Universal tests mobile technology in posters

Film company Universal is testing new mobile technology in a promotion to support the launch of its new Mr Bean film, “Mr Bean’s Holiday”.

The mobile technology, called Snap Happy, uses image recognition and has been created and developed by marcoms agency Magnet Harlequin.

Universal is the first advertiser to adopt the tool and is test-marketing the technology through a nationwide poster campaign to promote the Bean film. When consumers see a Mr Bean poster with the Snap Happy logo they are invited to take a picture of the poster using their mobile and text it to Mr Bean’s mobile number. Snap Happy can then identify the type of phone they have and offer them the appropriate free ring tones, wallpaper or video, all exclusively recorded by Mr Bean.

The picture recognition technology marks a break-through for mobile marketing, and eliminates the need for the use of barcodes or application downloads. The technology behind Snap Happy matches the consumer’s picture to the promotional image logged on its database. Magnet Harlequin says it is experimenting with coupling the technology with GPS systems.