Special Olympics Guides Make an Impact in South Korea

Publishers know that creating a body of content – be it magazine, catalog, brochure or guide – is something like giving birth to a child. There’s an abundance of prep work, an effusion of resources, and strenuous labor involved in ensuring a safe delivery. As we partner tightly with our clients, when a publication is launched, we are anxious to hear about how it grows or is used out in "the real world."

One of our clients, Paul Whichard of the Special Olympics, recently wrote us to let us know how five Special Olympics coaching guides were received during the Special Olympics Winter Games in South Korea. (Click here to see an example guide, Kayaking – English.) It was great to hear how his experience in the country was, and about the impact the guides had on the coaches there. Read his email to our rep Andy below:

"Hi Andy,

I had a very good time in Korea. I spent a good deal of time at the Floorball rink watching some very exciting, tightly contested matches. Floorball is a fast growing sport that is new to Special Olympics – the pace is much faster than Floor Hockey, and its popularity among Special Olympics athletes is on the rise. I’m also already missing Korean food – there was a place in town that served an incredible spicy beef soup. And I developed a taste for kimchee while I was over there.

As for our coaching guides, they were hot items for the five Winter Sports for which we have them available: Alpine Skiing, Floor Hockey, Snowboarding, Snowshoeing and Figure Skating. As you know, Cross Country Skiing is still in the works – and Football and Speed Skating are just starting out.

We passed out hard copies of the five sports we had and then pointed coaches to the SOI public website to experience them in Nxtbook format. In the coaching clinics that were held for Alpine, Snowboarding and Speed Skating, the Technical Delegates gave out information on where the coaches could find our Coaching Guides in Nxtbook format on the website.

The Winter Games are small compared to our Summer Games, so you shouldn’t expect a big blip on the Nxtbook radar until we actively advertise our iTunes app and go through our National and World Summer Games.

Also, the upcoming Artistic Gymnastics Coaching Guide should include the Routines Video and Music. We’ll have to discuss how to incorporate these into the guide, once it is ready. They are ordered off of our public website about 10 to 1 compared to the other sports.

Best regards,

Paul"

It’s exciting when we get a chance to peek into our clients’ worlds and see the publications in action. If you have a story to share, let us know! Email your project manager and let him or her know how you’re doing and how the project is going. Or, click here to submit your testimony on our website. We’d love to hear from you.

3 Dates, 3 Chances to View Our Newest Product Before Your Competitors

Ok, we can’t promise your competitors won’t tune in as well; but, if you want to learn all about Responsive Design, what it means in your industry, and what we have developed so YOU can be responsive with your digital content, you have three opportunities to do so.

Next week, Marcus Grimm will be presenting 3 days in a row on Responsive Design, especially in reference to the publishing landscape. He’ll not only explain what you need to know about this new platform and what new opportunities come out of it, but he’ll also let you see responsive design in publishing in action!

If you’re in the U.S., you’ll want to tune in on November 13, 2:00 pm EST or November 15, 2:00 pm EST to catch the live show. (Click the respective dates to register.)

If you’re in the UK or EU, register for the November 14 event at 2:00 pm GMT for the same live presentation. (That’s 9:00 am EST).

Don’t miss out on your chance to see how Responsive Design completely changes the online reading experience. Even more than that, see how we’ve figured out how to monetize it like no one else.

3 Reasons to do a Snappy Post-Event Brochure

It’s the end of an event. The panelists have spoken, the attendees have mingled, the exhibitors handed out all of their tchotchkes, and the event planners have heaved huge sighs of relief. Now, however, is when your marketing team can really shine, and I don’t mean by mass emailing a "Thank You" to your sponsors.

Instead, anyone holding an event should be ready to send out a digital post-event brochure. Digital allows for a quick-turn, delivering your brochure to inboxes while the event is still fresh in everyone’s mind. (Click here for an example)

3 Reasons you need to have a post-event brochure include:

1. Everyone has just left, hopefully feeling good about their experience. Returning to their home offices and finding a post-event brochure will not only impress them, but it will help cement the good feeling as they flip through the pages remembering the event.

