Allianz, a multinational insurance and investment services company and one of the world’s largest businesses, is using Layar to bring augmented reality (AR) and interactive print to its customers.

This summer, with the help of Layar Partner Network member TAB Worldmedia, Allianz Suisse launched a new mobile application - KonnectAR - which allows its clients to access digital content, services and information related to the company’s printed brochures and magazine advertisements. The app was built using the Layar SDK, one of our custom solutions that allows brands to embed Layar’s AR technology directly into their own apps.

When a customer scans an Allianz product brochure or an Allianz advertisement in a magazine, the KonnectAR app provides animated product information, links to relevant websites or even a button to quickly call a service employee on their phone in their preferred language!

“The possibility to connect our online content with our offline commercial instruments and engagements is of crucial importance in an ever increasing connected world,” said Patrick Eugster, Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Marketing at Allianz Suisse. “KonnectAR allows the customer an easy transfer across different media instruments and therefore improves the whole brand experience these customers face.”

Read more about the new KonnectAR app from Allianz!

We’ve teamed up again with the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF, or WNF in Holland) to bring interactive print to the readers of Panda Magazine.

It was almost a year ago that the WNF launched a campaign to promote its 50th anniversary using Layar Vision technology on a special postcard that showed a beautiful 3D planet Earth when scanned with Layar. They even got Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten to help promote it!

Now, WNF is back with Layar again, using the Layar Creator to enhance the pages of its own publication with interactive links, videos, slideshows and animation.

“We used Layar for the first time last December and our expectations were quite a bit outdone, so we are using it again in our March and June editions,” said Marloes van Luijk of WNF.

The magazine is produced by Label, publishers of Labelmag which enhanced its own pages with Layar recently as well.

“WNF wanted to increase interaction with its donors,” said Mandy Vinkenvleugel of Label. “When we told WNF about Layar and the possibilities, they were very enthusiastic and wanted to try it because it’s an easier way for readers to get extra information.”

“It gives the content an extra dimension, especially when it concerns videos,” said van Luijk. “I like it that it brings the two separate worlds of online and offline a bit more together.”

Check out the slideshow of photos below!

Here’s more from our interview with Mandy Vinkenvleugel of Label, including how readers can see with more with Panda and her views on the Creator and Layar’s support staff!

“What I like is that we can show more content with Layar,” said Vinkenvleugel. “In the March issue, we published a spread about the retreat of Pasterze glacier in Austria. We show a photo from 1875 and a picture of the glacier in 2004. The difference is shocking, a lot of ice has disappeared. But the retreat of glaciers is a problem worldwide. With Layar, people can see 3 more examples of glaciers that have partially disappeared.”

“Label has been using Layar Creator for about 6 or 7 months now and it keeps getting better,” she adds. “The new HTML elements in particular are very nice. We usually ask our Layar contacts to check a campaign before it goes online to see if they have suggestions on how to implement things better, and they always come back with good advise.”