Monday, April 6, 2009

Cover Innovations

Esquire has come up with yet another cover gimmick designed to get people talking, get newsstand sales and generate ad sales.

In the past year, Esquire has introduced a cover flap in the middle of the page, with advertising on the underside; and an electronic paper cover that allowed the cover copy to flash to comemmorate their 75th anniversary. 

Now they've created a perforated cover that allows the reader to easily rip the cover in two places as well as to rip the following two "covers" and then make up to 27 combinations of the faces of Barak Obama, Justin Timberlake and George Clooney. Not sure what I mean, check the video on Esquire's website. The cover is for Esquire's "How to be a Man" issue, and will be on stands on April 10. 

The underside of the three "covers" have ads on them and because the pages will generate so much attention from readers, this is likely the bet ad placement ever, even if the ads do get ripped. 

We haven't seen too much of this kind of cover innovation yet in Alberta (although some publishers have offered z-fold and gatefold covers) I think this envelope pushing is likely to become the norm.
— Käthe Lemon