Print and Mobile Marketing, Together at Last

For example, according to an informative blog entry over at InfoTrends, companies like Calvin Klein, Coca-Cola, and Time Out magazine are trying all sorts of new and exciting marketing techniques that tie print to mobile devices:

Print has been the ultimate portable media for a very long time—ever since someone thought to write on a tablet that could be transported rather than writing on a cave wall. Today, devices like smartphones and iPads have become a primary source of portable media from which we can obtain information and communicate. Technology is certainly moving fast, but that doesn't mean that print has to be left in the dust. In just the past several weeks, the market has seen tremendous examples of companies that are combining print and mobile technologies to deliver enhanced value.

The article goes on to cite three examples. My favorite is a giant QR Code on billboards for Calvin Klein. Take a picture with your smart phone and the code gives you access to a special video. Pretty cool. And don't miss the special three-dimensional display that Time Out put on its cover, just for smartphone users. The smartphone is surely becoming one more lens we have into the world, real or augmented!