The Guardian will be using the free Aurasma platform to bring promotional content in its newspaper to augmented life. Rich multimedia content can now be embedded within its pages and unlocked using a smartphone or tablet device.
Excerpts from Glyndebourne, the opera company, can be viewed directly from the pages of the Guardian’s print edition, taking the festival into British homes and promoting its live streaming of the events. Readers simply download the free Aurasma app and point their mobile device at the Glyndebourne promotional images to see them transform into interactive videos. They can then click-through to the Guardian’s website for festival guides, reviews and picnic recipe ideas.
In an industry first, viewers of the content will also be able to click to automatically set a reminder on the calendar of their smart device to notify them when the next Glyndebourne opera streams on The Guardian website.
Matt Mills, Head of Partnerships for Aurasma, comments: “It’s an honour to be working with The Guardian, one of the UK’s most respected newspapers. We are delighted they have chosen our technology to unite their print and digital assets and bring the Glyndebourne festival to an even wider audience. I’m sure opera lovers everywhere will be singing the Guardian’s praises.”
Anthony George, Content Partnerships Manager for the Guardian, said: “Partnering with Aurasma allows us to create a link between the Guardian’s website and print edition through their augmented reality platform. This technology allows our audience to unlock additional content from each of the operas we are streaming this summer and set reminders so they never miss performances, something never before possible with traditional print advertising."
The Guardian is the latest newspaper to partner with Aurasma, joining The Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and Sunday Times in the UK, Japan’s largest newspaper Mainichi Kimbun, De Telegraaf in the Netherlands and the Philadelphia Inquirer in the United States.
About Aurasma
Aurasma says: “Aurasma is the world’s leading augmented reality platform. Available as a free app for iPhones, iPads and high-powered Android devices or as a free kernel for developers, Aurasma uses advanced image and pattern recognition to blend the real-world with rich interactive content such as videos and animations called “Auras”.
Auras can be created for printed images, product packaging, clothing, physical places and users can even use the app to create and share their own. Since its launch in June 2011, Aurasma has had more than three million downloads and over 4,000 partners in markets including retail, fashion, sport, automotive, education, advertising and publishing are using the free technology in their campaigns, on their products or embedding the technology in their own applications. Aurasma was developed by and is part of software company Autonomy – an HP Company.”
