Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue runs 2D bar code MMS campaign

MMS and bar codes are two mobile marketing technologies that are slowly being adopted. Sports Illustrated has jumped aboard:

Readers of Sports Illustrated’s June 29 Swimsuit Vault issue can take and send a picture of a Jagtag 2D bar code to receive the photo spread, which includes between seven and 14 pictures delivered via a single MMS, depending on their phone's capabilities. Every participant's camera phone works instantly, without having to download a code-reading application or incurring the costs of accessing the mobile Web without a data plan, according to Jagtag.

Using the phone's camera without specialized software is something that every bar code campaign should do--otherwise brands can't expect to go as wide as they need to go to see success. Still, the program is not available across all carriers:

Sports Illustrated's edit team included the Jagtag callout within a SI Swimsuit Vault spread in the June 29 issue. The call-to-action was headlined, “Swimsuit photos on your phone.”
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The text read: “To get a sampling of the most beautiful SI swimsuit pictures delivered instantly to your cell phone, take a picture of this Jagtag and then send it to short code 524824 (iPhones send to iphone@jagtag.net). Available to Alltel, AT&T and Verizon customers only. Standard messaging or data rates apply.”

For the time being only SMS-based mobile marketing can reach all US mobile users.

Read more @ Mobile Marketer.