SnapTell Blog

AdWeek's Top Media & Marketing Innovations of 2008

AdWeek's Tony Case, Editor, Special Reports makes some very insightful observations in their piece calling out the Top Media & Marketing Innovations of 2008:

In the midst of the worst economic morass most of us can recall, these are some of the year's best innovations in media and marketing -- some that look to have lasting influence, others that could even prove to be real game changers for digital media, in-store marketers, the TV networks, even architects of political campaigns.

Lucia Moses  in the same write up had this to say about SnapTell:

Oh, Snap! Magazine Ads Get Interactive
With the print ad business in freefall, a few publishers aim to make their ad pages a more engaging, truly interactive experience, taking advantage of the exploding popularity of Web-enabled mobile devices. Technology from Palo Alto, Calif.-based mobile marketing company SnapTell enables brands to send messages to readers who shoot photos of magazine ads with their mobile phones. Rodale's Men's Health, Wenner Media's Rolling Stone and Disney's ESPN The Magazine are some of the titles to have adopted the technology this year

This has been a great year for innovation in Media & Marketing. We at SnapTell believe that 2009 is positioned to be an even more exciting year in which advertisers will demand analyses and metrics from their print and out-of-home campaigns.

The Tao Of The GET -- Mobile Marketing Insight From SnapTell

Here at SnapTell we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about what we call the GET -- the content that a brand offers to consumers as part of an interactive image-recognition based marketing campaign. Here’s what we’ve learned about the type of content that tends to spark a consumer’s interest, inspiring them to reach out to an advertiser and initiate a conversation.

The GET Has To Be Good
This seems painfully obvious, but it’s sometimes overlooked: if the GET isn’t appealing consumers won’t bother to connect. Conversely if the GET is interesting, amusing or unique, consumers will not only engage they’ll also likely share the GET with others and become evangelists for the brand.

Design The GET For The Lowest Common Denominator
There’s nothing more frustrating to an interested consumer than a GET that they can’t get. Tailor GETs to the broadest possible audience by making SMS, available on over 98% of the world’s phones, a standard initial response. While mobile delivery of video content is clearly the future it is not yet accessible to all users on all networks on all phones, so resist the temptation to offer video as the only GET option.

Offer Multiple Engagement Options In The GET
Targeting the GET to the lowest common denominator does not mean offering boring text-only content. For example The Weinstein Company’s recent full length feature film release of Morgan Spurlock’s “Where in the World is Osama Bin Linden?” asked consumers to snap a picture of the movie poster at the theater, in local newspaper print ads or from one of the thousands of flyers distributed in five major cities. Consumers then received multiple GET options including a simple short text synopsis of the movie with links to view the theater preview of the release, links to Yahoo movie reviews, and geo-specific content for local movie theater times with the option to purchase tickets via Fandango. In addition, every consumer who participated in the campaign was instantly entered into a sweepstakes in the local market. Over 40% of consumers who snapped a picture of the movie poster drilled multiple layers down to seek out more information about the content and the movie -- far better than the average .02% click through rates achieved by online banner ads.

SnapTell and My Life

SnapTell’s first European campaign has just gone live in “My Life” a German health-centered publication from the Burda publishing group. The magazine covers Sports and Fitness, Food and Entertainment, Beauty and Spa, and the environment.

Selected ads in the current issue of My Life have been made interactive with  SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform. Readers can look for the SnapTell logo in ads throughout the issue, and then use their camera phones to Snap a picture of the ads that interest them, Send the picture to SnapTell, and Get special promotional offers and/or content. They will also have a chance to win one of 50 subscriptions to My Life magazine.

To find out more about SnapTell’s mobile marketing platform, and how it enables brand owners, marketers and publishers to easily mobilize existing advertising collateral, please email us and/or visit our website.

SnapTell Hits The Road With Harley Davidson

Harley-Davidson is launching its 2009 V-Rod Muscle bike with an innovative marketing campaign featuring American super model Marisa Miller and SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform.

 

The campaign went live on October 13^th in magazines such as GQ, Esquire, Playboy, Complex, Road & Track and Trader, with ads featuring Miller reclining on a sleek, black V-Rod Muscle. Snap a picture of the ad with your camera phone, send the picture in an MMS to the number cited in the ad, and you get access to exclusive content from Harley Davidson.

