Business News

Actable Interactive Print Brings Milwaukee Magazine Pages to Life in Special October Issue

Thursday 04. October 2012 - Every page is interactive, offering amazing and engaging reader experiences for editorial and advertising content

Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:QUAD), announced today that its Actable interactive print solutions helped Milwaukee Magazine create its first entirely interactive issue. The October “Best of 2012” issue, on newsstands this week, features 146 image recognition and augmented reality experiences that readers can launch on their Actable-enabled smartphones and other mobile tablet devices. Readers will go behind the scenes of a music studio, see a 3D gold watch pop off the page, hear the restaurant critic narrate dining listings, kick extra points on a virtual football field and much more.
The special edition is a joint project by Quad/Graphics and the magazine to demonstrate applications of new interactive print technologies. “Quad/Graphics is leading the charge to be a technology integrator that will help our clients make print even more powerful in today’s multichannel media world,” said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics Chairman, President & CEO. “Our goal with Milwaukee Magazine was to show the many creative ways that interactive print can be used to produce even more engaging and powerful reader experiences in both editorial and advertising, connecting print and mobile in ways that both amaze and inform.”
Editor Cristina Daglas explained the interactive issue to her audience in her Editor’s Letter column and a companion video that launches right on the page when readers hold their mobile devices over her column. “With a dedicated team of Quad/Graphics interactive specialists, we’ve produced an entire issue in augmented reality. Each page is fully loaded with at least one experience.”
“Advertisers in the magazine showcased a variety of applications, including shopping guides, on-page videos, 3D renderings, social media sharing, photo galleries and special offers. Advertiser interest was strong with many advertisers making commitments above and beyond their regularly scheduled insertions,” said Linda Lundeen, Associate Publisher for Milwaukee Magazine. “For example, 23 percent of advertisers purchased additional ad insertions in the issue, and 15 percent upgraded to full ad pages from partial ad pages.”
Added Quadracci: “This is a great example of how publishers will use interactive print to attract and retain readers while generating additional revenue from advertisers wanting to extend their content across channels. Actable interactive print includes sophisticated data analytics capabilities that will allow editors and advertisers to see how the magazine audience is engaging with the content.”