Vogue Proving That Print Is Alive (With The Internet)
Margaret Brennan
Who said print was dead? September's issue of Vogue (owned by Conde Nast) boasts a record breaking 727 advertising pages: the most ad pages EVER published in a monthly consumer magazine. Sienna Miller graces the cover of the door-stop sized mag which is on shelves now. The oversize layout is a sign that fashion magazines are alive and kicking in a publication industry otherwise suffering from ever declining ad revenues.
These glossies are advertising heaven and the ads themselves are sometimes more interesting to glance at than then articles inside! Well now Vogue's owner Conde Nast (privately held) is trying to close the loop between perusal and purchase by launching www.shopvogue.tv.The site isn't 'Vogue the store' rather it is an outlet for readers to 'shop the ads' of the companies that advertise in the magazine.
In an effort to further capitalize on this boom just ahead of Fashion Week and the holiday season, Conde Nast just launched a broadband internet channel that essentially turns the magazine into an online catalog that allows readers to shop the wares of its advertisers by brand, trend, department or even price. At the new site, visitors will be able to shop by brand, trend, department or even price (an option that Vogue expects to become especially popular after November, when the channel will be refreshed for the holiday shopping season.)
And videos from recent runway shows will also appear online, allowing visitors to see--and purchase--fashions from the current season. Conde Nast used the multichannel nature of this September issue as a hook to get advertisers to pony up for the double exposure via the web and the hard copy.
Is shopvogue.tv the beginning of a publishing trend and a new way to convince advertisers to support the print industry? Let's see how the site fares as we head into the September fashion cycle shift and into the holiday shopping season. Would love to know what the traffic rates are.
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