Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category

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  • Sep
  • 06

Integrated Mobile Marketing — a Pongr Q&A

Posted in Advertising, Image Search, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Print Media

Integrated Mobile Marketing Media

We get a lot of inbound requests for info on Pongr, image recognition, and putting together mobile marketing campaigns that combine offline media with image-based brand engagement. Rather than answer a few emails separately, I decided to post some recent questions here. We’ll still get back to everyone, but figured this might be more helpful for the rest of the world…

So without further ado, here are some answers to your Pongr-related questions:

Q: How does your service work, technically?

A: We provide a direct-response marketing message service that comes in the form of a text message or an email (depending on how a user queried Pongr to begin with). If we get a user query as an MMS, we send back an SMS. If we get a query as an email, we respond with an email. The message response is determined by what Pongr believes the user is looking at or trying to inquire about. Think of it like photo search meets a controlled, branded experience — we get a picture from the user, we run it through our image recognition systems, we come up with a ranked list of likely matches, and then we decide what to send back to the user (over mobile, of course). The response is either something that you, our customer, has helped prepare, or it’s part of a general game that we play with users. We’ll be announcing more on this soon… At any rate, it’s all automated and works 24/7 around the world.

Q: Is it [Pongr] available to be used by brands in the Bahamas, Bahrain, and Brazil?

A: YES! Pongr is available anywhere we’re allowed to operate. We are wireless carrier agnostic, we have no handset application requirements, and we don’t care what country your brand promotion is running in. To us, all that matters is whether your consumers have a camera phone, an ability to send picture-texts (meaning send pics as emails or MMS), and that you’ve got the ability to hop on the Internet from time to time and manage your mobile marketing campaign. It’s like Google AdWords only for mobile marketing campaigns that are specifically tied to the images of your offline media (like print, TV commercials, out-of-home, point-of-sale, and product packaging).

Q: What are the requirements for integrating with other servers/systems?



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  • Sep
  • 02

QR Codes and TV – What’s the Deal?

Posted in Advertising, Image Search, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Technology, Social Media

Today I came across an article which discussed how 2-D QR Codes are beginning to “creep” their way onto television screens. Want to know what we here at Pongr think about QR codes, not only on television, but in general? In the words of the immortal Pauly D of Jersey Shore, “It’s too cold to creep!” Still don’t know what a QR code is?? Read this. I know, these things are tough – it’s not your fault.

Pretty sure this building used to look a lot nicer without a big barcode on it... a sexy model or product logo would be much prettier.

After reading about this a little more, I decided to take it upon myself to make a list of the problems I see associated with the use of QR codes in television programming. I mean, it’s not like you were going to do it….

1.  The technology is limited only to people who own smartphones. You can only read the QR code if you download an application. According to a survey I read, only 16% of people living in the US own a smartphone as of May 2010.  Not enough.

2.  You have to have DVR to take a snapshot of a QR code in the appropriate amount of time. Listen – we can’t all be (insert name of famous photographer cause I don’t know any besides Walter Iooss, and I still can’t even pronounce his last name after 30 years), can we?? If you don’t have DVR, and you want to be on the cusp of innovation like The Weather Channel, you could use a clock showing a countdown until the QR code is displayed. Seriously, a countdown!! I’m pretty sure shot clocks were created for basketball games, not television advertising.

3.  If they want to use the QR code, it has to be in the corner of the program for a certain period of time, if not the entire time. Why would anyone want to look at that? I don’t know about you, but I find it incredibly annoying when I’m trying to watch a TV show and there’s an ad filling up a portion of the lower screen. At one point last year, I remember trying to watch a bunch of terrorists scheming in their own language about how to kill Jack Bauer (laughable - dude is invincible), and I missed the subtitles because Fox chose to promote a new episode of House (we get it, House – you’re a rule breaker!!). That’s simply unacceptable.

On the other hand, Pongr has been working on technology to enable entire TV commercials to be image searchable from any cell phone. You don’t need that Droid X (am I wrong, or is this thing larger than a “Hungry Man” TV dinner box?) to get a deal. Just take a picture of the commercial at any time, picture-text it to Pongr, and get instant deals! We are all about linking offline media with digital, and now the ability to index and search TV commercials means advertisers can build creative campaigns around getting users to engage with their TV spots.

