Why Scan Barcodes When You Can Scan a Playmate?
Playboy Magazine Features Mobius Mobile Image Recognition Technology in Its January 2011 Issue
Consumers are becoming accustomed to receiving brand content by scanning barcodes with their mobile phones in magazines, packaging and signage. Recent studies show that almost half of all Android users have scanned a mobile barcode. There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a mobile revolution. But just as we've grown to love the pixel patterned graphic that is the QR code, we are introduced to its lovely, more mature cousin: Pamela Anderson—Err, I mean, image recognition.
Playboy has teamed up with Mobius© to use image recognition technology for mobile devices as part of an innovative, new ad campaign for Playboy's Fragrance for Men by Coty Beauty in the magazine's January 2011 issue.
Mobile phone users who take a photo of any of the twelve 2010 Playboy Playmates featured in the ad and send it to
Mobius' mobile image recognition technology has several features which make it well suited for the Playboy Fragrance for Men by Coty ad campaign. First, Mobius mobile image recognition technology allows users to capture and retain an actual image of their favorite Playmates, as opposed to capturing a barcode or abstracted graphic, a practice that has lead to many a grumbling art director. Because of this actual-image capability, Mobius does not interfere or restrict creative services for ad design, and the end user captures a meaningful, shareable, branded image instead of an abstraction.
"We are excited to have this opportunity to partner with Playboy and Coty Beauty in introducing the next big thing in unobstructed visual mobile marketing," said Aram Kovach, CEO of Mobius. "Mobius image recognition technology lets brands retain their focus on the subject matter, in this case Playboy's 2010 Playmates, and the creative is not cluttered with a code that diverts attention from the ad content. Mobius servers also make sure that we return the best quality images that a user's particular phone can handle."
"Playboy Fragrance for Men is all about seduction, glamour, indulgence and fun and thus forms a natural partnership with Mobius. The inventive, forward thinking promotion is a great opportunity to directly target our core audience of young, trendy men and make a memorable impression on today's tech-savvy consumer. We look forward to a successful partnership and to furthering the impressive growth of Coty Beauty's iconic lifestyle power brand in the US," remarked Jurgen Scharfenstein, senior vice president of marketing for Coty Beauty Lifestyle fragrances.
The Mobius self learning mobile image recognition system determines the capabilities of the mobile device that has sent the image, and returns content that is best suited for that particular device. For example, a smartphone user will receive access to high quality, optimized video and still images, whereas a “regular” mobile phone will receive video and images at file sizes and resolutions that are consistent with its capabilities.
Mobius also provides a secure e-commerce platform in support of the ad campaign, which allows users to purchase any of Coty's line of Playboy Fragrance for Men using only their cell phones. Users who register with Mobius will also have the ability to make future purchases utilizing Mobius' "quick purchase" feature, which requests a unique image from the user to initiate and confirm a secure online transaction without the need to send credit card information over the air. The Mobius e-commerce platform also uses a reverse lookup feature, which allows users to quickly populate a registration form by simply entering their phone number.
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