2. It’s one more way to promote your sponsors. It’s a great added value for your sponsors as they will not only reach attendees while at the event, but also when they are at their own desks. Consider the value of each sponsor having a full page ad in the brochure which a reader will see after the hubbub of the event has passed, and they can focus on the copy of one brochure page at a time.

3. People love seeing themselves in action! You can use that to help promote your next event. If you include pictures from the event – of speakers, panelists, attendees, and people enjoying themselves at your event – attendees and exhibitors alike might share your brochure, and therefore spread the word about your event.

For an example of a great post-event brochure, click here to view Green Retail Decision’s brochure. They skillfully include shout-outs to sponsors, pictures from the event, and information about their next Innovation Summit. The format is screen-friendly and easy to flip through.

For your next event, talk to us about how to plan a quick-turn publication promoting your business function.

An Event Brochure That’s Actually Attractive For Vendors

File this one under "Events," subtitle: "How To Stand Out To Vendors."

Also known as Trade Show Collateral That Actually Attracts.

When faced with drumming up sponsors and exhibitors for their annual show, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) faces the same challenges as any other event coordinator: how to convince people your show is worth it.

You can get your vendors and prospects information by the typical means: some printed promotional items and a PDF emailed to prospects. Or you could do what SME did and produce an engaging, exciting brochure.

Among the many things they did right, SMEadded a hint of animation to the graphs and statistics they provided exhibitor prospects. The animation is light, but it makes the information more entertaining to view. For examples, vendors want to know what types of people will be attending the event: what’s their industry, job function, buying power, etc. SME could have presented this information in a chart, and the facts would be sufficiently communicated. Instead, they create a full page, beautifully designed, lightly animated presentation to wow potential vendors: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sme/westec2012_postshow/#/5

Want to show off your attendees’ buying power? Flash your impressive stats across the page, one at a time, for impact.

Set your show apart in your vendors’ minds from the very beginning: present them with collateral that wows and inspires.

Happy Fourth of July!

To our audience in the USA, happy Fourth of July!

What better way to mark the holiday than by celebrating some USA digital magazines?

Take this one, Splash by USA Swimming. In it you can read all about the Olympic trials for the USA swim team. Go team USA! (And be sure to check out the video in the AT&T ad on page 17. If the video looks to small on your screen, click the corner of the player and drag it to make it bigger. Take up the whole page if you want!)

LaunchPad by Creative Age takes a moment to celebrate "American Beauty" with decades of iconic celebrities in America and all American beauty products. Click here to see the article. (And hey, look at how they use the left of cover position to promote their advertisers. Creative!)

There’s no place in the world quite like Hollywood, CA, USA, the birthplace of Blockbuster hits. Check out American Cinematographer and get some behind-the-scenes looks at new release "The Avengers" on page 34. (Not a subscriber? No problem. This DRM protection page has a "preview" button. Click that to be taken into the book in preview mode.)

Or celebrate America by traveling to any of the 50 states. Take a travel guide with you, like this one, the North Carolina 2012 Official Travel Guide. The animations are great and really inspire you to get up and explore. (If you’re traveling to a different state, contact us! We might have a travel guide you can use.)

Regardless of what you do, happy July 4th. Celebrate well.

A Finely Crafted Brochure for a Finely Crafted Brew

There might only be 8 pages to this Craft Brewers Brochure, but each page is stuffed to the gills with additional content and animation geared towards educating craft brewers on the best beer brewing process.

Every element of this brochure has been customized for reader interaction while keeping a slick design layout for computer screens. This often results in an animation on an animation on an animation, keeping readers glued to the page.

Take a look at the second page, which features an animated brewery tour. The page design is clean, removing all distraction from the animated image depicting the brewing process (animation #1). Readers can then click on any of the icons to learn more about that stage in the brewing process (#2). For even more information, readers can click again on a specific topic within that animation to be taken to another section in the brochure (#3).

