Diving into Mobile Tagging
Posted by Derek Pine on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:21 PM | More From This Author »
As different parts of the world find new ways of using technology in marketing, we're keeping our finger on the pulse in an effort to bring these emerging trends to our clients. Case in point: mobile tags. For those that are unfamiliar, mobile tags are essentially barcodes that can be placed anywhere and on anything. What’s different about tags is that by using a mobile phone with a camera and Internet, you can take a photo of a tag and it will typically link to online information such as a website, video or product review.
There are a lot of potential uses for tags:
- A tag found on a real estate sign could lead you to see details and images about the home for sale or other homes handled by that agent.
- A travel magazine could put tags on destination photos that when snapped bring up a Google Map with the location of where the photo was taken.
- Snapping a tag found in an ad for a flower shop could then store that business’s info to your phone’s address book enabling you to easily locate the number in future doghouse moments.
- Tags found on food packaging could provide recipes, nutritional ratings, recycling information, etc., via a free text message.
- Fish are already being tagged in Japan to provide buyers with more information about the date, time and location of the catch.
The Pros: Convenience! With tags there is no need to remember to type in a web address or text a short code.
The Cons: The user needs a phone with a camera and Internet, as well as an application on their phone to decode the tag. (It's only a matter of time before everyone does though.)
bragging rights
For Josephs, we produced an ad for the back of the latest dsm Magazine. If I can brag, Jason and Liz executed some great art and copy to make this ad really stand out. AND we're pretty sure this is the first local business to utilize this technology. Now, in the bottom right corner of the ad we hinted at a "secret sale" and used a tag to lead people to more info. It was a good way to execute the secrecy and exclusivity of the sale because we knew the big roadblocks (smart phone, downloading an app, etc.) were going to weed out some people, and intrigue others. Those who were intrigued…well, the secret is all yours! But just in case you didn’t get a copy of the latest dsm, here’s a sample of what we did.
For Mediacom we placed a tag on a Free Standing Insert (FSI) that takes people to a video alerting them of a special offer they can receive.
In the end, we measure the success and short-comings of mobile tag marketing with open minds. By using Microsoft® Tag technology and Google Analytics we're able to get some reporting that is inline with our expectations. But for now, the obvious success of these tag endeavors is that we have clients excited to be utilizing cutting-edge technology as we pave the way for future marketing.
Download the Microsoft® Tag reader app and keep a keen eye out for tags... have fun!