Hide and seek

Embedded and invisible branding

What?: Music videos and outdoor advertising are going covert:

* The Pet Shop Boys are embedding codes in their new video that allow fans to pause the video and take a picture on their mobiles that link to featured websites. The Quick Response Codes operate like supermarket scanners.

* Universal Music UK has partnered up with coull.tv on an interactive, social networking video. The debut video by Canadian pop duo RyanDan will enable interaction with embedded clickable objects.

* Spellbinder enables digital content to be embedded in the real world by taking a photograph of an object or place. The digital content can then become visible when released by another user taking another photograph of the same location.

So what?: Subliminal messaging is coming out of the shadows, but will anybody notice? Die hard Pet Shop Boys fans may well spend time pausing a video to take a photo, but will the rest of us? Hand-held supermarket scanners were meant to revolutionise grocery shopping, but they never really took off. Why? Too much effort, that’s why.

The concept outlined by Spellbinder has potential. It could open up areas normally off limits to advertisers and engage music users within targeted environments. Imagine no billboards – invisible sponsorship’s the future, I tell you. Think of the environmental benefits alone.

Retina-based advertising – as showcased in Steve Spielberg’s film Minority Report – is also just around the cornea.

www.petshopboys.co.uk