iPad vs Print

I wanted to look closer at the Vogue tablet app but since I don't have a tablet and the friends who do , lost theirs or they got stolen, I did the next best thing and tried to find the introduction and overview of the app on Youtube.  I also wanted to compare it to the print version of the magazine and see how is the digitisation improving or downgrading the print versions of the same issue.

I did find a few videos remotely what I was looking for, even though too short.

The video that I want to share is like a introduction to the 2011 December issue digital version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goJX-HefCBk

The magazine production, has according to McLuhan and Powers (1989) been transformed by colour television. The emergence of glossy covers, colour pictures and more user-friendly layouts has come about as the medium of magazines production has responded to technological developments in television (Stevenson, N. (2002) Understanding Media Culture London: Sage). I want to explore if there is any truth behind this quote and is it relevant now days.

Reason why I chose it, is because I actually have a print version of this issue. The obvious difference between the issues is that readers can't press on anything in the print issue. Personally this quality is not something that I am very fond of and perhaps is the reason why I prefer print copies but for a lot of the people of this modern age this press on everything quality makes the issue more interesting and perhaps more interactive.

Here is an example of what I was talking about. On that page there is a play button that the readers could press and a video from the photoshoot would open, revealing some scenes and shots that were not included in the magazine.

As you can see below in the print version the same page looks different and there is a limited amount of pictures that could have been included.

I found it very interesting how the Vogue App gives you the possibility to watch videos with fashion shows and  interviews with designers, models and fashionistas. While you are reading an article you can press on some of the images which will turn into a video with the interview or a fashion show so you don't have to go online or to press a link that will take you to another page to watch them. The videos are part of the digital issue. That gives the readers easier access to the information that the publishers want to share.

As it can be seen the print version is not that much different in terms of content but obviously there are no videos there and its seems that the same article on iPad is one page while the print version takes up  3 pages. If the digital issue would have been printed it would most possibly  be thinner but on larger paper.

Another fascinating thing about  the digital issue of Vogue is that the some of the images are moving. I don't mean like videos but actual images are rotating or jumping up and down.

This is the best example of what I am talking about, if you watch the video posted above then wait until 0:17 and you will see the moving images.

Of course its always more interesting when images are moving and that will actually attract the readers attention to that specific item which is a good marketing strategy, especially because its an article about Christmas gifts (you can see that not all of the images are moving, so the editors are subtly showing their preference to some items rather then all of them).

There is a question that comes to mind when looking at all of these moving images - Is our society becoming stupid?

Are we living in a time when to attract readers print media needs to have flashy images? I personally feel that a lot of people in this Century are like toddlers who need colorfoul pictures in their books, just so to keep their entertained. I understand that my main focus is Vogue and its digital issue which need to be different from the print issue and that is how editors and developers made it different and how they market products but it just makes you think about our society.

As said before the content is the same n the print media, just the images are not moving.



Digital issue also allows you to see behind the scenes of the photoshoots (that you can find on Vogue webiste). For some of the readers this little extra might make the photoshoot even more interesting then before.

 

So the digitalisation hasn't changed the print issue too radically. Yes, videos were added, images are now moving and the layout is a bit different and pages are not longer, but so far that's about it. I have posted about the future of Vogue in the digital age were students from Sweden made a video about how in the near future people will be able to just scan the items in magazines, with a smartphone, which will forward them to the website if the items brand where it will be possible to purchase the item but at the moment it is not possible.

The digital issues are perhaps more entertaining but that about it. I still prefer the print copy over the digital one but that is perhaps because I wasn't born in the digital age, not everyone had computers or mobile phones when I grew up. So maybe I'm just being sceptical about it.
I found that the quote mentioned in the beginning is actually very relevant to the Vogue app. The quote talked about how TV is changing magazines and from the example above that is clearly seen. Magazines are becoming more image focused and the digital issues include videos now. Perhaps the future of magazines lies in TV, who knows...

In any case the conclusion is that the digital issue doesn't differ that much from the print media but for publications its essential to have an App in this modern age.

Hot from the press

On my way home the other day I was reading the Evening Standard were there was an article about the print media and advertisement and the main focus of that article  was Vogue.

It was mentioned that the latest issue of Vogue :

is bigger then the previous one and all because of the advertisement in it. According  to the Vogue publishing director Stephen Quinn the display ad revenue rose 6% in 2012.

The main point of this article is that the print media is not dying and that digitisation is unavoidable but the print will always be relevant.

Here are some highlights from the article :

• " Consumers might be flocking online and on mobile - every self-respecting mag has an iPad app - but print is hard to beat when it comes to creating a tactile, engrossing experience."
• "Research called "Magonomics" claims that consumers feel more favourable towards print advertising than TV or the internet - there are higher "bonding scores", apparently. "
• "Quinn says advertisers are only interested in a few prime print titles. Even Vogue, a marketleader, has seen its 200,000 -plus print circulation fall by about 2% in the past 12 months. "
• "Part of the reason is that advertisers can now produce their own editorial content, from websites and online films to iPad apps and even print magazines."

