Like many men I have, on occasion, picked up my girlfriend’s girly magazines (Cosmos, Vogue et al) and I am always astounded by how many advertisements an average edition contains. When I point out that she’s paying £4 to be advertised at she laughs and says she LIKES looking at the adverts. (Granted I do too, but that has more to do with pretty models and the occassional nipple.) But seriously, it seems women spend as much time like looking at the adverts as they do reading the articles. Women all over the world will be pleased to hear then that September’s Vogue boasts a frankly ludricrous 727 of adverts! All well and good but so far i’ve not given you any digital insight, so here it is…
Vogue have noticed that fashion advertising is a nice little earner and have decided they want an even bigger slice of the pie. This has resulted in shopvogue.tv – a broadband channel. The site has three channels: Shop, Watch and Share.
‘Shop’ is, in Vogue’s eyes at any rate, the focal point of the site. It quite literally provides direct copies of the (727) adverts from Vogue’s pages online. BUT its very clever – one can click on products featured in the ad and be linked through to the clothing companies website to buy the product or look at similar products. More than this users can search by designer to look at the ads they want.
‘Watch’ is a number of Vogue produced shows including everything from runway shows to behind the scenes at photoshoots, interviews to style tips. Importantly all the content is exclusive to shopvogue.tv
‘Share’ is the UGC portion of the site which allows users to upload pictures of themselves trying out styles, looks and so on.
All in all its a pretty comprehensive broadband channel. Plus, unlike Bud.tv Vogue seem justified in thinking that fashionistas will actual log on in droves – this is, in part, due to the success of America’s Next Top Model, Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada. Also, rather sensibly, Vogue are open to (and indeed encourage) the content going viral on to platforms like YouTube to ramp up awareness in an attempt to get over half a million visits in the next few months. This is so they can (presumably) launch a serious Christmas offensive come November/December.
Will shopvogue.tv succeed? If my girlfriend is anyone to go by: probably…
Will traditional Vogue advertisers adjust?
From Web Geeking Gets a Whole Lot Prettier on CMSWire:
…let’s be realistic: readers read Vogue for its content about as much as readers of Playboy enjoy the articles. This new initiative, in which content really is king (and advertising comprises all his new clothes), will benefit Vogue advertisers most of all.
Vogue has always been dedicated to its advertisers, so it will be interesting to see if it can strike a healthy and advantageous balance in the online realm without letting one strength overshadow the other.
Advertisers who appear in the coveted September print issue are also offered an opportunity to appear online, with those who purchase multi-page spreads having the option to post additional content, “like behind-the-scenes video from their campaign’s photo shoots.”
Sounds pretty advantageous to me…