fidelity and transmitted to an unlimited number of recipients worldwide at close to zero cost. Powerful analytic tools can be brought to bear on it, and our reading of it. It can be compared to other texts, plumbed for clues as to its provenance and authorship. Each of our acts of engagement with it buying it, reading it, annotating it can be shared with our social networks, used as props in an ongoing performance of self. Above all, it becomes (to use the jargon practically unavoidable in any discussion of information technology) platformagnostic. This is to say that it becomes independent, to a very great degree, of any single physical medium. It can be accessed via a large variety of platforms: e-readers, PCs, tablets, smartphones. To varying degrees, these things have been true as long as words have been encoded in ones and zeroes
there are comparatively few semantically meaningful ways the reader's can meet the pages of a book
hand
hen you think about humans and monkeys, touch is always to do with objects and physical characteristics of the environment. Its a kind of extra vision that we use to relate to whats around us. When we deal with printed books and magazines, we are able to use our three-dimensional touch vision its almost a kind of stereo vision through our hands. It is designed for recognising surfaces: what texture is the surface? Is the object hot, sharp? Is it moving? Is it somehow harmful? When we deal with digital products, touch is actually forced to be two-dimensional. Sometimes, technology provides different ways of creating form and physical feedback, but there is a big difference between natural touch and what touch becomes with digital displays even with the best tablets that we are using. When we talk about touch-user interfaces, people dont think much about how very clever our normal touch system is. When you take a pen in your hand, there are just a few points that touch your fingers, but
certainly since 1971, when Project Gutenberg was founded with the idea of digitising as much of the worlds literature as possible, and making it all available for free. Why is it the case, then, that digital books only seem to have entered our lives in any major way in the past two or three years? The apparently sudden arrival of the digital text probably owes something to the top-of-mind quality Amazon currently enjoys in its main markets, its name and value proposition as familiar to us as those of the grocery chains, television networks or airlines we patronise a presence its taken the company the better part of 15 years to build up. And it surely has something to do with the widespread popular ability to navigate digital content of all sorts that has developed over the same period of time to the point where its increasingly hard to meet a grandparent inconversant with downloads, torrents and the virtues of cloud storage. But the fundamental reason is probably that bit about platformagnosticism. Anyone so inclined could have engaged digital text on a conventional computer at any point in the past 40 years. But the act of reading didnt and maybe couldnt properly come into its own in the digital era until there was a platform for literature as present to the senses as paper itself something as well-suited to the digital text as the road is to the car. I refer, of course, to the networked tablet. Its only with the widespread embrace of these devices that digital reading has become ubiquitous. Relatively inexpensive, lightweight and comfortable in the hand, capable of storing thousands of volumes, the merits of the tablet as reading environment may strike us as self-evident. But theres another factor that underlies its general appeal, and that is to do with how we manipulate reading material when using one. We read text on a tablet as pixels, just as we would on any screen. But the ways in which we physically address and move through a body of such pixels have more in common with the behaviours we learned from books in earliest childhood than with anything we picked up in the course of later encounters with computers. This is the new tactility of reading. But where there are comparatively few semantically meaningful ways in which the readers hand can meet the pages of a material book, the experience of engaging a digital text with the finger is subject to a certain variability. Its not a boundless freedom its delimited on one side by technological limitations, and on
we deal with digital products, touch is actually
O when
two-dimensional
youll recognise with really minimal touch input that, Hey, this is a pen! With tablets, we dont have that information its an unnaturally smooth, regular, two-dimensional surface. So, in that sense, when we touch a tablet display, its actually a symbolic touch, like pointing with touch. Why does a printed magazine or a book feel so good? I think about books and magazines as objects, and when you have a valuable object at home, whether its an artwork or a piece of wood from the forest, the object has a source or origin. If you take a book, we already know that there is an author, a genre, a style its not just a platform for print, but an object with a complex origin. The articles, materials and images in a digital text are, in a sense, abstract they have origins but those origins are not concrete. A few years ago, I led a study where we asked people about their relationships with digital and printed magazines. Those who preferred the printed product cited several factors, including the history of the magazine, editorial structure, ergonomics (how comfortable it was to use), usability (how fluent it was to manipulate), relaxation (the extent to which they could switch off and enjoy the content),
forced to be
the other by the choices of an interaction designer but it does require explication. The first variable is the screen medium itself. Each of the major touchscreen technologies available resistive, capacitive, projective-capacitive, optical imposes its own constraints on the latency and resolution with which a screen registers a touch, dictating how long one must place ones finger against it to turn a page or select a word for definition. Reading on a good screen feels effortless, even transparent, but particularly high latency or low resolution can easily disrupt the flow of experience, lifting the reader up and out of the text entirely. The second is the treatment of type. As critical as it is to the legibility and emotional resonance of a text, typography is, on the whole, treated as though it has not been refined over five centuries. It still feels like we are many years and product versions away from type on the tablet rendered with the craft and care it deserves. A third variable is the way in which both the meaning of gestural interactions and the treatment of the page itself can vary from environment to environment. Especially given the pressure developers are under to differentiate their products one from another, a tap in the Kindle for iPad app may not mean precisely what a tap in Readmill or Instapaper or Reeder does, or work in at all the same way. In fact, something as simple and as basic to the act of reading as turning a page is handled differently in all of these contexts. Originally, of course, the pagination of text was an artefact of necessity, something imposed by running a continuous text across a physically discontinuous number of pages. One might think, therefore, that pagination would be among the first things to go in making the leap to the digital reading environment. Instead, contemporary applications tend to retain it as a skeuomorphism a design feature carried from the real to the digital world embellishing the interaction with animated page curls and sound effects. Finally, we also need to account for what it means to absorb text as a luminous projection. Philosopher of communications theory Marshall McLuhan drew a distinction between light-on media those in which content inscribed on a passive surface like paper is illuminated by an external light source and light-through media, such as our luminous tablets. Given his insistence that medium is inextricably linked with message, we can assume that the same text consumed in these two ways will
expectations
of how certain goes with certain types of material
we have
content
