The August issue of Allure magazine is filled with 36 Microsoft Tags. The Tags are being used by the magazine to giveaway over 32,000 products, which are valued at $750,000.
Each year, the magazine holds its "Free Stuff" promotion and, this year, they have decided to use 2D barcode technology as the way by which readers can enter into any one of the 159 product giveaways. From one page to the next, readers will find the Tags along side products, and there is one page in the front half of the magazine which fully explains the Tags (i.e., how to scan them and how and where to download a Tag reader app).
As mentioned in a comment on yesterday's post about Clinique's QR code ad in Vogue, and now with this Allure campaign, one wonders if companies are focusing on women to be the early adapters of 2D barcode technology. And what's also interesting is that a publisher is behind this use of Tags, not a specific product company. This makes the fourth or fifth magazine that I have found to use 2D technology more from an editorial perspective than a pure product advertisement perspective.
Lastly, my question to Allure is, why Tags? Why not use any other 2D barcode. Stay tuned, as I try to contact the company.
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