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Vacumet Illuminates Rolling Stone's Holographic Celebration
 Approaching its 40th year as the voice of popular music and culture, Rolling Stone magazine chose to celebrate this historical occasion by offering its readers a truly unique gift. After much thought and with great anticipation, Rolling Stone's publisher, Wenner Media, envisioned a three-part 40th anniversary holographic series. The development and production of these three issues set for release in May, July and November of 2007, required a company experienced in holographic magazine publishing. Wenner Media recognized that Vacumet's world-class expertise in custom holography would enable them to meet the challenges of this momentous project.
In the magazine industry, deadlines are tight and the look of the cover can have a profound effect on a magazine's image as well as newsstand sales. In order to address these considerations, Vacumet worked closely with Wenner Media from the start of the project.
Wenner Media knew that the three special anniversary issues of Rolling Stone magazine would draw increased attention from both its readership and the news media. With sharp business insight, Wenner Media immediately went to work with Vacumet to produce a custom holographic promotional piece to share with potential advertisers in these special issues. Working closely with Wenner Media throughout the project, Vacumet was able to assist in the design and production of a stunning custom holographic promotional brochure that captured the sense of celebration in the upcoming anniversary issues. Wenner Media's sales team had the brochure in hand to help attract top-tier advertisers eager to participate in the 40th anniversary celebration.
"Never in the history of magazine publishing has a publication of our size offered advertisers a custom holographic back cover ad," explained Patrick Bryan, manufacturing director for Wenner Media. "As a guaranteed collector's item, Wenner Media understood the unique opportunity that our custom holographic covers could bring to our advertisers."
Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, snagged the coveted holographic back cover for all three-hallmark issues. For the first of the three anniversary back ads, Vacumet took Intel's artwork featuring a young woman enjoying her music through a state-of-the-art headset and transformed it into an eye-catching display utilizing the holographic pattern known as "Rainbow". Detailed placement of an opaque white ink layer allowed the ad to come alive and jump off the page!
As preparations began for the May issue, Wenner Media recruited famed book-cover artist, Chip Kidd, to design the cover art. Kidd's simple yet resounding "RO" brand reminder will echo off of each of the three anniversary covers. With the masthead-inspired art selected, Vacumet's elite design team then went to work producing over forty prototypes that would reflect the heritage and influence of the Wenner Media publishing icon.
The May issue travels back through time to explore the forty years of music, politics and popular culture covered by Rolling Stone. The custom holographic design featured for this "Where We've Been" theme was a mixture of a "No-Color Glitter" pattern for the familiar "RO" and a "Pillars of Light" metallic background on 100 lb. HoloPRISM® paper. The subtle Rolling Stone masthead on the cover immediately draws eyes to Kidd's resounding holographic art. The resulting combination of stunning custom holography and unique artwork commanded attention and has so far been met with great fanfare.
"Working with Vacumet throughout the production and manufacturing process helped to ensure that the finished products matched Rolling Stone's vision of the 40th anniversary celebration," said John Dragonetti, editorial operations director for Wenner Media. "The support and expertise of Vacumet's team during our first holographic project was a valuable tool in keeping to our deadlines while maintaining the high level of quality that our readers expect."
It is known throughout the industry that the finest holography and cover art demands high-quality printing. Calling on Wynalda Litho Inc., a respected company experienced in printing on holographic media, the May double-issue started shipping within two weeks of the initial press run. Printing almost two million magazines under the deadline required the use of two state-of-the-art Man Roland presses and a great eye for detail.
Working closely with Wenner Media throughout production, Vacumet was able to ensure that the May double-issue was an impressive, eye-catching collector's item. More importantly, Vacumet helped meet Rolling Stone's ultimate goal of offering something special to help its readers feel part of the 40th anniversary celebration.
"We are honored to make publishing history with Rolling Stone magazine," said Joe Formosa, business manager for HoloPRISM® at Vacumet. "Understanding the value that a holographic front and back cover could bring to its 40th anniversary celebration represents Rolling Stone's history of innovation."
As shown in this first issue of Rolling Stone's hallmark series, with the right vision and execution, custom holography can produce a mesmerizing look that will excite subscribers while building new relationships on the newsstands. The July and November issues are yet to come, and the world anxiously awaits the holographic trilogy that represents Rolling Stone's 40th anniversary celebration.
Publishing Executive and Printing Impressions magazines, co-sponsors of the Annual Gold Ink Awards, announced that Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Issue, won Gold in the Magazine Covers category. This year's Gold Ink Award winners were chosen from 1,500 entries submitted within 50 different categories. Winning pieces surpassed their competitors based on print quality, technical difficulty and overall visual effect.
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