• by November 6, 2000

Without having to use scanners or digital cameras, readers of Hearst's fashion monthly Marie Claire will be able to log on to marieclaire.com to buy products featured in advertising pages starting with the March 2001 issue (on sale February 6th).

The publication has partnered with UltiMedia and their newest gadget - UltiGo - for the project, the companies announced today.

Marie Claire Style Navigator's interactive symbols will appear on selected ads in the magazine to signal to readers that the pages have been reproduced and electronically enlivened on the marieclaire.com website. By clicking on the Powered by UltiMedia search box on Marie Claire's homepage, the reader is directed to the interactive pages.

Unlike other print to web technologies that have experienced well-publicized problems with reproduction quality, installation difficulty and privacy violations, UltiMedia launches readers into a complete interactive experience that offers them the freedom of various commerce options. As they move the cursor across the interactive pages on the screen, images of each item that can be purchased pop up.

Users may then save favorite items into a personal file for later purchase, be directed to a local brick and mortar retailer, or be sent to the product-specific page of a Web e-tailer to find out more (such as sizes, colors, availability). Then, readers can buy the item.

This announcement is significant, company officials said, for two reasons. First, several hundred magazines have committed to some form of print-to-web by partnering with companies like Digital Convergence and Digimark - both leaders in the field. But many problems plague both Digital Convergence and Digimarc.

For example, both require readers to be at their computers when reading magazines because both technologies use a device - a scanner (Digital Convergence) or a digital camera (Digimarc) - to launch the reader online. UltiMedia does not. Readers only go to the publication's website to start the e-commerce process.

second, on the marketing side, with Digital Convergence or Digimarc readers are sent from a single print page to a single online page. With UltiMedia every image within a single ad/edit page is hotlinked so that one ad could produce dozens of commerce opportunities.

For example in the upcoming issue of Teen (December, on sale Nov. 7), an advertiser (Roxy Watches) is linking 20 products off his brand logo alone - products not even on the printed page.