 

The campaign was pre-launched on Oct. 6 on Harley-Davidson’s official YouTube channel, with a “making of” video that takes viewers behind the scenes at the Marisa Miller V-Rod Muscle photo shoot . Motorcycle bloggers and Harley-Davidson fans and friends on Facebook and MySpace were exclusively tipped off to the campaign. 

 

SnapTell is pleased to be part of this iconic brand's marketing campaign. For more information on the new V-Rod Muscle visit Harley Davidson's website.   To find out more about SnapTell’s Snap. Send. Get mobile marketing solution, please email us and/or visit our website.

 

Back By Popular Demand: SnapTell+Rolling Stone

SnapTell-activated ads are returning to the pages of Rolling Stone, after our successful debut in the magazine last May.

Selected ads in Rolling Stone issue #1062, now on newsstands, have been made interactive with  SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform. Readers can look for the SnapTell logo in ads throughout the issue, and then use their camera phones to Snap a picture of the ads that interest them, Send the picture to SnapTell, and Get special promotional offers and/or content such as:

A chance to win a Pulsar watch
Exclusive wallpaper or video clip from Sci Fi
A killer pick-up line from Pentel
Free Deep Cleaning Shampoo sample from Gillette
A chance to win a $50 voucher from Greyhound
Exclusive ringtone from Energizer ® Advanced Lithium

But wait; there’s more! Everyone who snaps and sends a picture of any of the SnapTell-enabled ads in the magazine is also automatically entered to win a trip to an upcoming Rolling Stone Live concert.

Readers of Rolling Stone aren't the only ones to benefit of course. SnapTell's "Snap.Send.Get" mobile marking solution transforms static print ads -- or any existing marketing collateral -- into a measurable, two-way communication tool for brand owners. For more information on our Snap.Send. Get mobile marketing platform, please visit our website or email us.

SnapTell Goes Storm Chasing

Attention adrenaline addicts: the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers show will be returning to a TV near you in mid-October! The coming season features new high-tech tricked-out vehicles, new teams and new strategies for delving into the heart of Mother Nature’s most intense experiences without getting your face and/or assorted appendages ripped off in the process.

And to soothe your Storm Chaser needs until the new season premiers on October 19th (Sundays at 10 p.m), pick up a copy of Wired Magazine’s October issue (on sale now). There’s a great ad from Discovery Channel with information on one of the coolest Storm Chaser trucks, a dictionary of weird weather terms (do you know what a “Wedge” is? Animal Precipitation? Anvil Zits? If not, you will after you read the insert).

And there’s also a terrific bonus offer that will totally blow you away: Snap a picture of the ad using your phone’s camera, Send it in an MMS to [email protected], and you’ll almost instantly Get an exclusive Storm Chasers clip on your mobile phone.

The Discovery channel used SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform to power their Storm Chaser clip offering. Snap.Send.Get can turn any image associated with a brand into a dynamic mobile marketing campaign. 100% permission-based, Snaptell’s Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing solution enables brand owners and retailers to communicate directly with consumers, within seconds of the consumer's request for information. For more information, please email SnapTell.

SnapTell And Martha Stewart -- It's A Good Thing!

SnapTell is proud to announce that the Winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings will be the first women's magazine to feature interactive advertisements throughout the publication, using SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform.

The issue will be available on newsstands December 29, 2008. Readers will be able to Snap a picture using their camera phones of any mobilized advertisement, Send the picture to SnapTell via MMS, and instantly Get content from the selected advertiser. Content offerings can include coupons, video or photos, website links or product information.

Martha Stewart Weddings is the top selling bridal magazine on newsstands, providing brides with help and inspiration in selecting the perfect dress, planning the perfect wedding and honeymoon and celebrating their new lives, all with impeccable style and creativity.

SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get works with virtually all camera phones, does not require the consumer to download any special software and is 100% opt-in. Advertisers can take advantage of the comprehensive reporting features to track the success of their campaigns and tailor their ads to meet consumer interests.

"We are committed to delivering multiple ways for our advertisers to build a relationship with our affluent brides," said Amy Wilkins, SVP, Publisher, Martha Stewart Weddings. "SnapTell's ease of use and simplicity will allow all of our brides to take advantage of this opportunity."

"Our new technology will allow Martha Stewart Weddings to provide their advertisers a stronger ability to interact with their highly sought after reader. To have a publication such as Martha Stewart Weddings using our technology is a real privilege," said Gautam Bhargava, CEO and founder of SnapTell."The mobile industry is poised for growth and SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get solution is allowing publications of all sizes and industries to really engage their readers and drive brand recognition for the advertisers."