personal information management (how easily they were able to return to useful information), what we called personal rhythm (the way in which they moved back and forth between the pages) and the materials (the tangible weight of the magazine). I can easily imagine that people will quickly learn new ways of dealing with the usability aspect and become increasingly comfortable with digital alternatives, but the physical structure aspect is more complex. If we can access that structure by touching, manipulating, moving, turning one or several pages at the same time, it means that we are able to behave like monkeys, something that is natural to us. We can, of course, always learn new things, but I dont think that we will ever get rid of the pleasure of dealing with tangible objects. There are cultural factors that affect our reaction to the printed matter we touch. We did another study some years ago for the publishing industry analysing reactions to three different grades of magazine: modern fashion magazines; everyday magazines; and low-grade gossip magazines. People get quite annoyed if you print gossip-style, paparazzi stories on high-quality paper like you might use in a fashion magazine we have expectations of how certain content goes with certain types of material. You have the content, and then you have the message that comes across through the material you are using. Why cant a magazine that deals with sustainability shine? Why not combine paper with content in a way that surprises people? But this culture is very strong. Materials are important because of what they represent. The feel of money is somehow included in its value the material becomes a symbol. I used to read research materials in print when I was starting my career; they provided
i l lu s t r at i o n s : n o m a b a r
be received differently emotionally as much as cognitively. As it happens, I have both an actual, e-paper Kindle digital, but nevertheless light-on and Kindle apps for the light-through iPhone and iPad. And purely anecdotally, it does seem to be the case that I have an easier time with thornier, weightier reading on the e-paper device. Novels are fine on the iPad, even on my phone, but if I want to wrestle with Graham Harman or Susan Sontag, I reach for the Kindle. The McLuhanite in me the part that believes that the way we illuminate text is crucial to our understanding of it frets that, in embracing the tablet, we inadvertently give up much of our engagement with the text. That beyond sentimentality, there is something about the act of turning a page to punctuate a thought, or the phenomenology of light reflecting off paper saturated with ink, that conditions the act of reading and makes it what we recognise it to be, at some level beneath the threshold of conscious perception. Which brings us back to the printed artefact. We can acknowledge that the networked tablet is a brilliant addition to any readers instrumentarium. Im certain it increases the times and places that people read. But its not quite the same thing as a book or a magazine, and cannot entirely replace them. Curiously enough, the ambitions to which paper appears to remain best-suited are diametrically opposite. On the one hand, there is thoughtful engagement with a body of language, an engagement that fully leverages the craft of bookmaking. In this pursuit, the tablet cannot yet offer the typographic nicety, design for legibility or perceptual richness available from ink on paper all of the things that permit the reader to immerse himself for longer and with less strain. But there are also occasions on which surface is allimportant, where the ostensible content is almost incidental to the qualities of its packaging. Here, the texture or other qualities of paper itself, even its smell, communicate I think of glossy lifestyle magazines. Its hard to imagine any tablet device affording these virtues in anything like the near term. If we understand a book or magazine as a container, the precise shape that container takes ought to reflect the nature of its intended contents, and what one proposes to do with them. In acknowledging all the many virtues of networked, digital texts, the texture and substance of paper will ensure that, for at least the contexts Ive specified here, it remains the best way to contain thought as it flows from one human mind to another.
engagement
with the text
embracing the tablet we give up much of our
part of me frets that in
essential information. But I quickly learnt different ways of accessing that information and today it comes in digital form; its background is not necessarily important. If the material is somehow inviting, though, with beautiful paper and colour and a pleasing surface, then the physical characteristics become integral to the experience. If magazine publishers end up only imitating the form and style of digital products, they will be in trouble. When you are offering high-quality creative materials, people need time to process what they are seeing and take perspectives on it. Print allows that because it is an object. But if you have it in digital form, you treat it according to the laws of the tablet or computer. Designers of touchscreen technology have deliberately eliminated many of the natural aspects of touch whether it is a hard or soft surface, whether there is any friction because otherwise it wouldnt function as well. But it has created a kind of diminutive of human touch. We recently carried out a study for Nokia camera group looking at human interaction with touch displays, and noticed that people become very sensitive to the way the displays respond to touch. How fast does the display react? Is it smooth or abrupt? How quickly does the object follow your finger? We were able to show how even the tiniest inaccuracies in display responsivity disturb user experience. The reason is simple we expect animated objects to behave like real ones, but they dont. I am interested in the degree to which displays such as these could be developed so that they would feel natural for us but I believe there are limits. New surfaces already exist, and perhaps someone will come up with a three-dimensional display or display tube that you can hold in your hands and do all kinds of things with. But I havent seen it just yet ^
on paper _ number four
By presenting contemporary Middle Eastern culture and arts in the English language, Bidoun has established itself as a bridge to the outside world for artists, providing an important platform for voices from the region to write and reflect on social and cultural change. The magazine has developed into a unique archive of Middle Eastern creativity which, in these times of hopeful uprisings, crushing violence and brutal loss, needs more support and exposure than ever. Laila Al-Zubaidi is regional director of the Heinrich Bll Foundation and editor of a new collection of writing born of recent events in the Arab world, Writing Revolution: The Voices from Tunis to Damascus
Layla Al-Zubaidi
47
6
Case study#2
because kids still like to read, too
S ch o o l -age c hi l d r e n (and their parents) everywhere can testify to the huge commercial success of Moshi Monsters, a website with more than 65 million registered users worldwide, where children create and nurture their own pet monster. When, in 2011, the websites creators, UK entertainment company Mind Candy, wanted to enhance their fast-growing brand, they turned to print. Launched as a joint venture with SkyJack Publishing, within six months the Moshi Monsters Magazine had become the countrys leading childrens magazine, simultaneously invigorating an entire publishing sector. Co-editor Emma Munro Smith explains how her magazine reached out to its web-savvy young fans
words: alex elliott
48
Case study#2
6
number of Moshi Monsters adopted across 150 countries worldwide
75M
66
Mind Candy Limited. All rights reserved
6
UK circulation of Moshi Monsters Magazine
231,811
