As you might expect, many of those affected by the ash cloud that is currently overstaying its welcome above Europe have been keeping themselves busy documenting their ordeal on Twitter, Facebook and countless blogs.

Taking things a step further, marooned magazine fanatic Andrew Losowsky, is launching a (hopefully short-lived) magazine for ash cloud refugees.

He announced his plans on his blog Magtastic Blogspolosion, inviting similarly stranded designers, writers, photographers, illustrators and art directors to help put the project together.

“If there’s one thing my ol’ ma taught me, it’s that when life gives you volcanoes, make magazines. And so we shall. … If you’re out there and interested, email me and tell me what you do. I’ll then give you an assignment to complete today/tomorrow. Depending on how long this thing lasts, we’ll work the rest of it out from there.”

The finished work will likely be published via a print-on-demand service like Magcloud with any proceeds going to an environmental charity. Working titles currently include Grounded, Someday We’ll Fly Away and my personal favourite, SkyFail.

Lessons for Business

Well, first off, it’s not hard to see that this kind of project would be impossible without the communication and collaboration tools we now have available. Email, blogs, Twitter, project management applications and file sharing tools make this kind of large scale collaboration not only possible, but relatively straightforward.

With a blog post and a few emails Losowsky is able to employ the creative talents of professionals and interested amateurs across the globe. How could you do the same for your next project? Better yet, how could you re-imagine your business or industry from this perspective?

Secondly, using a print-on-demand service like Magcloud means the cost to Losowsky will be virtually zero – as each buyer will pay for the magazine as it is printed and shipped. Similarly, a site like NewspaperClub.co.uk allows you to upload and print as few as 5 copies of your own tabloid-sized newspaper. The cost of creating an online magazine, unsurprisingly, is also next to nothing.

The web allows the fixed costs of production to be spread across thousands, or even millions, of individuals – meaning anyone, businesses included, can now create and distribute their own media, even in print.

They can do the same with other physical goods through rapid prototyping, DIY manufacturing services and shared infrastructure, co-ordinated online. Needless to say, digital goods can be replicated and distributed at virtually no cost too.

Of course both of these changes are great examples of how barriers to entry are not only being lowered, but disappearing altogether. The idea of creating and publishing a new magazine, from scratch, with a team scattered across the globe, and with the deliberate intention of shutting it down again almost immediately, seems bizarre.

But if the costs are virtually non-existent, the only thing you’re risking is your time. Which makes the question less ‘why’ do something and more ‘why not?’. After all, if someone can launch a magazine while stranded at an airport, what’s stopping you?

[This article first appeared in the Belfast Telegraph]

Enterprise UK and Virgin Media have hooked up to produce VirginMediaPioneers.com.

As the site explains, there are 3 parts to the programme:

• Virgin Media Pioneers Online – an online video blogging community for young entrepreneurs.
• Spark Your Ideas – a series of sessions to help would-be entrepreneurs develop their skills and build their business networks.
• Awards – an award ceremony to recognise the achievements of the Virgin Media Pioneer community.

The video blogging aspect is a nice touch – helping elevate what is often a rather staid topic into something more engaging and in line with the target market, the project ethos and (not least) the Virgin Media brand.

Virgin Media obviously get a lot of goodwill and brand profile out of the venture and Enterprise UK get help fulfilling their remit.

They’ve also got a long list of partner organisations and experts involved in delivering the project who will also benefit through added exposure.

What strikes me however is how easy this would be to rework for a local or regional project to encourage young entrepreneurs – even without a big brand at the heart of it.

Via MagCulture here’s a first look at how magazines are actually working on the iPad.

It’s interesting to see how they cope with designing for both landscape and portrait views (not very well) and how they differ from some of the concepts we’ve seen here and in various promo videos before.

You get the feeling that there’s a lot more polishing to be done and some of the cooler functionality from the various promos might struggle to make it into a weekly or monthly magazine.

All that being said, imagine your organisation’s next publication being delivered like this. How much more impact would it have?

Yes, I’m on a bit of an iPad trip at the moment but to put it mildly, the idea of combining video, animation, sound, text and links has enormous potential to create some truly orginal content.

Like the above for example.

It’s a motion magazine cover and feature developed by Alexx Henry, Cory Strassburger and Ming Hsiung for all digital magazine Viv Mag.

We’ve looked at a variety of iPad demos recently and while the potential is exciting, the reality of what publishers produce may be a little more pedestrian.

Ducth paper De Telegraaf released the video above which suggests they plan to repurpose their website for the iPad. This makes some sense and if probably more realistic for many publishers in a time of restricted budgets and staff cuts.

That said, simply bringing video, audio and animated graphics into a magazine/newspaper format could make for an interesting product.

Personally, I think that there’s enormous potential for independent publishers and businesses to put these new tools to use – banishing staid catalogues and boring whitepapers.

What do you think?

If you’re still hmmming and haaaing about what the iPad will mean, check out what publisher Penguin’s planning.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

So far digital magazine formats have by and large sought to replicate the experience of the printed format, reproducing printed versions complete with ‘flippy’ pages.