For more information on SnapTell's end-to-end image recognition-based mobile marketing solution please visit our website or email us.

GQ+Snap.Send.Get

SnapTell is in stylish company this month, GQ magazine is using our Snap. Send. Get mobile marketing platform to offer readers a free sample of Gillette® Clinical Strength Antiperspirant.

Readers can snap a picture of the Gillette® Clinical Strength Antiperspirant ad on page 303 of GQ's September 2008 issue with their camera phones, then send the picture to 707070* from their mobile phones to receive a sample of this clinically proven antiperspirant. If you don't happen to have a copy of the magazine handy, check out GQ's Connect site.

SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get mobilizes existing marketing collateral, turning any image associated with a brand into a dynamic mobile marketing campaign. 100% permission-based, Snaptell’s Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing solution enables brand owners and retailers to communicate directly with consumers, within seconds of the consumer's request for information. For more information, please email [email protected].

Worth More Than A Thousand Words

IPG's Interpublic Media Lab focuses on analyzing (and, as they say, "rigorously testing") emerging technology and discovering the ways it can best be leveraged by brands. In a post on the Lab's blog about Men’s Health magazine's recent use of SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing platform, Michael Ball wrote:

In Japan, using your cameraphone to engage with advertising is old hat. They have been placing quick response codes (QR) in their out-of-home and print pieces for a few years now–which are basically barcode-looking things that can hold a ton of information.

But the U.S. is now in a position to potentially leapfrog this technology altogether, and go straight to snapping a shot of the very thing you want to know more about.

Michael Ball went on to raise some interesting points:

Almost two-thirds of all U.S. mobile subscribers have cameraphones–and the mélange of dog and child wallpapers show we certainly love using them–so the reach and the behavior are there. What this means for your print, out-of-home, radio, and even broadcast campaigns, then, is that it’s time to start thinking about how you can layer in mobile as an engagement tool.

Nobody’s saying you abandon your URL call-to-action. But if a potential customer is sitting in a doctor’s office with a magazine, odds are they’re going to forget your ad the second they get called in for that tetanus shot. But if there’s a mechanism to immediately opt-in via mobile, especially in a fun and engaging way, then you’ve captured a qualified lead–while they’re out in the world.

That’s worth more than a thousand words.

Promo Magazine on SnapTell's Snap.Send.Get

We instinctively shudder at any mention of the immensely silly CueCat, but we really liked this piece in Promo Magazine.

Snipped from the article:

Anyone whose memories of the Internet economy extend back to sock-puppet spokesmen and sites devoted to toys should remember the CueCat, a cat-shaped handheld barcode reader that plugged into the computer. It allowed users to scan special barcodes in print magazines or on product packages and get linked to a URL offering more information about the story or product.

CueCat is now an answer in the dot-com version of Trivial Pursuit. But interactive print is back and building momentum, thanks to the CueCat already in everyone's hand, so to speak: the mobile phone. Several tech platforms are taking different roads to incorporate mobile phone capabilities — text messaging and cameras — into offline marketing, and in the process building a new backchannel for print, broadcast or out-of-home promotions.

For example, pick up the current July/August issue of Men's Health magazine and you'll find that you can get coupons, samples, content or just product information simply by taking pictures of any of the ads and sending the photos as multimedia messages to [email protected].

Clicking a photo of an ad for a Dolce & Gabbana men's cologne, for example, returns a text message containing a URL for retailer Macy's and a discount offer on shipping for the $70 product. Snapping an ad for Westin Hotels & Resorts produces a vacation-themed ringtone download. And an ad for the Chevy Malibu produces a link to a mobile site offering very full product specs and consumer reviews of the latest model.

Other brands taking part in the Men's Health initiative include Honda Motors, Anheuser-Busch, Quaker Oats, The Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble.

Tech provider SnapTell maintains a server housing the image-recognition software that detects which ad the user photographed and also manages the database of marketer messages. “Both those elements are important,” says Adam Schneider, sales vice president for SnapTell. “We have a 99% image-matching rate, but if you don't send the relevant content back, then that [rate] doesn't mean anything.”

SnapTell licensed the technology to Men's Health publisher Rodale, which then used the enhanced interactivity in sales pitches to its usual advertisers.

“This treats mobile not as a standalone channel, but as an integrated enhancement to other forms of advertising,” Schneider says. He says SnapTell will power portions of a Rolling Stone print issue this fall — its second partnership with that magazine after an integration last September.