The NYTimes today ran an article titled, “From Print to Phone to Web. And a Sale?”. The article talks about how the print medium has always been a flat medium, but for close to a decade, magazine publishers have experimented with adding dimension to the print reading experience. In the most recent March issue of Esquire magazine, the pages are scattered with 2-D barcodes that when scanned by a camera phone (running the appropriate software) can link a web-enabled mobile device to more robust content offerings. This type of user interaction has been discussed over and over for the past several years, but it just never took off in the U.S. However, I sense a shift in momentum happening where the average consumer is starting to become aware of what these 2-D barcodes actually are and what they actually do. This is mainly due to the sudden ubiquity of smartphones that have apps that can finally read the little black and white 2-D bar codes. Among the publications that have recently begun adding the 2-D bar codes to their articles and advertisements are Esquire, InStyle, Wired, Entertainment Weekly and Star.

Sports Illustrated is also planning a big promotional push for its upcoming swimsuit issue. 2-D barcodes will connect users with exclusive content and pre-released photos in the January 25th issue to hype the swimsuit issue that hits newstands on February 9th.

Read the NYTimes article here.
Read more about the SI promotion here.

Tags: QR Codes