Mobile ad game-changers: SpyderLynk and Glamour Magazine

Product: Glamour Magazine
Vendor: SpyderLynk
Medium: Mobile barcode
Date: August/September 2011
Results: over 100,000 interactions in its first week

The September issue of Glamour Magazine featured digital content, interactive sweepstakes and private sales. What makes this special, however, is that this content was featured in the print version of the magazine.

Conde Nast, Glamour's parent company, and mobile barcode company SpyderLynk collaborated on this issue to incorporate mobile barcodes throughout the issue. Unlike previous efforts by print media to integrate mobile content, the issue used SnapTags (SpyderLynk's version of the mobile barcode) to promote about 20 editorial and 25 advertorial features. Last year Allure Magazine, which featured interactive editorial content in partnership with Microsoft Tag, generated more than 400,000 scans. In Glamour's first week since hitting newsstands, it counted more than  100,000 mobile interactions.

The interactive element of this campaign allowed advertisers to connect with fans interested in their products, while making use of a feature (bar code reading) native to essentially any mobile device with a camera. Readers could take a picture of a SnapTag through the free Glamour Friends & Fans app for iOS and Android or by sending an MMS or email to SpyderLynk. This interaction, said SpyderLynk CEO Nicole Skogg, could unlock a variety of actions, including a coupon for 40 percent off at The Gap or a free trip to New York from Lancome. At the same time, the incorporation of SnapTags, which allow readers to "Like" Glamour on Facebook, led to an increase of fans by 18 percent.