Luke Dringoli
Luke Dringoli
Editor, Social Networks
MEET THE AUTHOR

Google Goggles Takes Print Digital

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 31 Jan 2011

Google’s visual search application for smartphones was already able to recognize lots of objects and text, but after a significant upgrade, it can now swiftly recognize print advertisements and point users toward web results.

With a name we can’t help but repeat in a German accent, Google Goggles has, thus far, simply been a sweet alternate reality app to tool around with. But with its latest update, its potential — especially for marketers — will no doubt soar. In addition to being able to solve Sudoku puzzles, the upgraded app can recognize print advertisements and bring the user straight to the appropriate brand site. It’s part of the impending transformation of all physical things — especially advertisements — into digital gateways.

Say you’re at a party and want to know more about the bottle of wine you’re drinking. In the past, you could have looked at the label and typed in the brand name and varietal into a search engine, but with Google Goggles you can now search with images instead of words. Simply scan the label and the optical recognition will pull up more info about the brand, the price, and stores near you to buy. Good news for you; potentially bad news for the guest that brought the bottle when it’s revealed that they spent a measly $6 on it at Trader Joe’s.

Like QR codes on TV and applications such as StickyBits, Google Goggles is proof that brands must transcend physical branding mediums and add a new layers of depth to all of their content. While QR codes and StickyBitz utilize variations on the barcode, Google’s advanced image-capturing system essentially turns everything into its own barcode.

This means that each and every object and product now has the potential to be a digitally enabled, feature-rich piece of content. As the technology improves, consumers will get used to holding up their phone to scan objects rather than typing into search fields. As a result, one would hope that forward-thinking marketers will increasingly design print ads that are maximized for Goggles’ visual search results and take advantage of the new opportunities it affords — hyperlocal deals, more engagement, and meaningful conversations. Cheap wine or not, we’ll drink to that.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Google Goggles Takes Print Digital | Post Advertising -- Topsy.com

  • http://TannerChristensen.com tannerc

    Undoubtedly the key point to take away from this is “each and every object and product now has the potential to be a digitally-enabled, feature-rich piece of content.”

    Friends and family have tried using apps like Google Goggles in the past with no luck, usually getting gibberish or the wrong thing returned. So yeah, we have the technology and it’s pretty damn amazing, but until businesses and advertisers realize the full potential there, there are going to be a lot of people who see the wrong website/information/etc. when trying to scan something.

  • http://www.postadvertising.com Luke Dringoli

    Thanks for the comment, Tanner. You’re absolutely right. The adoption (and virility) of such an application hinges on how seamlessly it works. And of course, with this new potential for everyday objects and throw-away print ads comes a need create content worthy of the technology.

    In the coming weeks and months, I suspect we’ll start seeing more brand advertisers taking advantage of such methods, as they have with QR codes. Hopefully, though, it’ll entail a lot more than a simple link off to a brand site or a coupon buy-off. The opportunities available for rich physical-digital engagements also demand more than marketing-as-usual to be successful.

  • Eric Martucci

    Super cool. Can’t wait to est it out! Especially the translation bit