Watch! Read! Subscribe! Walrus tries out video trailers for every issue

The Walrus magazine is taking the unusual initiative of putting out 90-second video in the style of a movie trailer, promoting a feature for each issue. The current one presents Helen Humphrey's re-enactment of the battle of the Plains of Abraham. The next (due out September 14) will highlight the October cover essay by writer Chris Turner.

The videos are being done pro bono by Ingenious Devices, a Toronto-based startup of David Wallen, Greg Freir and Edd Baptista.

While some book publishers have begun commissioning trailers for high-profile book releases, this is believed to be the first time that a movie-style trailer will be created for every issue of a magazine, said the magazine.

“It’s another way of letting people know aboutThe Walrus,” said Shelley Ambrose, co-publisher of The Walrus and executive director of the Walrus Foundation. “Hopefully people will see the trailer and pick up the magazine. There’s definitely a ‘wow factor’ to these trailers. We hope people will watch them and share them with their friends.

"We think that these trailers will excite people who already readThe Walrus, and help draw new readers, too. Under John Macfarlane’s editorship and Brian Morgan’s art direction, the magazine is stronger than it’s ever been, so we’re confident that once people start readingThe Walrus, they’ll keep reading it.”