South African cafe chain vida e caffè has partnered with Dubai Tourism and the Atlantis, The Palm resort in Dubai to launch an innovative augmented reality contest with Layar.

Thanks to the help of local Layar Certified Partner Digital Narrative, vida e caffè is offering its customers the chance to win an all-expenses-paid five-night stay in the luxurious resort by scanning its coffee cups.

Over 330,000 cups have been adorned with a special sleeve made interactive with Layar. Coffee drinkers can scan the cups with the Layar App to see a video about the resort and enter for a chance to win the trip.

“As a brand we are always looking for innovative ideas and concepts to leverage from,” said Andrea Calitz, Marketing Manager, vida e caffè. “Our coffee cup sleeves are a popular media space and we were looking for a way to take this concept to the next level. Our goal is to show potential brands and customers out there that the vida cup sleeve is a great addition to any media or brand strategy.”

“It’s great to work with partners that are willing to push the envelope and try new things to engage their customers,” said Johan Walters, Director, Digital Narrative. “With Augmented Reality we are making the print media digitally relevant to the consumer. And at the same time, create something innovative and exciting for the customer.”

They brand has even enlisted the talents of some local YouTube celebrities to promote the contest with their unique brand of humor.

The contest is currently running throughout the month of September, so if you’re in South Africa, head over to a vida e caffè location and enter to win!

Back in February we shared how Net-a-Porter had launched a completely new magazine with Layar’s Interactive Print technology built in from day one. And now we’re happy to share the Summer 2014 issue of PORTER is on newsstands now!

If you’re unfamiliar, Net-a-Porter is one of the biggest names in online luxury retail. It was a unique, but innovative step to enter into the print realm by launching PORTER – it’s not often that online outlets look to expand into print, it’s usually the other way around. But the truth is, Net-a-Porter saw a big opportunity to expand its online retail presence by reaching people where they discover fashion: in the pages of magazines.

With the custom Net-a-Porter app, readers can scan the pages to reveal links and instantly buy the season’s hottest items as they see them in the magazine. Whether checking out new shoes or upcoming summer styles, the latest PORTER provides convenient links back to Net-a-Porter’s online outlet to buy the items.

This month, the one-and-only Lady Gaga graces the cover. Inside, along with all of the latest in fashion, PORTER features interviews with celebs and personalities including “strong women” like Arianna Huffington, Sarah Silverman, Zoe Saldana, Christiane Amanpour and more. Readers can also view bonus videos with their favorite interview subjects by scanning the pages.

And the extra content doesn’t stop there. PORTER also features links on nearly all of its advertising pages for the biggest names and brands in fashion.

The frontier of Interactive Print, as it spreads across the globe, has made a stop in paradise.

MediaHouse, one of the largest media companies in Bermuda, has introduced Layar’s technology in its portfolio of properties, including the Bermuda Sun newspaper, Bermuda.com, Island Press and more.

Readers of the Bermuda Sun can see stories and advertisements come alive with videos, photo galleries and music four sections of the paper: News, Life, Sports and Tech. The printed Bermuda.com guide for April (pictured on the right) features a cover video that brings the photo of a flyboarder to life. And employees at the Island Press are having fun showing off their interactive business cards.

Check out the video below of people around Bermuda reacting to the interactive content.

MediaHouse says it recognizes the opportunity not only to enhance its editorial content, but also to provide a premium service to advertisers. Several ads in the Bermuda.com guide have interactive elements that can be accessed by scanning the pages with the Layar App.

“Advertisers are keen to get their messages onto the smartphones of their audience, careful to entice without annoying,” the company said. “Augmented Reality (AR) provides that opportunity because users engage their smartphone or tablet voluntarily.”

The company says it intends to increase its use of Layar going forward, so expect more great content from Bermuda in the future!

DreamLand, Belgium’s largest Toy Store and part of Colruyt Group, is helping to promote the launch of its online webshop with a cross-media brand activation campaign across Belgium.

The multi-faceted campaign also included a TV commercial, a flyer, a pair of websites and more! The work was even two-fold due to Belgium’s two main languages - French and Flemish. A brochure in both languages featured Layar’s interactive print technology to bridge the gaps between the print and digital elements of the campaign.

The cover of the brochure, which reaches 4 million households across Belgium, comes to life with an excellent example of AR video. Readers can scan the cover to watch the boy (and some of his toys) come to life and share his wish list with Sinterklaas (the version of Santa Claus celebrated in Belgium as well as the Netherlands and Luxembourg).

The video grabs readers’ attention and directs them to a campaign landing page where kids can interact with Sinterklaas, asking and receiving video responses to their questions. Parents can also order a personalized letter from Sinterklaas himself to surprise their kids.

“We believe AR still has a strong ‘magical touch/appeal’ by bringing visuals, characters and text to life,” said Fred Goffin of Colruyt Group. “From a customer journey perspective, AR brings print closer to the digital ‘gate’ which was a key objective of the campaign.”

Visit DreamLand’s pages (one in Flemish, and the other in French) to learn more about this terrific cross media campaign with Layar.

Beverage company Crystal Light launched a magazine advertising campaign with a twist – Layar’s interactive print technology!

Readers of various magazines in the U.S. will see the “Color Me Stylish” Crystal Light ads. Some of the ads feature black-and-white illustrations which can be brought to life with color by scanning with the Layar App.

In this example, scanning the ad brings up a nicely-designed widget that lets the reader view different illustrations for different flavors and colors of Crystal Light. The products in the illustration change color and can be tapped to view more info.

Try it yourself! Click the image to the right to view a larger version that you can scan with the Layar App. It’s a fine example of what’s possible with the Layar Creator.