This week saw the iPad come into it's own with the launch of the much awaited version 4.2 of Apple's iOS mobile operating system, bringing multitasking, wireless printing and wireless media streaming to your TV with 'AirPlay'. The launch of 4.2 takes the iPad to a new level, making it all the more viable as a serious work-play addition to your digital life.

However, perhaps more exciting is not what is already here, but what is still to come; the iPad, as 'groundbreaking' and 'magical' as it is, is still a long way from realising it's true potential. Traditional media could soon be seeing a digital resurgence, with Apple taking their cut of the royalties, as next week, iPad owners will see yet more goodies to fill their Christmas stockings, with two of the worlds biggest business leaders, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and serial entrepreneur Richard Branson both lining up high-profile launch events of their upcoming 'tablet only' journals.

Murdoch has supposedly teamed up with Steve Jobs in the announcement of an iPad only newspaper simply called 'The Daily', putting aside their polarised political views for a no doubt highly lucrative piece of the digital publishing cake. Branson, on the other hand, is launching an iPad only magazine aimed at young and successful business and career minded individuals focusing on business, lifestyle, tech and travel.

These anticipated announcements coincide with the launch of iOS 4.3 perhaps as early as next week, set to bring further enhancements to AirPrint and a digital subscriptions directly through iTunes. The question Destination Marketing Organisation and National Tourism Organisations should have on the tip of their tongues, is "what does this mean for me?" For PR, the opportunities are huge; digital publications reaching a highly targeted demographic of individuals with high disposable income, and a thirst for travel. Digital publications are going to be a lot more than simply distributing PDF versions of existing magazines, but highly interactive, quality content integrated with video, audio, and live commenting. For readers, the pleasure of reading will be turned completely on its head and for advertisers, there's finally a chance for print, digital print that is, to prove its worth and demonstrate return on investment.

Campaign reporting will no longer mean inflated circulation figures and roughly defined targeting, but a wealth of powerful data in the palm of the hands of marketeers. Placing an add in a digital publication will mean knowing exactly how many people saw the ad, how much time was spent on it and how many showed a registered interest by taping through to more content. Even more valuable, a call for action can really lead to action and a digital print image ad for the Alps, can become a video of your next skiing holiday.


Digital publications aren't a completely new concept however, Pixel Mags, one of the leading providers of digital publications has been doing it since the launch of the iPad months ago. Pixel Mags offer an out of the box solution for publishers to go digital and offer free or paid for publications through individual one-off in-app purchases. The Pixel Mags experience is nice, but not extraordinary and it certainly doesn't take advantage of the iPad's features. Other publishers have also gone digital with dozens of newspapers and magazines providing digital versions, some impressively interactive versions too. Why next weeks announcement will be a real game changer is down to the introduction of a subscription service through the App Store, taking away that painful decision making moment each time a user is in two minds whether or not to press 'buy', and the endorsement of digital media from three industry leaders; Apple, Newscorp and Virgin.

Location:Chaussée Saint-Pierre,Etterbeek,Belgium

Its sometimes a challenge for marketers to work with traditional media due to the broad targeting and challenges in measuring conversion or instant results. Whilst the newspaper industry prepares for total meltdown, the letters 'QR' may just keep them going for another year.

I recently ran a workshop at ETC's e-Business Academy in Belgrade, looking at maximising the return on investment from print media. Working on a daily basis with colleagues all over the world who are better acquainted with the use of more traditional marketing methods, it can often be a challenge to see meaningful results measurement against media plans that promise mind bogglingly high distribution estimates. My contact at digital agency, Last Exit, casually mentioned to me last week that 'nobody can sell print media on it's own these days', and he's right.

One way however, of increasing the value of print is to integrate a direct call to action through the use of 2D Barcodes, the most widely used being QR, or, Quick Response. These little square barcodes allow consumers to pull out their phones, point, snap and interact. QR codes can be used to take consumers directly to a website, video or audio clip, address card, directions or even open and run an app on their phone.

You might be surprised to hear that this technology isn't actually particularly new and was first developed by Toyota in 1994. Its marketing value has been exploited by Japanese phone makers for the last five years and is finally starting to take off in the west. Many of today's handheld devices come with QR scanning software as standard, using the phone's camera to scan and decrypt, whilst others such as the iPhone have a range of apps that'll allow you to do just that.

For tourism, the possibilities are endless. Extending an awe inspiring photograph to become a video of a dream vacation in the palm of your customer's hand is a mighty powerful advantage. Imagine picking up a travel brochure in town, taking it back, skimming through, then scanning each package to actually be taken there. Or how about picking up the weekly travel supplement in the Guardian and seeing a great ad showing La Tomatina tomato throwing festival in Spain and the having the ability to see it all in action! Equally, if you're running a database building campaign with sweepstakes, why not make it easy by taking readers directly to the entry form on their phones?





If after reading this you're now feeling inspired then you'll be pleased to know that it takes less than five minutes to create a QR code and there are plenty of free tools available on the web to get you started, just give it a google. For those looking to really show off, if you check the guidelines carefully, you'll find that you can fully brand and customise the code's look and feel to move away from the somewhat dull black and white code.

In terms of awareness and adoption, QR is still relatively new, however my prediction is that 2011 will be 'the year of QR' alongside 'year of the tablet'. For destination marketing organisations who like to get their foot in the door first, this is one not to miss. It drives conversion, it's totally free and it lends itself perfectly to DMOs and NTOs who should be doing everything to make sure they own the inspiration stage of the travel distribution process.

Location:Hoornestraat,Brussels,Belgium

The recent launch of Google Preview takes search engine optimisation to a new level and will certainly be welcomed by Destination Marketing Organisations and National Tourism Organisations.

Having recreantly given a talk at Open Travel's 2010 European Conference about the changing trends in travel distribution, I spoke virulently about the need for NTOs to not forget the importance of SEO amongst th excitement and opportunities presented by social media. Echoing the comments of Amy Scarth during the European Travel Commission's e-Business Academy this year in Belgrade, I reminded delegates that 'Content is Still King' and I'd the first to hold my hand up and admit fault in underestimating its importance of good quality, relevant content in a crowded marketplace.