Paraphrasing a line from a late 1960s 5^th Dimension song, “This is the Dawning of the Age of Experience.” Consumers are changing the way that they interact with brands and how they ultimately buy. This transformation is being driven by technology, data availability, and social behaviors. Service providers that have worked to add cross-media communications to their mix now need to assess how they can help marketers deliver an engaging brand experience.

Today’s consumers are hyper-connected. A Harris Interactive survey of U.S. adult smartphone owners conducted in June 2012 found that 63% of female respondents and 73% of male respondents don’t go an hour without checking their phones. Furthermore, a September 2012 study conducted by the Pew Research Centre found that cell phone users between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 text messages on a typical day, which is over 3,200 texts per month.

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of mobile technologies that make print interactive. In a June 2013 InfoTrends Study entitled Consumer Media Trends, more than 1,100 consumers were surveyed to understand their adoption of new media technology. Familiarity with mobile barcodes was at 88%, up 3% in relation to 2011. The level of interaction with mobile codes was a key change. The use of mobile codes to access product information/coupons, test codes, enter sweepstakes, or download music increased by 19% during the same timeframe.