Submitted by Mike Grenville on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:48

Universal movie ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ is using mobile picture recognition technology in press ads to promote the film launch.

Universal is the first brand to use this technology in print media. Previous use of the technology was included in posters to promote Mr Bean's Holiday.

The half page digitally interactive advertisement in national press enables readers to get free mobile content such as movie trailer, wallpapers and screensavers.

Users take a picture of the ad using their mobile phone and send it via MMS to 82222. The algorithm technology then automatically identifies if they have sent the correct image, it will also identify the type of phone they have and then offer them the appropriate free content, optimised for their specific device. If they shoot an incorrect image they will be informed of this and asked to try again.

The consumer’s picture is matched to the promotional image logged on the database and even partial images taken in poor light or at an angle will be recognisable.

Scott Seaborn, head of marketing technologies at Magnet Harlequin puts the potential of this technology in context. “In the UK 40% of brands have already used SMS messaging which has been extremely successful. One brand last year enjoyed 12,500,000 responses from a single campaign. Mobile is the new internet and there are far more handsets in the UK than PC’s - so we know the potential for this kind of activity is huge. ”

Seaborn reckons that “The technology, with its real time delivery and reporting structure, could inspire a new generation of media analytics. Real world analytics systems give brands a true picture of which advertisements are working best for them, and where those ads are located geographically."