Publishers using mobile marketing to attract teen readers

June 23, AP Photo/Chris Pizzello writing in examiner.com

Teens are being used as marketing guinea pigs in the publishing world. Publishers are turning to two-dimensional (2D) bar code technology to promote new books. With kids more connected to their phones than novels, mobile marketing is a logical way to reach them.

Lauren Conrad, TV reality star of The Hills, has written her first of three Young Adult novels about a teen who becomes a reality star (what else?). HarperCollins is promoting her book, L.A. Candy, using 2D bar codes. A bar code on her book links readers to more information.
The technology behind linking print to mobile is fairly simple to grasp. A bar code is placed on a book cover, newspaper article, magazine recipe or fast food box, for example. A mobile device with camera clicks a picture of the bar code. This brings the user related content, which appears on the handset.
A book's 2D bar code might connect you to supplementary content. Instead of Googling the book and searching various Web sites, that content is brought to you directly. Users may also view video interviews with the author.
For teen readers, viral is the key word. Once they see information about a book they like, they're going to share it with their friends via a mobile device. Pretty cool and adventurous of the publishing industry, considering its age-old reputation for strict rules and set formats.

The full report at examiner.com