• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 15, 2005

Proving that print media can also be both digital and interactive, magazines aimed at younger readers are developing a novel way of interacting with them using a device that is both wildly popular and increasingly commonplace - the mobile camera phone - to create a backchannel for advertising. Later this year, Hachette Filipacchi's teen magazine ELLEgirl will become the latest publication to offer marketers the ability to reach readers via mobile phone, utilizing a technology created by Waltham, Mass.-based Mobot.

The program will go into a soft launch with the May issue, which will include an invitation to ELLEgirl readers to register for the service. If all goes as planned, by the second half of this year, readers will be able to use their camera phones to take photos of ads they're interested in, send in the photos to Mobot, and receive back promotions or information, such as locations where the products are sold, coupons, or free sample offers.

"We really do believe that this generation of very tech-savvy older teens is like no other generation. We got involved because the camera phone is so much a part of their lives," said ELLEgirl Vice President and Publisher Deborah Burns. "For a girl, it's all about the camera phone, and all about pictures," she said.

ELLEgirl rival Jane magazine tested the information-via-camera-phone deal in its September and December, 2004 issues, while Vibe magazine and Vibe Vixen experimented with it in March.

Kevin Wells, vice president of business development at Mobot, said that 1 percent of Jane's readers registered for the service last year.

While that number may seem small, camera phones are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous technology, especially among the teenage set.

Meanwhile, the application is reminiscent of earlier interactive technologies tried by magazine publishers to create an interactive backchannel with readers of their print publications. One of the earliest and most celebrated of those was Digital Convergence Corp.'s CueCat, a computer modem-like device, which utilizes an optical scanning technology that could read codes printed in magazines to connect directly to Web pages and other Internet content related to advertising or editorial content. The ambitious project generated tremendous interest on Madison Avenue and within publishing circles before it crashed along with the dot-com bust. ELLEgirl's Burns said prospects for using Mobot's technology to create an editorial backchannel are intriguing and that the publication is considering offering readers the chance to interact with editorial pages through camera phone. For instance, she said, readers might in the future enter contests, or take polls, by sending in pictures of the hard copies of those pages.

The magazine is still lining up participating advertisers, said Burns. "We have, right now, many custom proposals tailored to advertisers out there on the table, and presenting sponsorships on the table," she said. Burns anticipates that the magazine will charge advertisers extra to participate in the program. "The program is really too big to be added-value," said Burns. The median age of ELLEgirl's readers is 17; the circulation rate base will increase from the current 500,000 to 600,000 in the second half of the year, Burns said.