Sony style, launched by the electronics giant last fall, is one of the most fully realized and convincing examples of the genre to date. At first sight, with jazzy design, cover lines, and come-hither cover stars like Jennifer Lopez and Milla Jovovich, it looks like a typical newsstand title. Catalogs depict products. Manuals demonstrate the basic operations. But nothing out there today brings to life the possibilities of today's products and tomorrow's technologies.
Sony style attempts to fill that void.
Time Inc.'s editors provide direction, make contact with Sony personnel for specific input, and develop stories as they see fit, always bearing in mind the marketing goals. Koppel's lively page designs are crucial to the impression that this is indeed a publication about Sony rather than a communication from on high. Although it remains, in essence, a corporate message, its journalistic look and language are intended to smooth its acceptance as a magazine like any other-one that just happens to focus on the Japanese giant. Magalogs deliver a concentrated hit of brand essence that could never be achieved by placing ads among the many competing signals projected by a traditional magazine. In plain English, they don't go looking for you on someone else's turf-they provide the turf.