- Microsoft Surface & Microsoft Tag : Two Worlds Collide
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Above is a very facinating video showcasing Microsoft Tag being used with Microsoft Surface.
A person can use their mobile device and "snap" a Tag for a certain product or game.
After they have done so they can go to the Microsoft Surface and actually snap another Tag, sharing the information from the previous Tag.
In the demo we can see that the Microsoft Frogz have "snapped" a game off of a wall. Once they complete this action they return to the Microsoft Surface table in another room.
They then snap the Tag on the Microsoft Surface and voila! The game appears on the display!
This would be great for any type of store. If the consumer wants to know more about a certain product they can "snap" the product Tag. Once they have done so
they can go to a special kiosk and "snap" another Tag. Now the consumer has more information about the product.
What do you think? Have any ideas like this? Inspired? Let us know!
- Luna TagGen in Actoin
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Last week we found out about Luna TagGen.
Above you can see a quick video showcasing the function of TagGen.
A user can easily create a Tag for any of their contacts on their phone. Allowing other mobile devices with the Tag Reader to "snap" the contact Tag and easily grab contact info.
This is a great way to securely share contact info among friends, family and colleagues.
- We the Kings & Microsoft Tag: Get Exclusive Content and Enter to Win Tickets!
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We're so excited to announce that we've teamed up with We the Kings to create an official We the Kings tag.
We have made two unique tags, one online and one that you can find at shows (stickers).
By snapping the online tag you can enter to win tickets to your choice Take Action tour date.
By snapping the sticker tags at concerts, you will gain access to an exclusive WTK website with NEVER before seen videos,blogs and photos.
Cool huh?!?
Check out the contest with We the Kings CLICK HERE
Don't forget that you can easily make your own Tag just like We the Kings - CLICK HERE
Check out the video that We the Kings released on YouTube. Letting fans know exactly how Tags work!
- Tag in Action: A great video demonstrating Tag functions
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In this video Project Manager Brent Ingraham showcases different scenario in which Microsoft Tag can be used.
There are so many creative potentials with Tag! How are you using Tag? What industry are you using Tag for?
- Microsoft Tag on Products
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Last week we were happy to see that LATICRETE has embraced Microsoft Tag on all their products!
They will be using Tag on all their product packaging, catalogs, marketing tools,
displays, advertising, signage, and all other marketing initiatives
across North America, providing easy to retrieve on demand product
information for customers.
This technology adoption by LATICRETE supports a commitment to customer
service in providing the added convenience of locating timely
information on LATICRETE products when customers need it most.
LATICRETE customers will be quickly directed to a host of information
including technical specifications for installing tile and stone with
LATICRETE materials.
This is a great adoption of Tag and we hope to see more companies catching on to the idea!
- Tag at Conferenes
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Many of us are always at conferences and meeting new people. Tag is a great way to share contact information during events like this. Above you can see that at Microsoft MVP day in India, badges had tags printed on them. This not only an a very efficient way of logging contact information, it is also a green way!
At this event participants were encouraged to share their MS Tag on their conference badges in
vCard format. This enabled other attendees to simply click the tag for getting
all the details for the attendee they are attending with.
- Luna TagGen for Mobile
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Luna Development has come up with another great way to use Tags.
With their new LunaTagGen users are easily able to create unique tags right off their mobile phone!
As you can see this is a much more secure way to share contact information. It's quick and it's easy!
Give it a try!
http://www.lunadevelopment.com/lunataggen_for_mobile.aspx
- Initiate a SMS containing the link to download the Tag Reader in five new markets
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The latest distribution enhancement
for the Tag Reader is now live. Consumers can initiate a SMS containing
the link to download the Tag Reader in five new markets; Canada, Italy,
Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Check it out: http://www.microsoft.com/tag/content/download/
- Mazda & Tag
-
One of our team members received a Mazda flyer in snail mail, and guess
what, inside was a Tag!
Grab your mobile and snap the image above! You will see that it takes users to the upcoming Mazda vehicles.
This is a great way to grab consumers attention and show off new products!
- Trident Tag
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Above is a great ad that Trident gum has put out. As you can see they have placed a custom Tag in
the lower left region of the ad. This takes any user who "snaps" the tag with their tag reader to the Trident Gum
Twitter Feed.
