EXCLUSIVE: Pacific Magazines is going head to head with ACP Magazines in the hover tech battle, with an overhauled version of its DigiMarc app slated for launch in June – the same time as ACP’s Viewa.
DigiMarc, a tablet and smartphone app developed by a US company of the same name, rolled out in January. The updated version, called Genie, will be moved under Pacific’s control, although with some assistance from DigiMarc.
Jahzell Omar, Pacific Magazines digital manager, said the updated version would be more user-friendly and would offer integration with major social media platforms such as Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. “Genie is taking it to the next level,” he said.
While DigiMarc originally rolled out across four of Pacific Magazines' best-selling titles – Who, Famous, Better Homes and Gardens and Marie Claire – Genie will be used across Pacific’s entire portfolio.
Omar wouldn’t be drawn on whether Genie’s release had been timed to coincide with the launch of ACP’s Viewa in June. “It just happened to work out that way,” he said.
Pacific Magazines commercial director Peter Zavecz told AdNews: “We’re happy with DigiMarc, it’s delivering for us and for advertisers. But we’re changing it and making it our own now. We were going to offer it to advertisers but we felt, first off, we wanted to test it and we wanted to find out what was the most engaging content.”
This article first appeared in the 18 May 2012 edition of AdNews. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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