Ricoh UK is pleased to announce the successful completion of stage one of its first UK trial for Clickable Paper, a rich, cross media solution that enables readers of magazines and newspapers and other publications to dynamically interact and upload content directly to their smartphone or tablet from the printed word. Ricoh customer, Barnwell Print, based in Aylsham, Norfolk and independent publisher, Just Regional, have been pioneering the new concept for the past nine months.
Introduced to the market at drupa 2012, Clickable Paper brings publications to life by providing readers of magazines and newspapers and advertisers a chance to interact through the published word. Consumers wishing to use the Clickable Paper solution simply download a free Ricoh app from the App Store or Google Play. Users then hover their smartphone or tablet over the desired content on the page, click and the content is immediately uploaded onto their device. Information relayed can be up to six links including websites and videos to social media sites and entry forms for competitions.
Says Gareth Parker, Strategic Marketing Manager, Ricoh UK: "Clickable Paper is an important component of Ricoh's 'Print and Beyond' strategy. The aim of which is to provide printers with a constant stream of innovations and added-value services that complement their print offering. This ensures they have a greater range of profitable applications for customers and helps print to retain its position as an important lynch-pin in a complex world of multi-channel communications.
"We met with Barnwell Print at drupa last year, and it was clear then they would be a great company for our exclusive UK trial. The owners, Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, are fourth generation printers and the company has been going since 1840. They put their success and longevity down to the fact that they have constantly pioneered new printing innovations to stay ahead of the game. The Barnwell Print team recognised the potential in our Clickable Paper straight away and believed they had the right type of customers to partner with for the trial. Barnwell Print has worked closely with its customer, Just Regional and our specialist support teams in the US and Japan to drive integration and uptake of this solution and the results so far have been impressive. Stage one has proved that Clickable Paper is the perfect example of an innovative and meaningful technology that can really work for customers. We very excited about taking this trial into phase two and seeing how far we can extend its capabilities."
Julian Barnwell, Managing Director of Barnwell Print says: "We have had a lot of experience with QR codes in the past, so when we saw Ricoh's Clickable Paper solution at drupa last year, immediately recognised its enormous potential. However, Clickable Paper is a far more intelligent and dynamic product than QR technology and moves the interactivity proposition on several steps from QR codes. Effectively, Clickable Paper enables publications to be used as a portal to direct readers to all kinds of extra information or entertainment.
"It's an extremely exciting product for printers and we're looking forward to developing the concept further with Ricoh and Just Regional through stage two of the project. Our customer, Just Regional, is a respected and successful regional publisher, producing nine town magazines in north Norfolk and north Norwich, delivered to 40,000 plus homes each month. As such, we knew it would be the perfect partner for this trial."
One of the first local advertisers to make use of Ricoh's Clickable Paper technology in the Just Regional publications was The Theatre Royal in Norwich. Commenting on the solution, the theatre's marketing director, Mark Hazell said: "We're very excited to be one of the first businesses in the UK to commercially use Clickable Paper. It has given us the opportunity to get closer to our customers and potential customers by being able to offer them much more information and content than traditional magazine advertising, as well as track the uptake and behaviour online, giving us a much greater ROI on our advertising spend. Clickable Paper is helping to give the reader all the information they need to make an informed decision and ultimately buy the product. It's a great interaction between print and online."
This was a view reinforced by marketing manager, Jo Artherton from BeWILDerwood, another regular Just Regional advertiser, who says: "We like readers to make a real connection with our magical world. Clickable Paper allows us to enhance our printed adverts with fun and interactive stuff including video clips and website links that allow our customers to get closer to the enchanting characters that live in BeWILDerwood. It's a great innovation and we are excited to see where this goes in the next few years."
Those wishing to experience the Ricoh Clickable Paper solution can go to www.justregional.co.uk and click on the magazine icons to view the advertisements.
