Bourne to be Mobile

The launch of the Universal movie 'The Bourne Ultimatum' heralds the first use of mobile picture recognition technology in press advertising. Universal is using ‘real world connection’ mobile technology to make The Bourne Ultimatum’s press ads digitally interactive. A picture recognition algorithm is used to turn the mobile device into an interactive ‘mouse.’ Readers can ‘click’ on the ad by taking a photo of it with their mobile, and send it via MMS to Jason Bourne’s mobile shortcode – 82222 - to get free mobile content, including a movie trailer, wallpapers and screensavers. It takes less than 60 seconds to get a response.
Universal is the first brand to use the technology, and the half-page digitally interactive ads are appearing in national press now. The algorithm technology will automatically identify if they have sent the correct image. It will also identify the type of phone they have and then offer them the appropriate free content, optimised for their specific device. If they shoot an incorrect image, they will be advised of this and asked to try again.
The picture recognition technology used in the campaign does not use a barcode, and does not require the user to download an application to their phone. The technology uses an algorithm to match the consumer’s picture to the promotional image logged on the database - even partial images taken in poor light or at an angle will be recognisable.
“In the UK 40% of brands have already used SMS (text) messaging which has been extremely successful” says Scott Seaborn, Head of Marketing Technologies at Magnet Harlequin, the company providing the picture recognition technology. One brand last year enjoyed 12.5 million responses from a single campaign. Mobile is the new Internet and there are far more handsets in the UK than PC’s, so we know the potential for this kind of activity is huge. Going forward, everyone will know that they can Snap an image and engage with our clients if they want to.
“This is the first time that marketers have enabled print ads to allow consumers to interact with their brands in this way. The technology, with its real time delivery and reporting structure, could inspire a new generation of media analytics, to give brands a true picture of which advertisements are working best for them, and where those ads are located geographically.”
The first two Bourne movies took $501 million (£250 million) at the box office. The Bourne Ultimatum has already taken $100m at the box office in the US and opens in the UK today.