In my opinion this is shows how "with the times" Trident is!
Below is the tag: Try it out on your mobile phone!
If you need to get the read go to http://gettag.mobi on your mobil browser
- Happy Birthday Microsoft Tag!
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Happy Birthday to Microsoft Tag who is One Years Old Today!
Last year Microsoft Tag was announced at CES. It's been quite the year for us.
Magazines, Movies, Musicians and more have had great experiences using Tag!
Let's take a look at some cool uses of Tag over the last year:
January 2009
Winter X Games 13: Danny Kass’s news, Totino’s Pizza Rolls and Microsoft Tag!
During the Winter X Games 13 this past weekend, action sports fans visited the Totino’s booth to get free Totino’s® Pizza Rolls® snacks and flyers with a Tag that leads to Danny Kass’s competition schedule.
February 2009
Microsoft Tag on a Turkish Magazine
A Turkish Magazine called LOG is now using Microsoft Tag
This
tag will give you access to the LOG mobile website to check out the
last news. Great scenario when you are in a bus, metro, holidays …. to
stay up to date!
March 2009
Steve Ballmer met Microsoft Tag
Our team received the following tweet on Friday via @HomeServerHacks:
This tweet links to a cool post from Philip Churchill where you’ll find a nice picture of SteveB with Donavon West from Home Server Hacks who uses Microsoft Tag on his Tee-Shirt
The best part is that you can scan the Microsoft Tag directly on the tee-shirt through your screen:
Pciture ![3329557971_4c08a31a5a[1]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/tag/3329557971_4c08a31a5a1_thumb_4CB7BB0A.jpg "3329557971_4c08a31a5a[1]")
Picture from mtoo
Check it out here. Thanks @HomeServerHacks for sharing the news :)
April 2009
Showcase - Sacramento Book Review
The Sacramento Book Review is the first book review publication to
use the Microsoft Tag technology, giving its readers the ease of
purchasing books they find of interest as they are reading the reviews
using their mobile phones. Throughout the 32 page, 200 book review
tabloid that is distributed around the greater Sacramento and San
Francisco Bay Area in bookstores, libraries, coffee shops, colleges,
and other gathering places, Microsoft Tags appear accompanying each
review.
“After publishing our 1,000th printed book review,
we’re excited to be on the cutting-edge of technology—bringing together
ease of finding something over the Internet with traditional newspaper
printing. We’ve discovered that people still prefer to pick up a
newspaper, magazine, or book to read. We all spend so many hours
staring at our computer screens, sometimes we just want to pick up a
newspaper and relax. With Microsoft Tag, SBR allows the two mediums to
converge,” says Heidi Komlofske, owner of 1776 Productions and
Co-Publisher of SBR.
Transforming static print into dynamic actionable content
Readers
of the Sacramento Book Review within the first page of the tabloid are
introduced to the Microsoft Tags that accompany each book review
throughout the tabloid. They can instantly download the free, small
application to their data-enabled cellphone where they can then begin
to scan Tags launching their mobile browsers to a well known online
book purchasing site.
Small code size makes a huge different
Aesthetics
for a multi-column tabloid is a critical factor to how readers warm to
and receive the publication, Microsoft Tags given their very small size
are perfectly suited to be subtly integrated into each page without
distracting the reader and keeping the look and feel like that of
traditional non-interactive print media.
Color and/or Black and White print - No problem
Microsoft
Tags can be printed on color or black and white media, offering the
publisher maximum flexibility in terms of keeping costs low, keeping
the aesthetics in line with the relevant color set, yet still provide
the cellphone user a highly reliable code scanning experience
June 2009
5:13 a thriller movie slated to release in 2010 just implemented Microsoft Tag
in their movie poster. Highlighted in yellow bellow, the Microsoft Tag
can be snapped allowing the public at large to gain access to mobile
content, including mobile trailers and downloads.
Using
Microsoft Tag on printed materials creates the opportunity for indie
and corporate movie companies to increase the ROI on their print
marketing efforts. With Microsoft Tag print advertising can now serve
as a real life portal to the online world. Keep an eye out for
Microsoft Tag on other print material in your area and for the release
of 5:13.
