Hyper-targeting is a game-changer.
By Michael Chatfield
Introducing the magazine for the totally selfish.
Ever been reading a magazine and wish you didn’t have to skip through all the crap? You know, the articles that no one with a pulse reads. Mine Magazine, a collabo between Time Inc. and Lexus tailors all the articles in the publication directly to you. Essentially allowing readers to focus in on what they care about and tune out the rest.
Choose 5 of your favorite magazines, answer a few behavioral insight questions, enter your mailing address and you’re done. In 2-4 weeks your custom made magazine will show up on your doorstep piping hot and ready to be read instead of skimmed.
I received my Mine this week. The Lexus ads using variable-data printing are compelling almost to the point of being creepy. But I love that.
Hyper-targeting individual consumers could be a game changer. It’s clearly a more cost-effective way to know exactly who’s listening to your message.
Big ups to p+n intern Dan Taylor from RIT for digging this one up. He rocks.
UPDATED: In response to Scott’s comment, I thought it was only fair that I share one of the other variable-data ads in the same issue of Mine. See below.
May 6th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Okay that’s definitely creepy. But I’m still holding out for digital paper. Then I’ll have more stuff to program ^_^
May 6th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
This makes me think of the TV advertising in the book, “Fahrenheit 451″.
Remember books?
May 7th, 2009 at 7:02 am
This is very cool, yet I find myself wondering if we, as readers/consumers/marketers, will unintentionally limit ourselves. How often have you stumbled upon something you weren’t looking for, that turned out to have real appeal to you? Not opposed… just wondering.
Andrea
May 7th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I gotta agree with Andrea on this one.
However, I feel that as advertisers we read ALOT of magazines. Mine Magazine would just be an addition to the mass amount of reading we already do.
maybe.
Ian
May 7th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I don’t know about you, but I don’t subscribe to magazines that I’m not interested in. This sound like it cuts out all the filler and I get all my interests in one pub. Cool.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:55 am
I think Andrea makes a great point, but at the same time when you argue that “print is dying” this just seems to be one strong effort against that fight. Do magazines stay the same or evolve with trends? I say they absolutely need to evolve and create other solutions in order to keep periodicals alive. Utilizing technological advances such as the variable-data printing and a customizable template may be what it takes (Esquire can cool it with the E-Ink printing however).
May 7th, 2009 at 7:55 am
My biggest complaint is the terrible creative used to support this endeavor. “Now with more Michael Chatfield”? I get it, variable printing. But considering you now have access to all this behavioral data this is what Lexus comes up with? Slap your name on the end of the headline. It actually seems impersonal to me.
Use sports interests to sell the cabin space.
Use music interests to sell the stereo.
Use the creamy ride to sell… I don’t know, your love of cream.
Regardless, an interesting idea.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Okay, the new one is working for me. That’s pretty cool.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
This kind of stuff concerns me. I know it’s a cool technique, but it encourages people to be narrow-minded. Read only things you already know something about or agree with. Can’t be good for our society as a whole.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’ve always loved MadLibs. Very cool, Chatfield.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
iGoogle has been doing this for me for years. My home page has the top stories from NYT, Wired, D&C, NewYorker, etc. I can pick which I want to read, and bill the time to . . .
July 25th, 2009 at 12:54 am
That’s really freaking cool and a genius use of variable printing. Not to mention, you can’t go wrong with FontBureau’s Nobel.