It's sink-or-swim in this economy, but traditional media is staying afloat

Media guru Marc Andreessen has some outrageous advice for print publications to boost their readership: commit suicide.

Playing off the tired sinking ship metaphor, he tells TechCrunch.com that newspapers and magazines need to “burn the boats” and that stronger, more powerful Web publications will rise from the ashes.

At a time when traditional media brands remain tremendously influential, we think it is ludicrous to suggest they should disappear.

Publishers of major titles such as Rolling Stone, People and Vogue have just banded together to collectively stake out their territory in the advertising world.

At Pongr, we see ourselves as a bridge between traditional media and new digital media. Both mediums can greatly benefit through cross-promotion in each other’s worlds.

Personally, I frequently learn about funny new Websites, viral videos and interesting blogs by seeing their URLs mentioned in magazines or newspapers. And as the trade ad above argues, 300 million paid print subscriptions is hardly anything to sneeze at.

Of course, digital media does allow print publications to expand their brands beyond the static page.

Pongr facilitates the union between traditional media and new media. No matter what the form of visual ad — including billboards, magazines, subway posters, TV screens and even storefronts — a quick click with a cell phone camera can deliver consumers special deals on the brands they love the most.

We recently partnered with GQ magazine to make one of its Levi’s jeans ads interactive.

At the back of the magazine, GQ readers were invited to turn to the page of the Levi’s ad, snap it with their camera phone and send it in for a special 25 percent discount code redeemable at Levis.com.

GQ marketing executive Scott Carlis says he continues to seek “more immersive experiences” for his advertising partners.

“Pongr provides a service that is enormously valuable for our clients because of the ubiquity of the mobile channel and the increasing demands for more innovative and experiential integrated marketing solutions,” he says.

This month, we’re also pleased to announce a bold partnership with W magazine. Every single ad in the latest issue will have an incentive to Pongr, as it will be tied in with a $1,000 shopping spree contest. We’re anticipating volume that has never been seen before in the magazine space!

Find out about our special image recognition technology and why consumers will welcome mobile marketing offers about brands they are already passionate about.

But back to the sink-or-swim argument about the print media, it looks like they’re answering their critics with the extremely buoyant Michael Phelps:

Traditional media may be aging, but it still is in great shape, thank you very much.

Twitter has helped facilitate many great discussions on AR, mobile image recognition and futuristic ideas that are coming to life in the present.  People like Chris Grayson of GigantiCo, Richard MacManus and Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb, Rachael King of BusinessWeek.com, Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media (see his Web Squared video with John Battelle for insight into image recognition and the future of the Mobile Web) and many others, are evangelizing augmented reality applications and core technologies.

As a provider of image recognition capabilities, Pongr is interested in helping you, your company, and your customers continue to innovate in this exciting space.  After all, the global heartbeat of the mobile Internet is connected to the billions of pictures generated by mobile consumers everywhere.  Pictures and videos are the lifeblood of how we share experiences and make connections beyond what can be said in 140 characters or less!

While we can’t predict the entire future of AR, we are certain of one thing: image recognition is a fundamental technology that will improve the way the world searches for, and interacts with people, places and things. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think will happen next.  Here are a few areas that we expect will continue to rage in 2010:

• Image recognition as a core mobile “search” tool
• Augmented reality that includes computer vision vs. GPS/LBS only AR Lite
• Retail uses of AR in the form of “shopper technology” to drive traffic and sales
• Gimmicky one-trick ponies vs. sustainable AR applications
• Mingling of relationships between media, mobile and advertising companies