Brainy brand magazines using clever, inexpensive means to attract readers

Catching up with a New York Times article of October 2 on the way two so-called "brainy brand" magazines are using whimsical devices to attract readers.

• The Economist is spoofing the game Twister, distributing it on pizza boxes.
• The Atlantic is putting out videos of streeter interviews asking passers-by the question on a recent cover 'Is Google Making Us Stupid?' accompanied by a campaign slogan:Think. Again. And the questions are reproduced on neon signs in ads.

In seeking readers and advertisers, publications like The Atlantic and The Economist, known as thought-leader magazines, have long tried to make up in cleverness what they lack in wallet power [says the Times].