The brochure features interactive animations, video, web windows, rollover animations, quote requests, and even twitter and blog feeds.All of these features are guaranteed to keep their niche audience delving deeper into their publication. It’s worth a read!

5 Cases of Melt-Your-Face Branding

Digital marketing is a new and expanding element in any businesses’ playbook. And some of our clients are just doing it right.

We’ve wrapped up 5 short case studies into one resource, downloadable here, which highlight how 5 businesses

•  - boost engagement
•  - expand their reach
•  - drum up excitement
•  - entertain new readers
•  - and more

Click here to download the report now.

Digital Marketing: Add a Little “Awesome!”

The wow-factor. A phrase made cliché by marketers’ overuse, yet has not lost any of its allure to audiences and advertisers alike. It’s a necessary element to every promotional piece to evoke reader action. But, as every content creator, brand manager and marketer knows, getting your audience to be "wowed" isn’t easy.

It’s also not too hard: Add a little "awesome!" to your next digital campaign with integrated tactics that delight readers, sponsors and advertisers.

In this free white paper is five micro studies of businesses using digital editions to promote their brand and to inspire a targeted audience into action. Each company took a different strategy, mixing some of the best features of old media – like large efficacious images, intentional design, and the cohesive quality of a publication – and new media – such as animation, digital design choices and customization.

They didn’t seek to thrill everyone who clicked the link to their content; but, they created an awesome encounter for everyone who fit their target audience.

Create a better experience for fans of your brand, and reap the benefits of an engaged audience left saying, "that was awesome!"

Click here for the white paper.

More than an Average Brochure

Digital brochures have the heavy task of taking a lot of information and breaking it into swallowable pieces. Those really looking to make an impact will also find a way to make it exciting or at least interesting for the reader.

Then there’s Principal, who took a heavy, information-heavy topic like retirement planning and managed to create a brochure that was not only informative but also engaging and helpful for any kind of reader. They call it "More Than A Number."

From the moment the brochure opens, readers know to expect more than a page-flip experience. Custom animation on the front cover immediately positions the brochure as an interactive, fun piece designed specifically with readers’ questions in mind.

Jump to the second section, "Understanding Retirement Plan Costs." The title could belong to any textbook or article explaining retirement. But in this interactive brochure the information is broken down into an animated chart. For readers who would like more details, Principal included a click-to-play video that walks readers through the chart, highlighting and explaining each piece.

Even the navigation is customized with the reader in mind. While a reader can easily turn from page to page – the brochure style does allow for a finality, a start to finish, for those who enjoy that reading experience – Principal also includes multiple jumps within a section. Take "Navigating Cost Considerations." At the bottom of each page there are jumps to the next topic for readers looking for more information in a specific area. 

Design, animation, and navigation were all created with the end user in mind, making this a perfect example of creating a valuable resource for readers. This is more than your average brochure.

A Shining Example for Animation and Design

Last week, I covered a few of the ways publishers are using animations to add value, not just aesthetics or flash. Sometimes, however, a publisher really "gets it" and uses animation for both additional content and attractive design.

A shining example of this is AAA Traveler, a digital magazine dedicated to helping connect travelers with the best vacation for them. This magazine is all about the reader: every potential destination  was accompanied by additional information the visitor would need to know. Tucked behind an "i", magnifying glass, play button, camera, envelope, or several other icons is additional content to help readers either find inspiration or make the best decision for their vacation.

The benefit to the reader is what helps set AAA publications apart as a valuable resource, a status most publishers covet.

The design incorporates the additional content while keeping the travel magazine feel vacationers are used to. All of the forms, videos, pop-ups and additional pieces of content are designed to fit within a designated space within the layout, rather than dropped anywhere on the page. For example, check out the additional tour information on page 19 or the tips on page 32.

Final bonus: flip to page 31. If you answer a question correctly, you could win a pass to all U.S. National Parks. Just submit the form (a functional animation) behind the question mark icon.

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