Not only does Pongr technology work with commercials, but we are also in the process of experimenting with being able to index products within actual television shows!! This is perfect for you 30 Rock fans, who want to get a deal on whatever type of cheese doodle Liz Lemon is currently indulging in. Unfortunately, I’m not sure we’ll ever get to a point where every commercial can be indexed, as local commercials could potentially pose a problem (such as this), but I’d advise all of you to try to not stomp all over my hopes and dreams…that’s just mean.

For more info on how Pongr can help your cable TV network, interactive television commercial planning, or movie (yes, we can index your  movies too) integrate existing video assets into marketing programs with a mobile opt-in component, drop us a line.



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  • Aug
  • 19

Pongr and Michael J. Fox: What’s the Connection??

Posted in Advertising, Image Search, Mobile Marketing, Print Media

"Run for it Marty...the Libyans!"

So last weekend I found myself lying horizontal on the couch watching the Back to the Future anthology (just like Rocky 5 and Caddyshack 2, I refuse to acknowledge Back to the Future 3.  I mean, a flying locomotive?  You’re better than that, Robert Zemeckis!).  Just as anyone else that watches the Back to the Future II, I couldn’t help but notice how close the writers got to nailing some of the technology we have at our fingertips nowadays, even though the movie is technically “set” in 2015.

For example number 1, I submit to you the pivotal scene in which our favorite (future) father Marty McFly gets canned by his boss via a live conversation with him on his home television. Hmmm….remind anyone of Skype, perhaps??  How about iChat?  At this point, you can even do this on your iPhone!  Robert Zemeckis, you’re a genius and a trailblazer!

Don’t worry auto fans, I won’t forget about the Delorean.  Not only was this thing a major chick magnet (you think Marty could pull in Elizabeth Shue without this thing?!), but it ran on trash….oh, and it FLEW.  What does this remind you of?  How about the fact that the writers nailed 2 different futuristic predictions:  the ability of cars to be able to run on food waste such as vegetable fuel (I think Doc Brown even threw a can of PBR into the gas tank for “fuel” – sadly, this technology is going to have to wait).  And I can’t even describe the excitement which goes through my head when I think about driving my Terrafugia Flying Car through the drive-thru window at Wendy’s, then taking off with chocolate Frosty in hand to visit a friend up in Maine.



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  • Aug
  • 13

Hearst’s Marie Claire and Pongr partner on mobile image recognition for fall fashion.

Posted in Advertising, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Print Media, Shopper Technology

Marie Claire Pongr IssueMARIE 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.



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  • Aug
  • 09

Location-based mobile & social marketing – hype vs. reality.

Posted in Advertising, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing

How to get location-based mobile social marketing right.For many retailers and consumer brands, driving foot-traffic into stores via location-based mobile marketing services is all the rage.  A handful of interesting concepts are being experimented with in the LBS mobile marketing space, but other than personal navigation (like Google Maps, TomTom, Garmin, etc.) there’s more hype than actual results when it comes to this use of location-based services (at the moment) for selling product.

In fact, a recent Forrester Research report recommended, largely to the chagrin of die-hard, location-based social networking enthusiasts, that marketers should consider using alternative means of mobile engagement if they want to reach enough consumers to make mobile marketing worthwhile.  Specifically, some of the problems with the current state of affairs in LBS-centric mobile social networking include:

Application fragmentation – There are many LBS mobile social networking apps and a fair amount of confusion among non-techie consumers.

Lack of market penetration – Even the hottest LBS mobile social networks and mobile gaming companies lack the “reach” and volume to move the needle for retailers.

Frustration around cheating and limiting game dynamics – Many mobile social apps fail to scale because of the cheating loop-holes that often undermine a goal of a retailer or brand to sell more product.

The objective in some mobile location-based games is based on a social currency that can easily subvert the currency of retailers and brands – too much repetitive, inane behavior that doesn’t reinforce brand messaging or create genuine product desire = wasteful at best, harmful at worst.



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