Of all the everyday delights I get from working in print media, one of my favorites is when I notice a well-worn, dog-eared copy of our magazine sitting on a coffee table onboard a houseboat.

To me, it’s an affirmation that high-quality print products—or at least full-color, professionally designed magazines—continue to serve an important role in the media marketplace. It’s also a testament to our product’s relevance and longevity.

The value of a glossy-print periodical is more than just shelf life, of course. It’s also about a more organic, tactile experience with a tangible interface.

And then there is the philosophical argument: Printed content has a finality to it that you won’t find in any other medium. As our cousins in the newspaper business can attest, the very nature of trustworthy journalism is connected to the platter upon which it is served. Factual errors, misspellings and other problems can be rectified on the fly if your platform is a website or blog. In print, the ink dries and you get what you get. It behooves diligence and accuracy.

But while print holds its own for the above reasons, it’s also competing with other platforms like never before. Number one on the list of these supposed adversaries is mobile online video, which has exploded in recent years.

For the traditional newsprint market, the resulting hand-wringing is justified. For Houseboat magazine and our other titles here at Harris Publishing, however, we’ve decided to turn this challenge on its head.

We already have strong websites, digital flipbooks and a social media presence, but our larger goal is to combine video with our core print product in a more direct and compelling fashion.

In fact, that goal has now come to fruition. Its name is PrintFlic.

The goal is pretty simple: to bring content to life by creating a direct link between print and digital. There is no website to visit, no link to find, no play button to push. All you have to do is download the PrintFlic app onto your phone, then scan any photo in the magazine that has the PrintFlic icon and the video will play automatically. The universal app is totally free to download and is devoid of ads, pop-ups and pay walls.

PrintFlic also allows you to easily share the video with others, or save it in a favorites folder to view again. Starting a video is as easy as tapping on your phone screen.

As you peruse this issue, you’ll see the PrintFlic icon displayed on various images, illustrations and advertisements. Download the app, give it a go and let us know what you think. We hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve already discovered for ourselves—a multimedia experience that truly brings our content to life.