Okay, so we spoke a little bit about why we’re re-launching this magazine next month as Picture Business & Mobile Lifestyle in this space last issue. I’d like to use it this time to chat a bit more about what you’ll be seeing in the new Pic Biz in the months ahead.
As we touched on last issue, consumers have a completely different relationship with their images and video today than they did even a few short years ago. They are defining who they are and telling an almost daily story of their lives with this content today. Picture Business & Mobile Lifestyle will examine this phenomenon and explore ways retailers can tap into it. Our cover story next month will explore how today’s always-connected and forever-mobile consumer is communicating with images and video, and how they are changing the paradigm of memory capture and preservation.
We’ll also look at how retail is changing with regard to communication, as the tools for reaching this consumer now include e-mail marketing, mobile messaging and personalized e-commerce tricks.
Image-capture capability is no longer limited to a device that dangles from a strap or hangs around the neck. Won’t be long before every handheld device known to man includes 2, 3 or 4MP or higher camera. This crowd isn’t only putting finger-to-shutter to capture a family holiday scene or birthday celebration—they are clicking away simply to record a current mood, mundane moment or newsworthy incident out on the street.
We’re moving Picture Business & Mobile Lifestyle in this new direction, with coverage that examines these changes and offers new ways for retailers to profit from them. We’re including the mobile/wireless channel as part of our circulation because we feel the imaging retail channel has much to gain from these guys and visa-versa. They’ve been running parallel to one another for years now, but the crossover is beginning in earnest.
While the imaging industry is currently speaking to some of these trends with new print and online opportunities, the pace at which imaging behavior is changing seems to be confounding many folks in this market. There is still this prevailing feeling that, despite the fact more images are being captured than ever before, retail is often being left out of the equation.
Our plan is to examine this new imaging market and offer solutions contrary to the above feeling. The important thing is that consumers are clicking away in record numbers and that trend is good news for all of us.
This “relaunch” begins next month and we’re excited about brining this new and improved title to you—one we hope takes the lens cap off this new imaging world we are waking to everyday.
