‘Everybody talks about traditional media versus new media, and everybody wonders how we can get young people to go back to traditional media. Well, we think our magazine may be the beginning of answering those questions,’ says Dan Reitzik, president of Vancouver’s DY Mobile Inc., a division of Digital Youth Network.
Next Monday, 250,000 copies of Dialed In magazine, which he describes as ‘Canada’s first entirely interactive print magazine’ – and says is meant to be read with cellphone in hand – will hit 1,600 high schools nationwide. Because literally every article and every ad in the edgy and colourful publication contains a URL link for entering contests and downloading images, ringtones and other youth-oriented items, Reitzik contends that ‘this is the first magazine in history where every single page generates revenue. An article about the Black Eyed Peas, for example, would enable readers to easily acquire images of the band members’ or other fan-favourite features.
The opportunity to leverage this timely innovation prompted all the initial ad inventory to be sold out in just three phone calls, says Reitzik, who adds that he’s now being inundated with queries from other would-be advertisers. While the first issue comprised 20 music-content-focused pages, the next issue will be twice as lengthy and include images and wallpapers. More than 500,000 copies will be distributed in November to the magazine’s existing high school base as well as select colleges and universities.
As for which brands would best benefit from exposure in Dialed In, Reitzik maintains that ‘Carriers, handset manufacturers, mobile phone retailers are all targeting the youth market, as the penetration rate in this market is low. There could be few better ways to advertise mobile products and services to them than in a magazine focused on mobile content. The same goes for any brands or companies with mobile strategies, such as text-messaging campaigns, who wish to reach and interact with youth.’
The magazine’s novel concept arose out of DY Mobile’s experience contributing ‘Mobile on Demand’ pages in various Canwest and Sun Media properties, ‘which were intended to be the destination for consumers to know where to find mobile content, contests and more,’ Reitzik explains. ‘Dialed In is simply an extension of this strategy, targeting the young consumer.’
A dialedin.ca website version of the magazine will launch in the near future. And the DY Mobile team has pledged to maintain reader enthusiasm by promoting only high-quality content – for example, the actual artists’ recordings used for consumers ringtones, not polyphonic, cover tones or other low-quality, unlicensed content.
www.dialedin.ca