A few notable examples have gone further in making impressive use of video, audio and better layouts to maximise the potential of the digital magazine – but even these efforts will likely be seen as stepping stones towards more natively digital and mobile offerings to come.

Indeed, publications like Sports Illustrated [video] and Wired [video] have recently unveiled their respective conceptualisations with a clear focus on new hardware like e-readers, smart mobiles and tablets.

In a similar vein (see video above), design consultancy BERG and media company Bonnier have released what they call ‘a corporate collaborative research project … into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future …’.

Apart from looking very cool indeed BERG/Bonnier’s future retains the concept of magazine issues (as opposed to constantly updated RSS-style feeds) and (thankfully) does away with the flippy pages.

If you’re feeling impatient, skip to minute 3 for an idea of their concepts in action.

virgin iphone app

I recently profiled an innovative business idea from the world of iPhone development on one of our own sites, Iddictive.com.

The company in question, Mental Workout, builds content-driven iPhone applications which focus on “improving lives by helping people resolve issues and increase mental performance”. Current applications include ‘courses’ on stress management, overcoming insomnia and fear of flying.

What makes this particularly interesting is that the apps have been developed  “in partnership with world-renowned experts and market leading corporations”. The fear of flying app for example, is based on Virgin Atlantic’s successful Flying Without Fear program and branded as such – including an introduction from Richard Branson.

Partnering Profits

It’s perhaps not surprising that we like this partnering business model as it’s also at the core of what we do here at Own Brand.

So why do we like it so much? In short, there’s something in it for everyone:

• New Revenues: In this example, Virgin can effectively generate new revenues by re-purposing existing content and knowledge.
• Brand Exposure: They also generate brand exposure in a new and innovative way (and in a format that they have not previously exploited).
• Limited Risk: By sharing the risk of development and marketing with an expert in the platform they avoid some of the potential pitfalls.
• Limited Cost: Although I don’t know the specifics of their deal, there’s a good chance that the development costs were born by Mental Workout rather than Virgin.

And, of course, Mental Workout get instant brand recognition and credibility for the app by partnering with acknowledged experts and big brands.

Using This Strategy in Your Business

iPhone apps aside, the question is, how can you adapt this model to your business goals?

The key to any successful partnership is that both parties bring something to the table that complements the other. In this case, Mental Workout bring their development skills and market knowledge (things that Virgin don’t have) and Virgin bring the tried and tested content and brand recognition (things that Mental Workout don’t have).

For your business then, the first step is to list your assets and needs. For example, a firm of business consultants may have a strong reputation, industry expertise, and content and materials built up over years of doing business.

If they want to make use of that online however, they may lack the technical, editorial or marketing expertise (not to mention the time) to make that happen. A joint venture with a digital media company could be the solution – creating a branded digital publication, information product or online professional development program.

In short, as things get increasingly specialised online, smart partnerships make more and more sense.

Cooks Illustrated magazine features tried and tested recipes, equipment reviews and kitchen tips based on extensive real life testing in their 2,500 sq ft test kitchen. Completely free of advertising, it’s a little like Which for the kitchen.

As one reviewer said: “There’s no more authoritative food magazine. When Cook’s Illustrated endorses a cheesecake, it’s because its editors made 45 of them.”

Cracking the Paid Content Model Online

Clearly CI is a successful magazine built on unique, high-quality content. But what sets them apart for our pursposes is their ability to translate that success online.

Like Which.co.uk (a leading paid content website in the UK with over 200,000 subscribers), CooksIllustrated does not allow advertising – forcing them to focus on subscription sales to generate revenues.

And it’s working.

They launched video demonstrations of recipes in early 2007, combining some free content with access to the entire library available on a subscription basis. According to AudienceDevelopment.com, there are over 230,000 paid members, and roughly 40 percent of Web members subscribe to the magazine. At their advertised rate of $34.95 a year, that works out at a little over $8M in annual online revenues.

Lessons to Learn

So what are they doing right?

1. Focus on Content – High-quality, definitive and unique content is at the core of the business online and off.
2. Leverage Print – The website is a nice companion to the print edition and delivers real added value.
3. Repurposed Content – The online library includes 15 years worth of reviews, recipes and tips. As they produce new content for the print version, they can easily create video versions to continually add value to the online model.
   
   “With 15 years worth of recipes and techniques, the ability for a user to search through them with just the touch of a button is a huge value proposition … You just don’t want to have to thumb through all of your magazines at home.”
4. Use of Video – Recipes obviously lend themselves to video, CI has used this to its advantage, creating online content with a higher perceived value than simple text.

Even if you’re not in the publishing business, CI demonstrates clearly that people will pay for content online – provided they can’t get it free somewhere else.

This model could easily be adopted by any business that sells based on their ‘expertise’ – as either a new revenue stream or (by making it free) as a way of attracting potential clients and customers.

More: Article on AudienceDevelopment.com