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How mobile is evolving the media business

The once-static media landscape is evolving with the advancement of mobile technology, giving advertisers more options.

Whether it is through mobile sites, applications or the recent trend of 2D bar codes and image recognition, media brands are taking note and evolving with the ever-changing world of mobile. Publications such as Entertainment Weekly, W Magazine, Golf Magazine, GQ, Wired and Marie Claire have all integrated mobile in some aspect.

?Mobile provides an opportunity for continuous conversations with our readers and creates a forum for the most up-to-date information people want when they are on the go,? said Kenneth Fuchs, vice president and general manager of Sports Illustrated Digital, New York. ?It is important for our content to be available whenever and wherever people look for it.

?SI is all about access ? a 24/7 window to the inside world of sports ? events, personalities and news,? he said. ?Mobile only amplifies that real-time access and SI?s ability to capture the stories avid fans care about most.?

?We?re seeing uninterrupted month-over-month growth in traffic to our mobile sites and that?s a reflection of the overall growth of Internet usage on mobile devices.?

Mobile readership
Entertainment Weekly featured Microsoft 2D tags throughout its summer movie preview issue, while W Magazine?s entire shopping issue included image-recognition ads.

Last month, Golf.com saw a mobile traffic increase of 131 percent in unique visitors and a 140 percent in page views during the 2010 Masters.

In addition to its mobile-optimized site, Golf.com also has an iPhone and iPod touch application that lets users update their status, comment in real-time on friends? updates and find golf courses.

Sports Illustrated partnered with Jagtag for a 2D mobile bar code program around its SI Swimsuit launch.

The initative gave users the opportunity to snap a picture using their handset of one of six Jagtags from the magazine and instantly receive videos and photos of the 2010 SI Swimsuit models. 

To date, the SI Swimsuit 2D bar code program has produced more than 100,000 consumer engagements. 

?We?ll continue to look at opportunities to engage readers with new technologiesn ? as long as the technology provides real value and enhances the reader?s experience with our content, we?ll continue to experiment,? Mr. Fuchs said.

Image recognition
W Magazine partnered with mobile social media technology company Pongr to make the ads in its April issue interactive for readers.

Consumers were able to take a picture of any ad from brands such as Rolex, Gucci, Dior, Jimmy Choo, Prada and Bvlgari with their smartphone and after sending it to , they received an email about promotions, the company?s Facebook and Twitter page or a video of a recent brand campaign.

?Magazines, like all media, must constantly prove their value to readers and brand marketers,? said Wright Ferguson Jr., senior vice president of national sales at Pongr, Darien, CT. ?By making issues interactive, we can deepen the relationship readers have with their favorite magazines, we can enhance their unique and quality content and we can reinvigorate their brands. 

?Mobile interactivity now allows a reader to buy a product off the pages, find the nearest store to touch the product, view a video demonstration, sign up for future offers and deals, or speak to a salesperson ? this is light years ahead of metrics like recall,? he said.

?Interactivity brings magazines to life, and allows for a deeper relationship with the editorial and the advertising.?

Image recognition ads are an effective form of advertisers interacting with readers. However, there were no bar codes or QR codes in the print ads featured in W Magazine, so advertisers did not have to modify their advertisements.

There were, however, pages within the magazine that alerted readers about the image recognition-enabled ads.

2D interaction
Entertainment Weekly took a different approach when the publication used Microsoft?s 2D tags in its summer movie preview.

Throughout the issue, there were colorful square tags that enabled a smartphone to play trailers of the movies users were reading about.

Advertisers included Absolut, HBO, History Channel, Honda and CTAM/Movies on Demand.

Microsoft?s 2D tag technology allows a reduction in size and increases the amount of information that can be stored.

Additionally, the tags improve readability on poorly-lensed mobile phones.

A wide variety of phones can now be used to read the tags, ensuring many consumers can benefit from this technology.

?The beauty of the solution is the wide applicability and broad set of scenarios where tags can be used,? said Marja Koopmans, digital marketing leader at Microsoft, Seattle. ?Once you?ve downloaded the free reader to your phone, you can read a tag using your phone?s camera and instantaneously connect to related content, such as a movie trailer or mobile TV.

?We anticipate that the opportunities made possible via 2D tags will spark the imagination of the marketer,? she said.

IPad magazine
With the debut of Apple?s iPad, magazines such as Interview and GQ have been using the new device to make their issues virtual and convenient for on-the-go readers.

Interview launched its largest digital magazine to date on the iPad last month, which featured 22 advertisers, 20 of which added interactive components to their ads.

The virtual issue was designed and developed to provide an immersive and interactive multimedia experience.

?Quite simply, mobile is allowing magazines to compete with and access the Internet,? Mr. Ferguson said. ?The Internet allows one to browse, search, compare and buy immediately and the metrics to prove every move and now magazines, with mobile, have leveled the playing field ? and in fact, improved the odds. 

?Mobile media is exploding,? he said. ?Communication - voice, text, pictures - is vital to our society, personally and in business. 

?Mobile has wonderful applications for magazines - it artfully bridges offline and online, makes edit and advertising immediately actionable, and satisfies the impetuous nature in all of us.?