The app takes users to online and interactive content when they scan any linked piece of print. It has been in continued development for the past two years and is starting to see an increased uptake of usage by a range of companies and industries, according to the developers.
Hull-based companies Springfield Solutions, a labels and packaging printer, Eon Visual Media, a media production company, and SmartPicture, a third sister company formed by the management of those two firms, are behind the technology.
Springfield Solutions provides the printed material and embedded images while Eon Visual Media, which originally created the app, produces the related online content. SmartPicture has been launched as a third company to front the app.
“The reaction has been very positive so far and we’ve won some innovation awards from the Hull Daily Mail and other local business awards,” said Eon Visual Media head of web and app James Cherry.
The technology can be used on any substrate and in conjunction with all types of printed media including packaging, posters, marketing literature and POS.
“You scan a piece of print or packaging and the invisible embedded codes can take you to any content that you can find on the web including e-learning, instructional information, images, videos and competitions,” said Cherry.
“The app can pick up demographic and geographic data so it tells us where and how many times an item is being scanned, which allows us to record and trace how well things are doing.”
The technology can also point to m-commerce sites, which enable customers to complete online purchases immediately from a smartphone.
“It’s definitely growing for us; we’ve got a couple of exciting lines of enquiries that we’re following up with bigger clients,” said Cherry.
“We’re hoping to do a campaign with a large client where we share the marketing costs and work with them to spread the word. At the moment all three of our companies share the marketing and we also ask our clients to push the app, which is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play, to get as many users as possible.”
SmartPicture’s clients so far include football clubs Hull City AFC and Hull Kingston Rovers, which have used the technology to link their printed programmes to online content, and healthcare giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB).
RB has used the technology to embed SmartPicture enabled images into healthcare booklets to raise awareness of its new online training facility, which has been set up to give pharmacists advice on treating medical conditions.
