Fans of thrilling fiction novels have long been anticipating its release, and now you can get a sneak peek with Layar!

Inferno, the latest book from author Dan Brown, author of the massively popular Da Vinci Code, is the latest book to use Layar’s interactive print to help promote its release. Readers in the Netherlands can get an exclusive look at this highly anticipated release by using Layar to scan an ad for the new book.

By scanning the ad in Volkskrant Magazine, fans can read, watch, listen and buy with just a few taps. Brown readers can get a sneak peek of the first chapter, watch a video trailer for the book, listen to a sample of the audio book or directly buy the book right from their phone! 

Volkskrant Magazine is distributed with de Volkskrant newspaper, which translates to “the people’s paper.” De Volkskrant is the largest newspapers in the Netherlands, read by 750,000 people each day. Already, thousands of readers have scanned the ad and interacted using Layar. Volkskrant Magazine is part of multimedia publisher de Persgroep. De Persgroep Advertising worked together with their client to produce this ad.

“We enjoy looking for creative crossmedia solutions together with clients to be able to interact with our readers”, says Olav Bongarts, director of de Persgroep Advertising. “We are quite overwhelmed by the success! More than 2,000 readers scanned the ad with Layar and created almost 5,000 interactions. It’s great that we can measure the Return on Investment so quickly and accurately.”

Interactive print has seen a lot of activity lately around books as publishers use Layar to promote new releases in exciting and engaging new ways. Just last month we shared with you how CBS Outdoor had again used Layar on advertising for popular author David Baldacci’s latest novel, boosting web traffic to Baldacci’s site by over 500%!

Click here to see the ad and try it yourself with Layar!

Queen’s Day, a huge public holiday this Tuesday in the Netherlands, has a rich history with Layar. Just last year, the local newspaper where the Queen herself was to visit enhanced its pages with extra content about the royal visit using Layar. It even provided a link to a livestream of the day’s events for supported devices.

This year, it’s not just Queen’s Day – it’s also the coronation of the new King (yes, next year it will be King’s Day) and with this evolution comes more evolution of augmented reality and interactive print with Layar.

A new Dutch augmented reality agency AugmentNL has come up with a unique way to use some of the most prominent space in Amsterdam as interactive print. The tall and wide Overhoeksgebouw has long been a popular Amsterdam ad space and is currently draped in a decoration for Queen’s Day. Scanning this side of building liberates this space to the people of Amsterdam, letting them post messages and drawings for all to see.

For those in Amsterdam this week, by scanning the side of the Overhoeksgebouw you can view the latest tweet featuring the hashtag #FelicitatieXXL and add your own drawn graffiti to the side. This teaser project from AugmentNL shows the wide audience a simple interactive print ad campaign can have when placed in a prominent location.

Using the dynamic widgets available with Layar’s technology, AugmentNL can provide a live feed of tweets along with an interactive canvas for drawing right on the side of the building. It’s certainly a unique idea, but with Layar it’s simple and easy to implement very quickly.

So if you’re in town for Queen’s Day, scan the Overhoeksgebouw by the IJ river and see how interactive print isn’t just for magazines – it’s great for providing interactivity on large outdoor advertising as well!

Founded in 1905, ADO Den Haag is one of the leading football teams in the Dutch national league. Together with marketing and communications multimedia agency UWMERK!WAARDIG, ADO Den Haag will be the first football club ever to use Layar technology during a football match. The kick-off will be take place this evening during the ADO Den Haag – FC Twente match. The club and agency have made the strategic choice to combine football, passion and content in a large campaign for their fans.

During the match, fans will be able to scan the club logo with the Layar App. While using the app, the fans will receive a message of team captain Danny Holla who invites them to participate in an exclusive contest. In addition the fans will be able to purchase a unique merchandise package and they can “Like” their favorite club on Facebook.

We caught up with Jasper Saeijs, Marketing Coordinator for ADO Den Haag and André Batenburg, Managing Director for UWMERK!WAARDIG to hear more about this campaign.