We took the decision to launch the magazine because we wanted to extend the experience of the online world. We already had an established base of users, and we knew they loved the world and the characters, but we were limited in the extent to which we could enrich the narrative on the site due to the limited amount that kids can read while playing. We saw an opportunity to explore the characters and add some value to the experience the kids were having: giving characters a back-story and supporting the site. We gave the kids more information, extra tips, and linked the magazine and the site together, so that the two could promote each other. A lot of it came from the sort of play that we saw kids undertaking online. We had an active forum and blog; the kids were engaging with our news pieces there, and also making up their own role plays or speculating about why characters did certain things. We saw an opportunity to coax them into thinking more about all that. Wed always anticipated that, because we had our fanbase and an established brand, we could make a successful monthly magazine. But we were really careful not to be complacent or assume that we could put anything out there. We wanted each magazine to be something that we were really proud of. I think thats reflected in the fact that weve not only had so many new readers coming to us each month, weve also had a really solid base of kids that have stayed with us for a long time. We see the magazine as an accompaniment to the site. We want the content to be really current its not something we would ever allow to become just an extra or an add-on. Its something that we do to extend the online experience into the physical world and to enrich some of our characters. It doesnt just rehash the content of the site; it works with it to expand it further. The brand being in retail gives us presence on the shelf, which is obviously positive. And, with kids physically having our magazine and sharing it with friends, our hope is that if one child really loves it theyll share it, and the more they share it, the more positive it is for Moshi, because other kids will want to read the magazine, too. Moshi is designed for short-stint play, and we mirror that in the magazine. The pages are very self-contained, so each page or spread has an activity on it something that involves putting pen to paper, a fact to find out about or added extras to read. The magazine is something that kids can have a little bit more independent ownership of, because its an achievable pocket-money purchase. So they can save up their money, buy their magazine themselves and start a collection. We get a lot of pictures that kids send us of all of their magazines laid out: theyre immensely proud of their collections, or the posters theyve put up on their walls.
position in the ABC Top 100 Magazines in February 2013 (ahead of Grazia, Marie Claire and Mens Health)
28
50
w h a t s n e x t _ t o u c h Case study#2
When we were doing research at the outset, there were reports of sales declining in certain kids magazines, and in magazines in general. We didnt let that colour the way we were planning the magazine. Our real selling point is the quality of our content. We took Moshi Mag as its own independent product: we looked at the other kids magazines as a benchmark for what was currently there and used certain things as inspiration. Then we thought about what we could do beyond that, and how we could create a product that we truly felt was high quality. We didnt dwell too much on the statistics of other kids magazines. We knew what the sales levels were, and that we would want to sell more than those levels if we were to be the largestselling monthly kids mag, but we didnt lock ourselves into any kind of sales analysis. I come from the moderation and online content field, so we trusted in our own connection with users and our connection to the Moshi world. Our users are really vocal on the site. If they like or dont like something, theyll tell us. So, as a company, we listen to our fanbase but not necessarily in a formal research capacity; just by looking at the patterns of play, the types of things they do on our forums or the things they say in blog comments. It helps to guide our content. Were all really passionate, so my hope is that if I can love a page at age 27, then our readers, who are closely connected to the game too, will also be enjoying it. So far, that seems to have been working. We have also run a reader survey, and we were very happy with the results. We have a really balanced audience of kids that engages with the Moshi brand in a number of ways. I think that because weve got 52 pages, and we can fill those with such different content, the magazine caters for everyone in the best way it can. We have digital redeemable codes that we include with the magazine, so each month we are able to see how many of our readers are redeeming them. We use that to look at whether or not we think theyve engaged well with, and enjoyed, that item. We might, for example, set a certain challenge related to a virtual item or a mini game, and look at how many kids took part in a competition, or submitted an entry. It tells us that the content is engaging, and thats our priority. At the time that we chose to launch the magazine, we had a fan base of 34 million registered users. We were happy with the way the online site was growing and trending, and it was very early in the development of Moshis licensed products we didnt have that much else on the shelf. It was one of the earlier things that we launched as a way of extending the brand and as something that kids could physically interact with. The type of play that we have on Moshi is suited to a kids magazine, so it was a natural choice for us: as updatable as a physical
number of consecutive weeks that debut Moshi Nintendo DS title Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo maintained No 1 position on UK game chart the longest ever No 1 in Nintendo DS chart history
23
6 6
6
1.4m+
number of Moshi Monsters books sold in the UK since July 2010
6
number of collectible Moshling figurines sold globally
80m
6 6
6
40%
increase in magazine circulation over past year
product could possibly be, but still physical enough for kids to be able to collect and share, and at a price that makes it very achievable for kids. We wanted to create something that was good value for money, and also for parents to feel completely comfortable with purchasing it to feel that the level of content justified the price. At launch, we had a bank of characters that were loved, and we were ready to start expanding on their narrative. If youre not careful, you can spread yourself too thinly, and the content wont be well thought-out or deep enough. If we had come in too early with the magazine I think we would have been forcing content out when it wasnt ready. As the site has developed and grown, weve added new features and we have more to talk about. Weve had to shift up a gear to make sure that we can get all the information into the magazine. Were essentially dealing with a living world that changes very frequently. We were the first kids online site to launch a magazine. Since then weve seen Club Penguin, Bin Weevils, and other kids TV shows launch their own magazines. It has reinvigorated a sector in which across-the-board sales had been trending downwards slightly. The joint venture approach works best for us because were working in-house and externally to produce the magazine, and all the content is being driven by us. Its not just a case of approving and signing off: were really collaborative, and our publisher is fantastic and has a real connection to the site as well. We could easily have licensed the magazine to someone who doesnt really engage with our content, and it could have been a lot less relevant to the Moshi world. But, by keeping an in-house element, we are able to ensure that were pushing the type of content that we know our kids crave, and that everything reaches the standard that we want. Digital is our heart so, as the website changes, or as there are advances in technology, we have to make sure that the magazine and the web portion continue to work together. We need to support online developments offline. We cant rest on our laurels and allow the magazine to stay static. If it is engaging and high quality then there should always be a place for physical content, because you cant really replace that with online. Even reading a virtual magazine is not quite the same as being able to put a poster up on your wall or take pen to paper and fill in puzzles. We just need to make sure that if there are developments that make our ability to interact even closer, we look at those opportunities and incorporate them when they work. When youre dealing with kids, there will be always more of a chance that the physical will stick. Kids play virtual and online games, but they still love to collect and play with the physical toys that are associated with them. The two can work together ^
the next papers

(pp51-66]
Sappi | Royal press 400 is a very practical paper an excellent combination of print speed and quality. It is a paper that can be relied upon to run smoothly through printing presses, making it particularly well suited to highvolume print runs. Sappi | Royal press does a great job of reproducing bright, fresh visuals, and much like the Wired brand we explore in the pages ahead it is very versatile and regularly used for magazines, brochures and catalogues alike. Its suitability for a wide range of content and contexts makes it a very apt medium for our Its thinking about your brand and how it can extend beyond the page feature.
Sappi | Royal press 400 gloss 80g/m2
portraits: mischa haller
Its thinking about your and how brand it can
Q: When is a magazine not a magazine? A: When it approaches brand engagement with the future-focused, multi-channel energy of UK Wired. Executive editor Greg Williams agrees to answer a few questions
extend beyond the
W
we
hat's Next What makes Wired, just as a print magazine, different? Greg williams Well, I think the obvious answer would be the beauty of it weve won a host of prestigious awards for the design. It does that thing that print does, that no other medium does, in that you pick it up and it is a tactile experience we use a special kind of gritty ink that gives the magazine a particular feel, and a few months ago we used a die-cut box on the cover to illustrate a story. We tend to photograph pretty much everything, which obviously lends itself to beautiful imagery. I think it does that classic thing that magazines do that no other medium does, in that you pick it up, you hold it, you feel it, you even sort of smell it its a presence in your life and its an object that feels tangible and real and powerful. At the same time, we are pushing all kinds of boundaries in terms of the way that we use type and graphics. And we allow our writers a lot of room in the features well. We run stories of up to 6,000 words six or seven features a month, each at eight to 10 pages. The language we use is very precise, and we cant accept anything that isnt properly sourced or researched. We have a fact checking process here that not many magazines have in the UK, because we realise that our readers really depend on us for, to use a Wired word, data.
perspective that Wired takes on the world around it? GW The key thing is that were always looking to the future. So, when people pitch us ideas that are, you know, what happened to Sony? Or, what happened to Nokia? We wont respond, because we want to know whats next for Nokia; whats next for Sony. Also, we also have to be the first people to tell the story if its
been in another publication, we cant cover it. In terms of the quality of the writing, I think that what were looking for when we commission a story is: does it have a compelling story arc? Is there narrative tension? Are the characters, big, bold? Do we have scenes? Do we have a sense that this is something significant? And we are looking for people who are excited about the future. I think one of the things that sets us apart is that theres nothing cynical about Wired: were excited and enthusiastic. We live in an age where a lot of media is fingerpointing and negative. That all has a place, but thats not where we are. We are keen to let out readers know that there are ways that we can make things better in the future. Were reporting a lot on start-up culture and entrepreneurs and people who are trying to change the world in a very entrepreneurial, big thinking kind of way. Change means opportunity, if we approach it in the right way.
WN How would you define the
are pushing all kinds of boundaries
WN What does that approach mean for the readers you are trying to win? GW I think our readers want to engage with change. They are interested in ideas. Theyre interested in how they can improve themselves, both on a personal level and at work. Theyre interested in seeing what the new opportunity is. They are a very positive bunch. When we have our conferences and we get a lot of them together, its very interesting because theyre across all kinds of areas. So, we have start-up people, entrepreneurs and people involved in social innovation who are working to make the world a fairer place. Then we have people who are in government and making important decisions about the future, people in industries like marketing, and people from old-school industries industries
Five add-ons that add up to Wired

podcasts pop-up stores events masterclasses consultancy
like banking that are beginning to realise they have to change in order to adapt. And what were able to give them, I guess, is an insight into that change. There are all kinds of industries, like telecoms and media, that have already been disrupted. There are other industries, such as banking, that are just beginning to get the cold winds of change blowing across their bows. What Wired offers them is a window to look at the world thats coming. this constant enquiring as to what you should do next? Or from the simple need for a modern magazine to adapt? GW Sometimes its both. Print media is changing and we have to adapt and think about other ways of offering our content to our readers. Weve got 1.5 million unique users on the website now; digital sales of the magazine, subscriptions, are very strong across all the different tablets were on iPad, Android, Kindle. So thats the bedrock of who we are and what we do, and the way that people experience us in terms of the product we edit and art direct every month. But I also like to talk about the entrepreneurial instincts of the magazine. A lot of us spend time at conferences, and we realised that putting a conference together is really like putting an issue of the magazine together. Its basically curation. A conference is our editorial voice on stage. Its the people who we think are interesting and dynamic, and who have a good story to tell onstage people who are making genuine breakthroughs, bringing genuine innovation. And, actually, thats a word that we talk about a lot within our pages that idea of innovation and of bringing new ideas and changing the way that things are done. So, to come back to your question, we
found there was an appetite to bring our stories alive on stage, which weve done very successfully in the past couple of years. We are, in fact, going to be doing two conferences this year an annual conference in October, which weve done for the past two years, and a conference about the future of finance in July.
WN Do the various add-ons come from
discussion right now. There are a lot of interesting, disruptive businesses in the UK, the US, Germany and Scandinavia, that offer us interesting ways into, not just how finance meaning banking will change, but also the way that we interact with our devices, with each other, and with the cities that we move around. And we know that we have to be entrepreneurial, too. Were not scared of trying things if they work, we will be able to add revenue to our bottom line. Operating in the way that we do, with a lot of ambition and speed, allows us to figure things out on the fly. Were lucky in that everything weve done so far has worked out. We were the first magazine in the UK I think us and GQ to go onto the iPad as a rich media experience. There were literally people in this office on the phone to Adobe in California figuring it out step-by-step. It would have been very easy for us to think, well, lets wait and see how this pans out, but thats not the instinct of the magazine its a kind of a maker culture, if you like.
WN Why that subject? GW We think its an area thats ripe for
putting an event together is like
around entrepreneurs and that rubs off. We feel that if we dont act in an entrepreneurial way, no-ones going to do it for us. No-ones going to put on a Wired conference, it has to come from
wn Well, its entrepreneurial, isnt it? GW Yes. We all spend quite a lot of time
putting a magazine together
this place, it has to come from the editor curating. Thats why hes on the road a lot of the time he wants real human stories and real people who are going to change the world. We want to show our readers that they can take action. And thats one thing about our readers, theyre not passive if theyre not happy, they let us know very actively.
290,333
number of UK Wired readers (print and digital combined)
GW Theyre all on Twitter, theyre all on Facebook, and they talk to us. And, actually, the feedback is helpful, particularly on the technical side of things. We see our readers as our peers and we want to learn from them. The flip side is that a lot of the people were writing about are our readers, too. So there is this nice community that weve built that is genuinely excited about the same things.
such as putting on an event, it must make a difference to have the editorial experience of always looking for a story to tell, no? GW Yes, absolutely. I mean, the editor, David Rowan, was a very successful newspaper journalist. Ive worked in magazines for many years. Along with the editorial department and the web team and everyone, were interested in storytelling. Thats what we do every month.
wn How do they let you know?
7%
latest year-on-year magazine circulation increase
1.5m
number of website unique users
WN When you go into these other areas,
2009
4
1,195
price of attendance at a wired Consulting future-focused 'masterclass'
year Wired arrived on UK newsstands
average number of hours readers spend with an issue
extensions. How much do those stem from a commercial imperative? GW Obviously, were a business we need to make money. So, certainly, the conference is a really good way of us bringing additional revenue. The other way that were doing it at the moment is with our consulting practice, which has been running for about a year now. And weve been pleasantly surprised by the
WN There is quite a range of brand
55/550
number of speakers/attendees at last year's Wired 2012 two-day event
butlers. Thats not Wired. It has to be tangible. It has to be real.
GW Exactly. And thats really important to us, because were a magazine about facts, about data. Were about real stuff.
WN Which is the key manifestation of Wired beyond digital and print? Those we can recognise as somehow being the magazine. If you go to a Wired event, or Wired Consulting come in and talk to you, its tangibly different. GW Yes, it is. But thats fine as long as we are keeping the brand values across everything we do. The conference, the digital versions of the magazine, the print magazine, consultancy its all about: whats next? What do I need to know about in order to make myself a better person or to future-proof my business or just to be an engaged, informed individual.
you use? Is Wired Consulting taking original research and original content to people that might later appear in the magazine? GW Obviously, as we go about our business every day we are researching things and some of that will bleed into other areas. But if were given a consulting project, then that will generally be original content. So, say its a healthcare company that wants to know about nanotechnology or synthetic biology, then it would either be done in-house or wed hire someone whos part of our Wired family to prepare an original piece of research. between editorial and commercial still relevant? GW I think were very conscious of the difference between editorial and
WN A real possibility not just an idea?
WN And what about the content that
we are
about facts, about
data
level of demand. That, again, is bringing the Wired expertise and vision to people who maybe need a sense of whats coming next. Were not, I should make it very clear, a management consultancy we dont go to a company to fix its problems. But what we can say to them is: Here are the 10 trends that you really need to know about at the moment. Or, This is whats going to be happening in mobile technology in the next two or three years. Were not looking far into the future we want things that are tangible, near-term. So when were talking about, say, robots, well be talking about the ways in which well be encountering them and using them in the next year or two, or three. Its not, In 40 years well all have robot
WN Is the traditional distinction
to www.whatsnextmagazine.net for your chance # go to claim a free c opy of wired magazine
WN How would you describe

The way they are curated means they are multi-disciplinary, so we have everyone artists, social activists, musicians, entrepreneurs, people in government, people in public policy, scientists all in the same room. And theres a great deal of excitement about how they can all learn from each other. So we might have Troy Carter, Lady Gagas manager, whos building a very exciting new platform for the entertainment industry, talking with David Karp from Tumblr and Mikko Hypponen, whos a Finnish internet security expert. What unites them is that theyre all people at the vanguard of what theyre doing, who are enthusiastic about the potential of what theyre doing to enact radical change in the world. expanding the brand from what you see other magazines doing? GW I think that every magazine brand now is in the business of figuring out how it bleeds out from the original brand. What people shouldnt be scared of is that somehow the brand is going to suffer from thinking about it in different ways. Because all youre talking about, basically, is taking the editorial values of a magazine and imposing them on other disciplines. I think its about everyone
GW The events are genuinely inspiring.
the events?
a future do you see for the magazine as a printed object? GW I think we are very optimistic about paper, and I think that we are going to continue to see it as our bread and butter.
WN And the page, itself how much of
you a tangible object, which we talked about earlier, for the readers. It gives you presence on newsstands so people see you when they walk around the city or town. It gives you a great showcase for your commercial partners, something that is different for digital. And I think, fundamentally, theres still a desire for the printed product from people. Look at our numbers our circulation has increased year-on-year. We have to give readers the chance to experience the product in different ways, to have different access points. One of them is print, and that, as far as were concerned, will always be there.
WN Why? What does it give you? GW It gives you all kinds of things. It gives
WN How different is the Wired model of
WN So, if Wired Consulting was
answering the question for someone: Where is print going to be and where is a magazine such as Wired going to be in two or three years time? What might you say?
GW On the newsstand. It has to be, because thats what people are buying into when they think of the brand they think about this beautiful object that is beautifully curated, beautifully crafted and beautifully edited. And all done with care. That is the core of the brand 6
print will always be there
far as we are concerned,
as
words: david roberts
advertising as it impacts on the magazine and the digital products, because if we allow those things to blur, we dont have the trust of our reader. When someone hires Wired Consulting, theyre getting the Wired voice or the Wired brain, if you like, and theyre paying for that in the same way that they would pay for a magazine. So its a way of purchasing the Wired perspective on the world, but in a different form.
figuring out whats right for them in terms of their offer maybe theyre a fashion magazine and they can offer trend reports to clients or fashion shows to readers. Its thinking about your brand and how it can extend beyond the page.
on paper _ number five
Rory Sutherland
My choice is the New Statesman. It may seem disloyal for a Spectator columnist to say this, but what is becoming clear from several good articles is that the new progress being made in the social sciences is having a benign effect on thinking everywhere. I find this very heartening. Rory Sutherland is vice-chairman of Ogilvy Group UK and author of the Wiki Man column in The Spectator magazine
e
61
^
#
Case study#3
because content is king for a reason
photograph: luke aikin / sipa / rex features
to s e l l i t s n ow-i c o n i c energy drink to billions of consumers around the world, Red Bull has ingeniously and effectively invented its own high-octane lifestyle segment to market its message to. At the forefront of that message are the brands multi-platform content marketing efforts and Red Bulletin magazine in particular. James OBrien explores how Red Bull became a publishing empire that happens to also sell a beverage
62
photograph: Nathan amzi rex features
6 E
languages/countries of publication
4/12
6
worldwide circulation of Red Bulletin
3.1m
Red Bull isnt a brand that enacts its marketing strategies by degrees. Quite the opposite. This, after all, is the company that last year dropped daredevil Felix Baumgartner from orbit to Earth equipped with little more than a special parachute and a bull-emblazoned spacesuit. Of course, the iconic energy drink maker doesnt always go for death-defying. It also runs snowboarding tournaments, sponsors an F1 team, hosts freestyle biking events and lends its name to such a large number of left-of-centre sports that any list runs the risk of leaving out more examples than it includes. The bottom line appears to be that theres a lifestyle involved when it comes to Red Bull a way of associating the companys energy-drink product with something larger than a blue-and-silver can on a shelf. And that lifestyle offering is one that has come to be powerfully personified by a key element in the brands content marketing strategy: Red Bulletin, the monthly magazine produced from the companys editorial offices in Vienna. This is Red Bulls monthly missive to those it wishes to make its lifestyle adherents. And, remarkably, its a brand-produced magazine that millions of subscribers willingly pay to receive every month. If we want to understand something about the core of Red Bulls efforts to communicate the conceptual parts of its brand, then the pages of Red Bulletin are a good place to look. If you spend time around experts in the world of content marketing and brand publishing, youll soon hear someone invoking the example of Red Bulletin. Why? Because if content marketing is about giving consumers something valuable something that perhaps only laterally connects to the brand product itself in order to get something valuable in return (awareness, affinity, sales), then Red Bull does that very well indeed. Nor is Red Bulletin a magazine only about fast-paced sports. In the April 2013 US edition of the magazine, alongside articles about F1 racing, snowboarding, biking, high-lining and more, theres a cover feature about hip-hop star Questlove. There are also articles about Alexandre Arrecheas metal Manhattan street sculptures, people in Barcelona constructing towers made up of themselves balancing on each others shoulders, and the winning band in a BBC Sound of 2013 competition. What these subjects have in common could perhaps be described as a dedication to accomplishment. In the run-up to the Olympics last year, I broke two bones in my left wrist, says Ivana panovi, the young Serbian long-jumper who competed at Londons 2012 games, in the same April issue. I taped it up and carried on.
6 E 6 E
number of daily newspapers carrying free copies
23
20-29 age range of

magazine core target group
64
What panovi is saying is this: people like her, people getting the attention of Red Bulls staff and freelance writers, are part of a culture that lives in a particular way. It doesnt have to be a sporting life it can be cultural instead but it does have to be one that is marked by a sense of attainable accomplishment. Thus for Christiane Hoffmann, a spokesperson at Red Bull Media House in Austria, Red Bulletin readers are people who, dont play by the rules, who push the limits, have a lust for life and a passion for adventure. Whether they read Red Bulletin in print or consume its content online or via the Red Bulletin app and almost always regardless of whether they actually buy the drink that Red Bull makes the presumption is that readers of the magazine are in some way thirsty for adventure and accomplishment, just like the people in it. Perhaps as a consequence, the magazines editorial policy appears to be, at heart, about getting out of the readers way when it comes to his or her experience of Red Bulletin. This is something underlined by the free, media-rich app, where photos are also short-form videos and infographics expand into new text blocks. As with the print version, images and interviews are reader-tosubject intimate, even to the point of occasional weirdness. Its one thing to see panovis spandex-clad body surrounded by text in the pages of the print magazine, its another to touch her thigh on the screen to make the apps expandable text appear. Theres also an opportunity to go cross-platform. At one point, about one-third of the way into the April 2013 issue, swiping to a page opens a live connection with Red Bull TV. And its not a commercial that begins to play, its actual content. (So if you didnt know there was a Red Bull TV channel before, you do now.) With more than 3.1 million print copies in circulation worldwide, Red Bulletin is on a par with, or doing better in circulation terms than many glossy global newsstand brands. Issues are also given out free with newspapers in a long list of countries including South Africa, Austria and New Zealand. As for advertising, one gets the sense that Red Bulletin might be moving under a different kind of steam. In its 98-page April 2013 US print version, there were six full-page colour advertisements, one two-page spread and one half-page ad that seemed to originate out-of-house. The remainder of the ads were in-house. So it perhaps makes best sense to think of Red Bulletin as an element of marketing spend and a sizeable part, too, presumably. The real story remains, though, one of clever branding through a publication that champions the passion and perseverance message that a multifaceted mother brand works hard to convey ^
e
4.6bn
cans of Red Bull sold per year
e
staff working on Red Bulletin
100
go to ww w.whatsnextmagazine.net to request c opies of # the publications profiled in this issues case studies
on paper _ number six
Jonathan Franzens Freedom was the last book that had a big influence on me. I read it and was motivated to make some decisions private and business that I had not been brave enough to make before. The book made it very clear to me that it is about going your own way. Although it is sometimes not clear from your own surroundings, that is the best way because it is authentic and thats what makes you happy in the long run. Sofie Quidenus is founder and CEO of Qidenus Technologies, a world leader in book scanning and digitisation
Sofie Quidenus
66
_the issue in numbers
B oden catalo gues are mailed to UK homes

