Hasta La Creative!

Rolling Stone and Men’s Health want their readers to take cell-phone pictures of ads running in their pages and transmit them to special numbers. You’d think these magazines would be familiar with their advertisers and not have to rely on the public to tell them who’s running in their pages. Just kidding—it’s a bid to boost reader engagement by making print ads interactive. If nothing else, it will keep the publications busy between rounds of layoffs. An image-recognition company will scan the photos, recognize the ads, and send back more information on special offers and such. After Fred in the next cubicle showed me how to work my cell-phone camera, I took the above snap and sent it in. I can’t wait for my prize. And stop rolling your eyes, Fred.

—Posted by David Gianatasio