The November issue of Conde Nast’s Glamour has a new ploy to drive newsstand sales: the third dimension!

The women’s magazine has printed some pages in its fashion spread (and some of its ads) in 3D and is encouraging its usually-chic readers to wear boxy, cardboard, multi-colored glasses for the full effect. A small circle on the front cover advertises the gimmick.

My first thought on this was that is seemed…odd, and not really in line with the image-conscious brand. Glamour, in my mind, has no room for kitsch.

On the other hand, as the blog Jezebel points out, “It’s interactive in an old-fashioned, Cracker-Jack way; it’s something you can only do in print, not on the web; and it makes fashion fun.”

The “only in print” bit really got me. With all the dire predictions about the state of print media, people need to be reminded of how special the medium is and how good it is at creating unique experiences for readers — even when they are a little silly.

M&Ms are the latest brand name to join in the race for the increasingly popular Hispanic consumer. The candy has tapped Hispanic stars Wilmer Valderrama and Christina Saralegui to appear in print ads for its “Inner M” campaign. The ads appear in this month’s People en Espanol and will run again in October.
M&Ms will further extend its brand presence in the Hispanic community by sponsoring this year’s ALMA awards, which celebrate Latinos in cinema, television and music.
M&M is just one of the many national brands that’s starting to advertise specifically to Hispanics. For more information on the rise of Hispanic marketing, check out DMNews’ special feature on the topic, coming out in print on July 28.

As I checked out the booths at the Direct Marketing Association’s Insert Media Day last week with my colleagues Cara and Sharon, the three of us pounced on the insert samples on each table. “This is what we’re talking about!” we kept saying to each other, as we once again wondered aloud why we don’t have more insert specialists and marketers sending us the fruits of their labor. All the great, varied inserts laid out in front of us was a tantalizing taste of work we’d love to see more of.

So let this be a call to action: We know there’s some great work out there, whether it’s a one-off statement insert or the fruits of a sophisticated, long-term marketing partnership with a cataloger. We want to see it! While we of course would like to be able to write about what we receive, we’re happy to (grudgingly) keep things just to ourselves if you request it. Why do we want to see work we can’t write about? It helps us see some of the trends in creative and offers that are going on.

Our mailing address is 114 W. 26th St. New York, NY 10001. Make our day, and send inserts our way!

Just a heads-up for our readers: I will be attending the National Trade Circulation Foundation Inc. (NTCFI) luncheon meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6. If you’re attending too, I’d love to meet you,* so please e-mail me beforehand or find me there (I’ll be the one wearing the press badge).
DMNews is working to ramp up its circulation coverage, so please tell me what’s on your mind, what you’d like to see in the paper and where I should look for that next big scoop.

*I would also love to meet you if you’re not attending; feel free to send an e-mail or call either way.