BIG MAGAZINE
For over twenty years, iconic print publisher BIG Magazine has captured unique stories from global culture, focusing each collectable issue on an iconic person, place, or event.
But BIG Magazine needed to evolve into the digital landscape to grow revenue and increase readership.
With content consumption skyrocketing, there is an increased demand for premium content in emerging markets where advertisers are hungry to connect with and tap into key influencers.
As joint venture partners, we transformed BIG into a digital publishing platform to reinvigorate the brand through a multi-pronged digital distribution, content and revenue strategy.
The app published premium micro-content across global mobile carriers, spreading its reach into emerging and new markets and extending its distribution into existing media channels. Each issue featured collectable stories about people, places, and events curated by a global network of storytellers.
The publishing platform brought highly inspirational and authentic content to communities, creating opportunities for brands to target specific psychographic audiences.
BUSINESS STRATEGY + CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT + EDITORIAL STRATEGY & CURATION + DIGITAL DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
BIG MAGAZINE
Big Report | Mobile Publishing App
For over twenty years, iconic print publisher BIG Magazine has captured unique stories from global culture, focusing each collectable issue on an iconic person, place, or event.
But BIG Magazine needed to evolve into the digital landscape to grow revenue and increase readership.
With content consumption skyrocketing, there is an increased demand for premium content in emerging markets where advertisers are hungry to connect with and tap into key influencers.
As joint venture partners, we transformed BIG into a digital publishing platform to reinvigorate the brand through a multi-pronged digital distribution, content and revenue strategy.
The app published premium micro-content across global mobile carriers, spreading its reach into emerging and new markets and extending its distribution into existing media channels. Each issue featured collectable stories about people, places, and events curated by a global network of storytellers.
The publishing platform brought highly inspirational and authentic content to communities, creating opportunities for brands to target specific psychographic audiences.
BUSINESS STRATEGY + CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT + EDITORIAL STRATEGY & CURATION + DIGITAL DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
BIG REPORT #44: SATURDAY COMES SLOW
On the second floor of Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering, behind an array of home made speakers and 1970s era hi-fi equipment, sits a rarely-used container sized room referred to by the staff as “the Anechoic Chamber, ”–a room designed to create total silence. John Cage famously visited such a chamber and later wrote, “I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation.” True silence he concluded was impossible.
Ruhal Ahmed, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, has a special relationship to silence. For a period of two and a half years, he was repeatedly questioned by military staff at the Cuban base, where his interrogators would often play music to him repeatedly at high volume. This short film by Broomberg and Chanarin, featuring Ruhal Ahmed, is a meditation on his experience in Guantanamo. Produced in collaboration with Massive Attack and Zero dB.
BIG REPORT #44: SATURDAY COMES SLOW
On the second floor of Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering, behind an array of home made speakers and 1970s era hi-fi equipment, sits a rarely-used container sized room referred to by the staff as “the Anechoic Chamber, ”–a room designed to create total silence. John Cage famously visited such a chamber and later wrote, “I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation.” True silence he concluded was impossible.
Ruhal Ahmed, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, has a special relationship to silence. For a period of two and a half years, he was repeatedly questioned by military staff at the Cuban base, where his interrogators would often play music to him repeatedly at high volume. This short film by Broomberg and Chanarin, featuring Ruhal Ahmed, is a meditation on his experience in Guantanamo. Produced in collaboration with Massive Attack and Zero dB.
BIG REPORT #44: SATURDAY COMES SLOW
On the second floor of Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering, behind an array of home made speakers and 1970s era hi-fi equipment, sits a rarely-used container sized room referred to by the staff as “the Anechoic Chamber, ”–a room designed to create total silence. John Cage famously visited such a chamber and later wrote, “I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation.” True silence he concluded was impossible.
Ruhal Ahmed, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, has a special relationship to silence. For a period of two and a half years, he was repeatedly questioned by military staff at the Cuban base, where his interrogators would often play music to him repeatedly at high volume. This short film by Broomberg and Chanarin, featuring Ruhal Ahmed, is a meditation on his experience in Guantanamo. Produced in collaboration with Massive Attack and Zero dB.
