In an attempt promote its latest jewellery collection, French jeweller Murat Paris employed design firm Agency V to create an iPhone app that uses augmented reality to browse its collection of bracelets and rings.
Readers place their iPhone over the hard-copy ad in the printed magazine, and the app replicates the image underneath. Users then interact with a virtual version of the ad, swiping from left-to-right to change the jewellery displayed on the model’s wrist or finger.
Tanguy Hugoo of Agency V told Jeweller that Murat Paris wanted something simple and believed that the retailer’s target market would relate to modern technology.
“We wanted to enrich the print ad for our ‘fashionista’ target,” Hugoo said. “We decided to offer them an iPhone experience in HTML 5 which is directly displayed in Safari [web browser] by flashing the QR [Quick Response] code.”
The app also directs users to their nearest store using geolocation services on an interactive map.
Despite taking six weeks to complete the first campaign, Hugoo said any future campaigns with an interactive component could be completed in four weeks.
“It was more simple than expected,” Hugoo said. “The advantage of this HTML 5 web-based solution is that you can publish it immediately when done.”
Murat Paris briefed the agency in May this year about a new advertising campaign and challenged them with the task of re-inventing the retailer, which hadn’t utilised brand communication in 40 years.
“The challenge was exciting: How to relaunch a manufacturer created in 1847, and position Murat Paris as a trendy brand with a large range of affordable jewels,” Hugoo said.
The retailers wanted to feature ‘real’ people in its new campaign and Hugoo explained, “First we worked on a new signature for the brand: ‘Marque de caractère’ (a brand of character) and we proposed an ad campaign different from the competitors.
“To be different we decided to use ‘real people’ [not models] to become a brand ambassador and strike a pose for the press campaign via a Facebook casting,” Hugoo added.
The idea for an interactive print advertisement came after a series of model castings via the retailer’s Facebook page. After three weeks of exposure on Facebook, Murat gained 12,000 fans and 1,300 candidates posted their picture on its Facebook page.
“In September we organised the final casting in Paris with 50 candidates,” Hugoo said. The company then selected five winners to use in the ad campaigns.
The interactive print ad has received plenty of exposure over the blogosphere, with many writers praising the company for trying something new.
One advertising and design blog, Modular Four, said the store locator was a key component to the campaign, as it not only drove more customers to its stores, but identified the need for physical inspection of something as intricate and emotive as luxury jewellery.
Digital Buzz, another technology blog, applauded the brand for its ingenuity, stating that it adds an interactive dimension to the promotion of the company’s products.
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See how the 'old' world of print can work with the 'new' digital world. Using QR codes, the reader can not only change the jewellery on the model, they can be directed to the nearest retailer. And to think that some Australian and New Zealand retailers and suppliers still don’t even have websites!
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