Sports Illustrated launches mobile barcode promo for swimsuit issue

Sports Illustrated announced plans to promote its annual swimsuit issue via mobile barcodes promising readers advance photos. The barcodes, which will run in the Jan. 25 issue of SI as well as other Time Inc.-owned publications including People and Fortune in advance of the swimsuit issue's Feb. 9 publication, will also appear in New York City subway ads and on Las Vegas hotel room keys--consumers who snap a photo the barcode with a camera-enabled handset will receive a series of photos spotlighting this year's "rookie class" of models making their first appearance in the magazine. Sports Illustrated developed the promotion in association with barcode content delivery system provider Jagtag.

The 2009 edition of the SI swimsuit issue sold more than 4 million copies. "I don't know that [the swimsuit issue] needs promotion, but we like to drum up excitement about it," Charlie Saunders, executive director of integrated marketing for the SI Group, told Mediaweek.

For more on the barcode promo:
- read this Mediaweek article