This past week we exhibited at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. For four days we saw a steady stream of publishers, mobile marketing companies, agencies and major brands come through the booth in search of the perfect mobile solution for print. Our stand was just across the aisle from Blackberry – who had a significantly larger presence this year over 2010, and was covered in large QR Codes.

Without a doubt we saw more and more uses of barcodes as the quest for engaging consumers through interactive print continues. Interestingly, however, is that every single person we spoke with commented how barcodes are ugly and they really don’t want to use them...

So desperate are these industries that they are willing to forge ahead with something they truly don’t want to use because they realize the value of the rich media experiences they can deliver to consumers. It was so much fun to present digital watermarking as the “invisible barcode” and see the reactions. No need to compromise folks. You CAN have the interactive experience without taking up space and impacting your design and layout.