A NEW lifestyle magazine covering environmental news and features is to launch this month – but without a print edition. Available in digital page-turn format the new magazine - ecoforyou - will be free to readers and circulated using web only distribution channels.
Publishers Planet Ink Ltd say the digital format, which can be used on both PCs and Macs, allows them to save on both natural resources and energy used in traditional printing.
It also allows ecoforyou to feature video content, audio, live links to stories and websites and animated Flash based advertising normally associated only with websites.
Content will include news, interviews, features and tips on going green, sustainable shopping and more, all set out in an innovative fully interactive format, hosted for Planet Ink Ltd on the YUDU Media digital platform.
The actual production process will also be fully offset – aiming to make it a 100% carbon neutral publication.
The Energy Agency, ScottishPower and Scottish Government are among the big names lined up as part of the maiden launch.
The first edition of ecoforyou is expected to go live on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, and publish as a monthly.
In what could be an industry first, ecoforyou will rely upon the online community to spearhead its assault on the market through social networking.
A Facebook page and Twitter subscription site are up and running already, while a dedicated website hosting the free editions is also about to go live at www.ecoforyou.co.uk
Readers will be encouraged to use ‘Forward to a Friend’ buttons and post links to blogs or add content they enjoy to the likes of Delicious, Digg and Technorati among others.
Employers are also being invited to send ecoforyou to staff or clients for free as part of their company’s own corporate environmental responsibility.
Founding director Gerry Cassidy said: “We hope ecoforyou will appeal not only to individual readers who care about green issues but businesses, campaigners and industry leaders too.
“By making ecoforyou available online and for free, we are inviting people to use it as part of addressing their own commitment to encouraging a sustainable lifestyle.
“They can easily email ecoforyou to their clients, colleagues and workforce and retain their green credentials, without having to go to the additional expense of their own publication.”
“Many businesses would love to have their own green edge title but with today’s economic picture, environmental considerations are all too often the first to be axed.
“But in ecoforyou we believe we have a product not only to be proud of but one that is trailblazing a new era for publishing in general.”
Planet Ink Ltd also believes that the online only approach will prove popular with potential advertisers because of its full interactivity with readers.
Founding director Shaun Milne said: “One of the many great things about ecoforyou is the fact that it engages the reader in a way print titles can only dream of.
“They can play videos, click onto websites, scroll their way through articles, move photographs – even choose their favourite cover, making it an enjoyable experience.
“And we can also offer statistical packages detailing how many views an edition has had, how long people have lingered on a page or how many times a link has been clicked and so on.
“It’s like a half-way house between print and web. All the familiarity of turning pages with the interactivity and usability of the web – while being eco friendly."
“Call it publishing with a conscience – combining entertaining content and functionality to propel an important yet often maligned subject into the mainstream.”
Director Derek Bryce added: “Online ad revenues remain one of the few areas to have performed far better than print based advertising, with click through rates on page turn titles also reportedly higher.
“This gives added value to advertisers who can track the success of their ads or allow us to provide them with the background data, literally at the click of a button.”
Other functions will allow readers to burn to disc or memory stick, download offline versions for later viewing, bookmark, print, add notes or even search content.
ecoforbusiness ecoforlife ecoforyou
Launching October 21, 2008
www.ecoforyou.co.uk
NOTES FOR NEWSDESKS
(1) ecoforyou will be available via email or through a free link available at
www.ecoforyou.co.uk from October 21, 2008.
(2) the publishers plan for an estimated initial mail-out to 50,000 potential readers. Accurate readership figures will be made available in due course.
(3) ecoforyou is now accepting inquiries for both sponsorship and advertising opportunities on 0141 248 5595/6. A full rate-card is available.
(4) Planet Ink Ltd is an award-winning independent design, media and publishing house
based in Glasgow established in January 2006 by founding directors Shaun Milne and Gerry Cassidy.
(5) For further information call Shaun Milne on 0794 121 9061 or Gerry Cassidy on 07798 543 9752, or 0141 248 5595. Email info@planetinkltd.co.uk or visit www.planetinkltd.co.uk
Media release posted FRIDAY OCTOBER 10, 2008.
ENDS
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