Previously we’ve mentioned CBS Outdoor’s campaigns with both VIVA women’s magazine and the Assassin’s Creed III video game to enhance transit stops in the Netherlands with interactive print. But CBS didn’t stop there, and judging by the results they saw from another campaign, it’s not surprising they keep coming back.

Last year CBS also used Layar’s interactive print on billboards to promote a new book from popular author David Baldacci. By scanning the ads with Layar, anyone could access and read the first chapter of the book, download the ebook or purchase it online.

According to CBS’s Interactive Europe report, the interactive “Out-of-Home” ads increased web traffic to Baldacci’s website by 500% during the course of the campaign. Later, after the campaign had ended, web traffic remained 250% above average.

“This proves that Out-of-Home delivered against its traditional strengths of building brand awareness and driving a response,” the CBS report says.

According to research performed around the ads, those who scanned with Layar were consistently more likely to report a positive response across several areas, including being more likely to mention the ad to others.

“Interaction also improved opinions, which is a good result for a category that is conservative and notoriously difficult to encourage people to try new authors or genres,” the report adds.

This is yet another example of how interactive print is booming and producing real results for brands and marketers. It’s just one of many campaigns CBS Outdoor is running on Layar, and shows why the well-known advertiser keeps coming back again and again to interactive print.

To learn more, including the interactive print lessons CBS learned from this campaign, download their Interactive Europe report.

Publishers Weekly (or PW as it is commonly known), a leading American weekly trade magazine aimed at publishers, booksellers, librarians, literary agents and more, has added interactive print from Layar to its pages.

Published since 1872, the magazine joins a growing list of industry publications – like Publishing Executive, which added Layar to its pages earlier this month – embracing Layar’s interactive print technology.

The trend is clear: the biggest names in the print industry think Layar’s interactive print is here to stay. Just take this headline from Publishers Weekly describing the interactive print content in the magazine: “Welcome to the future.”

“Publishers are looking for new technology like interactive print to connect with readers in different ways,” said PW publisher Cevin Bryerman. “Publishers Weekly is a leading publication for the book industry and discusses new technology trends, so we felt it was important to feature Layar’s interactive print.”

Scanning the cover of the most recent issue of Publishers Weekly, which features a young girl’s body health book, reveals an interview with the author and links to download an excerpt, meet the author and more. Give it a try yourself on the cover and these example pages.

“The Layar staff has ben awesome and responsive to our needs as clients,” added Bryerman when asked about PW’s experience with Layar and the Layar Creator. “We are looking forward to using Layar in editorial and advertising in the future.”

Attention travelers and adventure seekers!

As of today, the massively popular Lonely Planet travel guides will be able to help you with your travels even more! Just open the Layar app on your smartphone, hold it over the cover of one of the guides and you’ll be able to see tons of practical and up-to-date information to help you on your way.

The print guides now feature live weather, updated event listings and even hotel prices and availability. What other print guide can provide that? But that’s not all. Editorial and Product Development Director Matt Swaine says exclusive content awaits those who view the guides with Layar.

“We’re offering travelers access to hundreds of additional points of interest reviews, video content that they can only get through Lonely Planet’s Layar service and easy ways to book hotels and activities,” says Swaine.

So far, Lonely Planet has enhanced 42 guides from its European city titles. Paris, Rome, London, and (of course) Amsterdam are just a few of the popular tourist destinations with augmented guides.

For Swaine, the opportunity to add digital content to the printed Lonely Planet guides opened up new channels of communication and interaction with customers.

“We very quickly saw the potential for Layar to enhance our books by giving travelers access to content we couldn’t put in the books and by linking to other Lonely Planet services, products and online content,” he says. “There are lots of opportunities out there to chase with print, but clearly digital is going to play an increasing role in people’s lives, and this is where we are focusing the larger part of our product thinking.”

Lonely Planet is looking for your feedback! The first 50 people to email online.editor@lonelyplanet.com will receive a free copy of a Lonely Planet European City Guide, Pocket City Guide or Discover City Guide of their choice. To qualify you must own an Apple iOS or Android device, provide a valid shipping address and agree to provide feedback on the using Layar in conjunction with Lonely Planet books. Use “Layar Trial” as your subject line, and let them know which European city guidebook you’d like them to send you.

Check out the guides today and view them with Layar!

In 2011, author, Martijn Arets, visited 20 inspiring companies around Europe to learn how to build a better brand. The stories and lessons he learned became the book Brand Expedition. 

What Martijn set out to do was to visit these companies and understand them better. This became reality when he quit his job and went on the road to interview CEO’s, founders and brand managers. He captured his findings on video and shared his experiences by blogging and tweeting while on the road. At each stop, he requested that each CEO ask the next CEO a question on video. To engage more with his growing audience, Martijn asked them to help pick out which company to visit next.  

While Arets set out to capture his expedition in a digital format, he found that a book was the best way to share the stories and lessons. The book he wrote based on his experiences was a great success in Holland, and he set about crowdsourcing an international edition.

To improve upon that success and tie his online content to the book, Arets and Layar teamed up. For the release of the international edition, Arets used Layar to enrich the book with video interviews of the CEO’s pan-company interviews. Each page enhanced with video content has the View with Layar logo, indicating to readers when the special videos are available.  

At Layar, we think it’s a cool book and a great way to use our platform. The videos fit nicely with the printed content of the book. It gives the book experience something extra, which keeps the reader more enaged and in tune with the “how to build a brand” message and lessons.

We are very curious how the readers will like it.

Watch the video below to see how it works.  You can buy the book here to experience for yourself.

In the age of digital media where smartphones and tablets constantly fill our brains with rich media experiences, it is at times relaxing to escape the information overload with classic technology. Books!

And, boy, do the Dutch know how to show their appreciation for their literature. Starting with the inaugural event in 1932, the Netherlands has hosted Boekenweek, or “Book Week,” each March, with the exception of a few missed years early on. This celebration, which actually lasts 10 days, honors Dutch literature with a wide range of events, including book signings, galas and debates.

Since 1947, the festivities have been kicked off with the Boekenbal, or “Book Ball,” a highly coveted “Who’s Who” event for writers, publishers and famous Dutch people. A tradition among attendees of the Boekenbal is to steal a piece of art at the end of the night, and artists are asked to create works of art specifically for this purpose.

This year, one of the artists asked to contribute was Sander Veenhof, who you know from his augmented reality art projects like the Pentagon/White House Infiltr.AR and the Museum of Modern Art AR Exhibit. Veenhof created a virtual piece of art from the various pieces at the Stadsschouwburg, the venue for the Boekenbal. By using Layar, visitors could see the works and take a virtual piece home with them.

But the most remarkable piece of virtual art on display at the Boekenbal earlier this week was the tribute to the late Harry Mulisch, one of the most famous writers in the Netherlands. For over 50 years, Mulisch was a guest at the Boekenbal, and in recent years would take his place sitting on the staircase of the Stadsschouwburg.

Veenhof brought this memorable sight back to life with augmented reality, allowing the Boekenbal guests to relive their moments with Mulisch. One special guest, the late author’s son, provided an emotional moment as he opened Layar to see his father back in his rightful place on the stairs.