Augme announces successful deployment of mobile phone barcode scanning on consumer packaging to provide digital media, coupons, other content, citing support from Graphic Packaging, IP's Shorewood Packaging

Sandy Yang

NEW YORK , March 30, 2010 (press release) – Augme Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: AUGT), a technology and services leader in interactive media marketing platforms, announced today the successful integration and deployment of Scanbuy’s mobile multi-barcode scanner application and its new ScanLife Packaging Connect barcode registration solution into the AD LIFE™ mobile marketing platform. Product manufacturers and packaging companies can now seamlessly link existing UPC, EAN or ISBN barcodes to the AD LIFE™ platform’s content creation, delivery, tracking and behavioral analytics tools, providing consumers the opportunity to enhance their shopping and brand experiences.

Previously, mobile phone barcode scanning provided only price comparison and basic product information tools. Now, brands can easily “activate” an existing UPC through the AD LIFE™ platform to provide consumers with access to relevant digital media, including recipe ideas, product demo videos, coupon offers, social network feeds, and many other interactive applications.

AD LIFE™ is increasingly being used today by major brands to augment communication with consumers via traditional print media, including product packaging. Barcode activation is the latest component of the AD LIFE platform, and will help accelerate consumer adoption of mobile marketing by leveraging the ubiquity of UPC barcodes to deliver Web-based multimedia content and interactive marketing applications to an already engaged, highly targeted audience.

Marketing to the active shopper by revolutionizing the retail store environment is paramount in the minds of marketers who use a retail setting to sell their products. Now with the simple interaction of the mobile phone and product packaging, marketers can provide information and consumer interaction at the store shelf, often persuading a purchase, increasing brand loyalty and strengthening the link between the retailer’s physical product display and its Web offerings.

Scanbuy’s mobile barcode scanner application, which is available for most major mobile platforms like Android, BlackBerry, Java and iPhone, is already distributed on tens of millions of camera phones globally, and it is the only barcode reader being pre-loaded in countries like the United States, Mexico, and Spain. It can be downloaded by going to www.getscanlife.com on the mobile phone.

“Barcodes can be found on virtually any package around the world, so this technology gives brands an easy way to control and deliver marketing content aimed at consumers whether they are at home or in the store,” said Jonathan Bulkeley, Chief Executive Officer of Scanbuy. “While price comparison information is great for certain categories like consumer electronics, it does not provide value for the thousands of products we purchase every day. This solution will immediately link millions of consumers to valuable and relevant content that the brand can control.”

The success and adoption of this significant innovation will depend heavily on the support of existing Augme channel relationships with Graphic Packaging International (GPI) and Shorewood Packaging (International Paper), two of the world’s largest consumer packaging companies who already work with most of the world’s largest brands.

GPI will continue its long tradition of innovative strategies that enhance packaging and the brand experience within the retail environment by integrating 1D and 2D UPC barcode activation into their sales offerings to their customers – the leading food, beverage and consumer products companies in North America and around the world.

Charlie Brignac, GPI’s Marketing Manager for Winning at Retail, said: “For almost 40 years, the UPC has played an integral role in the final stage of a consumer purchase. With the advent of mobile UPC activation, that same well established industry standard now plays a much broader and more interactive role – assisting the consumer in making final purchase decisions at the point of sale.”

Greg Chup, Manager of Innovation at Shorewood Packaging, sees an immediate value for their clients as well, stating: “The possibilities seem endless now that the UPC is so easily “activated” to enable interactive mobile marketing. Specifically, Shorewood Packaging sees an enormous opportunity with home media packaging by enabling consumers to instantly and easily view movie or video game trailers or sample tracks from a music CD through the convenience of their mobile device.”

“The ability for consumers to easily reach dynamic brand content is a paradigm shift in packaging,” said Augme Chief Business Development Officer Anthony Iacovone. “UPC activation through AD LIFE™ takes the power of the package to a whole new level, extending the brand experience by elegantly integrating brands into people’s lives and creating consumer engagement at shelf or at home. Partnerships with innovative technology players such as Scanbuy and packaging leaders such as GPI and Shorewood enable Augme to deliver on our commitment to deliver best-of-breed technologies and provide new ways to meaningfully integrate brands with life.”

About Augme Technologies, Inc.

Augme Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: AUGT) is the technology and services leader in interactive media marketing platforms that enable the seamless integration of brands, music, video and other content with life through the power of the Internet and mobile communications. Augme’s intuitive new media marketing platforms give companies the control they need to quickly create, deploy and measure rich-media, interactive marketing campaigns across all networks and devices. Augme marketing platforms condense the customer loyalty cycle by personalizing the brand experience and delivering that experience to customers where they work, play and live. Through its three operating divisions including mobile marketing (AD LIFE™), video content delivery (AD BOOM™) and ad network provisioning (AD SERVE™), Augme is connecting brands and content to consumers in a network of mobile and multimedia experiences enabling companies and their marketing agencies to create new markets and monetize brand interactions. Augme is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit www.augme.com.

About Scanbuy, Inc.

Scanbuy is the developer of the ScanLife mobile barcode solution that uses the camera phone as the link between the physical world and the digital world. The ScanLife mobile application converts millions of phones into barcode scanners to immediately launch content from physical media. Media companies and marketers use the Code Management Platform to create and manage measurable mobile barcode campaigns. Scanbuy has the largest and oldest patent portfolio of any company in the industry, with over 30 patents granted covering the entire solution. The company's investors include Longworth Venture Partners, Masthead Venture Partners and Hudson Ventures. For more information on Scanbuy, please visit www.scanbuy.com or www.scanlife.com.

About Graphic Packaging International, Inc.

Graphic Packaging International, Inc., a subsidiary of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, is a leading provider of paperboard packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer products companies. The company is one of the largest producers of folding cartons and holds a leading market position in coated-recycled boxboard and specialty bag packaging. The company's customers include some of the most widely recognized companies in the world. Additional information about Graphic Packaging, its business and its products is available on the company's web site at http://www.graphicpkg.com.

Augme Technologies, Inc.™, Augme™, AD LIFE™, AD BOOM™, AD SERVE™ and the Augme logo are trademarks of Augme Technologies, Inc. All other trade and service marks herein are the property of their rightful owners. All rights reserved. 2009-10.

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