Olay Fresh Effects taps Blippar to drive sales from print ads
Procter & Gamble?s Olay is embracing image-recognition platform Blippar and its augmented reality capabilities to promote the brand's Fresh Effects products with print ads in a number of beauty magazines, such as Hearst?s Seventeen and Elle magazines.
Marketers have been experimenting with numerous mobile tools to revamp their print ads for the past several years. Olay?s ad features conversion capabilities to encourage viewers to obtain a free skin consultation via the app and then proceed to buy the products.
?Blippar allows users to instantaneously pull digital content from the world around them, acting as a king of browser for the physical world,? said Lisa Hu, vice president of business development at Blippar, New York. ?Through our lens, print media can be amplified to provide the same rich and interactive content that has given digital media its edge.
?As marketers put less value on impressions and more value on interactions and engagement visual discovery technologies, like Blippar, can deliver the added value and content that users seek. Beyond this, Blippar can also provide detailed performance metrics that publishers seek to gauge ROI.?
Fresh approach
At the bottom of the ads, there is a list of instructions to activate the interactivity using the Blippar app.
Once the Blippar app is downloaded, users can scan the ad with their smartphone camera. The ad is then loaded, and users are directed to a menu page. Users can receive a free skin consultation, shop products, share via social media, read about the products and conduct searches based on the skin issues they are dealing with.
Whether users are looking for ways to make their eyes brighter or maintain an even skin tone, there are instructional video clips provided to educate viewers and redirect them to the relevant products that Olay offers.
Olay?s Fresh Effects products encourage users to be adventurous and stay up all night if they wish, because these products provide users with a fresh look in the morning and eliminate any signs of lack of sleep or tiredness.
Digitizing print
Beauty brands have been tapping into augmented reality capabilities this year by leveraging print ads and revamping them to appeal to tech-savvy audiences.
Earlier this year, Procter & Gamble's CoverGirl leveraged augmented reality to shorten the gap between its print ads and transactions.
The skin care company used Blippar's technology in its print ad in Cosmopolitan?s March 2014 issue. The ad invited readers to blipp the page to find their ?perfect blend" (see story).
Similarly, Discovery Channel?s renowned programming block Shark Week utilized Blippar to enhance physical ads with augmented reality capabilities and attract Generation Zers.
As the cable network's fans look forward to Shark Week every year, Discovery Channel likely tried to recruit younger viewers through a mobile capability. Smartphone users could scan the ads and instantly become a part of the augmented reality experience (see story).
Incorporating mobile components with print ads encourage mobile conversion and host a fun factor for users. As Blippar?s network grows, consumers are becoming more aware of these digitally inclined ads and are now looking out for them.
?Blippar?s differentiator is engagement,? Ms. Hu said. ?A user's average interaction time with a Blipp is 75 seconds.
"When you stack that fact up against traditional print or even television ads, the true value of this form of effective engagement is immediately apparent. While Blippar has designed interactions that include video gaming, ebook downloads, interactive quizzes and more, the mobile commerce element provides a seamless transition from intent to purchase, making the entire buying process much quicker and easier for the consumer.?
Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York
