Today, more than 99% of our world is still not connected to the Internet.

Based on that key insight, in 2012 we helped Cisco launch a new global campaign that repositioned not only the brand but also the business itself. The proposition of connecting the unconnected would create new business opportunities and evolve the Internet of things to an “Internet of Everything”, a concept owned by Cisco.

And when your new tagline is “TOMORROW starts here”, you can’t just talk about the future; you have to build it.

To start, we wanted to give readers a good reason to engage with an “old style” print ad. So we added augmented-reality capabilities to Cisco’s most popular app and challenged top executives to find out what happens when print ads connect to the Internet.

Now, using a mobile device, readers were able to explore by themselves.

The ads came to life and moved. They talked. They reacted to the readers’ movements. They were tapable and shareable. And they gave busy CXOs access to interactive experiences and valuable content.

Readers could now “wake up” newspapers and magazines. The medium became the message.

What? Did someone say people don’t read newspaper ads? Not only did they read, they spent an average of 2:27' interacting…with a print ad. There was also a 37% increase in visits to the non-AR app content post campaign launch.

And that’s the proof that when you connect the unconnected, amazing things can happen.