Why did you decide to include interactive print in the multimedia of ADO Den Haag?
J.S.: ADO Den Haag wants to get to the next level of interaction between the club, the players and the fans. Interactive print provides a unique opportunity for us to bring our club and our players closer to our fans. With Layar we can use the emotional value of a football club and provide a more unique experience around our matches.
A.B.: More and more people want to have a live experience on their mobile devices. Layar provides the unique opportunity to combine multimedia techniques and interactivity (dialogue) at the same moment. Layar is easy to use and enhances the live experience during the football match.

What do you want to achieve?
J.S.: Besides bringing the club and the players closer to our fans, we can also make a quick link to our marketing activities around our products. Interactive print helps in making your marketing strategy less aggressive.
A.B.: As a multimedia agency we want to help ADO Den Haag intensify the contact with their fans. Next to that, we engage with the fans via film, contest, social share and e-commerce.

Why did you choose Layar?
J.S.: UWMERK!WAARDIG introduced us to Layar and we were impressed by the technology.
A.B.: Layar has broad experience in augmented reality and as a Certified Layar Partner, UWMERK!WAARDIG is developing ideas for today and the near future. We can level on strategic issues and work side-by-side in the field of operations.

Plans for the future?
J.S.: For now we like to test with augmented reality and see if we can achieve better communications and interaction with our fans. Augmented reality is one of the concepts that I think will be the future of marketing communication.
A.B.: We will integrate Layar for several business cases of our clients. That goes for retail and other companies. At this moment we are creating a variety of business cases using Layar that will go live in the upcoming weeks and months. I believe that interactive print will grow rapidly and we are happy that we are experienced in this field.

Give it a try yourself by scanning the ADO Den Haag logo in the flyers below! (Click to enlarge.)

The real estate industry has a long history with Layar. In 2009 when Layar began with geo-located layers, Funda, the Dutch real estate search engine, was one of the first and most popular layers on our platform. Today, individual agencies like 4one4 in Australia are using interactive print to provide relevant information about properties to their customers.

Interactive print goes far beyond the pages of magazines, pamphlets or business cards, and Van Santvoort, a real estate agency here in the Netherlands, is showing just what that can mean. At the recent Regionale Nieuwbouwbeurs real estate exhibition, the Van Santvoort stand featured walls full of digital interactivity built by Layar partner Limebizz.

Visitors to the Van Santvoort booth could scan the images and descriptions of real estate properties to view extra photos. Users could swipe through photos in and around the properties as well as view floorplans. Videos offered booth visitors with tours of properties, and a 360º interactive “walkthrough” really made them feel like they were there!

This project is a clear leg-up for Van Santvoort over the competition. Instead of a single picture and description, Van Santvoort could provide multiple pictures, videos and even 360º experiences at an in-person exhibition, instead of online where these experiences traditionally live. Bringing the digital to the real life really made the difference for Van Santvoort.

It’s no secret that interactive print is exploding across the globe.

From real estate agencies in Australia, to big brands and publishers in Canada and the United States, to the biggest publications in France and the Netherlands, and even a boom in downloads of the Layar App in Saudi Arabia – Layar is a truly worldwide company. We’ve even taken it upon ourselves to make sure content is distributed across dozens of servers worldwide for greater speed.

As the international market for interactive print emerges, it’s time for us to take the next step in providing the best possible user experience to as many people as possible. Available today for iOS and Android, version 7.2.2 of the Layar App  includes support for the following languages:

Combined with English, these languages make up a large portion of Layar users around the globe, but this just the beginning. To provide the best experience to more users, we will add more languages based on usage and demand over time.

The inclusion of native language support within the Layar App makes it easier for publishers to create seamless and engaging experiences for their readers. Publishers could already tailor their interactive print content into the language of their choice, and now the Layar App itself follows suit to provide an immersive experience in a user’s native language. It’s simply a better all-around experience for users.

Want your language supported in the Layar App? Let us know in the comments section which one we should do next!