Barcode to the future
February 18th, 2010 | by Oliver Sherwell Published in Opinion
You may have noticed recently a rather strange sight on the street, people being walked by their mobile phone. Don’t worry these people have not misplaced their sanity, they are using a new format of technology to find their way home. This new technology is slowly making its way into our lives by using its versatile nature to mix video and interactive media into the static pages at your daily newsstand. This understated and until now under-utilised technology, is simply known as ‘AR’ Augmented Reality. AR may seem the new kid on the blog, but it has actually been around for the last 10 years just sitting quietly in the corner waiting for technology to catch up.
Currently the most popular form of AR uses a fiduciary marker, which when viewed with the help of your trusty mobile phone or webcam, can transform a black and white barcode or even the product itself into an interactive canvas capable of portraying floating 3d models. At the moment this little industry trick has been simple eye candy, but as open source technology makes its way into the commercial arena, flash developers are finding ways of taking this once only know too few, and bringing it to the masses in the form of a highly interactive tool.
So where has AR been hiding and where can we expect to see it? For the moment our little friend AR can be found in abundance between the black and white pages of your local paper. Print media of all forms are all currently exploiting our old friend the barcode, bringing to life sensations not previously know to the otherwise numb (don’t get me wrong I love my newspaper) page. Could this finally bring back the incentive advertisers need to put money back into print?
AR not only provides the means to give people a taste for something different, but could help make your life simpler. So what do we have? We have a technology that is not new to the industry, but new to way we interact with media. It’s versatile and available to developers at a minimal cost, so the potential for further growth is positive to say the least, did someone say disruptive technology?
Below are some examples of ways that the AR is working its way into the commercial arena.
Sam Jordan: Loves marketing, business (runs this one) and learning about people. Likes stuff and doing things. Knows he’s lucky to have found a vocation that constantly brings new challenges.
Mark Blanchard: A man who's been using his abiding passion for words to sell a wide variety of products and services for many years.
Diana Hopfner: Multilingual, Account Exec, Diana balances her sweet tooth with an extreme early rise attitude and exercise addiction.
Emma Blanchard: Loves fashion and ballet. So far so girly. Also loves football and boxing. Go figure!
Sarah_Jean Duggan: A smart, enthusiastic young copywriter. An Essex Girl who makes Essex Girl jokes redundant.
Jo Smith: Less Margaret Thatcher, more Joan of Arc. Jo is an experienced and entrepreneurial marketer having held the roles of Business Development Director and Sales and Marketing Director at agencies such as Bates, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and Grey prior to finding a decent job at Baber Smith!
Oliver Sherwell: A account handler by day and devourer of all that is digital and creatively inspiring by night.
John McIntosh : New to Baber Smith fresh from Edinburgh code named John McWiki. A man with an encyclopaedic brain - they say advertising isn’t rocket science but he could actually be a rocket scientist.
Baber Smith Interns: They come with boundless enthusiasm, unquenchable passion and a pure willingness to learn .Our interns may only be at Baber Smith for a short while but we’re happy to let them share our part of the blogosphere.