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Magazine Eyeballs Its Subscribers
No_Weak_Heart writes "Talk about 'know your customers' -- the NY Times has an interesting article about Reason Magazine's upcoming June issue. Each of the print magazine's 40,000 subscribers will receive a copy of the mag with their name and a satellite photo of their home on the cover!" Although described as a "cover stunt", the magazine's editor "said that the parlor trick could have profound implications as database and printing capabilities grow."
Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover DAVID CARR
Published: April 5, 2004
When the 40,000 subscribers to Reason, the monthly libertarian magazine, receive a copy of the June issue, they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood - their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled.
On one level, the project, sort of the ultimate in customized publishing, is unsurprising: of course a magazine knows where its subscribers live. But it is still a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed. Apart from the cover image, several advertisements are customized to reflect the recipient's particulars.
Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason, said the magazine, with an editorial mission of "Free Minds, Free Markets,'' used the stunt to illustrate the cover article about the power and importance of databases.
"Our story is man bites dog," Mr. Gillespie said. "Everybody, including our magazine, has been harping on the erosion of privacy and the fears of a database nation. It is a totally legit fear. But they make our lives unbelievably easier as well, in terms of commercial transactions, credit, you name it."
Rodger Cosgrove, president of Entremedia, a direct marketing firm and a member of Reason's board, assisted in coming up with a program that allows the subscriber list to be integrated with satellite photographs. He also worked with Xeikon, the manufacturer of the printer that made the endless customization possible.
"They were interested in showing what this technology could do," he said, "and we were interested in demonstrating the power of databases to customize information."
The cover article, written by Declan McCullagh, suggests that while databases can lead to breaches in privacy, it allows Dell to provide instant credit to computer buyers, grocery stores to stock goods that their customers want, and mortgage lenders to keep their rates down.
"It's obvious that databases provide enormous benefits to modern life," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "We could no more operate without computer databases than we could without electricity."
"That doesn't mean that there aren't still some serious debates to have about government databases," he added, "including the monitoring of the general American public under John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program and the passenger profiling that has gone on."
In some respects, Reason's cover stunt is less Big Brother than one more demonstration that micromarketing is here to stay. "My son gets sports catalogs where his name is imprinted on the jerseys that are on the cover," Mr. Rotenberg said. "He thinks that's very cool."
In his editor's note describing the magazine's database package, Mr. Gillispie left open three spots - commuting time, educational attainment and percentage of children living with grandparents - so he could adapt his message to individual readers. Mr. Gillespie said that the parlor trick could have profound implications as database and printing capabilities grow.
"What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?" he asked. "That would be a magazine that everyone would want to read." -DAVID CARR
"What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?"
They already have this. It's called the internet.
Personally, the fact that this is cheap enough to be feasible for a print medium is far more impressive to me than the fact that it is technically possible.
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
"Rodger Cosgrove, president of Entremedia, a direct marketing firm and a member of Reason's board, assisted in coming up with a program that allows the subscriber list to be integrated with satellite photographs. He also worked with Xeikon, the manufacturer of the printer that made the endless customization possible."
John
Most subscribers will receive an issue that features four cover pages of intensely personalized information, a demonstration of bleeding-edge technology that may one day allow for mass-customized and hyper-individualized print publications (btw, pace the Times' headline, our monthly print circulation totals about 55,000).
So it's not just the cover...
-bs
That that is is not that that is not. That that is not is not that that is.
My county has mapping tools online. It provides detailed overhead views, demographic info, and many useful tools, including tax and assessment information.
/. effect...
Not my address but you can enter 10604 Bristow Road as a good search example of what they offer.
The concept and amount of imformation they have does not really bother me.
I doubt they will stand the
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Libertarians support private businesses knowing about people. It's called "marketing" and "free enterprise". What does a Libertarian have to complain about? It's not the government doing it (in which case it *would* be a crime and an abomination).
If you think the information about 10604 Bristow Road is bad, try looking at the Clark County Nevada information.
Check out these assessor records 7959 Bermuda Dunes Ave or the Search by Name or the always fun Search by Address. Or checkout a house owned by the Las Vegas Mayor.
It's a great way to find out how much your neighbor paid, previous owners, or tracking down that obnoxious salesman/lawyer.
Just thinking of the stalking potential on these websites is a nightmare.
Browsing without an adblocker is like fucking without a condom - Mal-2