Those in the publishing business have all been aflutter with the official announcement about the joint venture between Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp, and Time Inc.. This story has been relatively well publicized and talked about over the past few months including a few demos of what some of the digital magazines experiences might look like from Conde Nast for Wired Magazine, and Time Inc. for Sports Illustrated. I haven’t seen any concepts for the actual storefront yet but hopefully something will surface soon.

The concepts are similar in that they both replicate the magazine experience to some degree (page based navigation, magazine-like layout) while including the obvious must have features such as rich content (e.g. video, photo streams) and ecommerce (e.g. links to stores for product purchase). However, if this is all there is, I’m not sure it’s enough to get consumers to pony up the cash for subscriptions as well as potentially a new piece of hardware. Remember, much of this content is available online for free so the experience has to be compelling enough to get over this hurdle.

For the time being I’m going to set aside all of the questions I have around the ability of the publishers to work together to agree on a common content format, bandwidth constraints, battery life of devices, etc. and remain hopeful that we’re going to see something very original and compelling. I’m going to tell myself that the features and demos we’ve seen to date are just the tip of the iceberg and that the publishers are holding off from publicizing the new killer features so as not to give up competitive advantage. However, in the event that this is not the case, here are a few suggestions of some things I’d like to see.

First off, resist the urge to try & fit a “magazine” into a digital form. Magazines are great, but the experience created and refined over the 270+ years they have been in existence is based on a print medium. For example, is flipping a virtual page as rewarding as flipping a print page? If not, then how have you improved (or at least maintained) the experience? The answer here is likely that they have not and in most cases the experience is made worse.

Instead, look at the core value propositions of magazines and create an experience that utilizes features in the digital medium to improve upon them. There are lots of things to build on here but one of the first that pops into my head are index pages. Index pages give the reader an overview of what is in the magazine but also offer a reference as to what pages specific articles of interest are on. Why not expand upon this and create an index page that spans all of the publications I own as well as specific issues. Doing this would also enable features such as dynamic grouping of articles by topic, person, or event across all of my digital magazines. Teaser content and thumbnail videos and/or images could be offered on all articles (if available) instead of just featured ones. Finally, making the index searchable and hyperlinked should improve the concept of an index page quite dramatically.

Secondly, we all know that luring advertisers to buy ad space in these new digital magazines is key. So how about offering something more compelling than full page, half page, tower, leader board, or any of the other dozen types of ads that currently dominate the pages of sites and print magazines. Please skip the animated overlays that take over my page. They are annoying on the web but probably even more so on the digital magazine – especially with all of the rich content that will be on it.

The digital format should allow publishers to offer advertisers a device with behaviorally targeting ads, comprehensive reporting and results tracking, and recommendations for how I can improve my media buys for future campaigns. For readers more contextually relevant and less intrusive ads would be my preference. Search advertising is also on the table given the global index. For example, a search for all hotels that have been covered in all of my travel magazines could yield links to those articles, inline booking, and related ads such as car rentals, flights, and restaurant recommendations.

Some other items on the wishlist that I won’t dive into detail on are social media (e.g. comment streams, fantasy sports, recommendations, etc), live event viewing (e.g. VMA’s, Red Sox games), one-click purchase & bookings, and personalized folders to catalog articles of interest for later viewing).

I applaud the experimentation and desire of publishers to create a new product in the digital medium. The demos and PR are great. There is a long way to go though and I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe that anyone has arrived at “the” killer product yet. However, the payoff of a well thought out, strategically placed product could revive an industry that is in desperate need of it.

Giving as an Indirect Driver of Sales

Recently ABC’s 60 Minutes program ran a piece called, Coming Home about citizen soldiers coming home from active duty service to find that their jobs, titles, and salaries were no longer there – even though they are entitled to it by law.  In the piece a few companies, who are honoring their commitment, talk about the hardships of this on their businesses due to the short notification periods, long deployment times, and the frequency with which the reservists and national guardsmen are called up.

While no one would argue these points, especially when you add the current economic crisis on top of it, there are companies who honor these commitments beyond just compliance with Federal law.  One such company is Sears.  Sears has long track record of support for the military and all of its service members.  As part of their commitment they not only hold open the jobs of employees on active duty, but also voluntarily pay them the difference in salaries and maintain all benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs.  Details on all of the different support programs are available on the Sears Military Support page.

But in an environment when retailers are forecasting double-digit declines in sales for the holiday season you have to ask yourself,: “are there merits to a policy like this beyond being a good corporate citizen?”

The answer: You bet!  The following are two non-exclusive approaches that can benefit both company and individuals alike.

1.    Amplify Organic Messages of Support

As we’ve found in our interactive marketing work, this type of goodwill can be invaluable toward gaining purchase consideration.  As an example, word of Sears support for service members was first published in 2003.  A few sites like snopes.com picked this up, posted the claim, and established its truth.  From there a few other sites picked it up and Sears’ policy was subsequently passed around via emails unaided with messages like, “Sears has been very faithful in their financial support of our troops.  Please consider sending some business their way.”

It tends to make a comeback each holiday season with someone picking it up, sending it to a few friends, and so on in the natural lifespan of these things.  This is great longevity for a message and about as good PR as you can get.  But imagine if you were to utilize the social networks and grass roots tools available today to amplify that message.  How much further could that message of support go?  How many more people might see it and be compelled to do some of their holiday shopping at Sears?

Targeting popular blogs that would be receptive to your message would provide significant exposure to a community that is very likely to act upon the suggestion.  In the Sears example above, military blogs would be a great starting point.  Once posted on these sites, tools like Digg and Reddit can help to publicize these stories to wider audiences.  Sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter also provide avenues within which to gain public attention.  The creation of pages/applications, badges, and messages of support across status feeds can grow awareness of your message within new demographic segments who may not frequent current advertising channels (online and offline).

While all of these things could occur naturally, savvy marketers will help to facilitate these actions.  A key social media strategy that we frequently employ at Roundarch involves energizing your biggest supporters and giving them a voice to be your advocate to a wider audience.

2.    Create Win-Win Support Programs

A second approach, which we’d suggest using alongside the first, is to develop charitable programs that are in-line with the core values of your company.  A few examples of programs like this are L.L. Bean’s charitable programs that focus on conservation and outdoor recreation or Merck’s commitment to improve health worldwide through numerous education and vaccination programs.  This holiday season Sears has expanded its Heroes At Home program to include a Wish Registry component similar to pay it forward.  In their program military families in need can register to receive a portion of the overall donations submitted (total donations are divided equally between all registered, qualified families).  Visitors to the site can choose to donate to the program to help fulfill a wish for the families.  On Christmas Day, registered families are given Sears gift cards that can be used to purchase those items that will make their holiday better.  The reason this works is because Sears already has a strong commitment to the military and the motive is altruistic.  This type of program is win-win in that it benefits Sears in that some of the money donated will come back to them in the form of sales but it also improves the lives of the 29,000 registered military families with a loved-one stationed overseas and in harms way.

Finally, it’s important to remember when considering any type of charitable or donation oriented program is that these cannot be forced.  These programs are successful when based on the goodwill your company has created through its dedication to specific causes.