In February, we saw a huge explosion of activity from Thailand as tens of thousands of people used Layar to view and create interactive print.

Take a look at the chart above, which shows growth in several categories from February. Pageviews had a major spike, growing over 3,000% from January, but what caused so many more people to scan interactive print in Thailand?

It seems a rather popular comedian, Udom Taepanich, was at the center of an interactive print campaign advertising his 10th stand-up special, Deaw 10. Follow this link to check out some footage of one of his previous specials (with English subtitles!). Images on ads around Bangkok and on tickets to the event themselves were augmented using Layar to show a video of Udom coming to life out of the ad.

The campaign has a snowball effect in Thailand, as downloads of the Layar App skyrockets by 515% and thousands of new interactive print campaigns have been published. The shows are still being performed, and more and more people are being made aware of interactive print.

This is a great example of how Layar is, and has been, a very international company. Our users and interactive print Creators come from all over the world from a plethora of use cases, and the growth shown in Thailand recently fits right along that trend. In the end, this shows how interactive print is rapidly expanding across the globe.

Not long ago, popular men’s magazine Playboy provided readers with extra photos, videos and behind the scenes content with interactive print from Layar. Now the ladies are getting in on the fun with a campaign for VIVA’s “Naked” issue, featuring seven men baring all in the name of cancer awareness.

You might remember the Dutch women’s magazine from October, when it celebrated its 40th anniversary with an interactive print issue, including a cover which came to life! Now for VIVA’s “Naked” issue, the second of its kind, they’re again using an interactive print campaign – this time to raise funds and awareness for colon and prostate cancer.

“I am convinced of the fact that augmented reality is important for our fans,” said Tamira van Roeyen, marketing manager at VIVA.

Together with CBS Outdoor and Layar partner Limebizz, VIVA is advertising the new “Naked” issue with interactive billboards at transit stops around Holland. The ads feature a barely covered naked man – certain to draw attention to passers by. 

Anyone can scan the ads with Layar to view more, including links to donate to Blue Ribbon, a foundation for men’s health awareness, especially colon and prostate cancer.

“We wanted to measure the possibilities from offline to online,” said Van Roeyen. “In our campaign, people will be triggered by wanting to know who this beautiful man is. If you scan, you will be able to donate money for Blue Ribbon.”

The VIVA “Naked” campaign is a great example of the power of interactive print and the impact it can have on a fundraising effort. Interactive print engages people and drives them to interact, which works very well for encouraging donations for good causes like the Blue Ribbon foundation.

FIPP, the world’s most high profile magazine media association with over 700 member companies in 60 countries, has added Layar’s interactive print to its fourth annual Innovations in Magazine Media World Report.

The association represents companies and individuals involved in all parts of the magazine media industry, providing business strategies and emerging trends in an effort to improve industry skills worldwide. Each year it publishes its World Report focusing on the top magazine innovations, and this year, the entire report has been enhanced with the most exciting of these innovations: interactive print from Layar.

In the report, readers can see pages come alive with videos, social media links, interactive image carousels, Twitter feeds and even an embedded survey to vote for the most innovative ad. Check out the video above – featured as an ad on the inside back cover of the report – to see the interactive print elements of this year’s World Report.

“We’re very thrilled to be working with FIPP to bring the added value of interactive print to the 2013 Innovations in Magazine Media World Report,” said Layar CEO Quintin Schevernels. “As new print innovations increasingly gain momentum, interactive print is emerging as the leading way to engage readers and generate revenue opportunities that the print industry has never seen before.”

Last week on the Layar blog was a special one – it was HTML Week! We started things off by announcing the re-release of LAYARED Magazine with all new HTML Widgets showcasing the power of interactive print. Then we spent the rest of the week showing off these various HTML widgets, and taking a deep look at how we made them with some simple and easy to use tricks and plugins. Have a look at the links on the right to see all of our great HTML Week content.

Above you’ll see a video which showcases all of these great examples. From puzzles and games to shopping carts and interactive maps - it’s all there, and even more is waiting inside LAYARED Magazine. Just scan the pages and discover all that interactive print and HTML Widgets have to offer.

Also! Be sure to let us know what you think of the widgets you found in the magazine! On the last page of LAYARED Magazine – the credits page – is a poll you can answer by scanning the page with Layar. We live on your feedback and would love to know what you think!

^{Welcome to HTML Week here on the Layar blog where we’ll be taking a look at some of the great ways you can bring print alive with HTML widgets in the Layar Creator. We’ll provide a closer look at how each example was built, and provide you with some resources to add similar techniques to your own projects. Each example we feature can be found in the completely refreshed and updated LAYARED Magazine! Get yours today and see how interactive print is creating more engaging reader experiences!}

It’s the final day of HTML Week here on the Layar blog, and we saved a really great example for last!

In the very middle of LAYARED Magazine – pages 16 and 17 – a two page spread advertises the Layar Creator, including the quick steps to making interactive print. The illustrated spread provides a great overview of what it takes to use the Layar Creator, but scanning the page takes this to a whole new level.

Using some of the same basic HTML tricks we’ve been featuring throughout HTML Week, we created an engaging, animated walkthrough of using the Creator. Readers are directed to tap through the various steps of uploading pages, adding augments and publishing a campaign. Just follow along and tap the “Tap Here” buttons and you’ll be a pro at the Layar Creator in no time.

It’s a great example of how the HTML Widget in the Creator can be used to provide an immersive experience for readers. Here’s more about this widget:

• Uses similar jQuery techniques from other HTML Week examples.
• Uses the FlexSlider plugin for the slideshow at the beginning.
• The steps are a series of screenshots from the Layar Creator.
• Includes a “View in Fullscreen” button so users can follow the tutorial without needing to hold their device over the page for an extended period of time.

Again, this example seems more complex than it actually is. Using the FlexSlider plugin mentioned above, we created a few basic slides to introduce the walkthrough widget. When a user taps on a step to enter the tutorial, the slider fades away.

The green “Tap Here” buttons are very simple as well. It’s essentially three different elements that fade in and out on top of one another to produce a nice effect that encourages the user to tap the icon. Using timing and opacity options, the inner circle first fades in, followed by the outer rings. Then the inner circle fades out leaving the rings to guide the user.

The rest of the widget is simply fading from one screenshot to another, triggered by the user tapping the icons. It’s a very simple implementation but in this case it goes a long way toward educating readers of LAYARED Magazine about how the Layar Creator actually works.

After running through the 6 steps, readers are then familiar with how to create interactive print and are ready to hit the ground running when they use the Creator on the Web for the first time. This same widget could be used for any of a variety of purposes, from an app tutorial to instructions on constructing your new furniture. As with all HTML widgets, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

And that wraps it up for this example and HTML Week. Follow the links above to review all of our widget breakdowns from this week!