Great news! Fry Communications, one of the largest and oldest publishers in the United States, announced today that it has chosen Layar as its augmented reality and interactive print platform of choice. Fry will offer Layar to its customers looking to add interactivity to print products.

We are thrilled to be working with one of the most respected names in publishing. As the world’s leading augmented reality and interactive print provider, we are excited to team up with Fry and bring interactive print to even more publications and readers in 2013 and beyond.

As augmented reality and interactive print are helping the print industry increase value for readers and advertisers, we’re increasingly seeing more publications and publishers align with Layar as their provider of choice. In the end, Layar’s stability, strong product offering and pricing is attracting the industries biggest names.

“We chose Layar because it provides the best user experience with the most robust technology, as well as a transparent pricing structure that publishers and marketeers can trust,” said David Fry, Chief Technology Officer at Fry. “Layar is absolutely focused on leveraging the lasting business value of the augmented reality technology for printers and publishers.”

Fry Communications isn’t the first big printer to team up with Layar. Last year, Senefelder Misset, one of the top Dutch printers, similarly partnered with Layar to offer augmented reality and interactivity to its publications. Printers love Layar because it increases reader engagement, positions the printer as an innovative market player and generates new revenue and e-commerce opportunities.

Fry joins a growing list of printers and publishers signing on with Layar, and there’s more to come! To learn more about the partnership, check out Fry’s press release here.

A video posted by Newspaperswork, a Belgian print marketing platform, is a humorous and interesting take on the power of print to engage its readers.

In it, they provided three ad execs from leading companies with personal chauffeurs for the day so they could focus on reading the paper during their commute. Unbeknownst to the execs, Newspaperswork planned for some interesting, funny and ridiculous things to happen along the way - things that would normally catch your attention.

Bears driving cars, a man on fire, golfers in the medians … the inanity was on full blast just beyond the window of the car. However, in each case, the ad exec had their eyes buried in their newspaper and never noticed any of the antics going on around them.

A funny spin on the engagement of print, but it comes with truth as well. This is just another example of why print is far from dead, because readers are highly engaged with print products while reading.

With Layar’s interactive print technology, print engagement can reach even higher rates. One YouTube commenter sarcastically notes, “I wonder why they didn’t post this video in a newspaper but on the internet.” Well, with Layar, they could have done just that.

Just in time for the 2012/2013 season, Voetbal International has released its yearly season guide, featuring player bios, team stats, schedules and more for all of the top teams in the Netherlands. Only this year, things are different - the pages have been made interactive with the Layar Creator.

Now when readers peruse the nearly 400 pages of the guide, hoping to learn more about how their favorite team might fare in upcoming football season, they can also uncover more info by scanning the pages with the Layar app. Each team’s page features quick links to news, schedules, results and transfers. Some of the ads in the guide have also been enhanced with links and videos.

This is a prime example of how the Creator can easily add interactivity to print products. Editorial magazines and newspapers are great for Interactive Print, and so are informative guides such as Voetbal International. Readers are already turning to the pages of the guide for specific information, and the opportunity to learn more and to view dynamic digital content within the pages of the guide adds value to the guide.

We received a special (and delicious) delivery here at the Layar office: chocolate! But not just any chocolate, this is chocolate from CHOCSTAR.nl - a Dutch site that lets you create your own custom chocolate bar.

But what’s really cool about CHOCSTAR is now every shipment comes in packaging which has been enhanced with the Layar Creator. Annefrid Imenkamp, CHOCSTAR’s CECM (Chief Executive Chocolate Maker… A.K.A. best job ever!) saw a demonstration of the Creator by very own Claire Boonstra just a few weeks ago. And now, their packaging is coming to life with digital content.

Here’s what she had to say about the experience:

“A couple of weeks ago I attended a network event where Claire Boonstra gave a presentation about Layar and the new Layar Creator. At that time we were in the process of updating the packaging of our chocolate and I was instantly inspired. The following day we got to work with the Layar Creator right away and were very pleased by the user friendliness and the easiness in which you can activate print with digital content.

At CHOCSTAR fun, interactivity, innovation and graphical design are of great importance and it’s these values in which Layar perfectly provides and significantly exceeds the QR code (which we previously used on our packaging). I also really like the fact that you have the possibility to change and improve the campaign whilst it is already published.

By means of the Layar creator, start-ups and smaller companies like CHOCSTAR which do not have big budgets or aren’t backed by wealthy investors are given the opportunity to provide added value (by means of information, interactivity and fun) to their customers and simultaneously distinguish it selves from competitors.

We are very enthusiastic about Layar and definitely thinking about other ways in which we can use the technology!”

Try it out yourself! You can either order some chocolate from CHOCSTAR, or click the image below and view it with Layar to experience the activated product packaging!

On July 11th, Layar is hosting a seminar in Amsterdam for members of the media and publishing industries. This seminar will introduce the Layar Creator and interactive print, providing an opportunity for anyone interested in the Layar Creator to see an in-depth presentation and try it out themselves.

The event is free and kicks off at 1:30pm. Check out more info (in Dutch) below or click here to register right now!

Woensdagmiddag 11 juli a.s. organiseert Layar, wereldmarktleider in augmented reality en interactive print een seminar voor uitgevers, redacteuren en print professionals die meer toegevoegde waarde willen leveren aan hun lezers en adverteerders. Op het seminar leer je hoe makkelijk je print kunt combineren met digitaal, wat de toegevoegde waarde voor lezers is en hoe het meer biedt aan adverteerders.

De hoofdredacteur Jildou van der Bijl van LINDA en de Interactive Paper Maker Leonieke Verhoog van VPRO delen hun ervaringen en lessen in Interactieve Print. Ontmoet de experts van Layar en leer anderen collega’s kennen die reeds begonnen zijn of gaan beginnen. Het event is kosteloos, er is echter beperkte ruimte dus registreer snel!

Neem een laptop en de PDF van jouw laatste uitgave mee zodat deze tijdens de seminar, begeleid door onze experts, verrijkt kan worden.