Bauer Media makes Grazia and Heat magazines interactive and shoppable

Bauer Media has partnered with image-recognition platform Phuzion Media to enhance its magazines Grazia and Heat, making products and services within its print pages instantly shoppable and interactive.

From 17 May, readers will be able to point their phone or tablet camera at the pages of the magazine and immediately find out more about products recommended by editorial or shop the adverts.

New technology by Phuzion makes this possible without the addition of QR codes or watermarking, so there will be no changes to the design of editorial or creative. 

The image match functionality also helps brands to circumnavigate search engines, providing a powerful layer of direct customer access combined with previously unavailable engagement metrics, personalisation opportunities and the ability to create connected campaigns on multiple platforms.

The partnership comes as recent Bauer Media research found that over 1 in 3 people read magazines during this third lockdown and 11 per cent said that they were now reading more magazines than they were last year prior to the pandemic.

Plus, with 80 per cent of people agreeing that technology has made online shopping easier, the innovative idea aligns with new consumer shopping habits. 

This new partnership with Phuzion Media marks yet another step forward for us in innovating our publishing portfolio, offering fresh and relevant ways for our commercial partners to connect with their audiences. We’re excited to offer this new service to our clients, proving the brand building power of editorial coverage and print advertising with digital direct response capability” said Group Commercial Director, London Magazines, Bauer Media, Clare Chamberlaine.