Augmented Reality Challenges QR in Print-to-Mobile

With print-to-mobile marketing growing, the scale and engagement of "augmented reality" image recognition is wooing some publishers and advertisers away from QR codes and tags. Augmented reality certainly has a fan in publisher Meredith Corp. A recent Mobile Marketer story quoted Doug Crichton, director of mobile engagement at Meredith: “Digital watermarks unduly complicated our editorial production processes, and QR codes/Microsoft Tags weren't moving the needle. So far, augmented reality is driving more reader engagement than QRs/Tags did.” Earlier this year, Meredith rolled out a branded augmented reality application for editorial and advertising in its four parents network titles: Parents, American Baby, FamilyFun and Ser Padres. Meanwhile, Time Inc.’s lifestyle group is using digital watermarks in several publications, including watermarketing a MyRecipes cook book so consumers can save recipe info for grocery shopping. Similar to augmented reality, the draw of the digital watermarks is that they do not cover up the images on pages, which suited Time's reliance on big pictures in recipes. That's not to say that QR codes have fallen by the wayside, especially when the goal is to drive traffic. QR codes immediately signal consumers that there is a mobile component to a printed piece for quick lead generation. As a result, many marketers are balancing the advantages of print-to-mobile options by using different forms of technology at the same time, the Mobile Marketer story notes. P&G’s CoverGirl recently used a combination of QR codes and augmented reality on pages within Condé Nast’s September issues of Allure and Vogue, for example. See the complete story at http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/16338.html

Holiday Mobile E-mail: Don't Miss Millennials

Courting millennials will be pivotal to the success of many mobile e-mail campaigns this holiday season, according to a ClickZ story on research by Campaigner, an e-mail marketing provider. With eMarketer projecting U.S. holiday e-commerce to reach $61.8 billion this year, up 15% from last year, and mobile transactions expected to hit 16% of the total, mobile messaging is clearly crucial to holiday marketing--and millennials are a key component of mobile shoppers. The survey by Campaigner found a whopping 67% of the millennials, aged 18 to 34, use e-mail on their mobile devices. Of those, 10% have made transactions directly from mobile e-mail, which is more than any other age group. Yet catching the attention of millennials will not be easy, the Campaigner survey also shows. The space is competitive: 48% said marketing messages make up over half their e-mail. And the millennial targets are hard to engage: Half of those surveyed said they aren't sure about the impact of holiday marketing e-mails, and one in four said they ignore holiday marketing e-mail. The three major challenges this holiday season, Campaigner advises, will be to persuade millennials to open e-mails, to then engage them, and finally to get them to share via social media, which two-thirds said they are reluctant to do. Investing in mobile-optimized e-mail design is an obvious first step. Ease the open and engagement challenges by e-mailing those who've already shown interest: abandoned cart shoppers. Better make the content engaging while you're at it: 25% of survey respondents said they are irritated by irrelevant content. And check out your competition before launching; since you'll be elbowing each other in the tight mobile space, make sure you stand out. See the ClickZ article: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2298008/tips-for-targeting-millennials-with-mobile-email-marketing-for-the-holidays