UK printer Polestar, and content marketing agency the River Group, have broken the Guinness world record for producing the largest single edition of a magazine.
Measuring 3.055m in height and 2.35m in width, the issue of Healthy magazine took 14 hours to print and weighs in at 106kg once fully bound. The amount of ink needed to print the magazine ran to 9.3 litres and, when laid out, the surface area of the magazine came to 7.179sqm, beating the previous Guinness world record of 6.96sqm.
Nicola Murphy, chief executive for the River Group, says the magazine required intricate research and development with co-company Polestar – Europe’s largest independent printer. She says, “The idea for producing the world’s biggest person-size magazine really came about because at River we like to innovate and everybody these days is saying it’s all about digital and social media and not about print. While we have a thriving digital, social media and, indeed, video business, for us print is still at the heart of a lot of what we do for our clients, we knew that Polestar would find a way to do it. It took six months to establish whether the magazine could be made.”
Size matters: At 3.055m high and 2.35m wide, the magazine weighs 106kg
Martin Black, senior production manager at the River Group, oversaw the printing process with Ian Allan, head of new media at Polestar. Black says, “It’s something we haven’t done before, tried before or even thought of before, so just trying to find out the logistics of it was quite nerve-wracking.”
The magazine, a recyclable replica of the August issue of Healthy, came from a long-standing relationship. Murphy says, “The reason for choosing healthy above any of our other titles – much as we love all our magazines and all of our clients – is because we’ve worked with Holland & Barrett for 21 years now. They are our longest-standing and most loyal client, and healthy is actually a hugely successful magazine within the UK and international market.”
David Heslop OBE, a former Lord Mayor of Sheffield, helped verify the 156-page magazine as a Guinness World Record breaker when it came off the press. Martin says, “It feels great to be world record breakers. Not many people can lay claim to that, and it’s a great achievement for all of us.”
River, a top 10 content marketing agency based in London, creates omni-channel content for brands aimed at customer centric, contextually relevant, and commercially profitable results. The Polestar Group, calls itself Europe’s leading independent printing company, printing a range of products including magazines, newspaper supplements, and commercial print.
