Last June I reported that Joe Martin, creator of Mr. Boffo, Willy ‘n Ethel and Cats with Hands had embedded a graphical tag into his comic strip that when viewed through a smart phone displayed an animated version of the cartoon. Joe is taking the concept one step closer and using the same technology to embed advertising into the comic.
From a press release posted on Editor & Publisher:
“Enhancing the enjoyment of comic strip readers is the most obvious result of placing tags in my strips, but newspapers are the ones that are really going to reap the benefits of this innovative process,” said Martin, a Lake Geneva resident who grew up in Chicago and who has been producing comics for 35-plus years.
“The newspapers that publish my strips will be able to add their advertisers to the tags absolutely free of charge, which is going to result in another revenue stream for them without them having to expend any funds or manpower. My goal is to familiarize newspaper readers with the tag in a fun way through the comics and promote tag use throughout the paper.”
In order for the reader’s smart phone to read the tag, readers need to download the free Microsoft app.