Magazine Ad Offers Free Wifi to Readers

amtrak

As a nomad-worker I love free wifi places. So obviously I noticed how offering free wifi is by now an established way to promote products (check this lovely Amtrak wifi-on-board campaign). But this months Forbes magazine really left me flabbergasted. It contained an ad (for Microsoft Office 365) in a select number of issues, that changed the whole magazine in a Wifi hotspot for 15 days!

I recently learned about these Wifi movie posters in Seoul (S.Korea), but this ad in Forbes is even more spectacular I would say. The campaign also turned the magazine into something innovative. The 15 days’ free wifi provides an incentive for readers to carry the magazine around with them, giving them time to actually engage with the content and articles.

And of course it works the other way around too. If you unexpectedly find yourself disconnected and there’s a newsstand nearby, it might be worth skimming through Forbes;-).