Augmented reality may help bring some new life to the print industry. Harper Collins Canada, a branch of the multinational Harper Collins publishing house, will be using the technology to promote novelist Kenneth Oppels new work – This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein. Augmented reality has been used in the print industry in the past with some success and the publisher hopes to engage tech-savvy consumers with their use of the technology. Harper Collins Canada has partnered with Dentsu, an advertising firm based in Toronto, to bring the campaign to life.
Denstu has developed a mobile application for the campaign which can find invisible augmented reality markers on marketing materials. The campaign was launched earlier this week at the Toronto Eaton Center, where Harper Collins placed a large poster resembling an old bookshelf filled with worn tomes. The app, which is currently only available to Android smart phones, allows users to interact with the augmented reality experience hidden within the poster.
The campaign is designed to appeal to a young audience, whom the book is written for. To this end, the augmented reality experience is designed to be similar to a game where readers will have to solve puzzles and search for clues to unlock the content locked away in the poster.
Augmented reality in print has be somewhat successful in the past and if their latest foray into the land of interactive technology is fruitful, Harper Collins may elect to use augmented reality more in the future.