BIG REPORT #54: NEVERLAND LOST
This collection of photographs was never intended to be a book. In February of 2009, I flew to California on a magazine assignment to photograph the iconic white glove of pop star Michael Jackson. Even though I am a lifelong portrait photographer, I have always had the urge to investigate people through the simplicity of the artefacts that make up their lives. I went to Los Angeles with one vision in mind and little more than a day to capture it. Michael Jackson’s primary home at Neverland had been vacant for several years and his belongings lay packed and stored in crates, awaiting public auction. When I arrived at the venue for the shoot, I had no idea what I’d find. What I discovered in those crates evoked in me a deep sadness. by Henry Leutwyler
BIG REPORT #54: NEVERLAND LOST
This collection of photographs was never intended to be a book. In February of 2009, I flew to California on a magazine assignment to photograph the iconic white glove of pop star Michael Jackson. Even though I am a lifelong portrait photographer, I have always had the urge to investigate people through the simplicity of the artefacts that make up their lives. I went to Los Angeles with one vision in mind and little more than a day to capture it. Michael Jackson’s primary home at Neverland had been vacant for several years and his belongings lay packed and stored in crates, awaiting public auction. When I arrived at the venue for the shoot, I had no idea what I’d find. What I discovered in those crates evoked in me a deep sadness. by Henry Leutwyler
BIG REPORT #54: NEVERLAND LOST
This collection of photographs was never intended to be a book. In February of 2009, I flew to California on a magazine assignment to photograph the iconic white glove of pop star Michael Jackson. Even though I am a lifelong portrait photographer, I have always had the urge to investigate people through the simplicity of the artefacts that make up their lives. I went to Los Angeles with one vision in mind and little more than a day to capture it. Michael Jackson’s primary home at Neverland had been vacant for several years and his belongings lay packed and stored in crates, awaiting public auction. When I arrived at the venue for the shoot, I had no idea what I’d find. What I discovered in those crates evoked in me a deep sadness. by Henry Leutwyler
BIG REPORT #55: SUMO
Sumo wrestlers bulk up with a diet that is heavy in protein and rice. Wrestlers gorge themselves after morning practice, followed with a nap (to ensure slow digestion) and then again at dinner. Most elite wrestlers are highly trained athletes between 20 and 35 years old. They typically live together in residential and training complexes, called “stables”, where all aspects of life, from sleeping and eating to training and free time, are strictly regimented by the coach, called the “stable master”.
Part religious ritual, part popular entertainment, and Japan’s most unique contribution to the world of sport, though sumo has long fascinated the West, its complex system of rituals and etiquette has made it difficult for outsiders to penetrate. by Eduardo Gazalle Marco
BIG REPORT #55: SUMO
Sumo wrestlers bulk up with a diet that is heavy in protein and rice. Wrestlers gorge themselves after morning practice, followed with a nap (to ensure slow digestion) and then again at dinner. Most elite wrestlers are highly trained athletes between 20 and 35 years old. They typically live together in residential and training complexes, called “stables”, where all aspects of life, from sleeping and eating to training and free time, are strictly regimented by the coach, called the “stable master”.
Part religious ritual, part popular entertainment, and Japan’s most unique contribution to the world of sport, though sumo has long fascinated the West, its complex system of rituals and etiquette has made it difficult for outsiders to penetrate. by Eduardo Gazalle Marco
BIG REPORT #55: SUMO
Sumo wrestlers bulk up with a diet that is heavy in protein and rice. Wrestlers gorge themselves after morning practice, followed with a nap (to ensure slow digestion) and then again at dinner. Most elite wrestlers are highly trained athletes between 20 and 35 years old. They typically live together in residential and training complexes, called “stables”, where all aspects of life, from sleeping and eating to training and free time, are strictly regimented by the coach, called the “stable master”.
Part religious ritual, part popular entertainment, and Japan’s most unique contribution to the world of sport, though sumo has long fascinated the West, its complex system of rituals and etiquette has made it difficult for outsiders to penetrate. by Eduardo Gazalle Marco
