Magazines | Ads of China // 中国广告

Audi has teamed up with the Chinese version of the syle publication Esquire Magazine (时尚先生- Shíshàng xiānshēng) to create a front cover with an LED display.

The front cover has been created with E-Ink (Electronic Ink) and the lights can remain flashing for up to 6 months. It’s a great fit with the Audi brand as the signature design piece of most of its vehicles are the LED-esque headlights.

Chinese netizens are very excited about this piece of creativity and Esquire’s Chinese website calls it “a world first”. However, Western readers will have seen this two years ago when Esquire used a similar display on their 75th Anniversary edition in the US version of the magazine, as shown in the video below.

Regardless of this, the impressive front cover is a really nice collaboration between the two brands and hopefully China will see more of this type of creativity in the near future.

We’ve all seen innovative outdoor and online ads but now i’d like to show you some exciting examples of magazine advertising that have recently featured across a number of Chinese publications.

Motorola ‘Backflip’ (后空翻) ME600 – Bookmark
The Backflip (后空翻) or in pinyin Hòu kōngfān is the nickname of the Motorola ME600 mobile phone – which is only available in China and has the differentiating feature is the screen’s ability to ‘backflip’ onto itself:

Motorola promoted the phone by providing magazine readers a free bookmark in the style of the ME600. The freebie has a magnetic finish and highlights the backflip ability of the phone.

An explanatory presentation is available here, unfortunately it is in Chinese but has plenty of pictures so you may get the jist of it.

座驾Car (Car Car) Magazine: At First Glance Advertising
Chinese motoring magazine 座驾Car or in English ‘Car Car’ adopted what the Chinese call 第一眼 (Dì yīyǎn) which translates to ‘at first glance’ advertising:

The genius of ‘at first glance’ advertising is that the magazine publisher places packaging around the magazine in such a way that it forces the reader to open the up the magazine at the advert. Thus almost guaranteeing exposure to the reader. A very nice idea.

Samsung: Camera Picture Book
To promote their latest camera, Samsung decided to create a miniture picture book to be stuck on the front of magazines. It’s not the most innovative idea of the bunch but worth a look nonetheless:

Mengniu: Pull-tab front cover
I’m a big fan of the pull-tab as it takes me back to my childhood days, and the intention of Mengniu (蒙牛) was to demonstrate innocence. So hats off to brand. It features on the front cover of the youth magazine, ‘Yoho‘ which has the tagline ‘Being young is an attitude’ – it’s actually really cool magazine.

Sony Ericsson: W595 Walkman – Butterfly Gatefold advertising
Sony have delivered a unique type of tabbed advertising called the ‘Butterfly Gatefold’, it looks great:

Sony Ericsson: W20 Walkman – Hidden discovery magazine cover
Hiding a treat for readers inside the magazine cover itself is something I have never seen before. A lovely idea that surely delighted the magazines readers!