E-ink is a shot in the arm for print

Although readers keep shifting to the internet, Esquire magazine's editor is sure print is not dying, and he aims to prove it by unveiling a 75th-anniversary issue with a cover that features electronic ink.

"For the past couple of years I've been in search of ways to do something that shows that print is a particularly vital product," said Esquire magazine's editor-in-chief, David Granger. "I really do think that print is the most exciting and rewarding medium there is."

A 10-square-inch (65-square-centimetre) display on the cover of Esquire's October 2008 anniversary issue flashes the theme "The 21st Century Begins Now" with a collage of illuminated images. On the inside cover, a two-page spread advertising the new Ford Flex Crossover features a second 10-square-inch display with shifting colours to illustrate the car in motion at night.

The displays, which Granger said have boosted advertising in the issue, were developed by E Ink Corp, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, company that also supplied the electronic paper technology for the screen of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader.

The technology for both products uses micro-capsules of ink that are controlled by an electric charge. Unlike the Kindle, the magazine's display is not linked to a wireless network.

Scott Daly, a Dentsu America Inc executive who oversees media buying for Canon, Toyota, aigdirect.com and other companies, said the concept is a needed shot in the arm for the newspaper and magazine industry.

"A lot of people will say that there isn't that much excitement in the magazine world, but this proves that there can be," said Daly.

Ad pages for Esquire, a general-interest magazine targeting higher-income men, were down 5.7 per cent in the first half of 2008, according to the Magazine Publishers of America. Its circulation gained slightly compared to 2007, according to the ABC.

"If we want to keep print vital, print advertising has to be just as vital as print editorial," said Granger.

So far, he said, the electronic display has been a strong draw: The October issue has the most ad pages of any issue in his 11 years as editor-in-chief of Esquire.

Granger would not disclose the extra cost of printing the electronic display or its gain from Ford's ad buy.

"Flex is a breakthrough product for Ford, and the Esquire opportunity offered us the chance to show the vehicle in a way we could never previously have imagined," said Jim Farley, Ford's group vice-president.

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