Brand_Activation

In a milestone of digital dominance in the publishing industry, Encyclopaedia Britannica will cease publication in print and move entirely to digital.

It’s been a good (print) run for the Encyclopædia Britannica (Latin for “British Encyclopaedia”), the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still around, first published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland in three volumes.

Available in print, DVD, and on the Internet, with 100 full-time editors and 4,000 plus expert contributors, Britannica set the bar as the most scholarly of all encyclopaedias.

“The print edition became more difficult to maintain and wasn’t the best physical element to deliver the quality of our database and the quality of our editorial,” Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., told Reuters. “Britannica was one of the first companies to really feel the full impact of technology, maybe twenty years ago, and we have been adapting to it, though it is very difficult at times.”

The flagship, 32-volume print edition, available every two years, sold for $1400 every two years (get the 2010 final edition while it lasts) versus an online subscription costs $70 per year and recent apps range from $1.99 to $4.99 per month. The company will keep selling print editions until the current 4000 sets run out.

“The whole idea of a top-down, orchestrated, unified compendium of knowledge makes less and less sense in a world where fact and analysis can arise in a bottom-up way and be organized by technological tools for your edification,” writes The Atlantic’s Robert Wright. 

“And, leaving aside Britannica’s archaic logistics, there’s something quaintly pre-post-modern about the premise that for every subject there is a true expert who can be counted on to give you the objective truth.”

Maybe, long after even the electronic edition of Britannica is gone, the idea of Britannica can remain for us what it once was for me — a kind of Platonic ideal that we aspire to evolve toward even if we can never reach it, something that has a kind of reality even if we can never touch it.”

Britannica’s 9th edition (1875–1889) and 11th edition (1911) are considered the brand’s landmark editions, setting the tone for the brand’s renowned scholarship and literary style. 

Asked about the general future of print editions of books, Cauz commented “print may not completely vanish from the market, but I think it is going to be increasingly less important. Many publications will never have a print analog and will only be printed on digital formats.”

Britannica’s editors, meanwhile, dealt with the end of its print edition in a series of blog posts entitled:

• “Change. It’s Okay. Really”

• “Looking Ahead”

• “Britannica Today”

• “Britannica Goes All-Out Digital” and

• “Britannica’s Digital Milestones.”

Please also refer to Britannica’s entry for “Print Publishing, Death of.”

Source: Brand Channel

In our research for the Future Of Gaming report, the PSFK consulting team explored the ways developers are making their games compelling and accessible to a wider audience. One example of innovation in Game Functionality and Systems is McDonalds interactive ping-pong game. An advertising campaign created for Mcdonalds in Sweden allowed pedestrians to play ping-pong on a giant screen in a Stockholm town square. Passers-by were prompted by a billboard to go to a mobile website where they could play an interactive game of ping-pong on the billboard screen using their smartphones. The site was only accessible to phones in the vicinity of the screen and did not require users to download an app. If a participant was able to play for 30 seconds, a Mcdonalds’ coupon was sent to the player’s phone.

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/01/interactive-ping-pong-game-takes-the-outdoor-stage-future-of-gaming.html#ixzz1iUmGi9pQ

8ta’s whispering windows use through-glass touch technology to allow customers to browse a store’s catalogue after hours.

Aiming to make a visit to their stores a sensory-rich experience for shoppers, the brand has tapped One Digital Media for a variety of technological elements. The stores’ whispering window technology “turns store windows into glass window speakers, creating a unique way to deliver messages throughout or around your store,” as One Digital Media explains. However, the windows differ from similar whispering window examples we’ve seen recently; their innovative use of through-glass touch technology allows customers to browse through a store catalogue after hours, even requesting a callback when the store reopens. Also included in 8ta stores are large video walls showcasing 8ta’s latest commercials and handset deals, as well as “pick ‘n watch” screens that allow customers to interact with and learn more about the different mobile phone models. Touch tables, meanwhile, are on hand to detail and compare all the handsets available.

Bricks and mortar may still play a key role in many product categories, but that doesn’t mean physical stores can’t borrow elements from the best of the online shopping experience — including the ability to deliver multimedia messages and product information 24/7. Other retailers around the globe: be inspired!

This limited edition Barbie is the centerpiece of the Tokidoki x Mattel collaboration. In her 52-year history, the iconic doll has never been this edgy. Called Tokidoki Barbie, it sells for $50 and is an homage to Tokidoki, the Italian-based, Japanese-inspired brand, and also features a related collection of women’s clothing and accessories.

This holiday season, Coca-Cola is changing the color of its iconic red can for a cause in honor of the polar bear, the brand’s longstanding favorite animal at the holidays, in a partnership between Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund.

The “Arctic Home” campaign will help raise awareness and funds to support WWF efforts to protect the polar bear’s habitat.