American television station SundanceTV (part of the AMC Network) is using Layar and Augmented Reality to help better engage with fans of its new show “The Honorable Woman.” 

The spy thriller miniseries stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as an Anglo-Israeli businesswoman, and fans can use the Layar App to discover exclusive clues to the show’s mysterious plot. SundanceTV is using the show’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts to share images with the show’s followers that contain hidden information that can be accessed by scanning with Layar.

Monica Bloom, SVP Marketing, SundanceTV, stated, “‘The Honorable Woman’ is an intricate thriller that engages viewers with thought-provoking concepts, many of them centered on secrets and lies. We wanted to translate these themes into a marketing campaign that would rouse and delight our audience while driving engagement and conversation around this compelling series.”

Check out some of the example tweets below and scan with the Layar App to discover more about “The Honorable Woman.” Visit the SundanceTV website to view more scannable images.

“Full Frequency,” the latest album from international recording artist Sean Paul, features an interactive cover that comes to life when scanned with the Layar App.

When scanning the cover with the Layar App, fans can watch a video of Sean Paul himself welcoming them to his new album and point out links to his social channels, tour info and more.

Khaliq King and Kai Williams of the Jamaican company Creative Solutions were hired by Sean Paul to add interactivity to the cover of his new album. The company partnered with local web developers ZIPTEQ to collaborate on the project and produce the video.

“The idea was to not only present this really cool new technology, but to provide an intimate and personal experience for Sean Paul’s fans and an entrance for people who have purchased the album to know more about Sean Paul,” said King.

In addition to promoting the interactive cover through his Facebook page (where he has over 9.3 million fans), Sean Paul has talked about the campaign in interviews on TV and on radio.

To check it out yourself, click here to scan the album cover with the Layar App.

We’re doing some experiments here at Layar.

Over the coming weeks and months, we’re going to be launching a few concepts that we have built ourselves with the Layar Creator. We have some fun ideas for items in the world around us that we think would be made better with AR and interactive print. We’re bringing Layar everywhere!

First up? Movie posters!

You may have noticed the fun movie poster example above from our latest Layar video. They’re an excellent use case for AR. With the Layar Creator, a movie studio or theater can add video trailers, reviews and ticket purchasing options to posters, ads, booklets, postcards and other items.

But now, we’re taking the initiative by augmenting top movie posters. You can scan the posters for the world’s most popular releases and coming attractions to watch the trailer, get more info, see what the critics say and more!

Each week, we’ll update the campaign to include the newest top films. You can give it a try yourself by scanning a poster next time you see one. Or, scan some of the examples below or on our Inspiration page.

Why are we doing this?
We’ve noticed that after downloading the Layar App, people are eager to try it out immediately. If a magazine or newspaper they read isn’t using Layar, the experience can be confusing and frustrating.

We have two main goals with this project, and our first is to make it easy for anyone to experience interactive print right away! Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be launching more campaigns like this one to provide easy and readily available ways to take the Layar App for a test drive.

You can do it too. Join us!
Our second goal for this project is to offer inspiration to others – in this case theaters and movie studios – to start augmenting the world around them with their own custom digital content. We would love to see every movie poster in the world scannable with Layar, and we hope this inspires others to join us!

With the Layar Creator, it’s easy to bring print and other items to life with digital content. Just upload the page or image of the item you want to enhance, drag-and-drop content on top and publish!

And it doesn’t end with movie posters. There are lots of things around us in the world that would benefit from being scannable with Layar, and we’ll be showcasing some of these examples in the coming weeks!

Have a great idea for items that should be enhanced with augmented reality? Have a big database of images you think should be made interactive? Is your businesses looking to add AR to its products?

Don’t hesitate to do it yourself in the Layar Creator, or contact us and we’ll talk about collaborating on a project! We’re eager to talk about how we can help you achieve your goals. Drop us a note to get started!

Gamers around the globe have been anticipating this week’s release of the next saga in one of the world’s most popular videogame franchises - Assassin’s Creed 3. For those in the Netherlands, a new ad campaign from CBS Outdoor Advertising and Bol.com provides a special discount for anyone who scans a new billboard ad and buys the game.

As seen in the photo to the right, the ad has begun popping up in Holland’s many train stations. Eager gamers can scan the ad to see a video trailer of the game and instantly buy the game with a €5 discount on Bol.com, the largest online retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium.

This summer, we announced that Bol.com had hooked its database of product packaging (books, DVDs, games and more) into Layar, enabling users to shop for products online by simply scanning them with Layar. Now, Bol.com is taking part in a new kind of Layar campaign, one on a much larger scale!

This is a great example of the versatility of the Layar Creator. Whether your print is as small as a business card, or as big as an outdoor billboard, the Creator can quickly and easily add engaging digital content on top. By offering a discount, Bol.com is enhancing the viewer experience and providing valuable engagement with their advertising - a concept we heard Nissan discuss recently at our Toronto event.

Perhaps the best aspect of the Assassin’s Creed III campaign is the large and clear call-to-action. Translated, the text reads “Scan with Layar for discount!” The capitalized red text makes sure people see it, and the Layar logo lets people know they need to download the app to scan it.

Click here to view the Dutch press release.

Renowned Dutch printer Senefelder Misset has partnered with Layar to make an interactive edition of the well-known comic strip, Eppo.

Now readers of the popular strip, which collects many of the Netherlands’ most popular strips into one publication, can interact with the comics in new ways using augmented reality. With Layar, readers can scan the pages to view bonus materials, including original sketches of the comics, as well as video extras that help bring the pages to life.

“With the advent of digitization, publishers have provided their advertisers with measurable responses to their campaigns,” said Erik Ernens, Commercial Director of Senefelder Misset. “Until now, the publishers have not been able to add direct response capabilities to the printed page. But with new innovative technologies like Layar, the printed magazine can come alive with direct responses and achieve conversion.”

“Eppo is proud to be the first comic in the Netherlands in which Layar could be applied,” said Rob van Bavel, publisher of the Don Lawrence Collection. “Eppo offers readers additional information, additional videos, sketches of different strips, the ability to “Like” the Facebook fan-pages and the direct purchase of comics and merchandising in the shop. All in all, a great opportunity to add value to the printed edition!”

Try the sample page after the jump to see how it works, and watch for the latest issue of Eppo which goes on sale this week!

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