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Snap Happy to displace barcodesThe film comedy, Mr Bean’s Holiday, showcases a new mobile technology, Snap Happy, created by the marcomms agency - Magnet Harlequin. It utilises picture recognition to replace bar codes. All it requires is for participants in the campaign to take a picture of the poster using their cameraphone and send it via MMS (picture messaging) to a special mobile number. In this case it’s +44 7786 200547. The Snap Happy technology will then automatically identify the sender’s type of phone and offer appropriate free ring tones, wallpapers and videos. The company claims, "Picture recognition technology is a real break through for mobile marketing and a valuable addition to the marketing mix. Unlike other technologies that use barcodes or require the consumer to download an application, picture recognition can be seamlessly incorporated into existing campaigns." The company claims the technology behind Snap Happy uses an algorithm to match the consumer’s camera phone picture to the promotional image logged on the database so that even partial images taken in poor light will be recognisable. Head of Magnet Harlequin’s mobile division, Scott Seaborn, argues, "In the UK, 40 per cent of Brands have already used text messaging – according to Airwide Solutions -which has been extremely successful. Research by MDA and Nielsen/Net Ratings shows that WAP enabled mobile phones are the second most popular digital device owned by Britons after the PC, so we know the potential for this kind of activity is huge." Magnet Harlequin will be looking at experimenting with coupling Snap Happy to GPS so that advertisers know which ads are working best for them, and where those ads are geographically located.The full Inquirer story ... Snap Happy replaces barcodes on ads |
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