So I was in the library today and happened to pick up the current issue of Esquire sitting on one of the coffee tables between reading chairs on the first floor. The cover was an image of Robert Downey Jr., legs spread, hands pointing to a mysterious box between his feet. On his left was the headline: "WTF?! A living, breathing, moving, talking magazine? For instructions on how to use that thing Downey's sitting on, see pg. 21 and visit esquire.com/ar."
I promptly followed both sets of directions, and upon turning to the aforementioned page, a quick article described the strides Esquire is taking to "Augment" their rag. "It's the gateway to experiencing a magazine - this magazine - in an entirely new way" says the article. Author David Granger describes the new technology of "augmented reality" to "take the experience of Esquire into a new realm - a little world that comes to life in the space between this magazine and your computer screen."
So I tried it out.
The website directed me to download a program unique to Esquire that utilizes the webcam on your computer to recognize the odd, pixelated box that seemingly opens up brand new horizons. After five minutes of downloading I was underway. Program open and symbol presented to my Macbook iSight, Mr. Downey Jr. pops up and begins to explain, in a most Downey-esque fashion, what I have just unlocked. He then prompts a quick trailer for his upcoming Sherlock Holmes film.
A further article in Esquire explains that there are other symbols in other articles that will prompt further "augmented" bits of reality. There is even a Lexus ad containing a indecipherable (by the naked-eye) pixel-box. I will neglect to give away all the secrets of this digital existence and urge you to seek out the truths that lay locked away in the box that Downey holds between his legs.
Huh. Whaddya know. This is pretty intriguing. The only thing disheartening to me is that I don't have a webcam... soo... pretty useless. Guess I won't be able to see the mystery in Downey's box. Between his legs.
ReplyDelete....
But no, awful sex jokes aside, this is something that, if I saw in a store, I'd be drawn to. More so than a regular mag. Hm.
I'll have to check this out.
ReplyDeleteThis is genius. It even makes me want to go out and buy the magazine. And when else would I ever be tempted to purchase Esquire?
ReplyDeleteWhen you were describing it in class, I thought, "Hot dog, this is some cool shit." And then I thought, "This is gimmicky and desperate." And then I thought, "This is still some pretty cool shit. I don't care. I want to see this for myself."
ReplyDeleteThen upon reading this entry, I realize that no matter how cool or innovative this fusion of print and internet media is, I still have no desire to buy the magazine. To shell out the $5 or whatever it is to buy a magazine I pretty much have no desire to read just to unlock the mystery between Robert Downey Junior's legs (which sounds exponentially much hotter than it actually is) is not worth it. Beyond that, having to download ANOTHER program on my computer just to view something that I spent 1.5 Veracruz burritos on is annoying. Beyond even THAT, after spending money and using the ever diminishing space on my computer for this knickknack, it turns out to just be ads? Well, fuck me in the face. I'd just be angry at that point.
I suppose it's different for me because I'm not and probably never will be a consumer for Esquire. I'm not their targeted audience. The goal of this gimmick is to retain readers and attract new one, and to be a new reader, you have to already want to read a magazine like Esquire. They're also not trying to retain the die-hard Esquire fans either because they'll still buy the magazine either way; it's the Esquire fans that they'd lose in the shrinking economy, the growing prominence of digital media, etc etc. Aiming for the margin, essentially. Most companies (and politicians, for that matter) employ this tactic, and sometimes, it fails. They lose the die-hard fans, they don't gain enough new readers, they spend too much money on the tactic and there isn't enough revenue gain - a whole myriad of problems. Given the audience of Esquire, maybe this gimmick will earn extra readers - I doubt they'd lose old readers - and looking at the response from the class, it seems like it's a successful tactic. I guess I'm just poor, jaded, bitter and apathetic, and no one at Esquire would give a shit what I think. Meh.