Swiss watchmaker Swatch is sponsoring the new iPhone application from Distill magazine to promote the launch of its Chrono Automatic collection.

The Distill iPhone application features a 20-second Swatch video ad that runs when the application is launched. A screensaver that tells the real time on a watch face from the Chrono Automatic collection is featured when a consumer goes into a different channel within the application.

?When we were developing this, it felt to me more like a sponsorship opportunity than a straight-forward ad situation,? said Christopher Lockwood, creative and publishing director of Distill at Craft Publishing, London. ?I also wanted to have the time and budget to do it right and didn?t want to be concerned with finding multiple brands.

?So, I approached Swatch and I am pleased to say they went for it,? he said. ?We have done great work with Swatch in the past and they are good at patronizing and supporting the next big thing.?

?This seemed like good coverage without overkill.?

Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products.

Distill is a bimonthly publication with a focus on the main fashion seasons. It brings together visual content from the world's fashion and style magazines and Web sites and adds commentary.

Mobile is in fashion
A Swatch spokesperson said that Swatch is always interested in pursuing new advertising and marketing possibilities and the iPhone platform and Distill application fit well with the targeting for its Chrono Automatic collection launch.

According to Distill, its target audience is creative professionals living and working in the world?s key creative hubs.

The content of the application, which serves as the latest issue of Distill, was designed specifically for a mobile platform, but remains true to the original Distill magazine brand.
 
The application can be downloaded for $4.99.

Mr. Lockwood said that the strategy behind launching the application came from hype he heard over the summer when many publishers and media owners were talking about applications.

?One of the biggest considerations and problems for magazines is how you effectively represent text on a small screen,? Mr. Lockwood said. ?Since our concept was primarily image based and more about showcasing the finest photography than text, the platform seemed to be calling out to us.

?I was introduced to some great developers here in London at the end of the summer and thought ?Let?s try it out and if we are going to do it lets try doing it exclusively as an app for at least one issue and see how it goes,?? he said. ?Ride the wave, etcetera.?

The Distill application features fashion and art photography from around the world and contributing magazines such as A Magazine, Acne Paper, Dansk, Exit, Interview, Lemon, Men?s File and Muse.

Mr. Lockwood said that the application shows how magazine publishers can successfully repackage their content onto a new and growing platform, while breathing life into what has been described as a dying genre.
 
Distill is not the first magazine to expand to mobile.

Condé Nast?s GQ magazine went mobile for its much-hyped December issue featuring the annual ?Men of the Year? story (see story).

Mr. Lockwood said that mobile is a better platform for magazines than the Internet.

?The [mobile] format is closer to a magazine page than the Internet,? Mr. Lockwood said. ?Consumers still want content and media owners still are making content.

?What is changing is the consumption channel and we need to change our delivery to match,? he said.