This is the cover of this the June 2004 Reason magazine. For those of you who don’t know, this is an ariel view of my house (click to zoom). Everyone who was a subscriber got a personalized cover and a some other personalized portions. Honestly, this is why I subscribed… I’m sure a bunch of people will freak out due to the lack of privacy. But they don’t have any anyways, this just puts it in their face. I’m dying to know what my postal carrier thought when he delivered that day…

The have personalized statistics on the inside cover about my neighborhood (click to enlarge). The back has an ad for an organization quoting statistics for my state. I can’t wait until the day I get the latest issue of Time and one of the ads is for the hot dog joint down the street or other ads specifically targeted for me!

Here are some of the related articles in the June 2004 Reason:

“When the 40,000 subscribers to Reason, the monthly libertarian magazine, receive a copy of the June issue, they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood – their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled.”
How cool is that?!? I wonder how many people will notice it right off the bat? FYI Nick Gillespie is the editor of Reason, so his name is on the sample. They focus a lot on custimization of magazines ads and catalogs.

“What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?” he asked. “That would be a magazine that everyone would want to read.”

FYI – If you subscribe by Friday, April 9th, you’ll get the personalized issue with your subscription. (A least that’s what their web site says)

From the New York Times:

On one level, the project, sort of the ultimate in customized publishing, is unsurprising: of course a magazine knows where its subscribers live. But it is still a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed. Apart from the cover image, several advertisements are customized to reflect the recipient’s particulars.

Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason, said the magazine, with an editorial mission of “Free Minds, Free Markets,” used the stunt to illustrate the cover article about the power and importance of databases.

The original article http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/business/05reason.html