When I see an idea a couple of times in a day, I begin to think maybe I should pay closer attention.
A while back I learned about ElleGirl's Mobot pilot, in which registered readers snap pictures of ads with their cell phones and send the pictures to ElleGirl in exchange for coupons or a chance to win a prize.
Browsing Scott Schaeffer's Pondering Primate (all things mobile) (via Martina's Adverblog), I read about NewMedia's patent on barcode recognition via cellphone camera. You're in the store, see a product you think you might like, snap a photo of the barcode, send it in (presumably to some service you pre-register for) and get information about the product, maybe suggestions for complementary products, comparisons to other products, and perhaps coupons and other incentives.
(Now put the two together: cross-promote a subscription to a cooking magazine when the cell phone user snaps a picture, say, of balsamic vinegar. Or, if that's a stretch, maybe cross-promote a "micro-license" to relevant recipes, the same way we buy ringtones today?)
Extensions: real-time video is now here (though it's early) for mobile devices. I posted yesterday on the new ESPN Mobile service, and noted the UK launch of Virgin Mobile's new BT Movio-based service. Maybe the 30-second TV spot gets reincarnated, not once but twice: first, from the TV to the PDA, and second, from upstream in the awareness-raising end of the buying process to the consideration stage when someone's trying to figure out if a product might be right for him, and snaps the cell phone photo to find out.
Personally though, I won't be impressed until my cell phone has a built-in Cyranose...
(Postscript: ElleGirl Gets Wired campaign results are in. each participant entered 22 times in the month; participation increased 228% from the first ten days of the month to the last ten days; 96% of survey respondents said they were likely or extremely likely to participate in the future; purchase intent was 14% among promotion participants, recall rates were 15% higher, and advertiser favorability ratings were 18% higher. Source -- Insight Express survey reported in"A Real Call To Teen Action: Teen Mags Grab Readers By The Phone", by Allison Enright, Marketing News, February 1, 2006.)
Comments