Yes, I'm one of the print diehards that continues to enjoy spending a Sunday afternoon thumbing through my favorite magazines. I have an iPad and Kindle, too, but the experience isn't the same. I like lightly pinching the upper right corner and gently flipping the page. I enjoy the feel of the paper on my fingertips — especially the higher-end magazines that understand the pleasure of a silky white paper stock that makes images pop and is so smooth to the touch. As a marketer who dabbles in graphic design, I appreciate the typography, design and layout that enhances my experience and increases my enjoyment of the stories and even the ads. As much as I love technology, alternative reading options just don't satisfy like the printed page.

This is one of the reasons I'm so excited about the new, interactive experiences that are now accessible from print using our mobile phones. Who hasn't seen a 2D barcode, QR code or tag in a magazine or newspaper? They're cropping up everywhere, but still somewhat sparingly. We see a dozen or so here and there in the New York Times, USA Today and Sports Illustrated — to name a few. They've been used on signage, product packaging and at events. For those of us with capable smartphones, we're able to instantly experience an entirely new dimension of rich media and interactive content, and take immediate action when we see something we're interested in. Very cool and exciting stuff! If you haven't tried it yet, what are you waiting for?

These technologies are, in essence, transforming print into a new UI for the web — bringing all of the things we love about the internet to printed articles, advertisements, signage and more. But let's go back to the magazine scenario. Imagine mass adoption of barcodes and tags, so much so that every article and ad in your favorite magazine is now interactive and can take you to countless new experiences. Now stretch your imagination a bit further and picture ads and articles with multiple products and/or images, each with a unique barcode that will take you to specific information about the item you're interested in. Are you getting the picture? To reach ultimate success — the end state we are all envisioning where everything is interactive using our phones — would completely destroy the beauty, design and aesthetics of the magazine. Think about Vogue or Communication Arts with a barcode next to every story, product and image! Yuck! I think not.

Thankfully, there is an alternative: Imperceptible digital watermarks. Watermarks can give every piece of content a unique digital ID that is instantly recognizable by today's most popular smartphones. The same exciting, interactive experiences and enriched content from print, but without the need for ugly barcodes plastered all over the pages taking up precious space.