The Daily W
Condé Nast’s W magazine recently released its iPad-only mobile application, giving consumers a chance to interact with the magazine between monthly issues.
The Daily W app will be updated seven days a week with original fashion, beauty, celebrity, accessories and design and travel information. U.S. fashion brand Calvin Klein is the sole launch sponsor for the app.
“I tend to use the iPad to snack on content,” said Ted Moncreiff, executive editor of W magazine, New York. “I don’t sit with it as I would a print magazine and really immerse myself.
“The idea for the app was to create something that was free and started a daily conversation with readers,” he said. “The Web site speaks to them minute to minute, the magazine month to month and the app day to day.”
Screen taste
The Daily W app is simple and aesthetically pleasing with an easy to use horizontal navigation bar with tabs including fashion, celebrity, beauty, accessories and design and travel.
Every page of the app is separated into horizontal thirds and can be scrolled down to reveal older content.
The celebrity section contains “screen tests,” which are short video snippets of interviews conducted by editor in chief Lynn Hirschberg.
All the screen test videos are displayed in black and white, and contain exclusive quotes and information.
So far, the screen test section includes interviews with actress Kristen Stewart, pop-culture icon Justin Timberlake and actress Mia Wasikowska.
The celebrity section of the W magazine app
The fashion tab contains W editors’ picks, behind-the-scenes information and snapshots from W magazine photoshoots and different trend pieces.
The fashion picks work great on the iPad given the ability for users to instantly click on the links and buy the items, per Christina Caldwell, W’s online editor.
The beauty section consists of editorial such as “Fall beauty essentials” and “Top models transformed.”
Additionally, the design and travel section contains travel vacation guides, celebrity homes and stylish design patterns.
“The distinction with the app is that it is instantly shoppable,” Mr. Moncreiff said. “You can click on a link and buy that shirt or dress in a way that you can’t with a print product.
“It’s about celebrity and fashion with a super insider and high-quality approach, and then combining those in a single place,” he said.
The fashion section of the Daily W
The app is available for free in Apple’s app store.
Wapp
All of the content on the iPad is exclusive from the W print magazine and http://www.wmagazine.com.
W will be promoting the app through calls-to-action in the print magazine, in both editorial and traditional page advertisements.
Some editorial pieces in the print magazine will contain the Daily W app icon to alert readers that there is additional content, such as backstage pictures or a video interview, available on the app.
In addition, W is promoting the new app through ads in a variety of other Condé Nast publications.
The Daily W also features a “favorites” option that is unique to the W app.
With this feature, consumers log-in using their Facebook account and can then keep track of their favorite articles.
For example, if a consumer likes a product seen in one of the trend stories but does not have time to buy it at that moment, she can quickly log-in, locate the article in her favorites list and buy the product.
“I love the favorites [option] because as we go, and this is updated every day of the week, the app is only going to get bigger,” Mr. Moncreiff said.
“So, I think it’s nice to have a space for users to mark and remember and go back to the items they wanted to buy,” he said.
Other Condé Nast publications also have iPad apps.
For example, fellow fashion magazine Vogue released an iPad app last year that features both original content and content from the print magazine.
Many magazines use their iPad app to offer digital subscriptions of the print magazine, and simply post the print magazine onto the app.
However, this was not W’s goal.
“The difference is, magazines evolve [but] obviously apps evolve much faster in terms of functionality,” Mr. Moncreiff said.
“We do have some incredible things planned and we plan on pushing out new content daily,” he said. “And it is free, which is a big departure from others, because most of the magazine apps that you see are paid-for digital subscriptions.”
Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York