The Tag Reader Application For Smartphones: Another Boost For Print Media

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To save time and supplement my online shopping addiction, I subscribe to Lucky Magazine, which targets working women in their 20’s and 30’s, advertising page after page of products. To be more exact, it is a special interest magazine that is all about shopping and style. It works like a monthly catalog that features purchase information on everything from the hottest peep-toe to pumps to the best new makeup products.

Today we are hearing about how the print industry is in trouble and how the mass medium is struggling to adapt in the digital information era. Thanks to devices like iPod, Touch, readers like the Kindle and the iPad, as well as various smart phones, reading magazines and other traditionally print pubs in digital format is now obviously in vogue. This is just one of the ways print is trying to adapt, but Lucky is making a good example of another kind of media convergence.

There still is demand for printed magazines; to take advantage of new technology Lucky has incorporated an application available for a variety of smart phones called the “Tag Reader.”

As ...
... I was flipping through the pages, I noticed that this latest issue had instructions on the pages to snap an image of a 1”x 1” square with my Smartphone. If you go to http://www.gettag.com/go/mobile , you can download a free application called Tag Reader. When you download this application, your phone’s camera turns into a scanner that identifies a code found in a square image that contains positive and negative triangle shapes that are organized in assorted directions. The camera lense will detect the code and snap the square image. The image then triggers the application to go to a video that supplements the article or feature you are reading about.

In this case, I was reading a page about mascaras and how to create beautiful eyes. When I snapped the image, I was taken to a “How-To” video that was relevant to the article. The possibilities here are endless when it comes to advertising. You can create a video about anything and include featured products, as well as how to use them; very beneficial stuff for the user.

So far, I have only seen this in Lucky magazine; however I can’t say for sure if anyone else is trying this yet. I’m glad to see traditional media adapting to digital media and making it work for their publications and readership. I thought this new function was pretty neat and the great thing is the application is available for a multitude of smart phones; not just the iPhone. Congrats to Lucky Mag for making their readers experience more interesting.