The regular reader of this blog will know that if I have one essential item of attire, it has to be my print anorak. While thoroughly zipped into said item I found myself absorbed in a page-by-page analysis of last week’s issue of Stylist magazine. In it I found no less than 12.5 display ad pages that contained some sort of cross-media link – using either Blippar (9pp), Aurasma (2pp) or QR codes (1.5pp).  This was out of an 88pp issue including a French Connection cover wrap. Indeed, French Connection actually accounted for half of those interactive ad pages as it had ROP ads as well, as part of a major campaign that invites readers to create their own film scene via frenchconnection.com. It is super-interesting to see such links becoming an everyday part of mainstream ad campaigns, outside of, say, technology or gadget titles where it’s easy to see them being embraced more readily. Hopefully it all bodes well when it comes to demonstrating the power of print in one way or another, be it quality eyeball time or direct interaction. And, that issue of Stylist actually contains another page with a cross-media ad. An advertisement for bareMinerals make-up encourages the reader to “take this page to a bareMinerals counter to get shade matched and a free sample”. No clever cross-media content is required for that particular promotion. So that’s the new foundation sorted. Now, if only the French Connection SS13 collection was all about anoraks...