Dubai: Augmented reality is making it to local print media.
Readers of Aquarius Magazine can access more of the entertainment and information by ‘scanning’ through the magazine with their smartphones. They will need to download a free Ogle app prior to that, then open it and focus their smart phones over pages which have the Ogle symbol on it.
The June issue had a few editorials that could be ‘ogled’ to test the response. Readers are also treated to behind-the-scenes footage of the front cover photo shoot.
“Not only does it bring our content to life for our audience, it enables us to be more creative with how we portray our content,” said Louisa Wilkins, editor. “Additionally, we can use it to bring together our print, our web presence, our YouTube videos and our social media, thereby harnessing the full power of all our platforms into one unified, interactive experience.”
Aquarius thus becomes the first lifestyle publication to take up the technology of Ogle in the Middle East.
Going by experiences elsewhere, publications in the UK have had increased interaction in their first week of using the technology.
Augmented reality campaigns are already seeing significant levels of success and engagement. Users are no longer simply driven to associated websites. By adding another layer of entertainment and information, the user experience is far more engaging.
“We’ve all been impressed by the usability of the app and excited about the potential it offers to our products — not just for ourselves editorially, but also for brands advertising within our magazines. With augmented reality, the opportunities are endless,” Wilkins said.
“It’s really just a matter of how creative you want to be with it. It will be interesting to see over the coming months how we can utilise Ogle as a resource to get more out of our content, and how readers respond to it.”
