BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) announced today that House Beautiful, the leading authority on home design and decoration and well-known for its innovative marketing programs, has partnered with longtime advertiser Glidden® Paint to introduce the first-of-its-kind integrated advertising experience between editorial content in the magazine’s February 2012 issue and on housebeautiful.com.
Throughout the magazine, select editorial features are enhanced with imperceptible digital watermarking technology, created using the Digimarc Discover™ Platform. House Beautiful proprietary icons inform readers that the content is watermarked and becomes interactive when using the Digimarc Discover app on a mobile device. Scanning the watermarked content takes readers to housebeautiful.com, where Glidden Paint splash pages—promoting the brand’s new color expert blogger portal, MyColortopia.com—appear prior to House Beautiful’s online features, giving the advertiser an engaging new way to connect with readers.
In addition to the pre- and post-roll Glidden branding on the editorial videos, House Beautiful partnered with Glidden to produce the first sponsored video promoting Glidden’s MyColortopia.com. The video, featuring two of the contributors to the site, is accessed via a new version of the House Beautiful Digimarc icon – rendered in orange as opposed to the editorial icons, which are in blue. Additionally, the video is housed on housebeautiful.com’s video player and is also being supported by a run of site media buy driving traffic to the video. The Glidden MyColortopia video also is embedded in the digital replica edition of House Beautiful via Zinio, which can be accessed through the iTunes newsstand.
House Beautiful began using the Digimarc technology in several editorial features last year to seamlessly connect readers with supplemental interactive content at HouseBeautiful.com. House Beautiful’s collaboration with Glidden marks the first time that an advertiser has sponsored feature editorial within a print-to-mobile experience.
“When it comes to innovative marketing, Glidden has always been one of our leading partners,” said Kate Kelly Smith, SVP, Publishing Director, House Beautiful. “Taking readers from the page, to an advertiser’s video and on to our website using a mobile app has never been done before and we’re pleased that Glidden has signed on for this exciting program.”
“We were excited when Hearst presented the Digimarc concept,” said Rob Horton, vice president of marketing for Akzo Nobel Paints LLC, makers of Glidden Paint. “The Glidden brand doesn’t necessarily abide by traditional paint advertising conventions. Instead, we look for those marketing opportunities that are disruptive, unexpected and true to the brand voice. At the same time, though, any advertising medium must work toward getting do-it-yourselfers going by moving them from inspiration to action. Digimarc accomplishes all of this. Their visualization platform is undeniably Glidden.”
“Digimarc Discover gives advertisers unlimited possibilities to target consumers with a wide array of experiences through their mobile devices,” said Bruce Davis, CEO of Digimarc Corporation, a leading innovator and provider of enabling technologies that create digital identities for all forms of media. “House Beautiful and Glidden have taken a groundbreaking step forward with this innovative campaign, and we are very pleased that they have chosen to embrace our technology to create engaging print-to-mobile experiences for consumers.”
About Digimarc and the Digimarc Discover Platform
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ:DMRC), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is a leading innovator and provider of enabling technologies that create digital identities for all forms of media and many everyday objects. The embedded digital IDs are imperceptible to humans, but not to computers, networks and devices like mobile phones, which can now use cameras and microphones as sensory inputs to “see, hear and understand” the world around them within the context of their environment. Digimarc has built an extensive intellectual property portfolio with patents in digital watermarking, content identification and management, media and object discovery to enable ubiquitous computing, and related technologies. Digimarc develops solutions, licenses its intellectual property, and provides development services to business partners across a range of industries. For more information, please visit www.digimarc.com.
The Digimarc Discover™ Platform enables smartphones and other sensor-equipped devices to "see and hear" media content using built-in cameras and microphones. Publishers and others can embed digital watermarks into content using the Digimarc Online Services Portal (OSP). Consumers simply direct their phone at content they are interested in and are presented with a range of associated network services such as purchase a product, view a video, save for later, etc. The Digimarc Discover mobile applications are available for licensing and can be integrated into existing applications; more information can be found at www.digimarc.com/Discover.
About House Beautiful
House Beautiful (www.housebeautiful.com) is a leading authority on American home design and decoration, reaching more than seven million readers every month. Founded in 1896, House Beautiful is the oldest continuously published shelter magazine in the United States. Readers can also interact with the brand on the digital front, with House Beautiful mobile (m.housebeautiful.com). In addition to its U.S. flagship, House Beautiful publishes two editions around the world. House Beautiful is published by Hearst Magazines, the largest publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. (ABC 2011) which reaches 87 million adults each month (Spring 2011 MRI).
About Glidden
The Glidden® Paint brand offers a rich tradition of innovation and color inspiration, having consistently embodied quality and performance for generations of customers. From the first latex paints that were developed and marketed under the Glidden brand decades ago, to today’s broad assortment of versatile paints, Glidden makes it easy for consumers and paint contractors alike to turn inspiration into action and add color to people’s lives. Available nationwide at The Home Depot, Walmart, company-owned Glidden Professional Paint Centers and other fine retailers, Glidden Paint is a brand of AkzoNobel, the world’s largest paint and coatings company.
For more information about House Beautiful, please contact Michael McGraw at 917-755-9411 or mmcgraw@hearst.com.
For more information about Glidden, please contact Eric Stasiowski, 440-297-8404 or eric.stasiowski@akzonobel.com.