The number of mobile action codes, e.g., QR codes, Microsoft Tags and digital watermarks, rose significantly in the second quarter of 2012 in the top 100 U.S. magazines, according to Nellymoser, a mobile marketing and technology services company that released its latest Mobile Activation Code Study this week.

A total of 2200 codes were printed during the quarter, up from 1365 in the first quarter. This represents 61 percent growth, and is more than double the 1062 codes printed one year earlier in the first quarter 2011.

Four industries: beauty, home, health and automotive, account for 49 percent of all action codes in the most recent quarter. The study included national titles available on newsstands. Better Homes and Gardens, InStyle and Popular Mechanics topped the list with the most action codes per issue.

QR codes and Microsoft Tags continue to dominate the market, but the former has jumped ahead to more than an 80 percent market share, with the latter in second place with a 12 to 17 percent share. Digimarc watermarks, popular with designers for their ability to create custom branded icons, now lead the “other” category, having risen from five codes in all of 2011 to 96 codes in the first half of 2012. Continue reading...

Chris Pratt has the Force behind him in the above video promoting the new Kinect Star Wars game for Xbox 360.

The timing also inspired Pepsi's Brisk Iced Tea branding team to expand its recent Star Wars co-marketing push with a new promotion that gives players an Anakin Skywalker pod-racer as the new Kinect Star Wars game hits 7-Eleven stores this week, priced at $50.

Specially marked 1-liter bottles of Brisk now sport a Microsoft Tag bar code (or M-tag) that can be scanned with the Xbox 360's Kinect motion sensor. The partnership marks the first use of M-tags for a video game promotion, and the first test of the Microsoft mobile technology by a PepsiCo brand.Continue reading...

Time Inc. knows a cash cow when it sees one. And none are more bovinely bountiful (or bodacious) than the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which hits newsstands today.

As Bloomberg TV notes, it's the Super Bowl of the publishing world, generating more than a billion dollars to date. It generates 7% of SI's annual revenue, and its readership — surprisingly — is 30% female, with its influence impacting bikini and swimsuit trends and sales.

It's naturally marketed to the hilt, getting a billboard in Times Square, a top ten list from David Letterman and reveal for the cover model (this year, Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend, Irina Shayk) plus a closing bell-ringing ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange.

This year it's all about mobile, the basis for a new business model for SI — and potentially Time Inc.Continue reading...