When I first covered this thing called Augmented Reality’ people gave me a few blank stares. After all, in 2010, smart phones penetration in the US was 25 % of all mobile users, and was just picking up speed.

Today, smart phones account for 50.4 of mobile phones. The comfort level people show with using apps, and engaging with tools such as QR Codes and Augmented Reality is making those who work in Marcom rethink what they do.

• Should they stop writing ‘copy’ and start writing story ideas that work in these personal, mobile spaces?
• Is it time to retire headlines and tag lines, and think of ‘swipe lines’ — inspired by the fast growing habits of new touch interfaces
• Should we stop thinking of ‘chunks’ of brand-laden text, and start thinking instead of scenarios for different moments during the point of purchase?

Take a look at this communication between the label of a bottle of ketchup and someone in the grocery story diving into content that hide behind the label. The content is no longer on the label, but somewhere in the cloud. With a small touch that information (a recipe, ingredients, a promotion etc) could be transmitted to the shopper’s smart phone.

It’s getting better! See how a Dutch magazine, Veronica, uses the same idea to make print come alive.

It blows my mind to think of the possibilities for print advertisers who could turn the reading experience into a point of (online) purchase.