I’m Barb Pellow, Group Director at Infotrends.  One of the big things that Infotrends is seeing today is the need to integrate print with mobile technology.  If you think about it the one thing that everybody’s got within reach 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is their cell phone.  And in fact 70 percent of us actually use it as our alarm clock when we’re on the road.  What we’re finding is that big brands are beginning to understand the need to integrate and combine print with mobile technology.  

This past holiday season Sears rolled out their catalogue.  If you look closely what you saw were quick response codes embedded in the catalogue and what you could do as the reader is point, click, and get additional information on specific products.  As I strolled down the mall I walked by the Gap.  The Gap had a big printed large format sign in the window and it said that if I texted a specific code what I had the ability to do is get immediate access to coupons so that I could take advantage of in-store sales.  And then I walked a little further down the mall and I grabbed a bottle of Diet Coke.  On the label of the bottle of Coke was a promotion that said “Twist, text and save.”  And what happened was I could text a code when I opened the bottle top, key in my proof of purchase code, and I was then eligible for additional iCoke rewards points.

All of these things are evidence that printers and marketers need to merge and integrate print and mobile technology.  If I’m on the road I’m going to have my mobile phone and I’m going to walk by a sign, I’m going to purchase a package of something, and I’m probably going to see printed literature.  It’s about making those two pieces of portable media work well together.