October 4, 2013

Time Inc.’s MyRecipes has launched a brand new cookbook that leverages digital watermarking to let consumers access a mobile version of recipes while grocery shopping.

The new MyRecipes Easy Meal Maker book marks the second one time that MyRecipes has placed digital watermarks to make a cookbook more interactive. The book contains recipes from six of Time Inc.’s titles under the way of life group.

“MyRecipes is usually on the lookout for how you can make it easier for the patron to seek out the correct recipe for them and their family,” said Jason Burnett, senior content director of the way of living digital group at Time Inc., Ny.

“When we were thinking about taking mobile to a print product, this appeared like the proper thanks to activate it and go straight from the cookbook to the shop,” he said.

Mobile appetite
Each recipe inside the greater than 200-page cookbook incorporates a large photo of the food with a smartphone symbol within the corner of the picture and is powered by Digimarc.

The mobile section of the content could be accessed by downloading the Digimarc Discover iOS or Android application.

When consumers hover a mobile device with the app open over a page, a landing page pulls up the recipe on MyRecipes.com.

From there, consumers can view an entire list of the ingredients and save the items to a shopping list by logging into their MyRecipes account.

Additionally, step-by-step directions and videos walk consumers through how one can prepare a dish, and content is additionally shared via Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.

There also is a whole page within the table of contents section that explains how the technology works.

A page from the book with the mobile call-to-action

“Everyone online is seeing tremendous growth of their mobile audience, and we’ve seen an analogous thing,” Mr. Burnett said.

“Nearly 50 percent of our audience is on a mobile device and are using it for meal planning and shopping,” he said.

MyRecipes is promoting the book via the company’s Webpage and thru email.

Another call-to-action on a page

Bigger strategy
The cookbook pulls in recipes from Time Inc.’s Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Real Simple, Health, Southern Living and All You magazines.

Each one of many magazines can be using digital watermarks inside the monthly print editions.

Cooking Light first used the mobile scanning technology within the January/February issue and reported an uptick in registrations to MyRecipes subsequently.

Southern Living and Health have extensively utilized a similar sort of activation within magazines.

According to Time Inc., one of the most reasons that the corporate leverages digital watermarks rather than other print-to-mobile tactics is that the technology keeps the cultured of the page’s design.

“If you’re going to do this with a QR code, this may seem like an eyesore and remove from the design, and it’s also distracting to the reader,” said Matthew Szerencse, market development manager at Digimarc, Beaverton, OR.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York