Is it totally, inexcusably Scrooge-ish to admit to hating Boxing Day? Before you scream ‘Yes!’ whilst resolutely toasting the Messiah, wearing your cracker crown and feverishly thumbing through the Christmas Radio Times, hear me out.
Everything fun about Christmas is over and done with, at least until New Year's Eve, which seems like a lifetime away. Presents? Opened and, provided the giver has been thoughtful enough to leave the tags on, ready to be returned and exchanged. Food? I’ll never eat again (til turkey curry tonight). Alcohol? Ug, another G&T and I’ll officially turn into Pat Butcher. A nice, crisp, refreshing walk to clear away the cobwebs? I had my annual turn around the park yesterday – that’s quite enough exercise for this year thank you.
The grandparents are downstairs ensconced on the sofa watching Sky News, which was on its fifth repeat last time I checked. My dad’s frantically exercising on the rowing machine, terrified of the extra pounds just waiting to pounce on his poor middle-aged, ever-expanding waistline. My mum is pacing the hall, consumed with guilt at her desperation to hit the Boxing Day sales, and my brother has escaped to his girlfriend’s house, where yet another turkey-themed extravaganza awaits.
And me? I’m blogging for Christ’s sake – need I say more?!
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Sunday 2 December 2007
Kim Hollamby and the relationship between magazines and websites
Last week IPC’s Kim Hollamby provided an insightful take on the relationship between a magazine and its website. It’s a conundrum that’s had me wondering for a while now: do you replicate the print version’s content word for word, offer a sample of enticing nuggets from the paper copy to encourage people to go out and buy it, or publish an entirely different selection of stories, thus reaching out to a larger audience?
Kim’s answer was that you should not replicate the entire publication, but focus on one element and do that really well (eg Country Life on property). I’m not sure if this would work with all magazines, many of which are popular because of the breadth of material they contain – it would look lazy.
One of my pet hates is websites which are full of promising teasers that take you to a page saying ‘For the full story buy our magazine’ – the ‘no such thing as a free lunch’ approach. Maybe it’s because the editor thinks if their content’s all online, people won’t bother buying the mag. I beg to differ: there’s nothing quite like the wonderful tactility of my sumptuous new papery-smelling, glossy-paged Traveller.
Personally I think the magazine industry needs to look to newspapers, which are miles ahead on this issue. They should embrace multimedia enrichment through complementary video – for example, how about footage of the preparation for a big photo shoot, which we multi-skilled Cardiff kids will be more than able to assist with…
Kim’s answer was that you should not replicate the entire publication, but focus on one element and do that really well (eg Country Life on property). I’m not sure if this would work with all magazines, many of which are popular because of the breadth of material they contain – it would look lazy.
One of my pet hates is websites which are full of promising teasers that take you to a page saying ‘For the full story buy our magazine’ – the ‘no such thing as a free lunch’ approach. Maybe it’s because the editor thinks if their content’s all online, people won’t bother buying the mag. I beg to differ: there’s nothing quite like the wonderful tactility of my sumptuous new papery-smelling, glossy-paged Traveller.
Personally I think the magazine industry needs to look to newspapers, which are miles ahead on this issue. They should embrace multimedia enrichment through complementary video – for example, how about footage of the preparation for a big photo shoot, which we multi-skilled Cardiff kids will be more than able to assist with…
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