July 2009
Microsoft Tag API announcement
Microsoft Tag is a mobile application that enables users to link almost anything in the real world
to more information or to an interactive experience on the mobile
device. Microsoft Tag client software installed on the mobile device
allows the owner to use the device’s camera to scan or take a picture
of ("snap") a Tag barcode, then accesses the
information associated with the Tag on the mobile device. Businesses
can use Microsoft Tag to interact with their customers like never
before, using physical media such as print catalogs or POS displays as
the launching point. Tag owners create and manage Tags at the Microsoft
Tag Web site, http://tag.microsoft.com/ManageAds.aspx.
The Microsoft Tag API allows anyone to create Tag from the web, the desktop, mobile devices.
By using the Microsoft Tag Web Services API, you can programmatically access many of the same operations used on the Microsoft Tag Web site. Using Visual Studio and the .NET Framework,
you can write programs to create, modify, and otherwise manage Tags for
your business — including bulk Tag creation and updates — without
having to use the Microsoft Tag Web site interface.
September 2009
Tag in Amsterdam
A dull moment while waiting for the bus? Snap the Tag and be in the know!
In collaboration GVB, Sparked BV, and MINIbar
started a pilot at the Central Station in Amsterdam to provide
infotainment via a mobile phone. On tram and bus stops at the Station
Square travelers with their mobile phone can snap a GVB Tag enabled by "Microsoft Tag".
By snapping the Tag they receive free access to specific arrival and
departure information, latest news on public transportation, a mobile
movie series and art of the day. Three randomly selected people who
snapped the Tag will win a €100 euro (about $140) credit to their
transportation subscription.
GVB
decided to explore this innovative form of communication due to the
increasing use of mobile technology with both younger and older
consumers who are utilizing public transportation in the Netherlands.
GVB is exploring the possibilities and limitations of tagging to inform
travelers and will decide on further roll out after the initial project
concludes. Sparked and MINIbar helped to develop the solution for GVB.
October 2009
Get Married Magazine & Tag
GET MARRIED MAGAZINE IS THE FIRST BRIDAL PUBLICATION
TO USE THE CUTTING-EDGE MICROSOFT TAG, BRINGING PRINT PAGES TO LIFE!
With the click of a smart phone camera on the pages of Get Married magazine,
busy brides connect instantly to videos, websites, photos and information – while on the go!
Tagged” editorial and advertisements will turn traditional magazine reading into ground-breaking,
rich, multi-media experiences within the wedding and bridal industry.
With
the small, colorful Microsoft Tags, Get Married magazine offers brides
- who are busy working, planning and playing- quick, easy and
convenient connectivity to information when and where they want it.
With no typing, fumbling with URLs, texting short-codes or launching
browsers. Brides can learn more about a product, save Tags for later
viewing, and make a purchase – directly from their phones. With Tag,
Get Married makes the process of planning a wedding more convenient and
even more fun.
"Get Married is taking user interaction to the next
level with Tag. They have brides who are really engaged, incredibly
focused on planning and shopping for their weddings, and Tag allows
them to stay in the moment,” said Aaron Getz, business leader for
Microsoft Tag.
“Advertisers in Get Married magazine can deepen
the relation with the brides making their ads immediately actionable
and more entertaining. Besides they can track the actions brides are
taking and inform their marketing strategy.”
GetMarried.com has done an outstanding job using Microsoft Tag!
Below you can see that they have detailed instructions for their users. This is great, as this is newer technology for many.
Once you have followed step 1 and printed out the PDF - you are able to scan the TAG with your mobile phone.
Make sure that you have installed the software that is needed to read the tag.
On your mobile brower go to http://gettag.mobi
Now
the fun begins! Below is a picture of the tag GetMarried.com has
created. Open up the Tag application on your mobile and snap the image
below!
We recommend that you print it - if you are unable to read the tag off of your computer.
Voila!
You are now taken to a wonderful video that Get Married has created!
