To help excite children about reading, 50,000 copies of POP! magazine are being handed out as a gift with purchases of kid-oriented literature at Indigo Books & Music stores across Canada in a six-week promo that began in October and also includes in-store signage, posters and some advertising.

In addition to its newsstand sales, the magazine is distributed to elementary schools three times a year. Produced by Toronto-based, youth-focused Paton Publishing, it has a typical print run of 250,000.

Advertisers in the fall issue – which include Nintendo, Quaker, BIC Inc., CN Rail, Crayola, Parmalat, MegaBloks and Bandai (makers of the popular Tamagotchi toy) – were given the extra exposure as a bonus, and also offered free extension opportunities on popmagazine.com.