New '2D barcodes' puts info at the tip of your camera phone

— -- ScanLife and Jagtag want you to get in the habit of using your cellphone camera as a magic wand to extract digital content from inanimate objects.

The tech start-ups are in a race to get consumers to scan "2D barcodes" — matrix-like patterns that can hold much more data than the ubiquitous striped barcodes.

ScanLife and Jagtag supply technology that let you use your camera phone to do the scanning. They can deliver anything you might see or hear on a Web page to your handset, paid for by publishers or advertisers. The companies are taking different approaches to rolling out this technology in North America. Though it's early, each has gotten large clients to run promising trials.

Jagtag recently hooked up with Nike for an ad campaign built around barcodes on posters at a roving, extreme-sports competition. At every tour stop, fans could scan codes on posters and get Nike-sponsored athletes' videos, pictures and fan data.

Sears has placed ScanLife codes on store displays for power tools and TV sets that serve up Web links to online product reviews. And Canada's National Post, a 200,000-circulation, daily newspaper, has begun placing ScanLife codes on some print stories to enable readers to use their handsets to follow developing news coverage from the Post's website.

This year, 89% of new mobile phones shipped to the U.S. will have cameras, according to InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. Jagtag CEO Dudley Fitzpatrick envisions a world where 2D barcodes turn up on every imaginable surface. "It's a crazy idea that every object in the world can deliver on-demand digital video to any camera phone," says Fitzpatrick.

Snap and go

So, 2D barcodes give publishers and advertisers a way to leapfrog Google's popular search ads, which let advertisers post links alongside search terms related to their products. By contrast, barcodes push digital content to handsets at the moment a person is most interested in a certain topic. And there's no futzing with meandering Web searches, says Jonathan Bulkeley, CEO of Scanbuy, parent of ScanLife.

"Advertising dollars are being sucked out of print advertising because results are not really measurable," says Bulkeley. "This is the biggest thing to happen to print in ages."

Researchers at PricewaterhouseCoopers are testing ways to deploy the technology. One involves running codes for a recipe in newspaper, magazine and TV ads. Scan the barcode, and you get the recipe, a list of ingredients, maps to stores and coupons. "There's great engagement," says Mark Lobel, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "You can go right from the traditional pages of a newspaper or magazine to their websites and even do transactions."

The new barcodes have drawn the attention of Microsoft, which quietly launched Microsoft Tag in January. It has begun trials, including placing codes on hamburger boxes at some Hardee's restaurants. Scanning the code takes you to a Web page displaying a coupon for free french fries. Product manager Aaron Getz says Microsoft is planning wider field tests: "There's an enormous amount of activity. A lot of stuff has not yet seen the light of day."

The catch: There's no guarantee U.S. consumers will go scan crazy with their camera phones. The 2D barcodes are a big hit in Japan, where they are called QR (quick-response) codes. But the handset-happy Japanese have long used their cellphones for everything from buying items from vending machines to navigating Tokyo's busy streets.

Finding the right formula

ScanLife and Jagtag each believe they have the winning formula for enticing U.S. consumers to follow suit and are hustling to line up partnerships with handset makers and telecoms.

ScanLife requires a Web-enabled phone and works on 400 different combinations of handsets and phone plans. From your phone, you download a free app from www.getscanlife.com, then use it to scan ScanLife barcodes. The application opens your mobile browser and connects you to a designated Web link. Microsoft Tag also requires you to download a free app, from http://gettag.mobi

ScanLife allows consumers to create personal barcodes tied to Web links of their choosing. Bulkeley's 16-year-old daughter, India, for instance, has a barcode linked to her Facebook page that she has taped to her dorm room door and silk-screened on her T-shirt. "Individuals creating codes and getting their friends to scan them is the viral aspect," says Bulkeley. "That's how I think this will take off."

Jagtag doesn't require a Web-enabled phone. Anyone using a Verizon or AT&T camera phone with text messaging can access the content. You take a photo of a tag, then send it to 524824. If you have an iPhone, you e-mail the photo to iphone@jagtag.net. In the reply, you'll get a picture message that may contain an image, video or audio.

"Today 2D barcodes are a micromedium," says Fitzpatrick. "But advertisers really want this, and when a lot of brands can reach a lot of people, it will become a mass medium."

The Toronto-based Post began attaching ScanLife barcodes to print stories, including the unfolding scandal involving former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney. Readers got updates from the Post's online coverage during the course of the day.

"We're starting pretty slowly, trying to create a tie-in between our print product and our mobile site," says Jonathan Harris, vice president of digital media. "I think it will become much bigger and more important. There is a heck of a lot we can do to give advertisers the opportunity to interact with their messages on more than one medium."