November 2009
Today Dow
Jones posted an article claiming that “this year may
go down as the period that shopping by mobile phone during the holidays came
into its own.” The piece goes on to discuss how “Black Friday” saw an unprecedented
use of mobile phones by consumers to “zero in on and make purchases.” According
to PayPal, mobile online payments through their service on Friday surged nearly
650% from last year.
Many
marketers are betting that this shopping-via-mobile trend sees a boost today on
what is now referred to as “Cyber
Monday,” the
busiest day of the year for retail electronic commerce.
So
how do you make it as easy as possible for customers to connect with your brand
on their mobile phones?
At
Microsoft, we’re using Microsoft Tag in a pair of Bing ads running in today’s “Cyber
Monday” edition of the New York Times. Readers simply snap the Tag image below
with their mobile phone and they are immediately connected with Bing – no
typing, looking up URLs, texting codes or browser launching.
We’ll
let you know how it goes …
December 2009
Microsoft Tag & Avatar
I
was scrolling through the Microsoft Advertising Blog and was excited to
find out that they were using Microsoft Tag for their Avatar Campaign!e
Click here to see the post
"By teaming up with the folks at Microsoft Tag, our digital specialists were able to “unlock the world of Avatar” on all our mobile phones.
The technology in essence requires the download of a mobile app from http://getTag.mobi.
By scanning the M-tag on the PC screen with their phone’s camera, fans
of the movie are able to access Fox’s dedicated WAP site at the flick
of a switch!
On the day of Avatar's movie release in France, UK, Spain and
Germany, FOX also ran the Avatar ad campaign on MSN's mobile sites,
providing strong exposure to moviegoers browsing on their mobile phone.
This is another great example of how Microsoft Advertising is
helping brands provide immersive and rich encounters across multiple
devices."
This is fantastic way the film industry can use Tag to spread the word!
Also putting a Tag on the actual movie poster would be another great idea!
These are all great ways that others have used Tag in the past year!
What are your ideas? What cool ways have you seen Tag being used??
Let us know!
- Luna Mobile Snapp
-
Luna Development has created a very cool system using Microsoft Tag. This system is call Luna Mobile Snapp.
If you read above it pretty much uses Microsoft Tag as a gateway to easily download applications and games to a mobile phone.
This idea can be applied to any asset that can be downloaded to a users phone. Such as music, ringtones, wallpaper and more!
You can check out Luna Mobile Snapp here: http://www.lunadevelopment.com/default.aspx
They have a few items that you can test and download to your phone!
- Mass Effect 2 Posters Using Tag
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Right now in San Francisco there are many different versions of the new Mass Effect 2 game poster around town.
You can see the different versions here. What's so great about these giant posters is that they have a Microsoft Tag printed on them.
When a user scans the Tag, they are taken to a YouTube video that has combat footage from the game.
This is a great way to showcase new games to people who are out and about!
Try it out! Scan the Tag above and check out the game!
- Microsoft Tag & Avatar
-
I was scrolling through the Microsoft Advertising Blog and was excited to find out that they were using Microsoft Tag for their Avatar Campaign!e
Click here to see the post
"By teaming up with the folks at Microsoft Tag, our digital specialists were able to “unlock the world of Avatar” on all our mobile phones.
The technology in essence requires the download of a mobile app from http://getTag.mobi.
By scanning the M-tag on the PC screen with their phone’s camera, fans
of the movie are able to access Fox’s dedicated WAP site at the flick
of a switch!
On the day of Avatar's movie release in France, UK, Spain and
Germany, FOX also ran the Avatar ad campaign on MSN's mobile sites,
providing strong exposure to moviegoers browsing on their mobile phone.
This is another great example of how Microsoft Advertising is
helping brands provide immersive and rich encounters across multiple
devices."
This is fantastic way the film industry can use Tag to spread the word!
Also putting a Tag on the actual movie poster would be another great idea!
- Unique ways to reach an extended audience using Tag.
-
I was pointed to this great video by Warbasse Design out of California.
They demonstrate a great way to use tag on coffee cups as an access point to live streaming video.
In this case they stress how this can be effective for TV stations to extend their audiences and create viral campaigns.
In the video they demonstrate using a Windows mobile phone. But you can achieve this using any supported phone.
Check out the video:
