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.

"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.

Are you still sitting there, slice of watermelon in your hand (hey – it’s summer), thinking “Yeah, I love Back to the Future II too, but how the hell does this relate to Pongr?”  Don’t worry; it happens to the best of us….well, I think it really reflects the amazing technology that Pongr has created and embraced, especially through its latest interactive advertising campaign with Marie Claire magazine.  Back to the Future may have nailed some things on the head when it came to the future, but not even the crack writers of such an epic film as this could think up the technology utilized by Pongr.

I realize there are other types of image recognition programs used in other magazines/advertisements, but honestly, who the hell knows what a QR code is unless you speak “the language”?  If you have to use an acronym to explain something, it’s too tough to understand*.  Besides, why would I want to have to snap a picture of some bar code when I could take a picture of the actual item to get the same results?  As the immortal philosopher Thomas Hobbes once said in his classic, Leviathon, “It should always be that simple.” Uhhh….or something like that.  Clearly, I wasn’t a philosophy major.  But I think you get the gist of what I’m saying.  Actually, just go back to thinking about that Wendy’s Frosty…

Now, there are still a few other things from Back to the Future II I’m waiting for some nerd innovator to invent – namely, the hoverboard (I think we’re all in the same boat on this one).  In the meantime, I highly recommend you spend a few minutes taking a look at the latest issue of Marie Claire and playing around with what Pongr has to offer.  It’s perfect for killing time at the airport, assuming you haven’t bought a flying car or a Delorean yet.  If you’re a dude, you’re bound to get some odd looks for thumbing through a woman’s magazine, but just “DWBTWD” (Do what Biff Tannen would do), and you’ll be fine.

Just looking for an excuse to insert a random picture of Biff Tannen

*Note I did not take into account words such as “TV” and” CD,” though I still have no idea what “DVD” in fact stands for.

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.

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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.

The cheating/gaming may not be that big of a deal (actually it could be beneficial to certain types of advertisers and fun for players), but fragmentation and consumer-frustration are major issues for regional, national and global brands.  Furthermore, there are not enough people who actually can “play” or want to “play” location-based games that compromise personal safety. It’s not a secret that we’re living in an age where privacy is pretty much dead.  However, the fact is, not everyone wants to gloat about every single place they go, store they visit, or product they buy – at least not in a manner that is entirely public with strangers and social media stalkers. In my opinion, any mobile marketing service that requires broadcasting pin-point accuracy of your personal whereabouts is way too intrusive for most mainstream consumers.

Wealthy consumers don’t want to broadcast their every move.  Struggling consumers can’t afford the high-end smartphones required to do this anyway (but they’re absolutely buying data services on their prepaid or contract-based cellular plans).  Average consumers don’t get anything out of broadcasting their location.  All the other factors aside, there’s just not enough value for most people outside the social media and advertising industries to participate.

What can be useful about location-aware mobile social networking? Regional-based marketing and general location-based context without scary levels of detail – i.e., the latitude and longitude of my feet . . .

Unless a consumer is specifically searching for a point-of-interest (like a retail store, a restaurant, or maybe a doctor to cure their social media addictions), pin-point accurate LBS is probably overkill for most people interested in mobile, location-based marketing services because brands are more likely to do regional-based promotions than single-store promotions –  and even if there is a single-store promotion available, a retailer is going to want to broadcast that message well beyond a 10-foot radius of the store building.  Otherwise a retailer is relying on happenstance that a consumer might be walking outside her store, at which point an LBS-based message should be magically zinged to the phone?  This doesn’t make enough sense in enough scenarios to actually scale.

The ironic thing about the advertising partners of today’s GPS-style location-based mobile social games is that the same promotional coupons show up in every query.  Thus, what’s the point of saying location-specific LBS advertising is your core if you end up just blanketing an entire user community with the same coupon, regardless of where they’re located or what sort of purchase intent they express?  Classic doublespeak or perhaps just an underlying point of weakness in applied LBS mobile marketing.

While there may be a lot of “heat” being created around GPS-style location-based mobile social games, I believe these types of apps are still in the realm of the vocal minority while simultaneously getting a little long in the tooth.  Yeah, seriously.

The silent majority of consumers, on the other hand, are clearly interested in social gaming (just look at Zynga’s success for starters), mobile web browsing and picture-messaging.  Not to sound completely against LBS mobile social networking services, in fact, I’m all for leveraging location-awareness when it makes sense, is practical and delivers results.  For example, when traditional marketing campaigns experiment with regional signage, and want to measure consumer engagement, a location-aware direct-response mobile marketing program is a great way to do regional sampling and segmentation.

The most effective types of location-based mobile social marketing will be the programs that deliver some level of geographic segmentation to the advertiser, a level of genuine value to the consumer, and a non-intrusive (meaning, opt-in without unsolicited location-blasting) way of having fun without compromising personal safety.

Mobile Marketer’s Giselle Tsirulnik shows an example of how luxury brands are connecting traditional media to digital video through mobile engagement.  Pongr has activated hundreds of out-of-home, point-of-sale and product packaging advertisements for agencies, brands and publishers looking to make natural consumer engagement an easier, faster process.

Never too young for brand exposure.

This is my friend’s baby girl, who was recently adopted from China. Within 24 hours of leaving the orphanage, she was cruising along the Aisles of Capitalism. Did she recognize the Wal-Mart logo, their smiley face stickers or those infamous “Falling Prices” warning signs?

Probably not. But my friend did. He took photos for her baby book.

Here is a prime example of a marketing fantasy: People feeling so much of an emotional connection to a brand that they photograph it to share with friends and family.

A few more examples of brands that made another friend’s vacation album:

Starbucks in China

A Wal-Mart store banner in China -- is it a stretch to call the global brand a "neighborhood market?"

Diet Coke in China

Pennzoil in China: Who knew that motor oil and karaoke were a good mix?

My friends are hardly alone in enthusiastically snapping pictures of corporate logos for amusement. It seems that almost every major brand has its own fan club on Flickr and other popular photo-sharing sites.

The phone-booth-sized Mickey D’s above comes from the Flickr McDonalds group. There are also groups called “McDonald’s Vive La Difference!” “McDonald’s Anywhere,” and the more inclusive “Fast Food Around the World.”

Let’s pause to reflect on the mind-boggling significance of this. McDonalds shells out countless millions of dollars in advertising each year. The Golden Arches pays handsomely to be on the highway exit signs as you pull off the ramp. Knowing how much money that McDonalds spends, why would people possibly spread the word for free?

The reason is that these Flickrites no longer consider it advertising. They think of their favorite companies as an extension of themselves, part of their personal identities. Marketers can only dream of that kind of voluntary buy-in — and when they get it, wouldn’t it make sense to sustain the goodwill as long as possible?

When advertisers use Pongr, customers are encouraged to send their phone camera pictures (through email, MMS or smart phone apps) in return for some instant gratification. It could be a discount code or coupon, a free product sample or an invitation to a special event. Click here for more details about how easy it is to use Pongr when you see an advertisement you like.

People just love free stuff and it doesn’t take much of an incentive to get them to share the word with their Facebook and Twitter friends. Sun Chips recently created a minor frenzy on Facebook just by offering a few complimentary bags of snacks!

An attraction like the McDonalds Museum could easily test the effectiveness of their billboards by offering a discount on admission to mobile phone users who Pongr. Or perhaps they could give away free piping-hot apple pies to the first 500 Pongr replies.

Museums and tourist attractions are the ideal venues to offer Pongr rewards and customer incentives.

Pongr certainly isn’t letting advertising history pass us by. We’re on the cutting edge of technology and would love to brainstorm with you about how to leverage all your clients’ most brand-loyal fans.

Transmedia guru Jeff Gomez has leveraged Mattel's "Hot Wheels" brand on multiple platforms

When I was a kid, my Hot Wheels cars raced across the kitchen floor on these floppy plastic tracks. Perhaps the most daring stunts I attempted with them was to prop up one of the tracks on blocks and have the cars jump over canned fruit.

Today, playtime is more complicated and has much higher stakes. These cars are now engaged in defending Planet Earth against hostile aliens. Here’s the premise behind the Cartoon Network’s hit show, “Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.”

“Evil forces are trying to invade Earth, and it’s up to a team of teenage driving aces to stop them. The Gateways to Earth are interdimensional battlezones, each offering a dangerous and unique challenge. The team must win the battle to control the roads between worlds.”

Media guru Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, is the brainchild behind the intergalactic cartoon franchise — which extends across comic books, video games and compelling Web content, creating multiple ongoing revenue streams.  By doing so, he has infused new energy into a classic brand, making it far more relevant and appealing to today’s demanding generation of media consumers.

Here’s how Gomez explained the transmedia advertising approach in a Q & A with Forbes Magazine:

“In today’s interconnected world, young adults, teens and even kids have become so comfortable with media technology that they flow from one platform to the next. The problem is that their content is not flowing with them. As a discipline, transmedia provides us with a foundation for the development, production and rollout of entertainment properties or consumer brands across multiple media platforms. Transmedia creates the flow. Instead of repeating the plots over and over again for each medium, creators can continue and expanded their storylines, generating dazzling mythologies and complex narratives.”

Consider Mattel a die-hard disciple of this philosophy. The company is now reportedly developing a new series of toy characters based on an undersea alien world, with a Hollywood movie script built in to the product line.

No matter what you are selling, the transmedia approach makes sense. TV, Web banners and print ads are all a waste of time if they don’t engage the viewer with a compelling storyline or motivation to participate.  The approach works with ANY product.  When was the last time you saw your friends get excited over their napkins or paper towels?

Well, relying on a little creativity and humor, Bounty got more than a half million people to click on their new commercial in just over a month. Remember, people are supposed to want to fast forward through commercials, not forward links to their friends.  The TV ad features laboratory scientists testing the strength and resiliency of Bounty by holding up billiard balls.  Take a look!

Pongr’s recent campaign with luxury brand advertisers is another great example of transmedia in action. The campaign lured fashion hounds with a $1,000 shopping spree contest, instant discount coupons delivered directly to their cell phones and the desire to wear the same designs as Jennifer Aniston.

The interactive Pongr model of using cell phone cameras and text-emailing picture messages to instantly respond to visual stimuli (print magazines, street kiosks and billboards) is the future.  Digital media is not replacing traditional media.  Engaging consumers across multiple media platforms only requires a compelling narrative. The mobile handsets, wireless infrastructure and social networks already exist.

Once you know your story, your reason why consumers will WANT to interact with you, please contact us to brainstorm how to execute your vision.  Maybe we can’t help you save the world like Battle Force 5, but we have lots to share about selling more products!

Nothing is more beautiful to us than an engaging advertising campaign.

The month is still young and fashion hounds still have more than two weeks to win a $1,000 shopping spree courtesy of W Magazine.

Under the sultry gazes of Hollywood powercouple Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, the magazine made media history with its April 2010 Shopping Issue — which features 100 percent Pongr’able advertising. Readers are encouraged to photograph their favorite ad with their cell phone and then Pongr it (by email, MMS or smart phone apps) to enter the contest.

Within 60 seconds, the Pongerer will receive a confirmation of entry from W Magazine and a tantalizing mobile-only offer directly from the advertiser.

What’s even more exciting about this advertising campaign is the integration of print, billboard and mobile marketing on the streets of Manhattan. Hey, there’s no other place on earth with more roving eyeballs, right?

New York City is also a place where many pedestrians are grateful for visually pleasing eye-level billboards — they give them something to read while they are waiting for a bus or a cab. Or waiting for the Walk signal to start flashing. I might add that it also gives New Yorkers a convenient venue to avoid making eye contact with each other (sorry, my country boy bias is shining through).

Making street kiosks Pongr-friendly enables advertisers to accurately measure consumer response and motivation.

The same print ads in W Magazine’s April issue were enlarged as kiosk billboards at phone booths, newsstands and bus stops, with brief instructions beneath the poster as to how to be eligible for the W shopping bonanza!

Instructions for how to Pongr.

The beauty of Out of Home (OOH) advertising for a media outlet like W is that it is bound to attract attention from consumers who likely do not subscribe or would not likely pick up a copy at the newsstand.  At any given moment, every major New York City street has hundreds of guys looking to buy their wives an anniversary or birthday present.  And here’s a pair of Chopard diamond earrings suggestively dangling in front of their faces.

W Magazine is a magnet to luxury brands.

OOH advertising is all about instant gratification. Men who have no interest in designer handbags can’t ignore the attractive Versace model relaxing upsidedown.  With New York being New York, women who see this ad instinctively know that real Versace bags are likely only a few blocks away.

Billboards expand the playing field for the advertiser — and getting information on specifically who is staring at the ad is absolutely invaluable.  That’s where Pongr comes in.  By encouraging the consumer with special deals, coupons or exclusive information, the advertiser can immediately determine which incentives are most likely to result in sales.  And these opt-in loyal customers are likely going to stick with the brand — especially with the personalized attention that Pongr-izing makes possible.

April's Shopping Issue of W Magazine features an interactive mobile marketing campaign with Pongr technology.

We’re particularly proud of our advertising partnerships because our image recognition technology does not require any special barcodes to be included in the ad (we believe those ugly codes cheapen the overall artistic presentation).  And snapping a picture with a cell phone is a much more natural act — much more fun — than swiping a code, which feels robotic.

With our free Pongr apps for email, the iPhone and BlackBerry, interacting with your favorite brands has never been easier.

People are in love with their mobile phone cameras.  According to the New York Times, approximately 110 million Americans now actively use them.  Sure, we know it’s not realistic to turn them all into Pongerers for your next ad campaign.  But the potential is seemingly limitless.

W Magazine's first-ever Shopping Issue features 100 percent Pongr-friendly advertising, inviting readers to enter to win a $1,000 shopping spree!

W Magazine’s latest issue is getting a lot of buzz for its steamy pictorials of actress Jennifer Aniston and beau Gerard Butler living it up in the California desert. It’s not uncommon for these kind of fashion shoots to give readers the 4-1-1 on every piece of apparel and accessory that touches the model’s skin.

If admirers of Jennifer Aniston want to emulate her style, here’s how W typically does all the legwork:

On the Web, fashion hounds can click on the brands for more information. But how do you immediately capture the shopper’s impulse if she is reading the print edition?

Why, with her cell phone, of course. Pongr is delighted to announce its historic advertising achievement this month with W Magazine’s first ever Shopping Issue. The magazine, which features mobile phone-friendly advertising from cover to cover, showcases “the season’s most desirable dresses, denim, lingerie, swimsuits, bags, shoes, watches, jewelry, sunglasses, skincare, makeup, and perfumes — and the best places to find them.”

Our image recognition technology will identify advertising photographed from a magazine, bus kiosk, billboard or even the TV!

All a reader has to do is snap a cell phone picture of an advertisement she likes, such as the above page for Dolce & Gabbana, and then Pongr the photo (by email, MMS or smart phone apps) for a chance to win the $1,000 W shopping spree.  Within two minutes, readers will receive confirmation of their entry and a direct communication from the advertising brand, either a link to buy product, special W-only deals or exclusive behind-the-scenes video of a fashion shoot.

The Shopping Issue will also be promoted with Pongr-friendly kiosk advertising throughout New York City, drawing in fashion enthusiasts who might not read W Magazine. The kiosk ads include simple instructions at the bottom inviting pedestrians to photograph and Pongr:

W's "Pongr-ized" Versace kiosk

Pongr provides an engaging way for advertisers to instantly and accurately measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Yes, there have been magazine ads with barcodes that work with cell phones, but for the consumer, that has all the charm of going through the self-serve supermarket checkout. For the advertisers and ad agencies, Pongr’s image recognition technology allows them to present artistic ads to the public without an ugly barcode or pattern ruining the image.

This is the first time a major publisher and dozens of world-class luxury advertisers have embraced the most natural way to engage high-end readers with mobile phones without messing up their ads. The beauty of visual advertising relies on the power of suggestion and emotion. Nothing ruins the mood like a barcode or cheap sms campaign information.

And because we appreciate beauty, we’re proud to be partnering with Conde Nast Publications and W Magazine.  We’re influencing the lives of many shoppers, even if they don’t know it’s us.  What works for fashion would be equally effective for a sports, lifestyle, financial or consumer magazine.  Let us know if you would like to explore how to Pongr-ize!

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.