House Beautiful Tests Pinterest Integration…In Its Printed Pages

House Beautiful is hopping on the Pinterest bandwagon today courtesy of digital watermarking provider Digimarc, which has just introduced technology allowing consumers to pin magazine images from the real world to their Pinterest boards. While functionally similar to the online “Pin It” button, the Digimarc solution uses the company’s proprietary technology to embed an imperceptible watermark in a printed magazine image. When scanned, users are immediately taken to the pre-configured Pinterest page for the image, allowing them to then re-pin it to their own boards.

The downside? Well, for starters, you have to use the Digimarc mobile app for this to work, or the magazine/advertiser can integrate Digimarc’s tech in their own app, if they choose. But the “pin from the real world” functionality is not available in Pinterest’s own mobile app, unfortunately, which is how most mobile users connect with the popular social network.

Plus, this re-pinning process only works with magazine advertisers who have partnered up with Digimarc before going to print, obviously. In other words, you can’t just scan any ol’ image from a magazine and then “pin it” via the Digimarc solution. So, yes, kind of a lot of work for end users.

That being said, Digimarc has kicked off the launch by partnering with House Beautiful Magazine, which they’re touting as the “world’s first Pinterest-enabled magazine.” (Update: it’s not. Update 2: Well…OK, in terms of when you can begin pinning, it’s first. The other mag’s contest doesn’t begin until June 1, but both magazines are on shelves. Whatever, you’re BOTH FIRST. Happy now?).

In House Beautiful’s June issue, there’s a “Kitchen of the Month” editorial where the first page of the article is “Pinterest-enabled” using Digimarc’s watermarking. In this case, House Beautiful has actually integrated Digimarc’s tech within its own newly launched mobile app. Readers can either download the magazine app, or the Digimarc Connect app for iPhone or Android. They can then get connected to the House Beautiful “Kitchen of the Month” Pinterest pinboard by scanning the magazine photos with their phone’s camera.

QR codes, heads up: you’re looking a lot dorkier now.