It's Mine -- But Not Just Mine Alone

Was on vacation last week, so just opened Mine, Time's new effort to give me news I will peruse.

The slim magazine features a silky matt cover and a compilation of stories decided by choices I made of whether I prefer sushi or pizza (both) or dinner with Socrates or Da Vinci (I can't remember my choice). Whatever I opted for provided me with an article from Travel& Leisure, Real Simple, Food & Wine, Time & Golf magazines. Each story maintained the brand of its parent -- so formating jumps from a serifed font, to non, back to serif, which was odd feeling. I understood what the marketing team was thinking, but it felt less like a magazine directed to me -- rather than a sales book for the brands.

I Googled one article, "South Africa's Beautiful Wine Country," and was stunned that the story was over two years old. I wondered if the nine restaurants listed were still even in business (in which case, that would be another story, "Restaurants Live Longer in South Africa."

The sole sponsor for the project was Lexus, and one ad touting it's Navigation System personalized "my ad" by inserting "fine food," "bistros" and the name of my town. I only know that these words were inserted because inexplicably they changed they shaded those words in the copy. Looked contrived.

I'm not saying this wasn't a good idea -- indeed I give huge kudos to Time, American Express & Lexus for being so innovative. Indeed the buzz it generated and the fact that I spent hours reading every morsel and dissecting what I was reading certainly surpassed the mere seconds people otherwise might spend on a page.

Yes, there were some glitches, mailing, stories chosen, old stories, and questionable decisions on layout and creative. But the bigger story is that the trio were willing to try something new, to get people excited. And in that regard, Mine is a huge success.