Printing Equipment Company Goss Implements Mobile Bar Codes...Could This Save Newspaper Industry?

Could mobile bar codes revitalize the slumping newspaper industry?

Every bar code published in the paper becomes a link to the Internet for more advertising and commerce activities. Imagine having a hyperlink to your company's website in thousands of newspapers...what is this worth?

Dupont is placing 2d codes on their consumer good packaging that will allow consumer goods to be linked to the Net, what about newspapers and magazines?

If newspapers can get consumers to link ad or story to the Net using a mobile phone, could this save their dying business?

Goss Unveils Interactive Ad Program


Goss International begins testing a new product today in the pages of Foster's that it hopes could revolutionize print advertising by tracking viewers and making print ads interactive.

In a combined promotion in today 's edition and in the Dec. 23 Foster's Sunday Citizen, five local firms have advertisements incorporating a bar code system Goss is calling RSVP. Customers can use their cell phones to record the bar code in each ad, send a response to Goss, and receive back a promotional reward.

RSVP hopes to turn print advertising into a value-added product.

A key to larger participation will be fine-tuning the system so advertisers can sign up for advertising codes directly from the RSVP website — http://www.gossrsvp.com/. A companion consumer website allows ad viewers to track their rewards at http://www.myrsvprewards.com/

Goss plans an initial advertiser sign-up fee for the program, and a per-click charge. There eventually will be a variety of programs and fees based on complexity of use, such as viewer reward points redeemable for merchandise or discounts at a specific business.

All cell phones that can text message can be used to type in the ad's code and send it to RSVP. Readers also can go to http://www.myrsvprewards.com/ and download software onto many types of cell phones that allows a user to simply type in an ad's code or even scan it using the phone's camera function.