So it seems that I am not the only one who thinks that print media will not disappear any time soon. Interestingly enough this article is showing the close relationship between print media and advertisement and how one affects the other. In any case this article only proves that print media will be around for quite some time.

Is Vogue a brand?

This is a question that has popped up into my head a couple of times since I started this blog. So I looked up the definition of the word "Brand".

1. (Business / Marketing) a particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product

2. (Business / Marketing) a trade name or trademark

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/brand)

My favourite definition was :

"A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service, or concept. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual product and service names."

(http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/brand)

Reading these definitions you could say that Vogue is a brand. This question has been in my head because I tried to think of how Vogue has changed because of the digital age and this question was always the first to come to my mind. 

First of all Vogue is a fashion magazine, always has been.

But now there is so much more to it. There are the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pintrest that help us get closer to the idea of Vogue and that give us insight into the amazing lives of Vogue girls.

Now there is also Vogue TV - http://www.vogue.co.uk/video/ 

Of course it's only online but who knows, perhaps its a start for an actual TV channel.

They also have a youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/voguetv 

But that's not all, interestingly enough Vogue has an eyewear brand called Vogue - http://www.vogue-eyewear.com/international/

In recent years Vogue has organised a very popular event called Vogue Fashion Night Out -  

http://fashionsnightout.com/ 

Its an event where shops, mostly luxury, are open longer and they offer some kind of entertainment like DJ's, food, drinks and celebrity appearances - also discounts and limited addition items.  Since the launch of this event in 2009 it has become very popular in the big fashion capitals all over the world. The main reason for this was to boost retail sales but it has become a part of Vogue image.

Looking at all of this it is difficult to argue that Vogue is not a brand - not only its selling us products but also experience and a lifestyle.

Vogue would never have evolved into a brand so quickly if it wasn't for the digital revolution. The information now travels much faster and you don't have to wait a month to get some fashion news from Vogue. They can promote their events and products more effectively because of social media. Now their promotion campaign is much more cheaper, they just post something online and usually it gets the attention that they need.

Vogue Fashion Night Out probably wouldn't have been such a success if it wasn't for all of the social media promotion and later digital media coverage straight after the event has happened, maybe even during the event.

Now when we talk about Vogue we don't only think in terms of the magazine but also in terms of glamour, luxury and going out to posh places.

The point of this blog was that Vogue has become a brand because of the digital age, if the digital revolution didn't occur then Vogue would probably still be just a magazine and its transition from that to a brand would have taken a lot more time then it did.

Advertising and Print Media - Vogue

Advertising is part of the Print Media - to exist most magazines require the income that they receive from adverts. Otherwise the price of the publication will be too high and that would repel the customers. 

New media publishers will not only have opportunities to reach global audiences with multimedia products in real time, but will also be able to completely rethink their relationship with advertisers and audience (Kovarik, B. (2011) Revolutions in Communications: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age, London: Continuum).  

That is exactly what I want to talk about - the relationship between Vogue and advertising. Since its a fashion magazine advertisement place a huge role but with all this new technology and possibilities the way the advertisement is done is changing.  

In the past years the Quick Response Code (QR Code) has become a very popular tool for advertisement. 

Formerly only for industrial uses, they have in recent years become common in consumer advertising and packaging, because the popularity of smartphones "has put a barcode reader in everyone's pocket"^{[citation needed]} for the first time. As a result, the QR Code has become a focus of advertising strategy, since it provides quick and effortless access to the brand's website.^[8][9]Beyond mere convenience to the consumer, the importance of this capability is that it increases the conversion rate (that is, increase the chance that contact with the advertisement will convert to a sale), by coaxing qualified prospects further down the conversion funnel without any delay or effort, bringing the viewer to the advertiser's site immediately, where a longer and more targeted sales pitch may continue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code).

There are of course social media platforms like FACEBOOK, TWITTER, TUMBLR, PINTEREST that I have discussed in previous posts. They are the new tools of marketing. 

But the reason why I decided to talk about advertisement is this website that I found.

http://www.thedigitalage.com/gallery/Vogue-Enhanced/2371852

Some Swedish students made this interesting advertising project for some company using Vogue as an example.

Basically they were exploring the future of magazine advertisement. I thought it was a very interesting concept that they were exploring. If you just scan, with a smartphone,  a picture of a item featured in  Vogue then your smart phone will go to the items brand website where you could buy the item or explore others. So in a way that would be every girls dream come true - you see something pretty, you buy it, and not you see something pretty, you look for it for the next 2 months.

The development of media of mass communication has gradually seen the decline of print as the dominant form communication and the rise of audio - visual domain (Rayner, P. Wall, P. Kruger, S.2004 Media Studies: The Essentials Resource, London: Routledge). Fortunately print media managed to embrace the audio - visual domain ( Vogue iPad version with mini videos of photo shoot and some images actually moving) but perhaps now Vogue adverts will start to embrace it as well. At least it seems that some one is already trying to promote this concept. It is exciting to see where the digital age is taking us.