Soon, scanning your favourite logo will bring it to life. LogoScan, an augmented reality (AR+) enabled app, is set to hit the South African market bringing consumers within an arm’s length of engaging with brands in enhanced reality.

The premise of the app is remarkably simple: to experience digital content in augmented reality - or link through to websites in an instant - users simply need to hold up their smartphones to activated logos, and scan.

“We’re moving beyond a point where QR codes are the only way to scan,” says Rich Cheary, CEO of The Publisher’s Toolbox, the South African mobile app developer behind the app. “Literally any graphic image can be made scannable and used to augment reality. Designers put so much focused effort and meaning into their creative work. We feel a QR code takes away from the visual appeal of their artwork. Together with designers, we can make the creative design be the target and come alive.”

The Publisher’s Toolbox offers a suite of digital products tailored towards the publishing and marketing industries. They are known as pioneers in digital innovation for the local marketplace now engineering, through LogoScan, the shift towards AR+ brand marketing.   

And it has a hands-on approach.

The company is in the process of selecting brands it thinks will benefit greatly from its new app. Pending authorisation, logos will be preloaded on its server that, when matched with a live scan in the real world, will provide consumers with the brand’s digital content in augmented reality.

“We want people to be encouraged, curious and intrigued when engaging with a brand’s logo like never before,” says Cheary. “For most brands, their logo is the first contact point with consumers. There is a special bond that exists between a brand-loyal consumer and a logo that goes much farther than TV or digital banner ads and taglines. We want all brands to engage with their audience through AR+, and we think a scannable logo is the best way to start that relationship.”

Beyond AR+, Rich Cheary reckons LogoScan has the potential to become “the new search” adding to traditional methods such as text search (Google) and audio search (Siri). Scanning logos, he says, will be more enticing than typing in search terms and more efficient than speaking into your phone.

“With LogoScan, consumers can tap through to your website, link with your social media channels and share content with family and friends simply by holding up their phones. Plus, they’ll get an AR+ digital experience like never before.”

Going forward the LOGOSCAN team plan to collaborate with brands on unique ways to encourage, motivate, surprise and reward users who scan regularly.

To learn more, watch the video or download LogoScan on App Store or Google Play Store.

For more information, visit www.publisherstoolbox.co.uk. You can also follow Publisher’s Toolbox on Facebook or on Twitter.