Best Buy Canada is bringing to life its brand promise “Making Technology Work for You” through a partnership with Rogers Media on a custom, multiplatform magazine.
Best Buy Life & Tech will be available as a free in-store print publication that will print six times a year, online and as an iPad app. The first issue will launch in time for the holiday season. A link to an enhanced digital version of the magazine that links to Best Buy’s ecommerce site will be sent to more than 1.4 million members of the retailer’s Best Buy Reward Zone loyalty program via email a week prior to publication hitting stores. This, in addition to the 300,000 print copies per issue, take total circulation to 1.7 million.
Rather than be intimidated by technology, Best Buy wants to help educate consumers on how they can better integrate it into their everyday lives, said Angela Scardillo, vice-president marketing and communications at Best Buy Canada
“When people think of technology it can be intimidating. They think futuristic and robotic and the reality is technology is so embedded in all parts of our lives, and we really thought there was a space in the market to provide content that was not only educational but inspiring,” Scardillo told Marketing.
The content will of course focus on tech, but through a “lifestyle lens,” said Jacqueline Loch, vice-president of content solutions, Rogers Media. “It’s how products link together, how consumers can use products in their everyday life,” she said. “It might not be a feature on cameras, but a feature on family photography. It’s more about the usage than the actual device, but the devices will be woven into the content in a relative way.”
Mainstay sections of Best Buy Life & Tech include “Gaming,” “Entertainment,” “Photography,” “Wireless,” among others. Best Buy will also leverage its Geek Squad brand for a tips section of the magazine. The content will be based on common asks or requests tech experts see from consumers, said Loch.
Each print issue and iPad edition of Best Buy Life & Tech will offer content integration and single-sponsor opportunities that according to a release will “showcase products in a contextually relevant environment that supports and reinforces brand messaging.” It will be labeled as a “Best Buy Promotion” and not an advertisement.
According to a press kit, Best Buy shoppers are affluent, well-educated and ready-to-spend. Its core audience is almost evenly spilt between tech savvy men (58%) and women (42%). Rogers Media Sales will manage advertising sales for the effort.
Best Buy Life & Tech is the second content play from the electronics retailer in as many months. In July it introduced an online lifestyle brand called “Viva from Best Buy” that offers a range of products under the Health & Wellness, Baby, Beauty, Style, Personal Care and Naturals categories.
While “Viva from Best Buy” attempts to fill a hole in Canada’s ecommerce landscape, it also, according to Best Buy, strives to deliver unique and meaningful content with product reviews, forums and blogs in the Viva Chatter community.
Custom content has also become a growth area for Rogers Media, which produces Walmart Canada’s multiplatform magazine Walmart Live Better, the Canadian Tire publication Driver, the Air Miles publication Inspired Living as well as video content for clients such as L’Oreal Canada.
