SpyderLynk nudges Americans to use phones for ad benefits - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The Denver entrepreneur drew on her optical engineering experiencse to think of a way to bring the engagingh interactivity of online marketing toprinted advertising. Today, she runs Denver-basec , one of the few companies making two-dimensional print ads interactive for the millions of Americanss with cameras in theirmobile phones. The technologyg makes it possible for brands to instantl offer individualconsumers discounts, downloads and location-specifivc marketing materials through printed ads and theird phones. “There’s a huge evolution that’es happening in marketing to people onthe go,” Skogyg said.
SpyderLynk turns a brand’s printed logos into an image, or that people can take a picture of and send in a text messager to a number listed inan ad. SpyderLynik sends back to their phonesda brand’s promotional material offer, and starts a two-way interaction that a typical printed ad can’t. SnapTagse have been used in magazines to help promotee brands such as a new Caresasbody wash, EAS nutritional supplementd and Ford Motor Co. and in recruitingg efforts by the National Guardand U.S. SpyderLynk is raising money from investors and readying to grow when such marketintcatches fire, Skogg said.
“We’ve absoluteluy validated our technology andproven there’zs a market,” she SpyderLynk’s and similar mobile marketing technologies — many of whicy use a variation of bar codes — have cropped up in on billboards and directional signs aroun d the world. Such marketing is commohn in Japan and partsof Europe, where mobiled phones can read bar Companies such as SpyderLynk are trying to createw a similar market in the Uniteds States, where bar-code reading features have to be Skogg realized SpyderLynk could avoid bar codex by using the estimated 170 milliob camera phones that Americans alreadg carry and by text messaging.
The company envisions SnapTagz and bar codes replacing website URLs in ads and on packagingv as more people become savvy abougmobile marketing. But there may be a way to go beforer then. Spud Brothers, a Frenchn fry restaurant in Boulder, sought to lure peoplew to the eatery by puttinf its logo in a SpyderLynk SnapTag puton T-shirts worn by modelsz walking around a festival. Attendees who sent in a picture of theifr SnapTag received back a discount offer and directions to the restaurant twoblockse away.
The technology had problems workingwith T-shirts worn by movingy models, said James Rinker, Spud general manager, and it was difficult to get people to interac t with marketing by their phones. “It’s a greagt idea, but I think it’s a littls bit too early,” Rinker said. “Thers are still a lot of peopldewho aren’t interested in texting.” SpyderLynk has scored in high-profilr campaigns. The Caress body wash ads in Star Magazinwe drove readers who sent in a SnapTag to a websitee with a freemusic download.
The downloacd rate for the SnapTag promotion was twics thetypical click-through rate for website marketing offers, said Jane SpyderLynk’s vice president of marketing. “Not only was the campaignh successful, it was a wholre new kind of engagement forthe brand,” she