Select LanguageAlbanianArabicArmenianBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLithuanianNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianVietnameseWelsh
MARIE CLAIRE AND PONGR TO UNVEIL MOBILE PHONE IMAGE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY ON THE PAGES OF THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE

NEW YORK, August 13, 2010 – Marie Claire has partnered with Pongr, an advertising technology products and services company, to launch the largest image recognition, mobile marketing campaign ever. More than 200 luxury brands, found in the September issue, will be accessible through an app-less, tag-less solution that let’s consumers select the specific product they want more information on.

“Marie Claire’s ‘Snap to Buy’ program brings not just individual pages to life, but individual products on those pages and makes them shop-able,” said Nancy Berger Cardone, vice president/publisher of Marie Claire magazine.  “It’s a great way for brands to further connect with Marie Claire readers when they’re in a shopping mindset. This is a quick and easy way to shop, obtain special offers, insider access and bonus content from our editorial team.”

Consumers are using their mobile cameras to share picture of products they like with their social networks to the tune of billions of images per month.  “The Marie Claire reader is socially connected and heavily networked. By enabling her to share her brand and product choices, she becomes a powerful evangelist for our advertising partners,” said Cardone.

“Pongr and Marie Claire have taken image recognition to the next level by breaking pages down into micro-searchable components without using messy QR codes. For luxury advertisers like Michael Kors, Giorgio Armani, David Yurman and many others, using the product as the visual cue is critical to the brand – especially high-end brands like those that advertise with Marie Claire.” said Pongr co-founder and CEO Jamie Thompson. “Marie Claire has shown a remarkable level of insight into how readers already ‘shop’ their magazine. This is a great example of the future of integrated media with mobile. Hearst and Marie Claire are clearly leading the way in this space.”

Marie Claire (www.marieclaire.com) is the fashion magazine with character, substance, and depth, for women with a point of view, an opinion, and a sense of humor. Each issue is edited for a sexy, stylish, confident woman who is never afraid to make intelligence a part of her wardrobe.  A culturally relevant experience, Marie Claire is published in 35 countries and is read by more than 15 million worldwide. The magazine was founded in 1937 by French industrialist Jean Prouvost, whose goal was to present the realities of life mixed with fashion and beauty coverage. The American edition is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with nearly 200 editions around the world, including 15 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst Magazines is the leading publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. in terms of total circulation (ABC, Dec. 2009) and reaches 73 million adults (MRI, Fall 2009).

Pongr is an advertising technology products and services company that focuses on mobile consumer engagement via pictures, social interaction, and brand media. For more information please visit http://pongr.com.

# # #

Tags: Advertising, Brand Media, David Yurman, Giorgio Armani, Hearst, Image Recognition, Interactive Marketing, Marie Claire, Michael Kors, Mobile, Mobile Marketing, Pongr, Print Media, Publisher, QR Code, Shopper Technology, Shopping, Social