We reported awhile back on CBS and Pepsi inserting ads with video and sound into several magazines.

Now Esquire Magazine is trying a similar stunt to merge print and interactive media by launching their “Augmented Reality” issue.

It’s a tough marriage to get right. Esquire is betting that you’ll buy the magazine, download the necessary software, and hold the rag up to your computer to get the two to talk to each other and release extra celebrity content.

And you might. But then you’ll realize they could have stuck a CD-ROM into the magazine in 1999 and achieved the same effect. And you’ll chuck it. Maybe a small percentage of you will subscribe, or be more inclined to buy the magazine in the future. (Maybe.)

So: nifty little campaign to build some buzz around a struggling medium? You bet. Complete reinvention of the global publication model? Probably not.

Via Adverblog.