Next Issue Media, a start-up technology company founded by publishers such as Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith and Time Inc., has hired Eleven to lead its creative efforts.
Next Issue offers an app across the iOS, Android and Windows platforms that allows users to sign up for a single subscription and receive digital copies of more than 140 different magazine titles, including new and back issues. The catalog includes high-profile titles such as Better Homes and Gardens, Car and Driver, Esquire, Fortune, Glamour, GQ, Parents, Popular Mechanics, People, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Wired.
The company wants to increase consumer awareness of the app and grow its subscriber base, and has tasked Eleven with creating a campaign in the U.S. and Canada that will include TV, digital and print ads. The first ads are expected to roll out toward the end of the year.
Media spending behind the effort was not disclosed.
Rob Kabus, president and chief marketing officer of Eleven, said Next Issue has an "incredible value proposition. We'll be looking to build on that by creating the emotional connection—what it stands for, why it's special and what it means to people.”
Next Issue selected the San Francisco shop because it has a reputation for "building brand movements with impressive business outcomes. And that’s going to be instrumental as we continue to expand our users throughout North America,” said John Kerner, the company's vp of marketing.
Via Next Issue's app, consumers can download magazines in a rich digital format that enables them to view links, videos and other interactive content included in the issues. The service costs $9.99 a month to access 133 of the most popular titles or $14.99 a month for every title in Next Issue's catalog, including new publications as they are added.