A few days ago, I got a copy of TIME Magazine in the mail with an advertisement that really struck me as near-perfect. I thought I’d write a quick post about it since I haven’t heard mention of it on any of my usual tech blogs (or Hacker News).
Please excuse the poor photo quality that follows, I took these with my Galaxy Nexus which uses 2011’s potato-camera technology.
Here is the front of the magazine:
And here is the back:
What is so great about this ad? I’ll keep it short. For the record, I’m a huge Android fan so it takes a lot for me to write a blog post about something impressive by Apple.
- It immediately displays how I can use the device in real life. I just got done reading that issue of TIME and as I turn to the back cover, I see how I could have spent the same time reading on an iPad mini. This is a call to action if I’ve ever seen one.
- It emphasizes the high screen-to-device-size ratio without words, making it accessible to non-techies.
- It uses the current issue of TIME and displays the full cover. This is critical. Rather than showing me how some super-optimized digital magazine would look on my iPad, it demonstrates that I can have a full TIME magazine experience with no compromises on quality or content (so it seems).
This ad, without any words whatsoever, clearly conveys the best qualities and uses of the device in a manner that is relevant to the reader by default. I give it a 10/10. What do you think? Follow the discussion on Hacker News.
Sam Stern 
I thought it was a nice ad, too. But it wasn’t ever going to convince me.
My mom, open-minded towards the tablet market and in search of a device, found it very off-putting – for her it convinced her the form factor was too small. But still a nice approach.
I wonder if it would be better or worse to show instead some text – that would be a true test of the format (and better example of the resolution, too).
Very interesting, thanks for the feedback. I liked the cover (as opposed to text) because it’s unambiguous. With text you can’t tell if it’s “tablet edition” or the full magazine, whereas the cover shows that it’s full-format.
LIES.
+1
Maybe hypnotic music with it, right? Codeine http://youtu.be/T13VEjE2LYQ
I definitely think the ipad mini ads are some of the best ads. Love the piano one
you dont need to spaces after a period
… and why bother with a capital to begin your sentence? Or the apostrophe in don’t? Or the period (or exclamation) after period?
Sam beats asdasd asdasd 3:1
Or even use the correct words… “to” or “two” aww f-it.
I think you’re going to be getting a lot of junk mail … might want to remove the address label before posting next time
Do you mean in my About page, or is there another one I am missing? I haven’t gotten any spam yet, plus part of the purpose of this blog is encouraging people to reach out to me if they have similar interests.
i think he meant the address on the cover of the magz
Good ad, but my first thought was that the cover was a color QR code.
I agree it’s impressive, almost all the ads I’ve seen for the iPad mini (print or TV) have been some of the best Apple ads I’ve ever seen, a huge improvement after those genius ads.
Also for those saying it needs text, it already has a fair amount of text – and like you say the key thing is that it shows exactly the cover you have been looking at.
good very good
I haven’t read all the comments but wanted to let you know, I think you’ve published your postal address in the first image.
yep! pure gold. i wish the agency had a online course.
I wonder what it costs to make Time magazine format their front cover with ‘digital display friendly’ large fonts and images so an apple add on the back cover doesn’t look like crap.
amazing, a product of the genius
Excuse me, did I miss something here? How is this ad genius? Really? BTW, who still reads Time Magazine, anyways?
[deleted]
Why would you take such a low res photo for a blog post?
This is a very, VERY low-traffic blog in general. I didn’t think anyone would see this post, so I didn’t bother worrying about the quality. I just post here as an exercise for myself. This blog had less than 5000 views all time before this post, and this post alone got nearly 30,000 so I was not expecting such a turnout.
good very good
I just enjoyed flipping through the mag and I get to the back and now what….I see a smaller version of the mag, I’m obviously a supporter in some way of the print edition, that I just read? Seems the target demo/audience is a bit lost here. Maybe I wished the print edition was more portable – so then yay, look, there’s a digital ver..but how much market are you going after with that. And how does the wordless ad only showing a cover help convince anyone that digital version is richer/more interactive/interesting/useful.
Weak.
please don’t flip the magz 🙂
It amazes me how deep into your brain some of these ads can get. Brilliant marketing.
True. And mesmerizing and hypnotic at times. You only need a song for it. Codeine. http://youtu.be/T13VEjE2LYQ
I will still read the paper version of magazines I keep in the restroom at home rather than take a tablet / reader in there but I agree the Ad you mentioned is simple and straight to the point which is huge in today’s rapid world…
I think it’s very unique and very ingenious. It’s 21st century “marketing” at it’s best, especially in our current fast-pace, high-tech society. NO WORDS NECESSARY, because a picture or 2 says a thousand words!
very unique and special.
dug really deep this ad!
This article offers clear idea in favor of the
new viewers of blogging, that in fact how to do blogging.