Exploring all aspects of PocketMedia Print and Digital
We’re big sports fans here at Z-CARD®, so clearly we’re excited at the prospect of all the great sports viewing that 2012 will bring, with Euro 2012 and Olympics as the standout competitions in the sporting calendar. Continue reading ‘London 2012: Olympic art recreates French masterpiece’
Worldwide PocketMedia® specialist Z-CARD® Ltd has launched the Augmented Reality (AR) Z-CARD® combining PocketMedia® with an interactive and virtual experience. The innovative new AR Z-CARD® bridges the gap between print and digital offering brands an engaging way to interact with their target audience. Continue reading ‘NEW AUGMENTED REALITY Z-CARD® LAUNCHED’
This week sees a number of big brands launch a trial of Google’s alternative to the QR code. Google’s Goggles is a 
‘virtual seach app’ that matches the offline image against its own online repository of images.
Brands trialling the technology include French Connection, L’Oreal’s Garnier, Sony Music and Samsung, who will use it on their outdoor ads. Viewers of the ad who have the Goggles app on their phone will be able to take a photo of the poster and click through to relevant content on the brands’ mobile sites.
Continue reading ‘Brands trial Google’s alternative to QR codes’
The vision of futurists and science fiction authors is a complete ‘Augmented City’ in which billboards and street signs change to suit your
interests as you walk past them. This is slowly becoming reality for many through the use of Augmented Reality mobile city apps.
The goal of Augmented Reality companies, such as Junaio, is to “make the digital world surrounding us a natural experience,” by embedding the digital information into the real world.*
The mTrip Travel Guide is an app that’s growing in popularity. Offering information on thousands of attractions and destinations, the augmented reality aspect of the app superimposes points of interest onto the phones display while users are guided by foot or subway using location-based navigation.
Z-CARD®s provide the ideal platform for a printed city guide due to their compact and highly retainable format. A great example of a successful Z-CARD® city guide was for the Mexico Tourism Board. Continue reading ‘The Augmented Reality City’
Further proof of the benefits of QR-code technology has been demonstrated recently in South Korea, with Tesco’s Home Plus operation opening up “virtual stores” in subway stations.*
Home Plus’s research showed that Koreans were time poor, technology rich and resented the idea of taking time out of their busy schedules to shop; something that many of us in the West can relate to. Home Plus used mobile technology to allow passengers in transit to do their grocery shopping. Stock is displayed using posters of shelves with real grocery items in subway stations and QR-codes are attached to each item. The customer scans the item with their mobile phone and the digital purchases are charged to the customer’s account and delivered to their homes in the same way as any other online shopping purchase. In a tech-savvy market such as South Korea, the subway shopping concept is sure to be a big hit.
Continue reading ‘QR-code sets Tesco’s Home Plus brand apart from its South Korean rivals’
With the uptake of smart phones and increasing time spent online, marketers are now turning to digital channels to reach their customers with the UK becoming the first major economy to spend more on web ads than TV. The internet now accounts for 24% of all advertising spend in the UK, with mobile advertising expected to rise by 24% this year. What does this mean for print?
Despite these market trends print is not dead. In fact the two channels are very complimentary and can dramatically increase response rates, customer engagement and campaign measurability. With the development of technologies such as QR codes and Augmented Reality, brands are seamlessly delivering high retention print communications combined with the real-time information that digital communications provide.
We are delighted to announce that Z-CARD® have been announced finalists in the Marketing Excellence Awards for the Small/Medium Enterprise category. Rachel Blair, Marketing Manager, has also been nominated for Marketer of the year.
Continue reading ‘Z-CARD® finalists in Chartered Institute of Marketing Excellence Awards’
Thanks to all those who visited us on stand at MediaPro event on the 2nd, 3rd November. The event was a great success where we showcased our new ‘Bridge Technologies’ including RFID, QR Codes, and Augmented Reality.
Our Managing Director, Liz Love, hosted a seminar session on bridging the gap between print and digital and demonstrated the new Augmented Reality Z-CARD®. Please click here to request further information or to book an Augmented Reality experience.
Augmented Reality is quickly gaining momentum and it’s easy to see why. With brands 
such as Paramount Pictures, Hugo Boss, and Coca-Cola launching AR campaigns showing fantastic results it’s becoming hard to ignore. But with any new innovation there is always the question is it a gimmick or a trend?
Independent research carried out by Marketing Week has indicated that over 50% all people polled intend to move from a traditional mobile handset to a Smartphone this year. This coupled with a current Smartphone penetration rate of 23% in the UK which is growing by 70% year-on-year there has never been a more important time for marketing campaigns to capitalise on this end user trend.
Audiences are becoming more savvy in terms of how they can interact with messages and brands and with the predicted increase in Smartphone usage it means not only are audiences accepting this technology they are expecting it to be part of the marketing mix.