p51 ^
20million
is the increase in Moshi Monsters Magazine circulation over the past year
p14 ^
e av e h t s i ra g
40%
p11 ^
advertising campaigns were analysed by last years PPA-commissioned Magonomics survey
wi
th an issue
77
^
4 ^ ^ ^
e
e m i t
t h at W ir
hours
ed
rea
ders sp e
p57 ^
+ 700
pages were printed for last years 20th anniversary issue of Marie Claire Korea
4
p43 ^
p62 ^
37%
p32 ^
p23 ^
is the proportion of readers of Japanese newspaper The Tokyo Shimbun who use its AR app to read with their children
different major touchscreen technologies are used by manufacturers of digital readers (resistive, capacitive, projective-capacitive, optical)
3.1Million
copies of Red Bulletin make up the magazines worldwide circulation
www.sappi.com

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issue six summer 2013 6/5

features on subjects ranging from wired magazine to AR APPs and catalogues

brand case studies: Boden moshi monsters red bull

different papers to experience

publications discussed from numerous angles

whats next_the touch issue

the next papers

Sappi | Galerie fine 90g/m2

the cover Sappi | GalerieArt silk 250g/m2

_the issue in words

online developments offline

p 11 ^ tracking peoples behaviour

content marketing is about

on paper _ number one

Max von Abendroth

business models are in transition

are more than ever good listeners

its become an advanced area

hats next What is the point

of research today, in the context of print?

Debrah There is a tendency for people to

David Most of my involvement with

you cant go on what people say they are terrible liars

a lot of givens have changed

it will never give you the complete answer

research today has more of a brave role

opportunities are there

solid numbers are essential

David We had some experience of that

Its not what we say but what we do

Debrah Quantitative metrics and

tracking peoples behaviour frees you from individual perception

words: alex elliott

Debrah The lack of ability to predict the

Debrah Research communities can

David The image I use is that the media

every prediction by a major media company has been wrong

Marius Research evolves a lot faster

David Every prediction by a major media

it is much more of a twoway communication

youve got live data

editors have to reinvent the magazine

because click, click works better with flick, flick

The past 20 years have seen UK

words: alex elliott

words: david roberts

the next papers

Sappi | Galerie fine silk 80g/m2

on paper _ number two

who is going to win the AR

share this article via

words: lucy handley

A new generation of newspaper readers?

# go to ww w.whatsnextmagazine.net to find out more ab out the tokyo shimbun

# go to www.whatsnextmagazine.net to tell us what you think of ar apps

number of Aurasma global partners

havent we been down this path before?

Level of market domination enjoyed by Netscape Navigator in 1996

on paper _ number three

is publisher of Marie Claire in China