Vogue's Non-Issue and its AR enhancement

What is this?

The April 2019 issue of British Vogue came with an 80-page supplement dedicated to women over 55. Created in partnership with l’Oreal Paris, the Non-Issue issue featured everything you’d expect from a regular issue of the magazine, but with one key difference: every woman featured inside was 55 or older.

On top of that, Vogue created an augmented version of the publication using Facebook Messenger’s AR Target Tracker and Target Recognition tools, which allow brands to create interactive experiences linked to images or objects in the real world. Readers could use the camera function on their smartphone within the Facebook Messenger app to unlock extra content and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the issue, triggering video, audio and animation by holding their phone over relevant pages within the supplement.

Why is it interesting?

Through its innovative use of Facebook’s AR tools, Vogue managed to bring the issue to life and encouraged people to actively engage with the publication. The non-issue is a great example of how something conventional and daily as a magazine can still play a big role for the (digital) engagement of the audience of a brand.