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Readers of Rolling Stone and Men’s Health will find print ads that invite them to pull out their camera phones and snap a shot. If they do, and if they send the resulting photo to a specific number, they’ll get just what they always wanted: more advertising.
A total of five advertisers are running such offers in Rolling Stone’s current issue, while in the July-August issue of Men’s Health, every full-page ad will have the feature, according to The New York Times.
Technology from SnapTell differentiates the icon on one advertisement from that on another, and texts back special offers or additional info.
One such ad, from the Discovery Channel, offers a video preview of Man vs. Wild to those who send a picture. For the magazines, the program lets advertisers make their ads interactive, while gathering empirical data showing how readers engage with ads.
But Brad Feinberg, director of media planning for Discovery Communications, says that gathering data on eyeballs isn’t really the purpose of the ads. Rather, he says, he wanted to give readers added value.
Neither Rolling Stone nor Men’s Health are charging advertisers for the feature. SnapTell is charging publishers a promotional price. Eventually, SnapTell hopes that publishers will be able to convince advertisers to spend a little more for the extra feature.
In December, The Wine Enthusiast Cos. ran the first direct response campaign using SnapTell technology. The company ran a print ad in the Wall Street Journal which asked readers to take pictures of the ad. When they did so, they received a discount coupon.
This is far from the first time camera phones have been called into action for advertising. Earlier this year, Google introduced a new aspect to its Print Ads program, whereby advertisers can insert 2D bar codes in the print ads they buy. When photographed on web-ready camera phones, the bar codes bring users to a dedicated mobile website. Consumers have also been invited to use their phones for scavenger hunts, online contests, and other viral campaigns.
SnapTell offers the service for advertisers using billboard campaigns as well as print campaigns.
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